Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
If you think a senior public figure has said they want to use your neighbours as backfill for a bridge repair, it's not a good idea to call them an arsehole on Facebook.
Especially when that figure categorically denies making the comment.
That's what Norfolk Islander Kim Edward has found out. For her outburst on social media, her public-service pay has been cut by 2 per cent.
To add insult to injury, from July 1, when Norfolk Island loses its status as an external Australian territory, she will be removed from her job after being told she is "surplus to requirements" in the new Regional Council.
Tensions have been high on Norfolk Island since the Commonwealth in March 2015 announced it would end more than a century of self-government.
In a Facebook discussion in August, Ms Edward referred to an allegation that the island's administrator, Gary Hardgrave, had said at a gathering that he'd like to have bridge maintenance "back-filled with local people".
She then wrote: "Yeah and it's highly unlikely that the people hosting the party ... would admit to what the arsehole said."
After a complaint, the Norfolk Island Administration chief executive found Ms Edward had "committed a breach of discipline" and her pay was cut.
Ms Edward appealed against the decision in November, but six months later is yet to hear an outcome.
Mr Hardgrave, the Liberal Party MP for Moreton from 1996-2007, has in the strongest possible terms denied ever making such comments.
"It's repugnant – it's not the sort of thing I'd say," Mr Hardgrave told the Herald. "It's the sort of matter raised by a handful of anti-Australians on the island.
"It's typical of the Chinese whispers – what they call dem-tull [gossip] – on the island. I completely deny I said it."
The Herald has spoken to people who were at the gathering on July 7. One claims that Mr Hardgrave was discussing work on the Emily Bay bridge.
According to that person, Mr Hardgrave said: "They have to compact it ... perhaps they should compact it with a few Norfolk Islanders!"
Ms Edward, who was not at the gathering, said she was responding to reports of those comments.
She has paid a high price for believing Mr Hardgrave made them.
"I shouldn't have done it," Ms Edward told the Herald. "I tell my kids not to swear on Facebook."
Despite her contrition and her 30-year unblemished record with the Norfolk Island public service, her wages were cut, she was formally warned and sent for counselling.
"I couldn't believe what was happening. I was quite distressed and upset," she said.
Ms Edward believes it is not an accident she has been investigated.
"If you speak up against the Commonwealth, you're punished," Ms Edwards said.
Ms Edwards is one of more than 700 registered supporters of Norfolk Island People for Democracy, an organisation that supports self-determination for the island.
The president of NIPD, Chris Magri, said a majority of Norfolk Islanders want to retain self-government.
NIPD is seeking UN recognition of the island by the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation as a non-self-governing territory. Their petition was presented to the UN by Geoffrey Robertson, QC.
Members of NIPD claim that the Norfolk Island administration is trying to silence critics of the transition. That suggestion is rejected by the administration.
A spokesman for the Territories Minister Paul Fletcher said: "The experiment of self-government on Norfolk Island had not worked well. It had failed to provide the range or standard of services that Australians expect from their governments."
NORFOLK ISLAND
Nearly half of Norfolk Islanders have ancestry to the Pitcairn Islanders: the descendants of Tahitians and the mutineers of the Bounty.
- 1789 Mutiny on the Bounty, led by first mate Fletcher Christian. Mutineers settle on Pitcairn Island with Tahitians
- 1856 Pitcairn Islanders arrive on Norfolk Island, which Queen Victoria gives status of separate colony with self-government
- 1901 Australia federates without explicit mention of Norfolk Island
- 1913 Colonial authority transfers to Commonwealth and Norfolk Island becomes external territory of Australia
- 1979 Norfolk Island granted extended powers of self-government
- 2008 Global financial crisis sees 40 per cent collapse in tourism
- 2009 Rudd government refuses to extend any stimulus package to Norfolk Islanders
- 2010 Territories Law Reform Bill enacted, reducing autonomy of Norfolk Island Legislative Assembly
- March 2015 Federal government announces self-government will end on June 30, 2016, to be replaced by Regional Council under NSW Local Government Act