Pauline Hanson’s visit to Norfolk Island …

Senator Hanson has published a video, including interviews with local Norfolk Island residents and overlay footage, covering some of the issues she uncovered on her fact-finding visit last week. It is available here: https://www.facebook.com/PaulineHansonAu/videos/528628340674816/.

Additionally, a full recording of her speech to a public meeting attended by nearly a quarter of the island’s perminant residents is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4C4j8mwQV0.

Senator Hanson’s chief of staff James Ashby took a high-quality video camera on the trip, and recorded hours of interviews, meeting with stakeholder groups, vox pops with locals, and overlays of the island’s natural resources, heritage items, and current infrastructure projects. He is able to provide this HD footage to media. I can also provide contact details for representative organisations or individuals on Norfolk Island if you wish to examine any of the issues further.

As a result of her visit, and the overwhelming concerns of the local community, Senator Hanson called for the immediate dismissal of the Australian Government’s vice-regal appointee to the island, Administrator Gary Hardgrave. She will be meeting with Territories Minister Fiona Nash in the coming weeks to provide documentation outlining the reasons for this call. She will also be seeking an independent examination into allegations taxpayer money being misused through major contracts being awarded without a tender process (and in at least one documented case, awarded to a contractor who hadn’t even submitted a tender).

Senator Hanson will also be urging Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to return to Norfolk Island with her to examine the issues with the Australian Goverment’s takeover first hand.

During her visit, Senator Hanson had formal meetings with more than a dozen business, tourism, political, social and cultural organisations. In addition, she met with numerous locals including primary producers and members of the fishing industry. In contrast, Territories Minister Fiona Nash has visited Norfolk Island just once since taking over the portfolio, and were there for less than a month. Local organisations were required to go through the office of Administrator Gary Hardgrave to get a meeting with her. Among those who formally requested a meeting and were either refused, or ignored, were the Norfolk Island Chamber of Commerce and the Norfolk Island Accommodation and Tourism Association.

Below are some quotes from Senator Hanson’s speech to a public meeting on the island last Thursday, outlining some of what she had uncovered, and what she will be seeking from the Federal Government.

“What I have heard is that doors have been shut in your face. You’re not getting answers. You’ve been left in the dark.

“I’ve had more meetings with people here than what Gary Hardgrave has had in the last two years, so I think I have a very good understanding of how the Norfolk Island people feel.

“I believe that you’re being shut down and you’re not being listened to. That message has to get out to the Australian Parliament and that’s the message I will be taking back.

“You have a very unique culture, a way of life. You are your own identity. You are not Australian. You are Norfolk Islanders.

“Australia has already said sorry once. We should not have to say sorry again. We have to get this right.

“I would like to see, personally, for your own self determination.

“I look around this place. This is built on your hard work, your management.

“The Australian Government has no right to come in and claim your assets and take them away.

“When I hear of the amount of money they think they are pouring in here, $136 million over the next four years, and Fiona Nash comes out and says we’ve already poured $27 million into it in her press release, well I ask, where? Is it the bureacrats they’ve sent over here? Five hundred thousand for a 250 metre piece of road with a footpath that is absolutely useless and will be washed out in a matter of a couple years? This is what we put up with in Australia. You don’t need it here.”
Tim Vollmer