Seismologist Col Lynam of the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland (and also Vice-President of The Royal Society of Queensland) presented on this subject on Friday, 16 August 2024, during a visit to the Island of a group from the Geographical Society, on their GeoTour 2024. View a pdf of the slides of his address here. A larger file with commentary attached to the slides can be viewed here.
John Griffiths and Alicia Dunn presented on underwater drones on Friday 5 July 2024. For their powerpoint presentation, click here. For a narrative explanation, click here.
For a video of their equipment, click on this photo:
The photo is of John Griffiths-designed X-Calibre 8 thrusters, from 300m to 600m depth capable, multiple interchangeable tool options, with sensors, instruments and artificial intelligence for roles as diverse as search and rescue, control of marine invasive species to ship hull anomaly and bio-fouling detection.
This is John Griffiths’s De Litter Bug 8 thrusters, 40m- 200m for marine debris collection and other tasks. This ROV is aimed mostly at retrieving items such as abandoned fishing gear through to car bodies or sunken boats. The grappling hook detaches and has a 200 kg breaking strain line 50 metres long with a float on its arm so that items can be hauled in without the ROV being further involved. The ROV also has a quickly demountable twin disc cutter with counter-rotating blades capable of cutting up to 10mm of wire cable. It has a sonar and DVL650 for holding position in currents up to 6 knots. The design is as simple as possible to keep the machining cost down. The idea for this was to help organisations involved in marine debris collection to have the cheapest units possible.
This photo shows a speargun mounted on an underwater drone for sustainable and selective fishing without the by-catch. Also used when weather conditions make it impossible to launch a boat and can be used off jetties, beaches and headlands.
Bio of Professor John Quiggin
John Quiggin has been an active member of the Australian economics profession since joining the (then) Bureau of Agricultural Economics (now ABARES) in the late 1970s. Apart from two temporary appointments in the United States, he has spent his entire career in Australia, at the University of Sydney, the Australian National University and James Cook University. Since 2002 he has been at the University of Queensland. As of 2024, he is semi-retired, with a primary focus on public engagement.
Although he has worked on a great many topics, his abiding interests have been decision theory, resource and environmental economics and Australian public policy. He has published 10 books and over 250 journal articles. Recent and forthcoming books include Western Welfare Capitalisms in Good Times and Bad (2023), After Neoliberalism (2024) and Public Policy and Climate Change: Politics, Philosophy and Economics.
Quiggin has followed the path of earlier generations of Australian economists (notably including agricultural economists) who saw it as part of their job to take an active part in debates on public policy. While some of his contributions have been made through academic publications, the greater part has been addressed to the public at large. He has written numerous ‘trade’ books, published in paperback and aimed at a general audience. Recent examples are Zombie Economics: How Dead Ideas Still Walk Among Us and Economics in Two Lessons: Why Markets Work so Well, and Why they can Fail so Badly.
As well as commenting regularly in print and broadcast media, Quiggin has been very active in exploring the potential of new media. In 2002, he established what is now Australia’s longest-running political blog at johnquiggin.com.
In political terms, Quiggin advocates a mixed economy, with democratic social control over sectors of the economy where competitive markets cannot deliver adequate outcomes, including infrastructure, health and education, underpinned by a public commitment to full employment.
Prof Quiggin visited Norfolk Island in March 2024 without professional fee and delivered two lectures on governance.
The Joint Standing Committee of the National Capital and External Territories (JSC) of the Australian Parliament in November 2023 released its final report on the governance of Norfolk Island. Read the JSC report here. See in particular the seven recommendations:
Recommendation 1
6.112 The Committee recommends that the Norfolk Island Governance Committee incorporate into its terms of reference consideration of the development of a preamble for the establishing legislation that:
recognises the culture, traditions, heritage and history of Norfolk Island;
• defines the nature of the relationship between Norfolk Island and Australia; and
• sets out the shared aspirations for the future direction of the relationship.
Recommendation 2
6.121 The Committee recommends a new bespoke model of local governance for Norfolk Island, to be enacted through Commonwealth legislation after thorough community consultation to define some key aspects of the model.
Recommendation 3
6.127 The Committee recommends that the new governing body include both democratically elected and appointed members with specific expertise in public administration, and that:
• the governing body consist of at least six members;
• a majority of members be elected, with elected members holding the balance of power on the body;
• the appointed positions be reserved for individuals with expertise in relevant matters of public administration, selected via a merit-based process that preferences qualified local community members where possible; and
• capacity building be a key responsibility of the governing body to ensure that more Norfolk Islanders are qualified to hold future governance positions either in the governing body or local administration, and in the procurement of goods and services by the administration.
Recommendation 4
6.132 The Committee recommends that the Norfolk Island community have a say in the governing body, including that:
• the recommendations contained in this report be referred to the Norfolk Island Governance Committee for further consultation and refinement;
• this consultation and refinement result in a model that includes a clearly defined preamble for the establishing legislation, the size of the governing body, the specific expertise required by this governing body, and the revenue models to be incorporated into the establishing legislation; and
• a binding, compulsory vote of registered voters on Norfolk Island is required to approve the final model determined by the Norfolk Island Governance Committee.
