Share Facebook

Twitter

Whatsapp

Mail

Whatsapp Norfolk Island's iconic pines attracted Captain Cook, who thought they could be used to make masts for ships.

For several decades the tiny population of Norfolk Island were self-sufficient and self-governing. But the final steps to make them ordinary Australian citizens will take place on 1 July and, as Keri Phillips reports, not everyone is happy about it.

Ever since the descendants of the Bounty mutineers made Norfolk Island their home, there has been debate about the independence of the island.

While the people there have long considered their home an independent nation, the history of whether they were granted full ownership is murky.

I thought it was the best functioning direct democracy I've ever seen.

Captain Cook was the first European to visit Norfolk Island in 1774, and when Governor Phillip arrived in Sydney with the first fleet in 1788, he sent Lieutenant Philip Gidley King almost immediately to set up a penal colony there.

By the early 19th century, the penal colony was closed, but there were problems on another small island, Pitcairn, where the descendants of the mutineers on the Bounty were struggling.

They petitioned Queen Victoria, who agreed to move them to Norfolk.

Peter Maywald, who was Norfolk Island's secretary to the government from 2003-10, says the Pitcairners all moved across in 1856.

'This is where the history gets murky, because the Norfolk Islanders or the Pitcairn descendants claim Queen Victoria gave them the island in perpetuity with the condition that there be no punitive taxes,' he says.

'The Australian government contests that, and the paperwork is ambiguous, I would say.

'But they still believe Norfolk Island was given to them, it's theirs, it's not part of Australia, and Australia contends it's an external territory.'

A successful democracy

Over the years the administration of Norfolk was handed between New South Wales and the Federal Government, until in the 1970s a Royal Commission recommended it be completely absorbed into Australia.

But, Maywald says, the locals weren't happy with that. They communicated their feelings in no uncertain terms to then home affairs minister Bob Ellicott, who quite surprisingly agreed to make them self-governing.

The Norfolk Island Act was passed in 1979, giving the island limited autonomy.

After the passing of the Norfolk Island Act, a legislative assembly—similar to one that governs the ACT—was established. As an advisor to this government, Maywald says he was surprised at how well the system worked.

'I thought it was the best functioning direct democracy I've ever seen,' he says.

'They had citizen-initiated referendums, they had no political parties, so all members were elected on their own policy platform and expected to deliver when they got in. The cabinet ministers became the four or five who got the most votes, so the public really elected the ministers.

'And the parliamentarians were totally accessible to the people. That's inevitable in a small community ... If they were at Foodland supermarket on a Saturday morning, people would come up and ask about roads or pensions or any other issue. And the other thing was all of their parliamentary decisions were totally public and they were all broadcast live.

'It was a functional parliament on the model that I believed democratic parliaments should run on.'

How the GST and GFC broke Norfolk

Norfolk Island was self-funding for the most part—it funded the hospital, the school, infrastructure and the power station, says Jon Stanhope, who was the deputy administrator of Norfolk Island during the 1990s.

'The Norfolk Island legislative assembly developed its own pension scheme, its own social security safety net, and its own medical benefits scheme—but of course nowhere near as generous as the schemes that applied on the mainland,' he says.

'But opposed to that of course they didn't pay income tax and didn't contribute to the mainland taxation base.

'I lived there for two years in the early '90s and it was a very, very happy, vibrant, proud community that, if asked, almost unanimously would respond that they had the best lifestyle in the world.'

Share Facebook

Twitter

Whatsapp

Mail

Whatsapp The old Kingston Prison, dating from Norfolk's time as a penal colony, is now part of a world heritage area.

But Norfolk Island's income was hit hard by two events in the early 2000s—first the introduction of the GST and then in 2008, the global financial crisis.

Maywald says Norfolk effectively lost its duty-free status when the GST came in.

'Things that were taxed at a very high rate on the mainland, so-called luxury sales taxes on things like perfumes and alcohol and some appliances and jewellery, they were extremely cheap in Norfolk Island because they didn't have that sales tax,' he says.

'Tourists used to come there for a week and pay for their fares with all the savings they made on their purchases.'

The Norfolk Islanders weren't compensated, and the tax changes damaged their tourism.

'From then on most tourists were retired people or people on fixed incomes,' Maywald says.

Then in 2008, tourism took a further dive as the GFC made it difficult for older people to travel, while the high Australian dollar made overseas holidays more attractive.

The roadmap to being part of Australia

These increasingly difficult economic circumstances ultimately brought an end to self-government on Norfolk Island.

In 2010, in a move that apparently surprised many Norfolk Islanders, chief minister David Buffett announced in the Legislative Assembly that the island would surrender its self-government in return for a Commonwealth bailout.

That year, Neil Pope, a former Victorian Labor MP and conflict resolution expert, went there as administrator to negotiate what was known as the Norfolk Island Road Map, so the island could become part of both the Australian taxation system and social safety net.

'We would be propping up their budget, but only on the basis that they were able to deliver on various aspects that were included in the roadmap,' Pope says.

'They needed to raise their revenue, and so it was things like trying to introduce property tax, which they had never had. They might be incidentals but basically their only real revenue raiser was a 12 per cent GST which was on everything.'

He says the vast majority of people on the island were in favour of joining the Australian tax system, but the loss of self-government was a sticking point.

'The way it is being portrayed is as if self-government has always existed on Norfolk Island. Well, self-government has only existed on Norfolk Island for 36 years,' he says.

Did you know Rear Vision is also a podcast? Subscribe on iTunes, ABC Radio or your favourite podcasting app and listen later.

In 2014 the Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories undertook an inquiry into economic development on Norfolk Island, with a particular focus on tourism. Jon Stanhope says their terms of reference were to enquire about the economic future and capacity of Norfolk Island—and the leading recommendation was to abolish self-government.

'They didn't invite submissions on governance. They didn't take evidence on governance. They basically effectively hoodwinked the entire community,' he says.

Fitting Norfolk into our democracy

One of the members of the Joint Standing Committee that made that recommendation to get rid of self-government is Gai Brodtmann, the Labor member for the seat of Canberra, the ACT electorate where Norfolk Islanders will in future be enrolled to vote.

She says the current governance arrangements are stunting the island's economic growth.

'Each time I've been up there I've seen a further deterioration of the economic situation—more shops closed, more industries going under, and more people leaving the island, and that is of great concern,' she says.

'All those reviews pointed to the fact that the existing governance arrangements weren't serving the island as best they could. The current arrangements just weren't sustainable.'

From 1 July, what's called a regional council will take over what are traditionally local council responsibilities: roads, rates and rubbish. At the federal level, it will become compulsory to vote in the electorate of Canberra in the ACT.

Where state laws would apply, they'll be the laws of NSW, although the people of Norfolk Island won't be able to vote in NSW state elections.

'Just imagine any other community in Australia on the mainland where you are going to be put holus-bolus into an electorate and you are not even asked your opinion about that proposal,' Stanhope says.

'Particularly when you are living a couple of thousand kilometres away in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and they've decided to attach you to a landlocked electorate which is part of the national capital.

'There is no accountability, there is no political responsibility at all for the day-to-day decisions that affect your life.'