Political Reviews

Micronesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016 michael lujan bevacqua, landisang l kotaro, monica c labriola, clement yow mulalap

Polynesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016 peter clegg, lorenz gonschor, margaret mutu, christina newport, steven ratuva, forrest wade young

The Contemporary Pacic, Volume 29, Number 1, 93–188 © 2017 by University of Hawai‘i Press

93 154 the contemporary pacific • 29:1 (2017) waateanews?story_id=MTI3NDY= decolonization by granting it a large [accessed 24 Aug 2016] degree of self-government in 1979, ———. 2016b. Rena Fight Not Over an arrangement similar to other for Motiti Hapu. 5 April. http://www autonomous dependent territories .waateanews.com/waateanews/x_story in the region. _id/MTMyNjQ= [accessed 30 Aug 2016] However, the 2008–2009 global Walsh, Kristine. 2016. Gisborne Land Use financial crisis hit the island’s mainly Case Taken to UN for Opinion. Gisborne tourism-based economy particu- Herald, 29 March. http://gisborneherald larly hard (after earlier disruptions .co.nz/localnews/2235419-135/gisborne ­including miscalculated investments -land-use-case-taken-to [accessed 30 Aug in a locally owned airline in 2006), 2016] and from 2010 onward, the local government’s budget operated at a deficit. This necessitated annual subsidies from the Australian fed- Norfolk Island eral government ranging from a$3.2 The year under review was a fateful ­million in 2011 (us$2.4 million) up one for Norfolk Island, and indeed to a$7.5 million (us$5.6 million) in for the entire Pacific Islands region, the 2014–2015 financial year. Under as it marked the unprecedented the 1979 statutes, Norfolk Island ­recolonization of an island territory was not allowed to borrow money by its administrative power without in order to cover deficits without the ­territory’s consent, an anachro- Canberra’s ­permission, which was nistic act going against the current of not ­forthcoming. In 2010, Australia decolonization of the past six decades first refused to provide the requested and comparable in modern history ­budgetary subsidy but then agreed to only to the reactionary French policies it on condition that Norfolk Island toward its Pacific possessions from the paid Australian federal taxes and late 1950s to the mid-1980s. Austra- accepted financial oversight by federal lia’s recolonizing policies sparked an officials, which the local government outburst of Norfolk Island national- agreed to under protest (C Nobbs ism and a well-organized resistance 2016b). movement struggling both locally The 2007–2013 Australian Labor and globally for the restoration of Party government under Prime Minis- ­democracy to the island community. ters Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd had A British colony settled in 1856 agreed to further negotiations with from Pitcairn Island by the descen- the Norfolk Island territorial gov- dants of the Bounty mutineers and ernment over the issue, and the two their Tahitian partners (some of whom governments had signed a “Norfolk later returned to Pitcairn to become Island Road Map” for that purpose the ancestors of that island’s current in 2011. But the Liberal Party govern- inhabitants), Norfolk Island became ment under Tony Abbott that came a dependent territory of Australia in to power in Australia in 2013 repu- 1914, and six decades later Australia diated this compromise and instead initiated steps toward the island’s advocated a hard-line, reactionary political reviews • polynesia 155 approach. A report commissioned by to the bill’s passage, no parliamen- the federal government in 2014—orig- tarian acknowledged this obvious inally intended to look into economic denial of democracy, and some even issues, not political institutions—rec- mocked the more than two-thirds ommended shutting down the Nor- majority vote in the referendum as folk Island government altogether merely representing “some” people and replacing it with direct rule by on the island being “unhappy” or Canberra, and the Abbot govern- having “concerns” (Government of ment followed the report, introducing Australia 2015b). Further protests and corresponding legislation in Austra- complaints by Norfolk Island Legisla- lia’s Parliament. The Norfolk Island tive Assembly Speaker David Buffett Legislation Amendment Act 2015 was and Chief Minister Lisle Snell used all first tabled in the Australian House of available avenues, such as an article Representatives on 26 March and in in the Commonwealth Parliamentary the Senate on 13 May. Association’s magazine (Buffett and The Norfolk Island government Snell 2015) and a letter to Queen reacted immediately to the impending Elizabeth II (A Nobbs 2016, 26), but threat to its existence. On 27 March to no avail. 