Shalveen Chand
SUVA: Leaked United States reports reveal Australian policymakers and diplomats have been frustrated with the lack of success in Australia's efforts to isolate the Fiji government, but see no viable policy alternatives.
The WikiLeaks cable to the Sun Age revealed that former Australian Parliamentary Secretary of Pacific Island affairs Duncan Kerr last year broke ranks with the then Rudd government and privately sought to encourage the US towards diplomatic re-engagement with Suva.
It said in a meeting at his Parliament House office on August 12 last year, Kerr told a senior American diplomat that Australia was close to exhausting its diplomatic options on Fiji to little apparent effect.
"Mr Kerr encouraged the US to explore new approaches to Fiji," the cables revealed.
The embassy said Kerr's approach was an attempt to spur re-evaluation of policy towards Fiji while the Australian government was on "cruise control toward increasing disengagement with Fiji, without achieving any desired effect". – FijiTimes/Pacific Media Watch
Article: Canberra frustrated with Fiji
Pacific Media Watch
