Relations between Fiji and Australia have taken yet another turn for the worse with the revelation that Canberra has been secretly blocking Fiji’s access to hundreds of millions of dollars for development projects. A senior Australian academic – Professor Stephen Howes – told The Australian newspaper that the Government had used its muscle to veto … [Read more...] about # AUSTRALIA’S UNHEALTHY OBSESSION
# GATTY’S $2-MILLION GIVEAWAY
In a striking act of philanthropy, the family of the founder of Fiji Airways, Harold Gatty, is making two big donations to local institutions, including $1-million to build a new wing at the Fiji Museum to celebrate the late aviator’s achievements. The money is coming from Harold Gatty’s son, the Wainadoi spice farmer and author, Dr Ronald Gatty, … [Read more...] about # GATTY’S $2-MILLION GIVEAWAY
# THE NATIONAL TRAUMA OF MAY 1987
The 26th anniversary of the first 1987 Coup has revived some traumatic memories for many of us who lived through it – the shock, the air of menace, the violence, the feeling that Fiji would never be the same again. Tens of thousands of our best and smartest people simply decided there and then that there was no future for themselves and their … [Read more...] about # THE NATIONAL TRAUMA OF MAY 1987
# ECONOMIES WITH THE TRUTH (UPDATED 12/5)
The Government’s cyber critics have been blindsided by the announcement that all three former major political parties – Labour, the National Federation Party and SODELPA, the former SDL – have been cleared to contest the 2014 election. The declaration by the Registrar of Elections, Mohammed Saneem, that all three entities had cleared the hurdle … [Read more...] about # ECONOMIES WITH THE TRUTH (UPDATED 12/5)
# THE “BATTLE OF IDEAS” BEGINS
The Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama, has spoken of waging a "battle of ideas" to win next year's election in Fiji after all three major established parties - Labour, the National Federation Party, and SODELPA, the former SDL - were cleared to register as political entities to contest the poll. Commodore Bainimarama restated his intention to form … [Read more...] about # THE “BATTLE OF IDEAS” BEGINS
# THE PACIFIC AXIS SHIFTS
There’s elation in Fijian Government circles over the highly successful outcome of this week’s visit to Papua New Guinea by the Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama, at the head of the biggest Fijian trade and investment mission ever to visit another country. The original aims of the visit were ambitious enough – to lay more of the … [Read more...] about # THE PACIFIC AXIS SHIFTS