2015, while the bill was moving As a consequence of the Nor- through the federal parliament, the folk Island Legislation Amendment island’s Legislative Assembly called Act, the Norfolk Island Legislative for a referendum to be held on 8 May Assembly as well as the executive among the local voters on the ques- branch were dissolved on 17 June tion of whether the people of Norfolk 2015 and the administration of the Island should have the right of self- island was placed under the authority determination and should be consulted of Canberra-appointed administra- before any changes to their political tor Gary Hardgrave. All assets and institutions were made by the Austra- public accounts held by the Norfolk lian Parliament (Norfolk Island Gov- Island government were seized by the ernment Gazette, 27 March 2015). Australian federal government. Shortly The result could not have been clearer, thereafter, Federal Minister Jamie with an overwhelming majority of 624 Briggs designated a handpicked five- out of 912 participants (68% out of member “advisory council,” ostensibly a 92% turnout of registered voters) to allow some kind of ­community ­voting “Yes” to the question (rnz, consultation process, but for the next 9 May 2015). twelve months the island was ruled However, the Australian Parlia- by a regime with no accountabil- ment ignored the referendum, and ity to the population. Perhaps most with strong bipartisan support from important on a symbolical level, the the ranks of both the Liberal govern- Norfolk Island Legislation Amend- ment and the Labor opposition, the ment Act 2015 deleted the preamble bill passed both houses on 14 May of the Norfolk Island Act 1979, which and was assented to by Australia’s recognized the Pitcairn descendants governor-general, Peter Cosgrove, on as a culturally distinct people and 26 May 2015. In the debate leading acknowledged their special relation- 156 the contemporary pacific • 29:1 (2017) ship to the island (Government of legislative furnishings without con- Australia 2015a, 2001). sulting unesco and the local board As is common in cases where that administered kavha at that time, democracy is abolished and replaced Australia violated its international with an authoritarian regime, what obligations (C Nobbs 2016a). followed were very worrisome prac- All of these arbitrary and antidemo- tices of limiting freedom of speech cratic measures led to strong reactions and of arbitrary, extrajudicial punish- and resistance on the part of the island ment of political opponents. The local community. As soon as the Australian radio station was placed under heavy government announced its intent to censorship, the broadcast of opinions unilaterally change Norfolk Island’s ­critical of the Australian govern- system of government in October ment was prohibited, and dissenting 2014—long before the actual bill journalists, including the hosts of a was introduced in the federal parlia- popular satirical show, were fired ment—two petitions were presented (Newshub, 4 July 2016). In the same to the Australian Senate and House of vein, a local government employee Representatives, containing 830 and who criticized Hardgrave using insult- 834 signatures, respectively, asking for ing language in a private Facebook the island community to be consulted post had her salary reduced and was by means of a referendum before any told that she would be laid off as soon legislative process would start in that as the new administrative system was matter (A Nobbs 2016, 6). implemented (smh, 25 May 2015). On 18 May 2015, immediately Another common policy for after Canberra had ignored the postcoup authoritarian regimes is to island’s 8 May referendum and passed rewrite history and seek to erase the the unwanted legislation, a represen- memory of the previous democratic tative group of local political leaders system of government. Hardgrave’s founded the Norfolk Island People neocolonial administration followed for Democracy (nipd) association as this model well, and in October a local, national, and international 2015 it permitted the removal of the pressure group for the maintenance furniture and all other items from the of the island’s self-government. The legislative chamber, which became a founding board members included completely empty room, annihilating the then Chief Minister Lisle Snell; all physical evidence that a legislature four of his predecessors, including of Norfolk Island had ever existed. current Assembly Speaker and long- The legislative chamber was located serving Chief Minister David Buffett, in the Old Military Barracks, one of who had repeatedly held either office the historic buildings dating from the since 1979 and might be considered early nineteenth century British penal Norfolk Island’s “elder statesman”; settlement that is part of the Kings- several other current or former cabinet ton and Arthur’s Vale Historic Area ministers and legislators; and Albert (kavha) and has been inscribed on Buffett, president of the Norfolk the unesco World Heritage list since Island Council of Elders (nipd 2015). 