PARLIAMENTARY RIGHTS
NORFOLK ISLAND’S REMONSTRANCE
Norfolk Island’s Legislative Assembly and the right to self-government.
Hon. David E. Buffett AM MLA is the Speaker of the outgoing Legislative Assembly of Norfolk Island. He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1979 and has been a Member of each Assembly except the Twelfth.
Norfolk Island is an external territory under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia. At the time of writing, it is substantially self-governing, and has been for the last 36 years. However the Australian Parliament has recently passed legislation which will abolish Norfolk Island’s Legislative Assembly. That legislation will probably come into operation in mid-June 2015. When it does commence, one of the smallest member branches of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association – with 9 elected representatives – will cease to exist.
Why has this happened? The explanation is given in a document entitled ‘Remonstrance’, which was approved by the Norfolk Island Legislative Assembly on 20 May 2015 and subsequently presented by the Assembly’s Speaker to the Deputy President of the Australian Senate and the Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives.
Hon. Lisle D. Snell MLA is currently the Chief Minister and Minister for Tourism in the outgoing Legislative Assembly of Norfolk Island. Mr Snell was also a Member of the First Legislative Assembly of Norfolk Island.
The document’s title echoes not only the title of the Grand Remonstrance of 1641, presented by the English Parliament to King Charles I in that year, but also one of the substantive issues raised by the Grand Remonstrance, namely ministerial accountability to Parliament.
The short background to the Australian Parliament’s recent measure is as follows. Norfolk Island was given a significant degree of autonomy in 1979.
102 | The Parliamentarian | 2015: Issue Two
The Legislative Assembly created in that year had plenary legislative power, subject only to a restricted list of matters on which it could not legislate, or could do so only with Australia’s consent. Therefore, the Assembly could legislate on many matters which in metropolitan Australia would have been matters for the Federal Parliament including immigration, social security, customs, quarantine, postal services and telecommunications. The Assembly could also legislate on matters typically under the authority of a State in the Australian federal system, for example education, surface transport, firearms, registration of births, deaths and marriages, and public health.
At a third level, the local government level, the Island’s democratic institutions had authority over a wide range of local matters, such as roads, water and electricity supply, sewerage, garbage, building control, and museums. This vertically-integrated system is made for simplicity in decision-making and clarity in accountability. The executive government of the Island was appointed from the membership of the Legislative Assembly and was accountable to them. The members of the Assembly, in turn, were elected by the Island’s voters. For many years the system worked well. The Norfolk Island community funded,
under its own system of laws, numerous infrastructure initiatives including taking over the operations and management of the airport, a new airport terminal, extension of the electricity reticulation network, a sewerage scheme and enhanced education opportunities to the end of secondary education. In addition, the Legislative Assembly has passed many innovative laws including a statutory social security system, no fault workers compensation, a health care scheme, land planning and land titles legislation.
The Island’s principal industry, tourism, suffered a significant downturn in recent years, which has impacted on the Island’s
“This vertically- integrated system is made for simplicity in decision-making and clarity in accountability. The executive government of the Island was appointed from the membership of the Legislative Assembly and was accountable to them.”
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