A group of Norfolk Island residents has today asked the High Court to rule that the island is not part of Australia.
Twenty Norfolk Islanders have travelled to Canberra for the hearing to challenge changes that would require Australian citizenship to vote in any election.
Counsel for the group Bob Ellicott has told the High Court the effect of the new law would be to treat Norfolk Island as just another part of Australia.
Mr Ellicott has told the court he hopes to establish Norfolk Islanders are a separate community and a separate people under the Commonwealth.
He says the adult population of Norfolk Island has had the right to vote since the 1800s without having to have Australian citizenship but the planned legislation would wipe that away in the blinking of an eye.
The case is continuing.
Lawyers dismiss distinctive community argument by Norfolk Islanders
Lawyers for the Commonwealth have dismissed claims by a group of Norfolk Islanders that they have a distinctive community and should be considered separate from Australia.
The group from Norfolk Island has lodged a High Court challenge to new laws which require voters to be Australian citizens.
The islanders say the special nature of their community means they are not part of Australia and the new rule does not take account of the fact that a proportion of the island's adult population does not have Australian citizenship.
But counsel for the Commonwealth, David Bennett, told the High Court the arguments put forward by the islanders have come from nowhere.
He says there is no proper basis to support claims of a distinctive and separate settlement from Australia.
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