2010. By unilaterally removing the By July 2016, more than half the political reviews • polynesia 157 population of Norfolk Island had him the most resented person on the become nipd members (Newshub, island. For the annual Bounty Day 4 July 2016). celebration on 8 June, during which Later in 2015, the island saw a the landing of the Pitcairners in 1856 rare protest march through its streets, is reenacted, Hardgrave was disinvited with several hundred participants— to participate and play the traditional an enormous turnout for the small role of the British commissioner community of about 1,700 (rnz, 29 welcoming the Pitcairners, which was Sept 2015). In parallel, Hands Up customary for Australian administra- For Democracy, another organiza- tors. In addition, several shops on the tion loosely associated with nipd, island put up signs declaring them- created a protest installation right in selves “Hardgrave-free zones” (New the middle of Burnt Pine (the island’s Zealand Herald, 27 July 2015). commercial center), next to the main In November 2015, former Chief shopping mall, where it put up hun- Minister Andre Nobbs (in office dreds of wooden signs each showing a 2007–2010) traveled to London and green hand—symbolizing democratic gave a speech before British members choice—and on which a supporter’s of Parliament at Westminster asking name was inscribed. for their support (A Nobbs 2016, 1, The fact that opposition to Aus- 28, 31–32). Several UK parliamentar- tralia’s recolonization scheme was a ians have since become committed mass movement representing the vast supporters of Norfolk Island and majority of the local people, and not a conducted a mission of inquiry on marginal group of political radicals as the island in September 2016. This is constantly claimed by Administrator quite significant, as Norfolk’s origi- Hardgrave and Canberra politicians, nal colonial relationship was directly was impossible to miss. Besides the with Great Britain, while the island’s Hands Up installation and the nipd administration was handed over to headquarters opening in a refurbished Australia against the Islanders’ wishes. building in the center of the shopping In the three months preceding the precinct, Norfolk Island’s iconic flag final takeover on 1 July 2016, protest with the pine tree in green and white moves intensified. On 22 April, nipd went up everywhere—in people’s through its president Chris Magri; yards, on their fences, on car dash- the dissolved Legislative Assembly boards and radio antennas, and so through its Speaker David Buffett; on—as did wooden green hands. The and the Council of Elders through only places that still flew the Austra- its President Albert Buffett sent a lian flag next to that of Norfolk were petition to the UN Special Com- official buildings; the rest of the island mittee on Decolonization, arguing became an ocean of solid green and for Norfolk Island to be listed as a white, an outburst of Norfolk patrio- non-self-governing territory (nsgt). tism rarely seen so graphically in the The petition provided comprehensive island’s previous history. documentation as to why the island Administrator Hardgrave’s attitude qualifies under the rules outlined in in the face of criticism soon made UN General Assembly resolution 1541 158 the contemporary pacific • 29:1 (2017) of the 1960s that defines a nsgt as a Despite all of this, Australia’s neo- territory geographically separate and colonial machinery kept moving for- culturally and/or ethnically distinct ward. Adding insult to injury, under from its adminis­trative power (Nor- the new system Norfolk Island was folk Island 2016). The petition was to become subject to the laws of the delivered by well-known human rights Australian state of New South Wales attorney Geoffrey Robertson qc, and (NSW) yet would have no representa- a few weeks later it was augmented by tion in the NSW legislature. In May a joint opinion by two eminent British 2016, the NSW Parliament passed the and Australian lawyers (Lowe and Norfolk Island Administration Bill Ward 2016). 2016, which was assented to by the While awaiting UN action, for- NSW governor on 7 June 2016 (Gov- mer Chief Minister Snell further- ernment of New South Wales 2016). more called for a royal commission Due to intense lobbying by nipd, the to inquire into the antidemocratic NSW opposition Labor and Green actions of the Australian government parties opposed the bill and their (The Guardian, 26 April 2016). The representatives helped expose its anti- next day, a mass gathering of about democratic nature, but these efforts 350 people took place in the yard were fruitless, as it passed with the of the Old Military Barracks, out of votes of the Liberal-led majority (The which the Legislative Assembly and Guardian, 2 June 2016). While Labor all its furnishings had been forcefully remained anti-Norfolk at the federal removed, and which is sited opposite level, at least the Islanders had won Government House, the residence the coherent support of the Australian of Administrator Hardgrave. The Greens, which made a public state- meeting resulted in an open letter to ment criticizing the Norfolk recoloni- Hardgrave calling for his immediate zation