The Norfolk Island Chamber of Commerce is calling for an urgent change in direction by Canberra or the island risks becoming a failed state.
In a statement it says the Australian takeover in 2016 has clearly failed because the economy is going backwards quickly.
It says a report compiled for the Australian government more than ten years ago had forecast that taking direct control of the autonomous island would damage its fragile economy.
A spokesperson for the Chamber, Glenn Christian, who runs a computer business, told Don Wiseman how tough it had become.