Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
SPEECH
20th Australia Fiji Business Forum,
July 28-30, 2013.
The Honourable Matt Thistlethwaite, Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs
The Honourable Julie Bishop, Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade
The President of the Australia-Fiji Business Council, Mr. Greg Pawson
Members of the Australia-Fiji and Fiji-Australia Business Councils
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Ni Sa Bula Vinaka and Good Morning.
At the outset, please allow me to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today and pay respects to their elders, both past and present.
I’m delighted – as Fiji’s Foreign Minister – to be here today for this important gathering of those of you who drive the economic links between our two countries and contribute so much to our prosperity. It’s especially pleasing to see the Australian Government represented here at a senior level by the Pacific Islands Minister, Senator Thistlethwaite. Relations between Australia and its Pacific neighbours are at a critical juncture and we have much to discuss While Senator Thistlethwaite is relatively new to his portfolio, I am sure he has a keen understanding of the issues we face and I look forward to continuing our constructive and friendly engagement.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the ties that bind Australia and Fiji are clearly greater than the issues that sometimes divide us. Our people are genuinely fond of each other and nothing is more important to Fiji than continuing to welcome the hundreds of thousands of Australians who visit our shores every year.
As you all know, there are also tens of thousands of Fijians living in this country, adding the richness of their culture to the great multi-cultural melting pot that is modern Australia.
Certain Fijians are even enriching the life of Senator Thistlewaite, who’s a keen supporter of the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the National Rugby League. I think I can confidently say that without Apisai Koroisau, the Fijian hooker for the Rabbitohs and the other Pacific players at the club, the Senator’s weekends wouldn’t be quite so enjoyable.
Of course, there are Fijian players throughout the NRL, as well as in the Kangaroos and Wallabies. I’m sometimes amused at the way your sports commentators mangle the pronunciation of their names but there’s no doubting the affection in which they’re held by the fans. Or the way in which Australia’s international sporting reputation so often depends on them.
The point is that our relationship runs very deep – certainly way beyond our business ties – and, person-to-person, is overwhelmingly one of mutual affection. As our Prime Minister said in an interview with the New Zealand media on Friday, “Fijians love Australians. Always have, always will”. We are neighbours and we are friends, which also means that we have our differences from time to time and also need to treat these with openness and candour. Which brings me to being candid this morning about some aspects of our relationship that we feel need addressing.
As you will have gathered from the Prime Minister’s comments on Friday, the Fijian Government is decidedly less than happy about Australia’s plan to move asylum seekers seeking to settle in Australia into Melanesia – into our neighbourhood.
For an Australian problem, you have proposed a Melanesian solution that threatens to destabilise the already delicate social and economic balances in our societies.
The Australian Government has used its economic muscle to persuade one of our Melanesian governments to accept thousands of people who are not Pacific Islanders, a great number of them permanently.
This was done to solve a domestic political problem – and for short-term political gain – without proper consideration of the long-term consequences.
This was done without any consultation, a sudden and unilateral announcement, which is not the Pacific Way and has shocked a great many people in the region.
Why – you may ask – is this any of Fiji’s business? This was a deal with Papua New Guinea, a sovereign government surely entitled to make its own arrangements.
Well, we regard it as our business because we see ourselves as part of a wider Melanesian community through the Melanesian Spearhead Group.
We are striving for more cohesion, more integration in the MSG, including the formation of a Melanesian Common Market with a free flow of goods, services and labour.
This deal – and those mooted with Solomon Islands and Vanuatu – clearly threatens our interests by altering the fundamental social fabric of any member country that accepts a deal with Australia.
We are deeply troubled by the consequent threat to the stability of these countries – and the wider Melanesian community – by the scale of what is being envisaged.
Indeed, we are alarmed to read some of the accounts of what is evidently being canvassed in Australian policy circles.
In the words of the respected Foreign Editor of The Australian newspaper, Greg Sheridan, Quote: “Imagine what the South Pacific would be like in five or six years’ time if there were 50,000 resettled refugees in PNG, and perhaps 10,000 in Vanuatu, 5000 in Solomon Islands and a few thousands elsewhere in the Pacific.
These refugees would be Iranians, Iraqis, Afghans, Pakistanis, Palestinians, perhaps some Sudanese and Somalis, and most of them getting some Australian financial support.
This population would constitute a recipe for social instability and a significant security problem for the region ”. Unquote.