scheme (Rhiannon 2016). resignation. In addition it galvanized On 1 July 2016, referred to by the establishment of a “tent embassy” locals as “invasion day,” the new to permanently occupy the compound, system became effective as planned. with protestors setting up tents, ban- In one of the few non-English news ners, and upside-down Norfolk Island articles on the situation, Norwegian flags as a symbol of distress in this journalist Dag Øistein Endsjø sum- strategic location, well positioned to marized it most dramatically: “Tomor- attract the attention of tourists visiting row a country ceases to exist, but the the historical buildings in the area (A world doesn’t care” (Endsjø 2016). As Nobbs 2016, 22). Loosely modeled a non-self-governing external territory on the iconic tent embassy of Austra- of Australia, the island was now ruled lian Aboriginal activists in Canberra, directly by the federal government in at the time of writing this review the Canberra, which is responsible for all protest camp is still being maintained federal and state level services. While by a core group of activists who have the latter are provided according to vowed to remain until a Legisla- NSW laws, the island is not part of tive Assembly is reconvened in the NSW and thus has no voice in the ­building. making of those laws. political reviews • polynesia 159

On the federal level, however, is handled by an elected regional Norfolk Island now purportedly had council headed by a mayor. Council representation, as it was included in elections took place on 3 June 2016, the electorate of Canberra in the Aus- and the results once again confirmed tralian Capital Territory. Of course, the majority position in favor of self- in an electorate of several hundred determination and against the imposed thousand, the few hundred votes from changes. Out of the five elected mem- Norfolk practically do not matter at bers, only one, Queenslander David all. But since Australia has a policy Porter, advocated a pro-Australian requiring all eligible citizens to vote in position. A second member, Islander elections, the law will have the effect Rod Buffett, was politically more of forcing Norfolk Islanders, against ambivalent, while the other three (for- their consent, to vote in elections mer Chief Minister Lisle Snell, Robin where their votes have no effect (Aus- Adams, and John McCoy) were nipd tralian Electoral Commission 2016). members advocating for the return of One of the most obvious negative self-government (smh, 1 July 2016). consequences of the new system was At the first council meeting, in a the abolishment of Norfolk Island refurbished building in Burnt Pine stamps. The Norfolk Island post to which some of the furniture sal- office was closed down, its services vaged from the Legislative chambers now performed by Australia Post, had been relocated, Robin Adams which accepts only Australian stamps. was elected mayor and John McCoy This change deprived the island of an deputy mayor. Engaged in the bal- important local industry, the selling of ancing act of being simultaneously stamps to collectors—an important a nipd board member and the per- source of revenue for very small ter- son charged with implementing the ritories, once Norfolk’s largest before unwanted new system of local govern- the start of mass tourism. ment, Adams is probably the person Furthermore, the new regime is also with the least desirable job on the undermining the few opportunities island. Having previously served for the island had to engage internation- three years (2010–2013) as Speaker ally, as there are fears that Norfolk of the assembly and then as minister might no longer be able to participate of cultural heritage and community as a separate country in international services in Snell’s cabinet, Adams had sporting events, and its local legisla- been an outspoken advocate of more ture will also no longer be a member engagement by Norfolk Island in of the international Commonwealth Pacific regional organizations, and in Parliamentary Association (cpa)—a an article in the cpa magazine she had particularly humiliating experience proposed resolving the impasse by fair since, at the time of the abolition of and mutually respectful negotiations the Legislative Assembly, Speaker with the federal government, suggest- David Buffett was sitting on the cpa ing that the Norfolk community serve Executive Committee (Adams 2016). as a bridge between Australia and the According to the now-applicable Pacific Islands region and thus be seen NSW legal system, local governance as a foreign policy asset for Canberra 160 the contemporary pacific • 29:1 (2017) rather than a colonial burden (Adams to represent each of the eight original 2014). Pitcairn families (A Nobbs 2016, 12). Despite the island’s dire circum- While Adams and the other council stances, Adams’s rise to its highest members have been trying to work elective office is another example of within the new system and make the rising tide of women taking up the best of it