28 Jun 2016

Norfolk not ready to be folded into NSW - Chamber

3:30 pm on 28 June 2016
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On Friday, Norfolk Island, which until last year enjoyed limited autonomy, will be folded into New South Wales. Photo: Norfolk government

The president of the Chamber of Commerce on Norfolk Island says it is not at all ready to become a part of New South Wales on Friday.

Canberra has deemed the island, which had its autonomy taken away a year ago, will become a regional council in the state on July 1.

John Brown, who has previously called on the administrator to delay the change, says confusion reigns on the island.

Mr Brown, who is a lawyer, said the question of what will be the law on July 1 is very much unresolved.

"I would have thought by now that those who are imposing the change would have had a four or five page booklet that I could get hold of to tell me exactly what the implications of the changes are to be," he said.

"But nothing such as that is available."

Mr Brown said many of the businesses on the island have closed or are closing, while just a handful of the public sector workers who have lost their jobs have got positions in the new administration.

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