Very similar sentiments have been expressed by Indonesia, the Salvation Army and a growing number of Australian interest groups. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees has warned that settling subsidized asylum-seekers in PNG under the deal could spark local resentment among a population already suffering significant disadvantage, thus leading to instability. History has shown us that such instability will have far reaching ripple effects for not only PNG but the rest of the region. As business people you are well aware of the potential for the negative spillover effect of this Australian Government policy throughout the region, given that our Pacific economies are inextricably connected.
So Ladies and Gentlemen, it IS our business and before this goes any further, we want thorough regional consultation. We want – no, we demand – to have our voices heard.
It is not our concern who wins the coming Australian election. That is a matter for the Australian people. But we are deeply concerned about the impact of Australian politics on our own affairs.
We are deeply concerned about the impact of Australian politics on the welfare of future generations of Pacific People. As Pacific Islanders, we share the horror of many in the international community at the deaths of more than one thousand asylum seekers trying to reach Australia. It is a terrible human tragedy and our hearts go out to the families of those involved. But we cannot remain silent when the current Australian Government dumps this problem – which is arguably of its own making – on our doorstep. Regrettably, from Fiji’s perspective, this deal continues a pattern of behavior on the part of the Australian Government that is inconsiderate, prescriptive, highhanded and arrogant. Instead of treating the Pacific nations as equals, your decision-makers too often ignore our interests and concerns and take it for granted that we will accede to their wishes and demands.
Australia is a vast landmass with vast resources and is thus much better placed than the small and vulnerable nations of the Pacific to address this problem. The question must be asked as to why Australia did not engage with the other Forum members before it embarked on its latest Pacific Solution for unwanted asylum seekers? From where we sit, we suspect the answer is that the Australian Government doesn’t particularly care what we think. Fiji therefore appeals to the current Australian Government to face up to the responsibilities to your neighbours.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the nature of the schism between Fiji and Australia over the events of 2006 is well known and doesn’t warrant elaborate detail here.
But we remain deeply disappointed that instead of constructive engagement, Australia chose to punish Fiji for finally addressing the deep divisions in our society, the lack of equality and genuine democracy and the corruption that was destroying our country from within.
Our doors were always open to you but you chose not to enter.
Next month, we will unveil a new Constitution that guarantees, for the first time, political, economic and social rights for all Fijians, including access to basic services. Next year, we will have the first genuine democracy in Fiji’s history of one person, one vote, one value. And the legal enforcement of our people to vote along racial lines will finally be a thing of the past.
We imagined – perhaps naively – that our bigger neighbours – Australia and New Zealand – might at least try to understand what we were trying to achieve. But they turned their backs on us and set about trying to damage the country in the hope that they would destroy our reformist government.
It is not easy to forget Australia’s efforts at the United Nations to bring an end to our three-decade long commitment to UN peacekeeping. It is not easy to forget the Australian Government’s action in severing our access to loans from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. It is not easy to forget the travel bans that are still in place and have led to inconvenience and heartbreak and deprived us of the ability to attract the best people to run our government departments and even serve on the boards of our public enterprises and utilities.
Even now, Australia has refused a visa for our Minister for Trade and Industry to attend this gathering. So the Minister who can most assist you all in your efforts to expand that trade cannot be present in this room.
This is an unconscionable impediment to free trade, just as it was unconscionable for Australia to ban entry to the former head of our national airline, an American citizen punished for assuming the job of Chairman of Tourism Fiji while he pursued the interests of an airline part owned by Qantas.
When Australia stops trying to damage Fiji – which it is still doing – only then can we can begin to rebuild the political relationship, including the restoration of full diplomatic ties. But it will be a different relationship. The events of the past seven years have made it so.
When it comes to global and regional politics, we have taken a different path and forged new relationships with countries that proved to be more understanding and less prescriptive, who understood what we were doing rather than telling us what to do.
Fiji no longer looks to just Australia and New Zealand as our natural allies and protectors, we look to the World. Jolted from our complacency by the doors that were slammed in our faces, we looked North – to the great powers of Asia, especially China, India and Indonesia and more recently to Russia. We looked South, to the vast array of nations, big and small, that make up the developing world and we currently chair the G77, the biggest voting bloc at the United Nations. And we looked to our Melanesian neighbours, to forge closer ties with them and use our collective strength to make our voices heard in global forums and secure better trading deals for us all.
