TAKING THE LEAD

I cannot help feeling enormously encouraged after listening to today's meeting of the Norfolk Legislative Assembly.
Our MLA's have copped a lot of criticism lately. Some of it has been justified, but a lot of it has been negative, unproductive and unhelpful.
We need to remind ourselves that, for better or worse, they are our representatives, freely and democratically elected by us...or at least by those who have not yet been disenfranchised by Australia.
We need to remind ourselves also, that they were no more prepared for the substance of Minister Lloyd's February 20th announcement than anyone else, nor were they given any more detail than we were. In fact, the Minister imparted more detail to journalists who interviewed him.
So our MLA's have had to deal with all of this emotionally just as we have. On top of that, they have had the difficult task of reading the electorate, because they know it is just not good enough to be guided by their own personal reactions to Australia's plans.
To add to their difficulties, they have not been able to gain any further information from Canberra. As our Chief Minister said, his letters have gone unanswered. Canberra is not interested in dialogue.
Meanwhile, they have been conscious of their responsibility to continue to govern this island properly, as is their mandate...life goes on. But they must not only govern it, but now they are very conscious of the message that their electors have been sending them:
"Get your act together, show leadership, and show us that you can keep our island viable and our economy sustainable."
I am personally very grateful for the message of vision, direction and action that has been promulgated in David Buffett's motion. This is a good springboard to go on to better things, better times, better government by Norfolkers for Norfolkers.
As the Chief Minister said, the Commonwealth Parliament has had over a century to lay its foundations and build legislative systems and practices that are workable, transparent and efficient. You cannot tell me that they have not made plenty of mistakes along the way, that they have not had to make adjustments to their way of doing things.
So why is our system unsustainable just because we may need to make some adjustments after 26 years?It is especially galling when you realise that part of our problem has always been that they have imposed Big Government practices and solutions on a small island situation. For some reason, they think that what works for them ought to work here..and it is just not always the case, in practice.

So to our MLA's..this is a good start.
Keep up the momentum. Be pro-active. Keep listening to us. Keep us informed. Explain what you are doing. Enlist our support.
You are on the right track!
Press ahead confidently for Norfolk Island and its people.