Transcript
BEVERLEY BUFFETT: There are people who used to get a Norfolk Island pension. who have, because of the land which has been handed down through the generations and they are looking after for future generations, is now considered an asset even though it makes no money and their pensions have been cut, and they are relying now on members of their families to help them live. The hospital and the school and a lot of the other government buildings, at a stroke of a pen were taken by the Australian government. These were things that were really important community facilities that they had equipped and built and looked after for many years and now they're seeing them ripped apart and seeing change because they don't meet the standards of another country.
DON WISEMAN: Go back to pensions there for a moment, I understand that there are a significant number of people on the island who had been getting pensions, but now are being told that they don't qualify - for a whole variety of reasons
BB: Yes, one of the reasons is that they haven't got birth certificates that the Australian government will recognise. They say the Norfolk Island birth certificate is not a legal document.
DW: Do they say why that's the case?
BB: No, as far as I know that's the way they see it. They're trying to fit a square peg into a round hole and it's not going to work, you know. Things are being done differently here and it worked in most of the time. And it wasn't until the global downturn that Norfolk Island government actually ran at a deficit.
DW: Just look at land and you mentioned how this has been taken into account even though in most cases the land's not generating anything. But there are also other aspects to the land in Norfolk Island aren't there? That this was land gifted to the Pitcairners when they arrived there and in most cases is still held by their descendants. There's a love of land that maybe corresponds with the way Maori react to land in this country.
BB: Oh definitely. They see themselves as the guardians of the land for their future generations. It's not theirs in the sense that most western societies look at land, as an asset or something that they can flog off when they want some money. They will hold onto it, come hell or high water, if they can possibly do that. Because they know that it was given to them to look after for future generations.
DW: But if this land is not generating anything at this point in time,and yet the Australian government is trying to move towards a land based rating system isn't it? How are they going to make those sorts of calculations about what the land is worth and what do the people think of that?
BB: Well, they're getting a valuer from New South Wales to come and value the land and he'll be looking mainly at the last two years' sales of land, which has been highly inflated by the Australian government buying up places and paying a lot more than what used to be paid for land. And that's another concern. They're bringing in the rates slowly. There are already people - these are people with commercial properties and things too. They're paying $15,000 in tax already and this is the first lot. Next financial year it's going to be doubled and the year after that it's going to go on valuation. And they're saying that the local council that they set up will not be able to operate without these rates. And bearing in mind that Norfolk Island doesn't have the rubbish collections, it doesn't have footpaths in most places, it doesn't have all of those things. It doesn't have water reticulation or waste water in most of the areas. So what are the rates being charged for?
DW: There has been a protest going on since well before the official Australian take over in July of last year. A protest at the old legislative chamber building - a Tent Embassy and that's continuing. People are still maintaining that protest.
BB: Absolutely, yes. They see themselves being there for the duration. As long as it takes to get the United Nations to list Norfolk Island as a non-self governing territory. That will give them the right to have a vote about their own future.