for the time being, they political leadership in Pacific Island quickly learned how extremely hard countries and territories. While Adams this was, as there was so little maneu- is the first elected female politi- vering space. Even on the local govern- cal leader of Norfolk Island, there ment level that is purportedly left for is a long history of women holding the elected councilors to administer, influential positions in island society, the agenda has been preset by Can- which may well be a heritage from the berra and enforced by its unelected Tahitian side of the Islanders’ ancestry, agents such as the council’s general as during the late eighteenth century manager, Lotta Jackson. The council- Polynesian societies were far more ors and mayor are expected to merely gender balanced than those of West- put up a brave front. In early August, ern Europe. The most notable conse- Councilor Snell publicly expressed his quence of this is the fact that Pitcairn frustration, stating that he had tried to and Norfolk are pioneers in granting work within the new system but that it women the right to vote. Women were was creating nothing but problems for formally granted suffrage on Pitcairn the community (The Norfolk Islander, as early as 1838—the world’s first— 6 Aug 2016). and this was continued on Norfolk Certainly the new system of gov- when the Pitcairners relocated there ernment came with some short-term in 1856, until women’s voting rights benefits. As supposedly equal Aus- were temporarily abolished by colonial tralian citizens living in a part of decree between 1897 and 1914 (Irving Australia, Norfolk Islanders now have 2013). Even though during the auton- access to Australian health care, social omous government period no women security, and welfare benefits, but all held the chief executive position, the of this comes at enormous cost. The Legislative Assembly usually had one community that previously had its to three female members out of a total own social welfare and health care of nine (Norfolk Island ­Legislative systems funded by moderate contribu- Assembly 2015), a relatively high tions and very few kinds of taxes is proportion compared to most other now burdened with manifold new and Pacific Island states and territories increased taxes. These include previ- where, during the 1980s and 1990s, ously nonexistent income taxes as women members of Parliament were well as land rates (ie, property taxes). extremely rare. The structure of the The latter, which are supposed to be Council of Elders, reestablished by the main source of income for the the Legislative Assembly in 2008, also regional council, are especially going reflects the importance of women’s to be a heavy burden for many local community leadership, consisting of families who are land rich but cash an equal number of men and women poor, in a society where, like elsewhere political reviews • polynesia 161 in ­Oceania, there is a strong cultural “irrelevant.” In a letter to the local attachment to one’s land. At the same newspaper, nipd board member Brett time, elderly locals are at risk of los- Sanderson expressed his indignation ing their pensions, since under the at the local community being “treated new system their landholdings will like a bunch of errant schoolchildren” be counted as assets when calculating at the meeting (The Norfolk Islander, their pensions, while previously, under 13 Aug 2016). In many ways, the Norfolk’s own laws, this was not the meeting confirmed that what Australia case (A Nobbs 2016, 12). was imposing was an “unprecedented Overall, it appears that the qual- and regrettable return to the dark- ity of services and the quality of life est days of colonialism,” to quote an is decreasing rather than increasing nipd press release (nipd 2016). under the new regime. In a detailed The argument always brought report on the impacts of the forced forward to justify Australia’s heavy- changes, Andre Nobbs, former chief handed action, namely that the minister and technical advisor to autonomous government between the Council of Elders, described 1979 and 2015 was a “failed experi- how health problems connected to ment,” does not hold up under closer stress and anxiety have dramatically scrutiny. As economist and writer increased in the 2015–2016 period, as Chris Nobbs pointed out, before the many Islanders are concerned about global financial crisis of 2008, Nor- the future of their livelihoods and their folk Island under its own government survival as a culturally distinct com- was performing well economically, munity (2016, 11). and unlike most governments in the Equally worrisome is the continuity world it always managed to balance of an authoritarian style of governance its budget. Attempts to diversify the under the regional council system. economy away from its sole reliance At a public meeting on 10 August, on tourism and thereby produce a at which the author was present, a larger surplus always failed because “Community Strategic Plan” that of Canberra’s systematic