From the Office of the Speaker

“Your Parliament – Your Voice”

From the Office of the Speaker

Email from Chief Minister of the Isle of Man

For those of you who follow this weekly (almost!) column I share with you the response received from the Isle of Man Chief Minister Allan Bell MHK to my letter of 18 October –

“Dear Robin,

Many thanks for your kind words. We will face a challenging few years which will test all of us.  I look forward to developing closer ties on many fronts with Norfolk Island in the time ahead and hope that we may have the opportunity to meet again at some point to further that aim.

With very best wishes, Allan.”

Speaker is in Sydney next week

I am travelling to Sydney on Sunday principally to represent the Legislative Assembly of Norfolk Island at the official function hosted by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, the Hon Shelley Hancock MP, with the Governor of NSW in attendance, to mark the occasion of the retirement of Mr Russell Grove PSM, Clerk to the NSW Legislative Assembly for 21 years and parliamentary officer for 40 years. My attendance is in acknowledgement of the extraordinary assistance given by Mr Grove to the Legislative Assembly of Norfolk Island over many many years and I know his name will be familiar to many of you. In acknowledgement of his service to the NSW Parliament last Thursday the 20^th of October Mr Grove was given appropriate recognition by the NSW Legislative Assembly in his being extended, on motion of the NSW Premier of the prestigious title of Clerk Emeritus. This honour is very well deserved. (Hansard containing some 16 pages of tributes from parliamentarians can be obtained in pdf format from the Clerk Mrs Gaye Evans).  During my time in Sydney Mr Grove and I will continue our discussions on the Speaker's Review of Norfolk’s parliamentary service which we commenced earlier in the year; this including addressing succession training for the Clerk which is long overdue.

The timing of my visit to Sydney will also allow me to join other State and Territory Presiding Officers at a meeting with the Hon Sir Alan Hazelhurst MP, from the UK Parliament, Chair of the CPA Executive Committee, who has been attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM) in Perth. Sir Alan is taking the opportunity to meet with CPA Branch Executives whilst in Australia to discuss current issues facing the CPA and the Australian Region in particular.

And finally by letter of introduction from the Chief Minister, I will be meeting with the NSW Parliamentary Counsel Mr Don Colagiuri to follow up on previous contact with his office by Mr Craig Anderson and Mr Wayne Richards some time ago.

Visit of Justice G Downes (President) and Mr Philip Kellow (Principal Registrar) of the Commonwealth Administrative Appeals Tribunal

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 was amended by the Territories Law Reform Act 2010 to extend to Norfolk Island.  The Commonwealth Government undertook, at that time, to provide information and training to Administration officers in the operation of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975.  The Chief Minister met with Mr Kellow in Sydney and Justice Downes by teleconference, following a visit to Canberra in June this year and invited them to come to Norfolk Island. Their visit this week is the next step in this process and Assembly Members and Officers at the Assembly were pleased to be able to meet with Justice Downes yesterday to discuss processes going forward.  Whilst in Sydney I will also be calling on Justice Downes and sitting in on a session of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to see first hand how it operates.

Readers will recall that Justice Downes, along with Chief Justice Jacobson and Justice Lander, visited Norfolk Island in October 2010 to participate in ceremonial activities associated with the commemoration of the 50^th Anniversary of the Supreme Court of Norfolk Island. 

The next sitting of the Legislative Assembly is on Wednesday 9 November 2011 at 10 am.

To read the Notice Paper, Programme and Minutes of Proceedings and legislation tabled in the House go to www.info.gov.nf. Issued from the Office of the Speaker on 28 October 2011 and posted on the blog site http://yourparliamentyourvoice.blogspot.com