Margaret May (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Would the minister update the House on Australia’s role in coordinating the international response to the current government in Fiji?

Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question and say that the government was deeply concerned and disappointed, as I have said before, by the coup that took place in Fiji. We have on many occasions condemned the action of the Fiji military. Last Friday, 16 March, the foreign affairs ministers of all 16 Pacific Island Forum countries met in Vanuatu to discuss a report which was produced by an eminent persons group, also established by forum foreign affairs ministers at the meeting in Sydney in December. This report by the eminent persons group not only condemned the Fiji military for an illegal and unconstitutional act but also put forward a road map for the restoration of democracy. I am glad to say that ministers at this meeting in Vanuatu affirmed that the interim government should commit to a firm timetable for a national election within the next 18 to 24 months, if not sooner. Only a rapid return to democracy and the rule of law will restore political credibility and also, importantly, the investor confidence that Fiji requires.

I made the point at the meeting that, if the Fiji military agree to a credible road map for the restoration of democracy, Australia can help. For example, the military say that there needs to be a census in Fiji. A census actually is overdue, and we could certainly help bring forward that census and help with some of the work to ensure that it not only is a credible census but can happen in a relatively short period of time. The military say there need to be new electoral rolls. On the back of the census, that would not be a complex job. They also say there needs to be a reapportioning of electoral boundaries. There needs to be an independent electoral commission that does that. I do not think we would expect the commander of the military to draw the electoral boundaries for some reason or other; I think it should be done by an independent electoral commission. We can help with all those things.

Australia will help with the restoration of democracy in Fiji. The eminent persons group is now charged with once more engaging with the Fiji military and seeing, on the back of the offers that countries like Australia and New Zealand will make to assist with the restoration of democracy, how quickly that can be done.

It is important it is done quickly because Fiji is on the slide economically. This coup has done enormous damage to Fiji’s economy. It was already reasonably fragile, but Fiji is now in great difficulty. Its GDP is declining. It needs democracy restored and it needs it restored soon. It is important that the military leadership in Fiji listen to the voices of the Pacific, which unanimously want a rapid restoration of democracy.