Norfolk Island's 1800 residents are divided over a federal government plan to abolish the island's parliament with its chief minister calling for the matter to be put to a referendum.
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Lisle Snell said on Thursday that a proposal to end self-government and replace the island's Legislative Assembly with a regional council should be put to a vote.
He said a motion calling for a referendum before reforms were introduced by the Abbott government had been supported by eight votes to one in Norfolk Island's parliament.
"We just don't feel the recommendations of the joint standing committee establish enough reason to remove a democratic process that has been in place for nearly 40 years," Mr Snell said.
"The island residents should have been given the opportunity to voice their opinion on any new model of government by referendum or plebiscite.
"This was not afforded to them."
Norfolk Island residents will pay income and business taxes and will have their parliament replaced by a local council under changes to be introduced to Federal Parliament next week.
Assistant Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister Jamie Briggs announced the "long neglected reforms" on Thursday and said they were expected to pass during the budget sitting with bipartisan support.
Under the changes, Norfolk Islanders will have access to Australia's welfare system, including the age pension and family tax benefits, and the existing Norfolk Island tax system will be abolished.
"This arrangement will ensure local issues continue to be driven at a local level whereever possible without placing unreasonable expectations on a community of only 1800 people," Mr Briggs said.
Mr Briggs said most of the changes should come into effect on the first of July 2016.
A five-member advisory council will be established on Norfolk Island to steer the transition.
"These reforms have the broad support of the community and this was clearly demonstrated through a consultation process undertaken last year," Mr Briggs said.
"The outcome of the consultation process was unequivocal. The community overwhelmingly supports reform and is of the view that the current governance arrangements are not suitable."
But Mr Snell questioned whether there was such overwhelming support for ending self-government.
He said Norfolk Island's parliament had worked for years developing a territory model of government, as an alternative to the proposed regional council model, which he said would ensure Norfolk Islanders continued to have a say on a broader range of governance issues.
"This is a divided community," he said.
"There are people on the island that see the security of social welfare programs and of pensions, health care, Medicare and unemployment benefits.
"But there are those on the island, particularly of Pitcairn Island descent, who treasure the self-government status that was bestowed upon them in 1856.
"What really is the crux of all this is that the democratic rights that were provided to the community in 1979 with the formation of the Norfolk Island Act have been removed."
Mr Snell said while the federal government had sent letters to residents, it did not "represent a full consultation with the people of the island".
Former chief minister Andre Nobbs said 700 residents had signed a petition to the federal government demanding locals be given more input in the process.
"There's been no modelling of the economics," he said.
"There's been no development of the governance model.
"There's been nothing to give anyone any confidence that where we're going is going to be economically viable for the island."
