“The situation on Norfolk Island, a part of Australia and populated by Australian citizens, really is scandalous… [they] are denied the right to vote for and choose those responsible for the day-to-day governance of their community. This is a matter of national shame,” writes columnist JON STANHOPE. 

I was the official secretary and deputy administrator of Norfolk Island in the early 1990s and am in regular contact with some people who live there.

At the time that my family and I were resident on the island, the people enjoyed the same democratic rights as residents of the ACT.

That all changed in 2015 when the federal parliament, without a single dissenting vote or voice in opposition, revoked the Norfolk Island Self Government Act, after 40 years of self-government, and effectively reduced Norfolk Island to its original status as a colony.

The only powers that residents were left to exercise were those of a local government council. All state-type responsibilities, ie those most relevant to our day-to-day lives – such as health, education and the environment etcetera were delegated to the NSW government. 

However, the residents of Norfolk Island were not granted any right to participate in NSW elections.

As an aside, the NSW government has advised that it is not prepared to continue to be part of this disgraceful charade and is ending its involvement. The Commonwealth is, accordingly, busily flashing its 30 bits of very tarnished silver before the eyes of the Queensland government in the hope of seducing it into agreeing to take over as Raj or colonial overlord of Norfolk Island.

In recent months the Commonwealth, having abolished self-government just five years ago and imposed a Clayton’s and clearly undemocratic form of governance on Norfolk Island, has used its untrammelled power over the territories to disband the council and appoint an administrator in its stead. 

Norfolk Island is currently being governed entirely from Canberra and Sydney – the residents have been disenfranchised at both a state and local level.

In fact, Australian citizens resident on Norfolk Island probably have fewer democratic rights than the residents of Hong Kong and possibly only little more than the peoples of North Korea and Myanmar.

In recent days, I received a copy of a plea from the Norfolk Island Chamber of Commerce to the Prime Minister seeking urgent action from the Commonwealth to overcome food shortages on the Island. 

Yes, that is correct. The Norfolk Island Chamber of Commerce – not exactly a hotbed of ratbags and wild radicalism – is advising that the people of Norfolk Island, not North Korea, are running out of food.

This is some of what the chamber had to say: “The food stock (for humans and animals) on Norfolk Island is at a dangerous level – there are none of some products on the Island. This is causing people stress, anxiety and mental health issues.

“The chamber and others have on several occasions asked the administrator, as the Australian government representative, to assist in solving the freight problem but he has ignored the requests.

“People are desperate. Businesses are embarrassed they do not have the stock and are unable to open.

“The change to Norfolk Island governance was the decision of the Australian government so the Prime Minister cannot sit back and do nothing – he has to act.”

By coincidence, Canberra friends of my wife, Robyn, and I are currently holidaying on Norfolk Island and we dropped them a line to ask about the concerns expressed by the Chamber of Commerce regarding the availability of food on the island. 

This was their response: “Shelves are very bare. Milk, the day we arrived, was $14.95 a litre. Yesterday, finally local milk was $8 a litre. 

“We brought with us tinned salmon and cheese for lunch and went out for dinner. Sensational fish meals. Bond store is nearly empty. No white wine at all. Fortunately, I brought six bottles with me. We got half a dozen eggs first day and none in shops since.”

The situation on Norfolk Island, a part of Australia and populated by Australian citizens, really is scandalous. In a governance sense the same can be said about Australia’s two Indian Ocean territories Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. 

There are somewhere in the order of 5000 people living on these three Australian external territories, almost Australian citizens, who are denied the most basic democratic right. The right to vote for and choose those responsible for the day-to-day governance of their community. This is a matter of national shame.

The issues, as a result of remoteness and population size are certainly complex, but they are not insurmountable. Other nations around the world have been faced with similar challenges in developing democratic models for the governance of the small and embarrassing remnants of empire and colonialism with which they are associated, but unlike Australia they have persisted and succeeded.

The immediate priority is, of course, for the Commonwealth to respond urgently to the very evident lack of food and supplies on Norfolk Island. 

It is moot to note, as the Chamber of Commerce has in its cry for help, that never under the years of self-government did the people of Norfolk Island ever face, as they now do, the prospect of running out of food.