Administrator dismisses Norfolk opposition to reforms

Transcript

Australia's administrator on Norfolk Island says opposition to reforms initiated by Canberra is being led by a few politicians who fear for their jobs.

Norfolk Island loses its autonomy but it will receive the same social services as the mainland.

Most recently the Norfolk Legislative Assembly has passed a Remonstrance Motion pleading for the governor general not to give the assent to the legislation.

Norfolk has also threatened to take its concerns to the United Nations.

But administrator Gary Hardgrave is unfazed.

He told Don Wiseman he is putting the welfare of the poor on the island ahead of a bunch of disgruntled politicians.

GARY HARDGRAVE: It has been decades of debate and reports and consultations that have taken place that have dealt with issues relating to Norfolk Island's ability to sustain itself, and many people on this island are just fed up to the back teeth with consultations, they want action and the action's now happening.

DON WISEMAN: I know there's a sizeable number who would support you on that but they've held a referendum and they had very large support for the referendum saying they wanted a say.

GH: They held a referendum with a series of statements that were designed to elicit the vote that it elicited. And equally they had a referendum in the background where those promoting a particular side of the argument said 'it doesn't matter which way you vote, the reforms are coming anyway'. So you know the referendum is not a referendum as mature democracies like the rest of Australia and indeed New Zealand would recognise. It was in fact questionable from the beginning and I think it was just seen as the latest in a series of tactics to try and delay the inevitable, an inevitable that the legislative assembly themselves wanted and yet when the decision was taken by the Australian parliament they complained about it.

DW: You can accuse these people of posturing. They could also say the same about some of the things that you've just said, some of the things that Jamie Briggs has said to the media, that he's said to us. The point though is there are people who've lived on the island for a long time, perhaps all their lives, who are unhappy about this. You have got to bring them in and create a more congenial environment, don't you?. How are you going to do that?

GH: Absolutely, absolutely, there are some people who are not happy but there are many others who are also very happy and there are also some who are intimidating others and there's a whole bunch of things going on here. But the point here is that there is no shortage of debate, which is great and there's no shortage of a range of opinions, which is good. Some who are claiming that they represent the views of one group on the island but in fact they don't and at the end of it there has to be a grown-up in the room and there has to be a decision taken, a decision that has been decades in the making.

DW: What will Australia do if the Norfolk Island Legislative Council takes this issue to the United Nations, as they are suggesting they might.

GH: Well the action hasn't happened and I don't quite know by what means they would effect that action.

DW: In terms of what Australia may or may not do given what's taken place this month, it's essentially a case of ignoring it, because you don't really rate it.

GH: No, what's happening here is there is a huge amount of money that is coming from Australia's tax-payer base over the next four years to directly invest in this island; to underpin its social welfare fabric, which is now torn and shredded and in a complete mess; to give better health care services at little or no cost compared to the high cost that's currently the case on Norfolk Island; to ensure that as a result Norfolk Island is folded as it should never have not been. In other words it was a mistake, the 1979 Act that set this assembly up, which is one aspect of it, but it also precluded it from getting Commonwealth services - all of that now is being remedied. So the Australian taxpayer is taking on the task of assisting the 1360 people who live on Norfolk Island as citizens and several hundred who live on a variety of visas in a way that no other community of less than 1800 has anywhere else on the Australian mainland. So this is a very positive and definite vote of financial support, which does nothing else other than assist this community to go and grow and be stronger than it's ever been in the past. And there is a preoccupation with a handful of politicians who are going to have to go to make way for progress but they have had, in particular the last five years, certainly the last four and a bit years, to be part of the change. Instead they have not done the work they should've done to help facilitate the change and yet four and a bit years ago they asked for change, change is now being delivered and now they're running around spending precious resources, financing trips to various places, while cars attached to the Government's administration fleet have bald tyres. Don, it's a matter of priorities, I'm putting the poor and poorly resourced of this island ahead of the needs of a few politicians and I think that's a good thing.