PACIFIC: Pacific leaders welcome New Australian government
Updated
Australia elected a new government over the weekend with former foreign affairs beaurecrat Kevin Rudd set to be the country's next Prime Minister. Pacific leaders have congratulated Mr Rudd on his election. So what, if anything, will change for the Pacific.
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Presenter: Campbell Cooney
Speakers: Doctor Richard Herr, University of Tasmania; Mahendra Chaudhry, Fiji Finance Minister.
CAMPBELL COONEY : Two days after Kevin Rudd's landslide victory and its still not known what a change of Australian government will mean for the Pacific - the region where Australia still exerts most influence and provides most of the money and manpower in terms of aid. Right through the election campaign Mr Rudd has refused to confirm if the Opposition's Foreign Affairs spokesman, Robert McClelland will be given the ministerial portfolio, nor has it been disclosed if as previous Australian Labor governments have done, a junior ministry responsible for Pacific affairs will be created, although sources within the Labor party have indicated this proposal is being seriously considered. This Thursday Labor's caucus members in the federal parliament will meet and its likely the successful ministers will be announced soon after. But last week I spoke to Dr Richard Herr from the University of Tasmania's School of Government about what the Pacific might expect.
DR RICHARD HERR : The Howard doctrine for example, the muscular intervention in the region with the troops and with police and so forth in trouble spots will probably be you know done less muscularly. It will be done more in cooperative direction with the regional state ****** something that Mr Rudd has said repeatedly he wants to do things in a more negotiated, cooperative way with the region. The politic - the pacific solution looks certain to be abandoned, the enhanced cooperation program with Papua New Guinea and that administrative civil engagement again probably would be less on Canberra's terms and more on mutually negotiated terms. Certainly he has criticised the Prime Minister, Mr Howard for his indifferent record of attendance at South Pacific forum meetings and indicated that he would be much more interested in it. He's referred to the fact that in the past Labor had a junior minister specifically for the South Pacific. He hasn't indicated himself whether he would reinstitute that arrangement but he certainly spoke favourably on it.
CAMPBELL COONEY : Whatever differences there may be, Pacific leaders have begun their efforts to gain favour. Since he took power last year, the Prime Minister of Solomon Islands Manasseh Sogavare has had a tense relationship with Canberra. He's repeatedly attacked the presence and actions of the Australian-led regional assistance mission RAMSI and infuriated the Howard Government with his protection and then appointment as Attorney General of Julian Moti who's wanted in Australia on child-sex charges. But yesterday he was one of the first Pacific leaders to send a letter of congratulations to Kevin Rudd, saying he now hopes for an improved relationship between the two countries. As well there's been congratulations from Fiji. Interim Prime Minister and coup leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama has welcomed Labor's victory. The Commodore now hopes that he'll be able to talk with Prime Minister elect Rudd about lifting the Howard Government's travel bans on visitors to Australia, members of Fiji's military interim government and their families. Since they were implemented after last year's coup Commodore Bainimarama has repeatedly criticised them and although Mr Rudd has made no comment on the future of what have been called smart sanctions, its worth noting they are a shared initiative with New Zealand and both countries now have Labor governments. As well the Foreign Ministers and Primer Ministers of both countries have said the fact that Commodore keeps complaining about them is evidence of just how effective they've been. Fiji's interim Finance Minister and former Minister Mahendra Chowdhury says there are other issues to be dealt with as well.
MAHENDRA CHOWDHURY : We propose to approach them to review the Australian government's stand on Fiji and to make them one of prospective engagement rather than isolation as it was in the Howard Government.
CAMPBELL COONEY : Next February the Foreign Ministers of the Pacific Island Foreign Member nations are expected to meet in Nandi to be updated on Fiji's progress on a return to democratic rule. That's likely to be the first chance for Island leaders to see how Australia represents itself in Pacific affairs, either with a Foreign Minister, a junior minister with pacific responsibilities or the Primer Minister himself.
