Mark Bishop (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Bob Carr. Can the minister update the Senate on developments regarding Fiji's efforts to return to democracy?

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

Australia greatly values its relations with Fiji. We are a partner and a close friend. We have worked with Fiji in difficult times and we have built close defence cooperation. Many of us are familiar with the political situation in that country and the actions of the regime, such as the decision to expel the visiting ILO delegation last year. Much has been written of Fiji's post-1987 coup culture and noted that Fiji stands apart from the rest of the Pacific, which is a community of democracies. All of the Pacific wants a prosperous and democratic Fiji, something I have confirmed in discussions with my counterparts in Papua New Guinea, the Solomons, Samoa, Kiribati, Vanuatu and New Zealand.

The interim government in Fiji is making some progress in its efforts to restore democracy but the setbacks continue. On 15 January there was a decree on political parties. Subsequent amendments to it are as of much concern as the original decree. They include unacceptable conditions on the operation of political parties. There is an extreme regulation of the activities of political parties and their memberships. There are, for example, references to civil society leaders, officers of trade unions and employer associations, and restrictions or prohibitions on what they can do in the political arena. The imposition of penalties—up to five years imprisonment, for example, for media organisations reporting 'incorrectly' on the names of prospective and former political parties—is another example. Strong political parties are indispensable to strong democracies. (Time expired)

Mark Bishop (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister respond to recent suggestions that Australia has gone soft on Fiji?

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

Our position remains unchanged and our sanctions prove that. Following Fiji's coup, Australia prohibited individuals travelling to, or transiting, Australia who are members of or associated with the Fiji military or senior members of Fiji's interim government. Our sanctions apply to the supply, the sale or the transfer to Fiji of arms and related material. They apply to the provision of technical advice or a financial service related to military activities or an activity involving the supply, sale, transfer, manufacture, maintenance or use of an export sanctioned good for Fiji.

Following a meeting I hosted in Sydney in July last year involving the foreign ministers of New Zealand and Fiji, Australia has agreed to be more flexible with its travel sanctions and to reinstate respective high commissioners, but what we want is an indisputable return to democracy in that country. (Time expired)

Mark Bishop (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can the minister advise the Senate on what Australia and the international community see as fair and reasonable requirements to ensure Fiji's return to democracy is credible?

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

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before calling the next questioner, I have been advised that leave is granted for the document Senator Fifield wished to table.