Norfolk islanders hope Pauline Hanson will take up some of their grievances

The One Nation leader, senator Pauline Hanson, will visit Norfolk Island next week on a four-day fact-finding mission on the invitation of Norfolk Island People for Democracy, a group opposed to the Australian government’s revoking of the island’s autonomy.

Hanson’s visit on Tuesday will mark the first time a crossbench or opposition senator or MP has been to the island following the Australian parliament’s decision last May to abolish its system of self-governance.

Those opposed to coming under Australian legislation fear that the islanders will be disadvantaged economically and jobs will be lost as businesses are forced to subscribe to Australian employment laws and pay their employees a minimum wage and contribute to superannuation schemes.

They also fear Norfolk Island culture will be eroded, and say there was a lack of transparency and consultation before and throughout the takeover.

Some others on the island support the change, and believe it will encourage new industries, creating jobs. They believe that access to Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme will make healthcare more accessible and affordable for them, that infrastructure such as roads are in dire need of upgrades, and that the islanders will benefit from being able to claim the Australian pension and other social security benefits.

A spokesman for Norfolk Island People for Democracy, Andre Nobbs, said he visited Hanson in her electorate office in Queensland last month and encouraged her to visit.

“I was absolutely impressed at the meeting,” Nobbs said.

“One of the things that has not been accessible to the people of Norfolk Island was any form of independent review of the decision of the Australian government, and what we’re counting on senator Hanson for is to challenge some of those processes.”

Nobbs said Hanson had visited the island before the takeover. Next week, she will meet the Norfolk Island Council of Elders, Australian government representatives, stakeholders and residents.

Guardian Australia has contacted Hanson’s office for comment.

The minister for regional development, Fiona Nash, declined to comment.

Guardian Australia understands that the minister’s office recently launched a fortnightly column in the island’s newspaper to better inform people about the changes taking place and how those changes would benefit them. It is also an attempt to tackle rumours about what the consequences of those changes might be.

Hanson’s visit follows a visit from a group of largely conservative British MPs to the island last month. The island has also appealed to the United Nations to find the takeover a breach of international law, gaining representation from the human rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson QC.

The island has a grim convict history and is famous as the final refuge of some of the Bounty mutineers, whose descendants escaped to the tiny Pitcairn Island. In 1856, the British government, looking to abandon its infamous penal colony on Norfolk Island, then constitutionally a part of Tasmania, offered the island to the Pitcairners.

Norfolk Island, 1,412km east of New South Wales, was governed by its own legislative assembly since 1979 until it was abolished last year by the Australian government and replaced with a regional council. Australian law is now enforced on the island.