Pacific Islands Forum: Rudd Plays Down Calls For Fiji Coup

By Rich Bowden

Img: Pacific Islands Forum logo.


Speaking in Cairns at the annual Pacific Islands Forum, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has rejected calls for an uprising against the recalcitrant military rule of Commodore Frank Bainimarama in Fiji saying he was in favour of a "peaceful" settlement to the problem.

Mr Rudd, taking over as host of this year's Forum, was reacting to comments made by outgoing chairman Nuie Premier Toke Talagi, who appeared to support an armed takeover by the Fijian people to restore democracy.

Describing the military regime's promise of elections in 2014 as "unacceptable" Talagi spoke directly to the people of Fiji.

"Perhaps citizens of Fiji must now rise... to challenge their undemocratic rule of the military regime and restore democracy," Mr Talagi said.

"Their self-imposed road map for elections to be held in 2014 is unacceptable."

However Prime Minister Rudd used his acceptance speech in north Queensland to back away from the premier's comments saying Pacific nations must work together to form a "peaceful solution" to the Fiji crisis.

"I would emphasise in absolutely clear-cut terms the importance of a peaceful solution to the problems which exist within Fiji," he was quoted as saying by Radio Australia. "They are real problems and that is one of the reasons why the countries of the Pacific Islands Forum agreed on a mechanism for the suspension of Fiji."

"...I believe what the Premier of Niue was referring to was that the people of Fiji themselves ought also to be seized of the challenges which their democracy now faces."

New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key also backed the Australian PM saying dialogue, not confrontation, was the best course of action.

“You can’t have a good coup and a bad coup, we have encouraged Frank Bainimarama to engage in dialogue with the Forum leaders in Fiji, both with Qarase and with Chaudhry, we think that’s the right course of action, not some sort of uprising by the people against the military coup,” Mr Key told Radio New Zealand International.

Military forces led by Commodore Bainimarama seized power in Fiji in a December 2006 coup. The interim Fijian government suspended the country's constitution earlier this year after a court found the coup illegal and reneged on promises for elections delaying them until 2014.

Fiji has been suspended from this year's Pacific Islands Forum.

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Utegate: PM, Treasurer Cleared; Treasury Official Admits Faking Email

By Rich Bowden

Img: Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull. Credit: Adam Carr.

Godwin Gretch, the under-fire Treasury Official at the centre of the now-notorious "Utegate" affair, pre-empted an Auditor-General's report early today by admitting he concocted a vital email used to attack the Rudd government. The "evidence" was used by the Opposition to call for the Prime Minister and Treasurer's resignation over alleged special financial favours for a friend. The report, released after the official's statement, exonerated Mr Rudd and his Treasurer Wayne Swan of any wrongdoing in the affair.

Mr Gretch was reported by The Australian this morning as saying he fabricated an email alleging special favours for Ipswich car dealer John Grant under the OzCar scheme after Grant, a friend of the prime minister, had loaned the PM a car for his election campaign.

The Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Turnbull led the accusations against the PM and Treasurer after a Senate enquiry in June heard from Mr Gretch that an email existed from the PM's office that showed special treatment for Mr Grant. The special favours was alleged to have occurred under a government car financing scheme designed to improve Australia's car dealers access to funding. This email was later found by police to be a fake after investigations of Mr Gretch's home computer.

Speaking to The Australian Mr Gretch said he had fabricated the evidence under pressure from the Opposition in the hope that they would pass the OzCar bill in the closely-divided Senate.

"My concern was that the issue of Grant could be used to frustrate the passage of the bill," he said.

He described his actions in fabricating the email as an "error of judgement."

However the "utegate" affair, rather than damage the government, has instead rebounded on the Opposition Leader, throwing doubt on his future as the country's alternative leader. Mr Turnbull has mortified members of his own party after he led the attack on the Prime Minister and Treasurer in June based solely on the fabricated evidence.

Mr Turnbull and Senator Eric Abetz, who was behind the questioning of Gretch in the Senate enquiry, are alleged to have met with Gretch at Mr Turnbull's wife's office in Sydney to discuss the email and testimony one week before Mr Gretch was to give evidence before the Senate committee.

