ACT Government looking to offload Jervis Bay

By Noel Towell
Updated November 6 2012 - 2:44am, first published October 19 2011 - 2:14am
Photo: DEFENCE
Photo: DEFENCE

The ACT Government is preparing to cut its historic ties with Jervis Bay, the tiny South Coast community governed directly from Canberra since 1915.Chief Minister Katy Gallagher has ordered plans to be drawn up for the ACT to extract itself from an agreement with the Commonwealth to provide a range of services to the 390 residents of Jervis Bay.Ms Gallagher says it is ''crazy'' for the territory to continue to provide child protection, schools, courts and even driving licences to a community 263km away.The ACT Government wants the arrangements changed so that services would be delivered to Jervis Bay, where ACT laws apply, by the NSW Government from the nearby town of Nowra.Since it was surrendered to the Commonwealth in 1915, so Canberra would have a ''seaport'', the enclave, which is a Commonwealth Territory and not part of the ACT, has been administered from the nation's capital.The ACT Government provides, on behalf of the Commonwealth, welfare services, family support, drivers licences and car registrations, courts, registrar-general services, fair trading, building control, electrical and plumbing inspections, and some roads services.The ACT still provides a school at Wreck Bay Village in the south of Jervis Bay and a number of ''ad hoc'' services are also called upon, often required at short notice.But the responsibilities for Jervis Bay, Australia's smallest territory, inherited at self government and performed on a fee-for-service basis, are now regarded in the Chief Minister's office as an unwanted legacy.Ms Gallagher told The Canberra Times that she had formed the view that it would be better for both the ACT and for Jervis Bay if NSW took over the administration on behalf of the Commonwealth.''If you take child protection for example, many of the people we've been helping in Jervis Bay through Care and Protection are known in Nowra, to NSW Care and Protection,'' the Chief Minister said.''There was one Care and Protection matter recently where it became clear that it was simply crazy to provide those services down there.''Ms Gallagher said that it ''would not be easy'' to navigate the legislative requirements for the territory to extract itself from Jervis Bay.''It's not about trying to remove ourselves from any responsibility or saying it's too hard,'' the Chief Minister said.''It's about looking at who is best to provide these services and I'm not sure that the ACT Government is best placed to deliver them when you consider that the NSW Government is delivering services to the local community except for this small area.''Ms Gallagher has the backing of Allan Hawke, who wrote in his recent review of the National Capital Authority that running Jervis Bay was a ''distraction'' for the Government and the people of the ACT.He urged Federal Minister for Regional Australia Simon Crean to take action on the issue.Paul Green, Mayor of Shoalhaven Council which surrounds Jervis Bay, said he would welcome the return of the community to NSW administration.''I think it would be a wise move and we would very much welcome the opportunity to formally adopt that part of the world into Shoalhaven, the jewel in the crown of east coast Australia,'' Councillor Green said.''Having said that, I'll make it very clear that we'd need to be compensated to carry out the servicing and the maintenance of current assets.''

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