The recolonisation of Norfolk Island is a heavy-handed act of regression | Geoffrey Robertson

The descendants of the Bounty mutineers’ idiosyncratic self-governance – and thus their identity – is to be ended at a stroke by some backbench Australian MPs

Where in the world is “God Save the Queen” a revolutionary call to arms? In Norfolk Island, whose 2,200 citizens – half of them descended from Fletcher Christian’s HMS Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian partners – are resisting the forcible recolonisation of their homeland by Australia.

Their self-governance has been abolished, their parliament locked up, their freedom of speech curtailed and their membership of international sporting and political bodies cancelled. Their autonomy and their identity are being destroyed – they have even been told to stop singing God Save the Queen and learn the words of Australia’s doggerel national anthem.

Already the heavy hand of the Australian public service has censored the local radio station and removed a satire show

Related: 'We're not Australian': Norfolk Islanders adjust to shock of takeover by mainland

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