Fiji's decision to expel an Australian diplomat is disappointing and shows the country does not care about maintaining relations, Foreign Minister Murray McCully says.Fiji Foreign Minister Inoke Kubuabolo said Sarah Roberts, Australia's top diplomat in F
Fiji's decision to expel an Australian diplomat is disappointing and shows the country does not care about maintaining relations, Foreign Minister Murray McCully says.
Fiji Foreign Minister Inoke Kubuabolo said Sarah Roberts, Australia's top diplomat in Fiji, was to be expelled for "unfriendly acts" which led regional leaders to axe a summit in the island nation.
The five-member Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), which includes Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, said it was cancelling this month's summit in military-run Fiji over concerns about democracy and "good governance."
"The Australian acting high commissioner, Ms Sarah Roberts, has been declared persona non grata," Mr Kubuabolo said in a statement.
She is the second senior Australian diplomat to be expelled from Fiji in less than a year after the high commissioner and his New Zealand counterpart were removed last November over alleged interference in Fiji's judiciary.
Mr McCully said the act was "completely unjustified and very disappointing."
The expulsion was "counterproductive on almost every level" and he rejected any suggestion that Australian and New Zealand pressure was the reason for the collapse of the Melanesian Spearhead Group meeting that regime head Commodore Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama planned to host.
"It is deeply insulting to Vanuatu Prime Minister Natapei to suggest that his decision to defer the MSG meeting was made because of pressure from New Zealand and Australia. Prime Minister Natapei needed no help from New Zealand or Australia to work out that democratic principles should prevail within the region.
"Today's move will further diminish Fiji's standing in the eyes of the region and the international community, and further delay any recovery in the Fijian economy," Mr McCully said.
"It is also a sign that, despite our best efforts, Fiji still does not place much value on the maintenance of diplomatic relations and dialogue as a means of resolving differences."
Australia has been one of the harshest critics of Fiji since military leader Cdre Bainimarama led a bloodless coup in 2006 and later put back a return to democratic elections from 2009 to 2014.
Fiji is already suspended from the Commonwealth and the 16-nation Pacific Islands Forum and has been hit with sanctions by the European Union and countries including the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
Canberra does not intend to expel Fiji's sole diplomat in Australia.
