This is the first time the level of debate over accommodating ecological refugees has been raised to such a high political level.

Dev Nadkarni
Last month was choc-a-block with promise. After the depressingly turbulent events that swept across the South Pacific last year, some very positive developments took place in quick succession last month. For one, the meeting of Pacific Islands Forum Foreign Ministers in Vanuatu brought a change of approach in Australia and New Zealand’s dealing with Fiji’s interim government.

Having acknowledged the ground reality in the country for the first time since the new regime took over its affairs in December last year, the two countries and the Forum have decided to engage with the interim administration with the formation of a joint working group in a bid to bring back a democratic government in a timeframe quicker than that envisaged by the Bainimarama administration.

This has ended the politics of isolation and ushered in a much-needed pragmatic approach in dealing with the situation.

That thaw in relations also had its positive impact on regional ties with the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) inviting Fiji to sign its agreement in Port Vila after it initially told Fiji it cannot to do so. International organisations like the European Union too have expressed satisfaction at the outcomes of the meet and cleared future aid projects. 

Another major development is the United States naming this year as the Year of the Pacific, indicating it was ending years of its low-key presence in the region.

Though the US has been making statements of increased engagement since last year, this announcement shows it means business. As early as next month, it will engage with all Pacific Islands leaders at a meeting it will host in Washington. It will also work with New Zealand on a range of new programmes in the region.

Then again, a faction of Australia’s Labour Party announced last month that the country needed a policy to resettle environmental refugees from the Pacific Islands region. On previous occasions, Australia has repeatedly gone on record stating it had no policy in place for resettling people affected by ecological disasters like sea level rise and tsunamis.

This is the first time the level of debate over accommodating ecological refugees has been raised to such a high political level. Whatever the motivation for this sudden development—a possible one being the forthcoming election scheduled later this year—it is good to see this being considered seriously at this level.

Labour has also announced it will press for the case of seasonal labour migration if voted into power. The present regime has consistently resisted all efforts by lobby groups to encourage the idea. Also significantly last month, the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees expressed criticism about Australia’s system of processing asylum seekers on Nauru.

But in line with the conciliatory approach seen in the Port Vila meeting involving Fiji, Australia’s pronouncements in regard to developments in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands also saw a change with Downer showing a greater eagerness to talk and engage with various constituents in the two countries on several issues including RAMSI and the Julian Moti Affair. Talks have been lined up in the coming weeks and it is good to see conciliation being employed as a strategy over confrontation.

Taking this tack further, there was yet another unrelated but welcome development. A New South Wales Member of Parliament announced a mission to have ‘Melanesian Studies’ incorporated into the school curriculum to foster a better understanding in future generations about the culture and politics of Australia’s neighbourhood.

However superficial that may seem, from America dedicating the year to the Pacific region to an Australian politician trying to get Australian kids to learn Pidgin, there is little doubt the islands nations of the South Pacific are poised to take centre stage this year. And it is about time.
 
FATAL ATTRACTION

Since the earliest days of Western exploration of the Pacific region, the islands—and their people—have had a fatal attraction for men with controversial if not highly questionable backgrounds. From the dark days of blackbirding in early colonial times right down to present times, every once in a while a great white hope emerges on the islands’ shores in the form of a man who promises the moon and much more.

From the well-known case of the Tongan Court Jester, through countless pyramid scheme peddlers and religious scamsters, to fraudsters with an international profile, the history of the easy going islands and the placid waters between them is littered with the flotsam of failed ventures of these men. Most of them, more often than not, vamoose mysteriously into thin air when the going begins to get tough. And given the islands’ limited resources and very restricted ability to pursue them, there is never a case when these men are brought to book.

Some of them treat the islands as a cool place to cool their heels after their controversial dealings in the Western world. It is only after they are here a little while that the islands’ authorities begin to learn of their true backgrounds—their crime-ridden past or a string of failed ventures or the fact of one failure after another in their careers which they would have everyone believe are nothing less than sparkling!

The ghosts of more than a couple of such men’s pasts came to haunt Fiji between late last year and in the first three months of 2007. While one of them escaped to another island in true Hollywood style, the other stood himself down from his high profile enterprise and a third exited in what seemed a very unseemly hurry.