TORRES NEWS ONLINE -

The final report from the current Senate inquiry into matters relating to the Torres Strait region should be produced by August, said the Senator who is leading the inquiry.

Liberal Senator Russel Trood, speaking to the Torres News after hearings and site inspections were held in the Torres Strait on 23-24 March, said the senate committee conducting the inquiry will follow up on the local testimony by holding further hearings in Canberra.

Federal government departments and agencies have already made submissions to the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee over two days last December.

“Having taken evidence in Brisbane [on 25 March] from Queensland government agencies, we will probably recalling some federal government agencies to give evidence again in light of what we have learned up north, and we will probably produce a report shortly after that; hopefully by August,” Senator Trood said.

Key issues raised during the Thursday Island hearings included “the challenge of administering health and the demand that is placed on the Outer Island clinics and the Thursday Island Hospital by PNG nationals,” he said.

“We heard consistently the concern about PNG nationals coming across the border. Members of the committee were of the view that nobody had a clear handle on how to quantify the number of cross-border visits made by PNG nationals each year.”

Senator Trood also said the concern over the lack of policing on the Outer Islands was “pretty evident”.

“The police maritime assets in the Torres Strait are more limited than they should be and that’s constrained the capacity of police to do their work,” he said.

Also on the maritime front, Senator Trood said the withdrawal of navy assets from the region has constrained the ability of government agencies to do some of their work as the naval craft were regularly used by other agencies to travel across the region.

“We also heard stories about the movement of drugs, essentially marijuana, across the border, which some communities were concerned about,” he added.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) is one government department that will be required to give further testimony in Canberra, after it came under severe criticism for its management of the cray-fishing industry, the senator said.

Although the senate committee is yet to meet to consider its findings, some solutions floated during the Senate’s recent visit included the establishment of a shared government facility on Boigu to deal with people coming across from PNG.

“There probably needs to be more maritime capacity up there so agencies could get around more easily; but the committee hasn’t formally settled on any of these proposals yet,” Senator Trood added.

By COREY BOUSEN