grubsheet

For the first time in nearly seven years - since the Bainimarama takeover of 2006 - there's been a change in the official Australian attitude to Fiji. It's outlined in a remarkable speech by Julie Bishop, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, to this week's Australia Fiji Business Forum in Brisbane. … [Read more...] about # FINALLY, THE TIDE TURNS

  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 … [Read more...] about # FIJI LEADS PACIFIC REVOLT

Trawling through the Papua New Guinea media in search of local reaction to the asylum seeker deal with Australia, Grubsheet stumbled upon an article written a few months back by one of the country's best journalists, Frank Sege Kolma, that pretty neatly sums up the difference between the two countries. It has particular resonance as the Fijian … [Read more...] about # A TALE OF TWO NATIONS

"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 … [Read more...] about # AUSTRALIAN PROBLEM, MELANESIAN SOLUTION

Regular readers of Grubsheet will be aware of our continuing campaign to restore Suva to its former glory, and especially the so-called “Golden Half-Mile”, the area bounded by Government Buildings, the Grand Pacific Hotel, Government House, the Fiji Museum and Thurston Gardens. We derive a huge amount of satisfaction from the power of our pen, or … [Read more...] about # CHIMING IN A NEW ERA

The latest and arguably most important phase of the Government’s Fijian Made campaign – Fijian Crafted – is being launched by the Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, in Nadi on Friday. Why is a crafted object more significant than an industrially manufactured item, however excellent or desirable? Because more than anything else, it represents … [Read more...] about # FIJIAN CRAFTED, FIJIAN MADE