THE REAL AGENDA

Geese on the Common......quite quaint and charming. Even the idea of a "Common" is something of an anachronism. But Norfolk Island is like that. You simply do not liken it or compare it to other places. It has developed a way of its own in relative isolation...and it works!
Or it has until now.
But Australia would like to see this island "homogenised" into their way of doing things.
Why would they do that?
Well, in recent years, they have been using arguments about us being bound by United Nations Treaties they are party to.
O.K. We can cope with that. We are as fair-minded and just as the next person.
Then we started to get the line about us needing to share the same rights and obligations as other Australians. Except that there are quite a few New Zealanders and other nationalities who have made their home here long-term. And a large proportion of the Australians are only "Australian by default." When they were born, they only regarded themselves as Norfolk Islanders by nationality. They have plenty of goodwill towards Australia, but they do not feel Australian.
So now we are getting the "economic sustainability" message. Suddenly our facilities are substandard, our infrastructure outdated...never mind that it is quite adequate for a small island, and far better than that enjoyed by many Pacific islands and rural areas of Australia.
Currently we are being told that we are heading for financial insolvency. Once again, never mind that for 27 years of managing our affairs, without subsidy from Australia, we have always been in the black (and still are!). And that many local councils in Australia are badly in debt and being "propped up". Even companies face far worse debts than ours, re-organise themselves, and recover!! And haven't we ever heard of Commonwealth Government deficits??
Yes, we would not be too proud to accept a bit of constructive help during what may be a temporary difficulty with our finances. But does Australia have to take us over lock, stock and barrel to help us?
The fact is, our self-government model was doomed to fail, because they wanted it to. It is not even a political issue, in fact. It is about something called "Australia's National Interest". Blind Freddy knows we are strategically important. That is OK....we have been Australia's best allies in the two World Wars.
Our waters and our 200 mile maritime zone would be pretty important to them too. But they are already allowing foreign trawlers to fish within 30 mile limits. Not only will our own fishermen continue to compete with that, but they will probably have to pay for licences to fish our own waters in the future.
Then there is the old bogey about oil and other wealth beneath the sea. When this is mentioned, they raise patronising eyebrows, and act as if we are naive victims of wild conspiracy theories.
But even Dr Keith Sutor, an objective Political Analyst, when being interviewed on Channel 7 last year, said that Australia would be most unlikely to let Norfolk Island move towards any sort of independence, because of the untold wealth under the sea. He told it just like it is.
I don't think we have many friends among the Public servants in the Department of Territories. There is a feeling that they have been consistently and inexorably moving the agenda along over many years...the agenda being to get rid of this Norfolk Island "anomaly"........in Australia's national interest.
Will anyone fight for Norfolk Island's interest??