Mr Gretch, though working for the government as a senior Treasury official, has been accused of passing information to the Opposition, acting as a Coalition "mole" within Treasury.

The allegations against Turnbull go further than criticism of his political judgement, political commentators have noted. According to Gretch, pressure was placed on Gretch to release the email designed to bring down the Prime Minister. Turnbull is alleged to have "intimate involvement" in the coaching of Gretch and the handling of confidential Treasury information.

The government has said Mr Turnbull's position is now untenable and he should apologise and resign.


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Greens Slam Government Lack of Action Over Carbon Emissions Plan

By Rich Bowden

Img: Pollution. Credit: pfala/flickr

Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown has criticised the federal Government's plan to reduce greenhouse gases saying it “undermines” global efforts to achieve real cuts in carbon emissions. Senator Brown's criticism came in a Greens press release which said the Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme of 5 percent greenhouse gas cuts, falls far short of Bali Road Map target of 25-40 percent cuts in emissions over 1990 levels by 2020.

Senator Brown's said the Prime Minister's actions on reducing climate change were "...undermining any chance of reaching a Bali Road Map level of consensus for the world, let alone a more ambitious one."

He added that the federal Government's scheme was “inconsistent” with stated aims of such initiatives as saving the Murray Darling river system.

“Mr Rudd's stated global goals of 450 parts per million (ppm) global concentrations of greenhouse gases and 2C warming are mutually inconsistent - even the out-of-date IPCC projections concluded that 450 ppm gave us a 50-90% chance of breaching 2C,” Senator Brown said. “Neither will be achieved by the CPRS targets.”

Senator Brown said Mr Rudd's climate policy had isolated it on the world stage and had contributed to its loss of credibility in any global attempts to meeting either 450 ppm or 2C role.

"There is no way Mr Rudd's target for Australia can play a reasonable and equitable role in meeting either a 450 ppm or 2C goal,” he concluded.

Climate change is expected to be one of the key issues discussed during the prime minister's six-day European tour when he will meet with members of the Major Economies Forum (MEF) for discussions prior to the G8 summit held at L'Aquila in Italy.

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Opinion: Where to Now For the Rudd Government's Indigenous Policy?

By Rich Bowden

Img: Sorry. Credit: Spud Murphy/flickr

The release of the recent Productivity Commission's report into the state of the Australian Government's policy on closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians has provoked consternation in Government ranks and brought condemnation from the Australian media.

As this PM report of Thursday 2/7/09 explains, the extensive 700-page report shows there has been little progress - if any at all - in the key issues such as health, education and imprisonment rates.

The Government has gone into damage control with the Prime Minister admitting candidly that all was not well though pointing out that the results of his Government's policy may take some years before real results can be seen.

Despite the damning report, the Productivity Commission's Gary Banks praised the effort of the Rudd Government in tackling Indigenous problem areas: "The most significant thing is that this report is happening at all. It is the first time governments have not only expressed a strong desire to do better but have created a reporting vehicle that will hold them accountable," he said.

"This is an important break with the past. Despite decades of well-intentioned spending programs and policies, we learned very little about what was working and what wasn't."

But is all it seems? The Opposition has said the Prime Minister's mea culpa and offer of an olive branch to the Opposition to put aside ideological differences and work together to find a solution to the crisis is all too familiar.

They contend that such an offer to be part of a working committee on Aboriginal health has been offered before by the Government, only to have the plug pulled from a proposed joint committee.

They accuse the Rudd Government of cynically pretending to be bi-partisan over the issue only for the benefit of the media only to ignore vital Indigenous issues.

So what do you think? Is the Government genuine in its efforts to close the Indigenous gap? Or are critics correct in that its much-vaunted new approach to Indigenous Affairs is falling apart at the seams?

Can the crisis be resolved by the formation of a bi-partisan approach or will Indigenous policy always be thrown on the backburner when times get tough?

Have your say.

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