Recommendation 5
6.134 The Committee recommends that the first elections for the new governing body should be held prior to December 2024.
Recommendation 6
6.138 The Committee recommends that the governing body be adaptive and supportive of the unique local history and identity of Norfolk Island, and that:
• the new Commonwealth legislation contain the form of the preamble developed by the Norfolk Island Governance Committee; and
• the legislation contain provisions for periodic review to ensure that the governing body is adaptable and can meet the future needs and interests of both Norfolk Island and Australia.
Recommendation 7
6.145 The Committee recommends that the responsibilities of the new governing body and the mechanism for local input into Commonwealth and State responsibilities be clearly defined following the restoration of local democracy on Norfolk Island, including that:
• to ensure Commonwealth and State services meet local needs—the governing body should have a formal advisory role in relation to education, health, population strategy, heritage management, biosecurity, sea-freight and tourism;
• the management of key historical sites of cultural importance to the local community be subject to joint management between the Commonwealth and the local community; and
• these matters be incorporated into the terms of reference of the Norfolk Island Governance Committee for further local consultation and refinement.
Presentations at the Home Grown workshops in November 2022 included:
This slim self-published volume, printed by Photopress International on Norfolk Island, has not been registered in the National Library of Australia. It follows an unusual style, being part memoir, part reflective and part fiction. It ends with high praise of Norfolk Island as a place where the restless author “Crystal Allan” finally found peace. Author long-term resident Louise Menadue.
Professor Sarah Baker of Griffith University and Dr Zelmarie Cantillon have been running a project called “Reimagining Norfolk Island’s KAVHA” and funded by the Australian Research Council. It has been based on interviews and workshops and involves the publication of e-zines.
This project analyses how cultural injustices are reinforced or resisted within KAVHA as a living heritage site. Specifically, the researchers focus on Pitcairn Settler descendants’ relationships with Daun’taun, as well as that of other residents who have long and deep connections to the area, and their experience of heritage management in KAVHA. In addition to scholarly writing (e.g. peer-reviewed articles), the researchers aim to capture these relationships in “zines”.
The zines in this series are a form of public history and community archiving, enabling people to tell their stories on their own terms. The zines are a way to facilitate the sharing of memories, experiences, feelings and local knowledge. This isn’t about creating a definitive history of the subject at hand. Instead, the zines in this series provide a space where multiple voices can appear together, recording the emotional resonance of the past. As such, the zines are forms of heritage activism which emphasise the democratisation of history-making.
Their website https://reimaginingkavha.com/zines/explains the project.
Their scholarly article “Zines as community archive” was published in the journal Archival Science in February 2022. (This article is re-published here under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence).
Their first zine, “See You at the Paradise” (19.4MB), was published in September 2021, the second, “Mais Daun’taun Vol. 1” (19.1MB), in December 2021 and the third, “Mais Daun’taun Vol. 2” (352.5MB) in April 2022.
The research team acknowledges the Pitcairn Settler descendants as the custodians of the land on which the project takes place. We pay respect to the Elders, past and present, and extend that respect to all Norfolk Island people.
At the Home Grown workshops in November 2022, Island resident Dr Geoff Edwards delivered a presentation on plant hygiene on Norfolk Island and biosecurity procedures for importing new varieties of plants into the Island for the purposes of food production. See the video of the address here (external link).
Officers of the federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forests gave presentations on importation of nursery stock and animal biosecurity. The video is available (external link).
Visiting scientist Dr Anthony Rice presented on some insect pests of food species, including a presentation on beneficial predators of pests.
At the Home Grown workshops held in November 2022, consultant Jason Lynch presented his report on Agricultural Land Use and Land Capability Assessment (3.6MB) with this powerpoint. The session was recorded on video (external link).
See Declan McDonald‘s presentation on visual soil assessment and two videos: this of a field demonstration and this one in the forecourt of Rawson Hall on visual soil assessment (external link).
See a summary scorecard for assessing soils under grazing land.
Graeme Sait, Principal of Nutri-Tech Solutions based on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, visited the Island in November 2022 and delivered some excellent workshop presentations as well as leading field excursions to local properties.
Mr Sait has generously provided the attached article Chasing the Biggest Bang as a generic summary of pathways for improving nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium levels in soils. The article highlights how complex are the interactions between physical soil, organic materials, mineral nutrients, micro-organisms and plants. Even experienced gardeners and farmers are encouraged to read the article.
In the video of this talk (external link), he reports that previous analysis of some 40-50 samples of soil from around the Island showed five minerals including copper and boron to be deficient from all, no exception.
In this video of the inspection of the Selwyn Pine Rd property of Dr and Mrs Geoff Edwards (external link), he explains that he sees no evidence of unthrifty plants that cannot be explained by inadequate nutrition.
In the video of this field inspection, he explains the critical importance of a healthy ‘microbiome’ and the damage that processed food does to the human metabolism (external link).
Mr Sait has also encouraged us to post a link to his podcast series: https://anchor.fm/nutrition-farming