So while whoever wins the Fijian election next year will doubtless find a more accommodating attitude in Canberra, on the Fijian side our attitudes have changed irrevocably. We are keen to rebuild the relationship but not on the same basis. We want mutual understanding and respect and to be regarded as equals, just as we pursue all of our international relationships under our overarching policy to be “friends to all”.
And so, Ladies and Gentleman, Fiji renews its call today for the Australian Government to engage more constructively with it and with the other Melanesian countries, all of whom – to a greater or lesser extent – share our view that current Australian attitudes leave a lot to be desired.
It is, in turn, fuelling a growing belief that the current frameworks for regional cooperation are not serving our needs. In Fiji’s case, our continuing suspension from the Pacific Forum has convinced us that Australia and New Zealand have a disproportionate influence over its affairs that is clearly to our detriment and sometimes the detriment of our neighbours.
So Fiji wants to rearrange the furniture with a regional body that more properly reflects the concerns of Pacific island nations.
Next week in Nadi, Fiji is hosting the inaugural Pacific Islands Development Forum. 23 Pacific countries will be attending, as well as 10 countries with observer status. At this meeting, Australia and New Zealand will be observers, not members. And the island countries will be able to discuss their own challenges and formulate their own solutions free from outside interference and the prescription of their larger neighbours.
When it comes to our bilateral trade relationship,Ladies and Gentlemen, of course, Australia is still Fiji’s biggest partner and our healthy trading relationship continues. You will hear in greater detail about the challenges and opportunities from Mr. Shaheen Ali, our Permanent Secretary for Trade and Industry Mr. Truman Bradley, Chairman of Investment Fiji and Mr. Inia Nayasi, Deputy Governor of the Reserve of Fiji, later on in the Forum, not only about our political reforms but our increasingly healthy trading environment, of the lowest corporate and personal taxes in the region, large incentives for investment and significant improvements in infrastructure such as roads, ports and telecommunications.
Fiji remains open for business, as the theme for the 20th Australia-Fiji Business Forum and Trade Expo states and I encourage you all to seize the opportunities that our reforms in Fiji are producing.
As a Government, we believe in creating a conducive environment for trade, investment and business. We are convinced that the best way to raise living standards is to create and sustain jobs. That means a strong collaboration between the public and private sectors and a strong collaboration between workers and businesses.
In conclusion, I wish to leave you with the following considerations:
· The Government of Fiji urges the Government of Australia to take cognisance of the effect of its domestic policies on its Pacific neighbours and work towards an alternative asylum-seeker solution.
· Bilateral relations between Fiji and Australia at the political level can only ever be restored on an equal footing, with mutual respect for sovereignty
· In spite of our political differences, the Government of Fiji remains committed to facilitating and encouraging Australian businesses to
reach their fullest potential in Fiji. As we keep saying, we are building a new and better Fiji and that means new and better opportunities for the business community flowing from our reform programs.
Fiji is indeed open and always ready for business.
Thank you for the invitation to address you and I wish you well in your deliberations. Vinaka vakalevu
Good speech! What was missing, however, was the clear expression of support for Tony Abbott in the upcoming elections. Rudd has started to buy votes, so every support we can muster for Abbott will help to send the labour regime to the scrap yard of history. In addition there should have been a line on the unbreakable link in the Melanesian Spearhead Group: No member of this group will ever act against the interests of Fiji! The group fully embraces and supports the rule of our AG and our PM. PNG will even send election observes to ensure that the old parties do not rig the elections and buy votes.
Great speech- kind a have a funny feeling who wrote this speech but what the heck its about time we gave it back to the rulers in Canberra! Fiji has showed the way for all the Pacific countries that we don’t have to lick bum to get what we want! This is akin to what the PM of P&G said during Julie Gillards visit there about getting visas for P&G nationals it easier for those who live in Europea to get a visa but so so hard for those in P & G (including Fiji)!
As for Tony Abbot just another idiot -if you have to listen to his crap-his solution is simple increase the tents on Nauru is his solution to asylum seekers.
Heres a simple solution for those coming by boats -buy the boats, get someone to show you how to steer towards Christmas Island and away you go! Result no Indonesians will get blamed for smuggling anyone! Funny how the ones that came by boat now trying to stop others coming-has anyone asked the Aboriginal population what they think about asylum seekers-after all its their country!
“Funny how the ones that came by boat now trying to stop others coming-has anyone asked the Aboriginal population what they think about asylum seekers-after all its their country!”…..ok this is the best I have read for a very long time so thank you.
