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

I thank the honourable member for Bowman for his question and for his interest in this issue. I think the House is well aware that the Australian government has been amongst those which have strongly condemned the Fijian military’s unconstitutional coup d’etat. As time has gone on since the coup, we have become increasingly concerned about the way the Fijian military force is exercising power without any real restraint and without accountability. Honourable members will be aware that there have been reports in recent times of a number of human rights abuses in Fiji by members of the Fijian military force. In the government’s view, there have been endeavours by the Fijian military to suppress any form of dissent from or disagreement with the actions that the military have taken. They have done that through extreme intimidation of critics. There have been reports that, in some cases, critics and opponents of what has happened have been taken down to the Queen Elizabeth barracks in Suva and beaten and assaulted. Not surprisingly, many ordinary Fijians are dismayed that the military has not honoured a pledge that it originally made to uphold human rights, the rule of law and, for that matter, freedom of the press. That simply has not happened.

The Australian government are disturbed by reports we have heard that the Fijian military is continuing to try to divide the community by encouraging Fijians to spy on each other and report any private criticisms—which must, presumably, be manifold—of the military administration. Furthermore, we are very concerned that the rule of law is being undermined through compromising the independence both of the judiciary and of the police force. On 1 February the Fijian military disbanded the tactical response division of the Fijian police. In December the Chief Justice of Fiji was summarily dismissed by the military. There is no doubt that there is a great deal of opposition in Fiji to what the military have done and to their heavy-handed tactics since the takeover. There is also no doubt that the military commander, Commodore Bainimarama, underestimated the degree of public opposition to his actions and underestimated in particular the degree of opposition that there would be amongst non-government organisations.

In conclusion, an eminent persons group—which was established at a Pacific Islands Forum foreign ministers meeting which I attended in Sydney during December—has now visited Fiji. It did so last week. The group contains Peter Cosgrove, a former Chief of the Defence Force in Australia, and a number of other eminent figures from the Pacific region. Its report is in the process of being concluded, and we look forward to seeing that report. I hope that, before too long, a meeting of Pacific Islands Forum foreign ministers will be able to consider that report and hear from the eminent persons group. That will help the region, not just Australia and New Zealand but the region as a whole, chart a way forward in terms of dealing with what has happened in Fiji.

I make no apology for raising today the question of human rights abuses in Fiji. It is a serious problem and a serious matter. When the military take over control of a country in this way, which was completely illegal—and of course we in Australia and those in New Zealand, around the Pacific and elsewhere regard it as an unacceptable way to behave—the problem is seriously compounded by the human rights abuses that ensue.

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