Meeting Briefs OCM held 30 July 2025

Published on 04 August 2025

APPOINTMENT OF INTERIM GM TO BE ANNOUNCED

Norfolk Island Regional Council received twenty-two applications for the position of Interim General Manager, which was made vacant by the recent resignation of Mr Phillip Reid, who completed his tenure in the role on 31 July 2025.

A selection advisory panel, formed of community members and Council representatives, assessed the applications and shortlisted  three candidates for interview. A preferred candidate has been made an offer, and an announcement regarding an appointment will be made in the near future. It’s anticipated that the new Interim General Manager will commence on 8 August 2025.

In the meantime, Manager of Infrastructure and Services, Mr Scott Hackney, will step into the Interim General Manager role for the period 1 to  8 August 2025.

Council’s administrators thanked Mr Reid for his service of almost five years with NIRC and congratulated him on his new position.

AMENDED WATER ASSURANCE FEES ON PUBLIC EXHIBITION

The amended 2025/26 Schedule of Fees and Charges for Water Assurance will be made available for public viewing and feedback through Public Exhibition following the meeting held on 30 July 2025.

Following the 28-day period of public exhibition, a report will be submitted to Council recommending revisions as a result of community feedback.

The amendments relate to changes made to wording to ensure clarity about the way in which fixed annual amounts for some business property classifications are set, which is by Council resolution, as opposed to the statutory fee unit described in the Interpretation Act 1979 (NI).

SERVICE REVIEW IDENTIFIES KEY BUSINESS UNIT’S STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

Ongoing service reviews continue across the entire Council organisation, including key business units such as electricity and telecommunications.

Norfolk Electricity’s current operating revenues, sourced from consumer billing, are not sufficient to cover all operating costs, in excess of $5.7M. Due to the vital nature of the business unit and the importance of its long-term viability, Council approached the review seeking dual outcomes, one focused on expenses and operational efficiency, and the other looking at electricity tariffs and the performance of the billing service.

While the operation efficiency element concluded that despite ageing infrastructure and workforce constraints, Council manages to maintain strong reliability of 99.5%, thanks in part to a small and dedicate team, diesel usage has been cut by around 150,000  litres (Q4, 2024) through the community uptake of renewable.  Continued reliance on diesel and the need for asset renewal and a structure asset maintenance program, workforce capacity and funding shortfalls were identified as challenges.

Consulting firm Qubist were commissioned to undertake an independent review of the dynamic tariff structure in April of this year, and they presented their report to Council at the 30 July 20205 meeting.

The  Qubist  findings  characterise  the  current  dynamic  tariff  structure  as  too complex for most consumers and prone to generating excessive cross-subsidies for solar and battery system owners.  The  findings  also  conclude  that  the  current  revenue  levels  materially  under-recover  the  costs  of running  the  electricity  network. 

Council  intends  to  proceed  with  the  review’s  recommendation  to undertake comprehensive community consultation around Qubist’s more significant recommendations  around  the  tariff  structure,  pricing  and  cross- subsidisation. 

The NI Telecom review offered similar results, with condition of infrastructure and outdated hardware and software identified as challenges to be addressed, while the commitment and experience of the small and dedicated team, collaboration with other departments and a high level of WHS compliance being clear strengths for the business unit.

Council will continue to develop a Norfolk Island Strategic Plan as laid out in the Operational Plan and will update the Norfolk Telecom Asset Management Plan (AMP) to include critical digital systems, in terms of both cost and risk factors.

A  copy  of  the  independent  report by Qubist is  attached to the business paper for the 30 July agenda, found on NIRC’s website under Council Meetings.