TRACK RECORD

Australia is dealing with quite a few problems just lately, problems that are outside the normal day-to-day running of the country for the Australian people. There is a large deployment of troops overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan, trying to solve problems that seem to defy answers. Now more troops are placed right on Australia's doorstep trying to bring order to Pacific Islands badly affected by violence and dissidence.
Then there the difficulties right at home in Australia's Aboriginal communities. We are seeing really severe social and health problems that will not go away. Many of these are the result of decades of policies and programs that were poorly conceived and delivered, however well-intentioned they may have been. The difficulties are complex, but one thing is abundantly clear:

If you dispossess a people..........


If you take away their means of providing for themselves..........


If you place them in a regulatory environment that is culturally inappropriate.............

....then no amount of money, not even $3.3 billion a year, will bring healing to the situation.

I do not intend to start laying blame. But Australia's track record is not good. And what makes me really angry is the Australian Government's inability to learn from its mistakes!

*Here on Norfolk Island we are confronting ignorance of and insensitivity to a people's cultural heritage.
*We are being dispossesssed of what Norfolk Islanders regard as their homeland, separate and distinct from any other country, including Australia.
*We are to be subjected to a body of law and an economic system that was designed for Australians, not Norfolkers.

Does Australia really want to create yet another community which has lost its spirit and pride, which is dependent on welfare and hand-outs, and which will sit uneasily in the one-size-fits-all Australian mold?
Here on Norfolk Island we have a community with a strong spirit and sense of rootedness. We are peaceful and law-abiding. We are healthy, energetic and productive. We have a high level of services and facilities and employment. But we have extremely low levels of crime, violence and anti-social behaviours. We are not a drain on Australia's finances, but provide for ourselves. We are not a security risk to anyone.
Why would we want anyone to come and spoil that for us?