This is the letter I sent to the local press last weekend. In the list of shortcomings of which I accused the Commonwealth Government, I omitted to mention their failure to acknowledge the Norfolk Islanders as the traditional and indigenous owners of Norfolk Island.
I am pleased to say that our regional council, at its inaugural meeting last night, passed a motion to include this in their Code of Conduct.

Dear Sir
So July 1st has come and gone. Some have tried to give the day a name, but I
would not even dignify it with a title. It will go down in history as a day
of shame for generations to come. To our Commonwealth appointees and
officials who thought they were coming in as our saviours, may I say this:
The people of this island, accustomed over a long time to meeting the needs
of this community with proper planning, good housekeeping, sound budgeting
and careful prioritising are aghast at what you have done, and the
incompetence you have demonstrated in trying to force us into your mold.
You have robbed our elderly of their feelings of safety and security, you
have deprived our young people of their rights to inherit an island home
that was once productive and resourceful and nurturing. You have stolen our
resources and claimed them as your own.You have disenfranchised many of our
citizens, and taken away from others their means of sustaining themselves
productively and with dignity. You have massively increased the cost of
doing business. You have lied to us, and about us, you have ignored us, you
have failed to show respect to our elected leaders. You have instituted a
ruthless regime, which is allegedly rife with nepotism, cronyism and
conflicts of interest.
You have stolen those things we believed we owned as a community...our
school, our hospital, our Post Office and our stamps, our radio station.
Even our "town" where our forebears lived and worked and played and carried
out their business from the time they arrived in 1856, has become, in your
words, "another part of the Australian story."
And because of all this you have also stolen our sleep, and at nights we lie
grieving, feeling distressed and dispossessed. You have made us feel like
exiles, even in our own homeland. Those familiar routines and values that
were a part of our lives, developed over decades to suit our little island
community, have just been wiped away.
And through all of the changes you are forcing on us, in the name of reform,
changes which will not leave most of us better off, we have held it all
together. We have chosen to remain peaceful and respectful, because that is
our way. Many of our public servants have been forced to remain silent, not
wanting to rock the boat, always mindful of the fact that they have families
to feed and mortgages to pay. But you have still taken away their jobs.
Your own people have been silent too. They came here to do a job, they have
seen first hand the grief and damage that it is causing, but they have not
spoken out because it might obstruct their comfy career path. Those who did
appear to be questioning what was happening were apparently sent packing,
with their tails between their legs and a gag on their mouths. And this week
many more of them have left, leaving us behind to cope with the mess.
We are in disbelief that you have been allowed to come into this place and
claim it as your own, expecting us to adopt your way of life in, a manner
that only can be described as colonialist and racist. You thought that
because we are few in number, you could get away with it.
The sad thing is that in your arrogance, you thought you could turn us
overnight into just another part of regional Australia. You thought you
could come in and make a clean sweep of it, because you actually believed
that what we had in place was insubstantial and worthless. You were so
wrong. Because you did not ask us, the Norfolk Island experts, for advice,
you have created a bureaucratic nightmare for yourselves, and a massive
deficit of confidence in the community as we muddle through new arrangements
that were not properly thought out. We are the ones who are having to pay
for it both financially, and in terms of our mental and emotional wellbeing.
I hope the day comes when you are forced to say SORRY.
Meanwhile, you may be congratulating yourselves because you think you have
won the battle. A most ignoble victory. But you have not won the war.
You may have broken our hearts, but you will never break our spirits.
And in the long run, you will be the losers. It was your decision to come
here and antagonise us and insult us. You have even built a protective wall
around yourselves, surrounding yourselves with people who will say the
things you want to hear. You have missed out on the experience of being part
of a very beautiful community, enjoying our warm and welcoming hospitality,
sharing in our family life and in our celebrations, discovering and
experiencing first hand a unique culture and heritage, and storing up rich
and positive memories and friendships for yourselves and your families. You
had the opportunity to assist us to manage our small remote island a little
better. We never thought we were perfect. All we ever wanted was a little
bit of help to help ourselves.
I do not believe in Karma, because I do not always see people getting what
they really deserve in this life, good or bad. But with God's help, I will
continue to stand up for Norfolk Island and fight for a just outcome and
better things for the island's people. I know many others feel the same. We
can hold our heads high. You should hang yours in shame.
Yours sincerely
Mary Christian-Bailey