What we heard on Norfolk Island shipping and freight

The Australian Government is committed to supporting sustainable and long-term shipping and freight services for the Norfolk Island community.

Following the recent public consultation process, the feedback has been collated into a comprehensive report.

The detailed community contributions have allowed me to gain a strong appreciation of the key areas of interest, concern, and impacts of shipping on the community – including how the Government could support the development of ports infrastructure.

We received 26 Have Your Say submissions from members of the community and businesses.

The main issues raised in submissions and the recent community forum at Rawson Hall were the high cost of sea freight, reliability, overall shipping volume, clearing the recent backlog of freight, port location and shifting to containerisation.

Some submissions set out quite detailed infrastructure development recommendations, and most were in favour of facilities to allow vessel berthing and container handling.

We will carefully consider the advice and provide updates on our future infrastructure options.

The report, providing a summary of the issues identified, is available at:

www.infrastructure.gov.au/have-your-say/norfolk-island-long-term-shipping-needs