A Norfolk Island group is calling on the Australian Government to remove land rates, which it says “would lead to dispossession of the island's people”.

The Norfolk Island “No to Land Rates” Group stated on 14 February, that from 1979 Norfolk Island had enjoyed a degree of self-government, but this was terminated in June 2015 by the Australian Government.

“Central to the new economic and financial regime was the absorption of Norfolk Island into the Australian taxation and welfare systems.”

The group stated their Legislative Assembly was replaced by a “regional council”, constructed under Australian Commonwealth legislation, and modelled on a New South Wales local government template.

“The Commonwealth have forced the establishment of Land Rates as a primary revenue raising system for the Council. “

The Group said they have been working to expose what it sees as the inequity of land rates on the island, and the importance of developing an alternative.

The island is a former convict colony with a land size only 35sq.km, and a population of around 1,800. It is located about 1500km east of Brisbane, Australia, and is home of the Norfolk Islanders of Pitcairn descent, with land still held in family names. 

Group organizer, Tane Cottle, said “our forebears have been here since the gift of British Government in 1856, well before Australia was even constituted, and now they want to dispossess us.”

Group representative, Ron Ward, wants to see the island go back to being self-governed.

“Pacific islands like the Cook Islands, and Samoa do not have land rates and neither should we. A better way can and must be found."

The Cook Islands is self-governing in free association with New Zealand, whereas Samoa is an independent state. The Cook Islanders are New Zealand citizens who can live and work there even though the country administers its own affairs.

The No to Land Rates Group have made a submission of claims to a Regional Council inquiry looking into the land rates issue.

According to the group, the reforms put in place by the Australian Government since 2015 “have failed to increase prosperity on the island”.

“Australian Government has disregarded the disparate burden placed on traditional landholders as compared to the rest of the population.”

And that the “imposition of rates is undermining the identity of Norfolk Islanders who have traditionally held land as a ‘cherished possession’ for future generations and as a tangible stake in their homeland and culture; and that if allowed to continue, the rates regime would lead to dispossession of the island's people”.

The land rates were put in place in 2016 according to the Norfolk Island Regional Council [2] website to help provide services for the benefit of the community, such as maintaining roads and public buildings; contribute towards tourism and marketing; and maintain public areas such as picnic areas, sports fields and reserves.

Norfolk Island is an External Territory under the Authority of the Commonwealth of Australia.