obstruction had initially been drafted before the of those projects, not because of any establishment of the Norfolk Island fault of the local government (the one Regional Council and amended by the exception being the miscalculated council under General Manager Jack- airline investment mentioned earlier). son’s aegis (Norfolk Island Regional Canberra also never returned revenues Council 2016) was presented, and derived from Norfolk’s Exclusive people were asked for questions and Economic Zone to the island. Under comments. Under a pretext of “com- these circumstances, it is disingenuous munity engagement,” the meeting was to call a political system in existence micromanaged by Jackson to follow for over three decades a “failed experi- a predetermined script, and people ment” only because after these first who made critical comments question- thirty years the territory faced finan- ing the legitimacy of the process as a cial difficulties mainly due to a global whole were told disparagingly that economic crisis (C Nobbs 2016b). their questions or comments were Interestingly enough, such an analy- 162 the contemporary pacific • 29:1 (2017) sis was also confirmed by a former a change in voting rights to include Australian deputy administrator of all Australian citizens living on the the island, Jon Stanhope, who recalled island for six months while excluding the island being in very good overall non-Australian long-term residents shape during his tenure in the early who had previously been enfran- 1990s (abc, 23 June 2016). Statisti- chised (Irving 2013). The 2015–2016 cally, according to the latest figures recolonization scheme will create even from 2014, Norfolk Island held the more drastic changes in that direc- third-highest position in terms of gross tion, as immigration by Australians is domestic product (gdp) per capita and now unlimited while non-Australians the Human Development Index among (mainly New Zealanders and Britons), all Pacific Island states and territories, even if they have lived on the island surpassed only by Guam and New for many decades, are now considered Caledonia (Avakov 2016, 10, 70). “foreigners” and must apply for resi- Looking back into history, Aus- dency visas (A Nobbs 2016, 13). tralian desire for dominance and The unfolding colonial drama of Norfolk hesitancy and resistance Norfolk Island may also draw atten- toward such policies is nothing new. tion to the other little-known rem- The island, which from 1856 had nants of Australia’s colonial empire, been a self-governing colony within which besides Norfolk includes the the British Empire, faced remarkably Cocos-Keeling Islands and Christ- similar issues a century ago, when it mas Island in the Indian Ocean, both lost its autonomy through similarly populated largely by Southeast Asians. oppressive actions and was made into Both are being run as overseas territo- a dependency of the newly founded ries with only minimally empowered Commonwealth of Australia, with local municipal governments and which it has had an “uneasy relation- are subject to a crude mix of legisla- ship” ever since (O’Collins 2002). tion by an Australian state in which Even before the current crisis, while they have no representation (Western the autonomous government was still Australia) while being forced to vote operational, Canberra was jealously in a distant federal electorate largely guarding its influence and prevent- irrelevant to them and in which their ing any moves toward more connec- small numbers do not matter (North- tions between the island and the rest ern Territory). Thus, Christmas and of Oceania. For instance, attempts to Cocos-Keeling might serve as exam- establish a satellite campus of Tonga’s ples of what Norfolk can expect from ‘Atenisi University on Norfolk Island Canberra’s ­neocolonial “reforms.” in 2009 failed, as Australia would not In terms of gdp per capita and the give its permission (e-mail from Peter Human Development Index, the two Maywald, Secretary of Government of islands have been lagging behind Norfolk Island, to Michael Horowitz, mainland Australia just as much as, if Dean of ‘Atenisi University, 15 Oct not more than, Norfolk Island under 2009). Similarly, in 2004, Australia for its autonomous government (Avakov the first time interfered with the local 2016, 10–11, 69–70)—a fact that system of governance by ­imposing dispels any notion of alleged eco- political reviews • polynesia 163 nomic benefits of direct Australian strident critics of the Norfolk Island rule. On Cocos-Keeling, which in recolonization scheme and published 1984 had voted for integration with several editorials to raise awareness Australia in a UN-supervised vote, the on the issue among the Australian Australian administration as recently public (Stanhope and Wettenhall as 2009 imposed such archaic and 2015; Wettenhall 2015). sinister colonial policies as policing It is indeed hypocritical that and punishing not only local school- ­Australia has been condemning children but also adult employees at