Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Nothing would give me greater pleasure than lifting our sanctions on Fiji, the normalising of our relations with that country. There are expectations, however, that must be met. We have them, the international community has them and the people of Fiji have them. They are the qualities we require of any electoral process and the restoration of democracy. They include an independent elections office, unrestricted participation by opposition political parties and civil society. They include robust freedom of expression, association and the media, and an election so free and fair its results will be acceptable even to those who lose the election. Once the interim Fiji government achieves this, Australia will happily lift those sanctions and—we believe this is important and should be important to the interim government itself—we will be ready to resume defence cooperation with the country. (Time expired)