Nobody talks about the “Europeans/Caucasians” who come by plane loads, work illegally to sustain their livings, overstays and when fed up or the money runs out, gets “caught” and the government bundles them out with expenses (including meals/drinks) paid.
…damn you Chand…wearing the wrong glasses and on the drinks again
One of the issues that no one touched on during these discussions is how Australia “pumps’ in money into P & G but never really asks how and where its used? But they do push hard when its comes to accountability when it involves Fiji-sure its their money but ain’t it just double standards. Its a well known fact about the corruption that is involved in P & G! Rudd and Howard and all that came before them all knew what was happening but they remained silent because “they” the Aussies we also milking the country to their own ends, mines, timber, gold exploration etc, etc. Don’t forget P & G was a colony of Australia-so in a way the money that comes in and goes who nows where i reckon is tuwas paisa just coming back home! Rudd knows to well how to appease the P & G leaders-, as the songline goes-MONEY, MONEY ,MONEY!
It is disgraceful to accuse our Melanesian brothers of corruption. We have to stand together against Australia, the colonial bully in the region. We should retaliate forcefully as they have humiliated our AG and minister for trade by not granting him a visa. Why can’t we close this bloody high commission on Princess? The only thing they do is spying on us. And why on earth do we allow Aussi tourist into our country without a visa if they refuse to give a visa to our most important and most popular minister and AG. I just don’t get it.
Very well articulated speech but it was infuriating to hear the ABC interview this morning with that perennial fool..Brij Lal. Really the ANU must start questioning the academic credibility of its professorial staff. And how true to form was it for the ABC to seek the opinion of a Fiji hater like Lal.
Brij Lal is sucking off the teats of Australian government and AusAid. He’s objectivity is questionable, and his analysis is shoddy. No one who understands Fiji and Pacific politics listens to this compromised ‘scholar’ anymore. He is totally out of touch and out of date.
Denis whenever Brig opens his mouth-the same old shit comes out so am not suprised! Peter its not disgraceful its factual! Yes we do stand together but lets not be like Australia give with 1 hand take with the other, not happy with the coup in Fiji but keeping very, very silent on the coup in Egypt! Now they all good friends with Burma-coco-cola is already up and running, money in the Military pockets, Aussie with their massive input of Aid money, well why not-lets get the gold, oil, timber etc before the Americans step in!
Inoke really gave those Aussies a lot to think about in this great speech, unless they remain stubborn and keep up the lame stances against Fiji.
Its all fine for Kubuabola to tell – but if a new Government comes in after September 2014, it will – and should – re-align itself with Australia and New Zealand. The present illegal regime in Fiji thinks it will remain in power – maybe they have Plan B – to rig elections to continue their foreign policy
“Fijian voter in waiting” yes anyone could win the elections, but you have already assumed that Bainimarama and them will lose, for them to win means the elections is rigged! Pretty neat conclusion except whats so new about rigging elections in Fiji or do you think its never happened before? Bainimarama does need to rig the elections he could just have another coup-after all the iTaukei in villages are already calling for the elections to be postponed kinda sounds like they like what they see in Frank as opposed to previous Govts all talk no action! Last time they didn’t support Frank this time they well could march thru Suva in support of him!
Great speech Ratu, but you have to follow through now and apply one of the oldest principles of diplomacy: Reciprocity! Australia is denying Fiji its sovereign right to recruit the best people for government jobs. As the foreign ministers has pointed out, the unilateral travel bans imposed by Australia has had major impacts and the only appropriate answer is to ban Australian officials from coming to Fiji. Close the high commission and require visa from Australian tourists. These measures will teach Rudd and his cronies a lesson. Fiji is now strong enough to take the Canberra bullies on. Our friends in China, Russia, Korea and Indonesia will support us. So what are we waiting for?
Paul, we need not repay them for what they have done to us, we need to continue with the direction that we have been following, bigger powers are now realizing the big f*** up that has been done by Australia and are already posturing themselves in anticipation of the elections in 2014 ………… plus, if we deny them visa free access, its our people that will suffer more and not the Australian Govt…….
Agree Noda. We need Aussie tourist dollars more than they need us. We should keep the Aussies and Kiwis etc visa free. Thats part of our selling point – Fiji hospitality
Very good and accurate speech, my Dad always told me Fijians were the smartest politicians in the Pacific including NZ and Australia, and a speech of this calibre certainly reinforces his observation.
