Another newspaper publisher deported from Fiji
Updated
Fiji's military backed regime has deported another newspaper publisher, Fiji Times publisher Rex Gardner was issued with a removal order and told he would have to leave the country today.
Presenter: Campbell Cooney
Speakers: Rex Gardner, Publisher of the Fiji Times, Daryl Tarte, Chairman of Fiji's Media Council
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COONEY: The removal order forcing Fiji Times publisher Rex Gardner to leave the country was served on Monday evening.
His deportation comes less than a week after Fiji's High Court fined the paper 100 thousand Fijian dollars and placed Mr Gardner on a 12 month good behaviour bond, for being in contempt of court over the publication of a letter critical of members of the country's judiciary.
When he arrived in Sydney from Fiji, Mr Gardner told a press conference he believes that's the only reason he's been forced to leave.
GARDNER: No reason was given for my deportation and I probably won't get one either, because that's the way they operate, you know, the dark of night, this sort of thing. I can only presume that it relates to the court process, but as I said, no reason was given.
COONEY: Mr Gardner is the second publisher of the Fiji Times deported in the past 12 months. Mr Gardner's forced removal now means three Australian media executives have been deported in the same time period.
The Chairman of Fiji's Media Council Darryl Tarte says a pattern seems to be emerging.
TARTE: With the deportation of Russell Hunter, Evan Hannah and now Rex Gardner, it would appear that the interim regime is determined that there should not be any foreign publishers operating in Fiji. Had Rex Gardner been convicted and sentenced by the High Court in the recent court case, there would perhaps have been grounds for his work permit to be cancelled. However, in his judgement, Mr Justice Hickey stated and I want to quote here "I am not going to record a conviction against Mr Gardner" and he clearly made a judgement, wrote a judgement that in his opinion would not jeopardise Mr Gardner's right to continue working in Fiji.
COONEY; But as well as the recent High Court judgement, the Fiji Times, the country's biggest selling paper and the interim government have been at loggerheads over the newspaper's coverage of its policies and actions, with the paper strongly criticised in public statements made by interim ministers and heads of department.
Fiji Times editor Netani Rika says he is in no doubt the paper's been targeted over its refusal to follow the official line.
COONEY: Rex Gardner says Fiji's newspapers are only doing what media outlets are supposed to do.
GARDNER: Our paper and the other major paper there does what papers do, they challenge authority and of course the military regime is up for challenge. Let's face it, they weren't put there by choice.
