Pacific

Norfolk Island may take governance fight to UN

16:30 pm on 26 May 2015

The former military barracks in Kingston, Norfolk Island. Photo: AFP

Norfolk Island may raise its concerns about the actions of the Australian government at the United Nations.

Australia has passed legislation that ends nearly 40 years of autonomy in Norfolk Island, but the island's legislature is seeking ways to stop it becoming law.

It has approached both Houses in Canberra with a formal statement of its opposition in a Remonstrance Motion.

But the island's chief minister Lisle Snell says they are also considering other avenues of protest, including approaching the United Nations.

"That they look at the process which has been conducted by the Australian Parliament in regards to the abolishment of the Norfolk Island government and the reasons why it has been abolished and justification of it and what other areas we have, maybe in the form of self-determination for Norfolk Island."