Pacific Island states (such as Fiji their workplaces for speaking their after the 2006 military coup) for an native Cocos Malay instead of English alleged lack of democracy, while it is (The Australian, 1 Sept 2009). Only busy implementing antidemocratic in the face of local and international policies on Norfolk Island. This is outrage and protests was this policy in stark contrast to New Zealand, ended (Welsh 2015, 57–58). On which has also at times been criti- Christmas Island (which for obscure cized for a ­similar policy of prescrip- reasons, unlike Cocos-Keeling, never tive ­interference into Pacific nations’ had a vote of self-determination), domestic affairs, but which at the Canberra imposed one of its notori- same time is much less hypocritical, ous asylum-seeker internment camps as it has a much better decoloniza- without consulting the local popula- tion record. Of the two New Zea- tion. Christmas has recently increased land–affiliated Pacific Island entities demands for more autonomy, ironi- of similar size to Norfolk Island, Niue cally citing as a model the very status has been a self-governing nation in of Norfolk Island that Canberra was free association with New Zealand in the process of dismantling (sbs, 18 since 1974, like the much larger Cook Dec 2015). Islands have been since 1965, and Interestingly, the above-mentioned while Tokelau, which did not vote in Jon Stanhope was also Australia’s sufficient numbers for a similar politi- administrator of the Indian Ocean cal status in 2006, remains a non- territories from 2012 to 2014. A self-governing territory under New ­diametrically opposite personal- Zealand ­sovereignty, it has a largely ity from Hardgrave, Stanhope tried autonomous local government exercis- to act responsibly and forwarded ing at least as much authority as the ­grievances expressed by the local Norfolk Island government had under people of Christmas and Cocos-Keel- the 1979 law. ing to his superiors in Canberra, but While certainly not perfect, New all of them were ignored. On leaving Zealand’s policies toward Niue and the post, Stanhope publicly apolo- Tokelau have clearly set a bench- gized for the failure to deliver good mark on how to act responsibly governance and democracy to the toward small dependent territories in people of the Indian Ocean islands the region and respect their right of (A Nobbs 2016, 7). Together with self-determination. It is indeed both Emeritus Professor Roger Wettenhall, ­astonishing and saddening that Aus- Stanhope has been one of the most tralia appears to be unwilling 164 the contemporary pacific • 29:1 (2017) to learn from its sister nation across Endsjø, Dag Øistein. 2016. Øyfolket mot the Tasman Sea in this respect and overmakten: I morgen opphører et land instead perpetuates outdated colonial å eksistere. Innbyggerne på Norfolkøya policies. kjemper helt alene mot storebror Australia [Islanders against Superior Power: Tomor- lorenz gonschor row a Country Ceases to Exist. Residents of Norfolk Island Are Fighting on Their I would like to thank Andre Own against Big Brother Australia]. Nobbs, Robin Adams, and Chris Klassekampen [Daily newspaper, Oslo], Nobbs for providing helpful informa- 30 June. tion and for reading earlier drafts of Government of Australia. 2001. ­Norfolk this review. Island Act 1979. As amended 2001. https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/ C2004C05695/7fab534e-eaf0-45c2-9e85 References -0e92d174c822 [accessed 7 Sept 2016] ———. 2015a. Norfolk Island Legislation abc, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Amendment Act 2015. https://www Daily television, radio, and Internet news. .legislation.gov.au/Details/C2015A00059/ http://www.abc.com.au a3b28bb5-3c1f-4744-805b-d24410a749a8 Adams, Robin. 2014. The Commonwealth [accessed 7 Sept 2016] of Australia and Norfolk Island: Bridging ———. 2015b. Norfolk Island Legisla­tion the Divide. The Parliamentarian 95 (2): Amendment Bill 2015. Second Reading 92–95. Speeches. http://www.aph.gov.au/en/ ———. 2016. Norfolk Island: Par- Parliamentary%20Business/Bills%20 ticipation at International and Regional Legislation/Bills%20Search%20Results/ Political, Sporting and Cultural Activities, Result/Second%20Reading%20Speeches Independent of Australia. Paper included ?BillId=r5440 [accessed 29 Sept 2016] as Appendix E in Norfolk Island 2016: Government of New South Wales. 2016. 58–63. Norfolk Island Administration Bill 2016. The Australian. Daily. Sydney. http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/bills/ http://www.theaustralian.com.au 03372811-2928-4d9d-8ec1-74e8d14aaf70 [accessed 10 Sept 2016] Australian Electoral Commission. 2016. Norfolk Island Electors. http://www.aec The Guardian. Daily. London. .gov.au/Enrolling_to_vote/Special http://www.theguardian.com _Category/Norfolk_Island_electors.htm Irving, Helen. 2013. Autonomies of Scale: [accessed 2 July 2016] Precarious Self-Government on Norfolk Avakov, Alexander V. 2016. Quality Island. 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