For those of you outside Australia do not worry about what you hear on the ABC and certainly do not think it represents the thoughts or feelings of most Australians – the ABC is a very compromised organisation at the moment and probably represents around 25-30% maximum of the population, others are actively calling for it to be disbanded altogether, its funding drastically cut or for it to be shaken up organisation and staff wise, as they are tired of seeing their taxpayer dollars used to push one agenda.
I have nicknamed it the ALPBC and suggested it be sold to the ALP or the Unions so at least all definitely know that when it comes to politics it’s commentary is totally biased, as are most of its guests like Brij Lal.
Fair dinkum Australians view Fiji differently to both the ABC or any media, and their Government, and a concrete example of that is when I helped organise the first Scientific medical conference at the Raddison, Denerau in 2009 between the Gold Coast Medical Association (tellingly a non Government body), and the Fiji Medical Association.
In spite of misgivings re Democracy in Fiji which I helped allay, an impressive range of highly qualified Professors, Associate Professors and specialists from around the world came to impart their knowledge and what is more they paid their own way and gave their time for nothing, whereas every single one of them normally get their travel and accommodation paid plus a healthy attendance fee as well.
The conference was an outstanding success and incidentally everyone including those who had reservations about visiting a ‘non democratic’ country were won over by both the Fiji people and the realisation their own media at home had been painting a totally incorrect picture, but I was worried that deteriorating relations between the two countries and some instrangience on behalf of the Fiji Government may have meant it would become just a one off.
I am however delighted to announce here that this Friday I will be meeting with the ex President of the GCMA and one of the topics we will discuss is another Scientific Medical conference in Fiji in 2015.
Now it is always a long way from an initial discussion to an event actually occurring, but if this man says it is going to happen, a man who incidentally wrote to both Kevin Rudd and foreign Minister Carr re Australia’s treatment of Fiji on his return and actually received replies, it will happen.
Undoubtedly Dr Vijay Kapadia who was responsible for the cardiac unit at CWM, and Dr Shunil Sharma, both of whom trained at CWM, will be part of the organising committee again.
So for those of you in Fiji direct anger at the media and the Government in Australia by all means, but do not include the vast majority of Australians in your anger, they are on your side in spite of some intransgience from your Government (no one is perfect!) as this shows.
One would assume that a change of Government in Australia would bring about a change of attitude between the two countries as the LNP is a much more realistic and pragamatic group, but that of course is in the hands of the Australian voters.
In the meantime never forget there are many Australians and ex Kaivitis living in Australia who are on your side and spreading the message by email, and word of mouth.
Ironically it is actually more important for Australia to have a good relationship with Fiji than vice versa, but whilst some in NZ recognise that truth, as far as I know that has not sunk in with short sighted politicians or bureaucrats in Australia yet.
Thanks for the information-good chaps both Kapadia & Neil both know their stuff and both dedicated professionals. I can remember vividly the meeting in Fiji some years ago & the surprise of those that came to Fiji- as all they knew about Fiji was the rubbish put out by the those in Govt and also the press in Australia.
Thank you Ratu, its about time we show them who we really are and it is because of their shody foreign policy against us that has molded us to be what we are today. The MSG group needs to wake up now, MSG countries should not become another dumping ground for self proclaimed perennial powers in the Region.
Good call Noda
kubuabola, a thug from 1987 and 2000 coups
Fiji’s problem since independence has been one of racial tension. And this has been a problem not caused by Fiji but inherited from their colonial past. Fiji’s indentured labourers were the results of European politics including Australia. For the very first time in Fiji’s history there’s a government that’s willing to address the roots of its problem.
In order for Fiji to be truly democratic and participate in the international community it first needs to have a solid foundation back home and one person one vote is a great start. The racial problems between the two major race is indoctrinated to most citizens for generations and that takes time to address. Most importantly these are issues that can and needs to be addressed by Fiji alone for a Fijian solution.
Aus/NZ attitude and policy towards Fiji has been built on ignorance, arrogance and short term political gain attitude. Aus/NZ are well aware of the fake democracy Fiji had but they were happy with it because it meant they were able to influence and control Fiji through her weak former politicians.
Now Fiji have caught up to the high handed ness of these two so call regional big boys and have decided enough is enough. From now on I’m gonna do things my way, gold old pacific way. And for that Aus/NZ are unhappy because they no longer have the influence they’ve enjoyed for a very long time.
And now it seems Fiji is starting to influence the other pacific countries because they too have been influenced by Aus/NZ for so long to the point of bully. And seeing how Fiji have stood up to Aus/NZ they have come to admire it.