Mr Briggs wrote to Mr Buffett late last week and told him his services on the new advisory council would no longer be required, given his determination to "disrupt" the abolition of the island's government.

Members of the Norfolk Legislative Assembly were told on Tuesday that it would be scrapped at midnight on Wednesday, according to a member of the island's Assembly, Andre Nobbs.

He invited the community to "make a noise" on Wednesday, starting with a rendition of God Save the Queen outside the island's Parliament at noon. Next came a message "appealing for democracy and identifying dictatorial and undemocratic actions" and later the Pitcairn anthem.

"We have to make a noise, this battle has just begun," Mr Nobbs urged the community.

Mr Briggs told the Federal Parliament in May of Mr Buffett's appointment to the Norfolk advisory council to begin work after the end of the Assembly, to consult on the future of the island. "I am very pleased that the Speaker of the current Norfolk Island parliament, Mr David Buffett, has agreed to participate in that committee," Mr Briggs said on May 12.

Later that month, Mr Buffett travelled to Canberra to deliver a formal "remonstrance" and statement of grievances from the Norfolk Assembly, calling on the Commonwealth to change its mind about the abolition of self-government.

By last week, Mr Buffett was gone from the new council.

"I have been disappointed by your attempts to delay reform and your demonstrated commitment to disrupt the reform process," Mr Briggs wrote to him on June 11. "These actions represent a conflict of interest which would not be suitable for a member of the advisory council."

A minister in the Assembly, Robin Adams, said she was shocked.

"The letter to the Speaker from Assistant Minister Briggs has stunned me, as it further appears that unless you agree the undemocratic path that the Commonwealth of Australia is leading the Norfolk Island people down, against their wishes expressed at referendum on May 8, you are not given a meaningful voice," she said in a message to fellow islanders.

Mr Briggs said the five members of the council were Melissa Ward, Wally Beadman, Duncan Evans, Eve Semple and P.J. Wilson. He did not respond to questions on Mr Buffett's position.