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Introduction: Ok, ladies and gentlemen of the media, thank you very much. The leaders have now concluded the retreat of the 41st Pacific Islands Forum, and in front of you we have the Chair, the new Chair of the Forum, Prime Minister of Vanuatu, the Hon Edward Natapei. On his right is the Prime Minister for Tonga and he is here in his capacity as the Chair of the Ministerial Contact Group (MCG) report on the situation in Fiji. On the other side is Mr Smith, the Foreign Minister of Australia. He is here in his capacity as the out-going Chair of the Forum, representing the out-going Chair of the Forum. And of course, the Secretary General, Neroni Slade. So ladies and gentlemen, I now have the privilege of asking the Chair of the Forum to address you about the decisions made by the Forum. Thank you very much Prime Minister.)

PRIME MINISTER NATAPEI: Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. There's a lot that was covered in the meeting today and I have no intention of going through the whole Communiqué. I'm simply going to outline the agenda items that we have discussed and I will defer to the former Chair to say a few words and the Prime Minister of Tonga, also to say a few words. Maybe we can take questions after that.

So, in the meeting today, we covered a lot of issues. One of which was the issue of climate change and the Cairns Compact. Also the Pacific Plan, we discussed issues in relation to Fisheries; Pacific Aviation Safety focus; supporting people with disabilities; discussion on trade; renewable energy; the labour mobility; regional and situational framework; regional partnership and of course the issue in relation to Fiji, which I hope the Prime Minister of Tonga will assist us with this afternoon.

So, ladies and gentlemen, as I said, I'm not going to go into detail on the Communiqué because you will be given copies of the Communiqué tomorrow when it's cleaned up. I now defer to the Foreign Minister of Australia who wishes to say a few words to the press.

STEPHEN SMITH: Prime Minister, thank you very much, and can I congratulate you on a very successful day chairing the Pacific Island Leaders' Forum, and can I say how pleased and honoured I am to represent Australia and to hand over the Chair to you yesterday. On behalf of all of the leaders today, can we thank you for your warm hospitality and the excellent arrangements you have put in place.

It's been a very good day. Australia is very pleased with the outcome. It's an extensive Communiqué covering all of the issues of interest and all of the challenges to the Pacific. I'm particularly pleased that we spent a considerable amount of time focussing on and dealing with the challenge of climate change, particularly climate change financing, where we looked to the future, understanding the commitments that developed countries have made to developing countries to ensure that we maximise the benefit so far as climate change adaptation and mitigation programs are concerned in the Pacific.

We also spent time looking at the need to progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in the Pacific. The Port Vila Declaration is very important in that context. In that context I have announced today a contribution by Australia of $85 million over four years for child and maternal health care to make progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals so far as health is concerned.

On development assistance generally, we reaffirmed our commitment to the Cairns Compact. We believe that's worked very well. Nauru and Kiribati were both subject to peer review under the Cairns Compact and that was a very positive experience.

We think that the effectiveness and the coordination which you find underpinning the Cairns Compact so far as the development assistance program is concerned is a model to be utilised for climate change financing. We spent some time talking about the need for protection of fisheries and a new legal framework, but also ensuring surveillance is adequate, and also looking at better ways in which Pacific island nations can get a good return, a fair return, on the utilisation of that resource.

The Prime Minister of Tonga, and Chair of the Ministerial Contact Group on Fiji of which I am also a member, will report on Fiji. But we also dealt with the question of New Caledonia, its emerging status as a nation and the need to look to the future, hopefully to a time when New Caledonia can become a member of the Forum itself.

So it was a very good day's work covering key issues of importance to the region; development assistance and its coordination; climate change financing; achieving the Millennium Development Goals; protection of fisheries as a most valuable resource for the Pacific.

So Prime Minister, thank you for the day, and Australia, as I indicated yesterday, looks very much forward to assisting Vanuatu as the new Chair of the Forum, and looking forward to rendering you whatever assistance we can over the next year. Thank you.

(I now call on the Prime Minister of Tonga to say a few words about Fiji.)

PRIME MINISTER SEVELE: Ladies and gentlemen and Prime Minister, may I re­echo the sentiments expressed by Mr Smith and thank you for wonderful leadership today and over the past couple of days, and for the hospitality which we, from the side of Vanuatu we have received over the past few days.

On Fiji, as you members of the media know, we did have a meeting in Auckland earlier this year and this was called by me as Chair of the Ministerial Contact Group, tasked with the responsibility of monitoring the situation in Fiji. There are six members in the group and that is Australia, Samoa, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Tokelau and Tonga.

At the meeting in Auckland we did express our concern at the situation in Fiji. We have certain governance rules and rules of democracy under which every member of the Forum must operate. At the time, of course, as you all know, Fiji had not complied with some of those principles, and therefore remains suspended from the meetings and activities of the Forum in line with the Forum decisions of 2008 and 2009.

Now, we were invited to visit Fiji by the Foreign Minister in Auckland, and of course as it turned out that didn't eventuate. I myself went, had a meeting with the interim Foreign Minister for Fiji in Fiji, and then reported back to my fellow members of the group and then to the leaders today.

The situation is that things haven't changed and we, today, reinforced the decisions already made. The current decisions remain in force, and that's the situation as of today. Of course, the Forum stands united and remains committed to assisting Fiji on the way to a return to democracy. So our stance remains the same, but we are fully committed to engaging with Fiji and assisting Fiji on the way back to democracy. Thank you.

(All right, ladies and gentlemen. There is a chance now for questions. Please identify yourself and if you are directing your questions to either of the three up in front, please say so)

QUESTION: Stephen Smith, we haven't seen the Communiqué. Could you please tell us what the wording was in relation to Fiji?

STEPHEN SMITH: Well, the Communiqué will show that the Ministerial Contact Group's report was received by Leaders, as Prime Minister Sevele has indicated. Receipt of the Ministerial Contact Group report, where circumstances have not changed — indeed have, in my view, deteriorated — there is effectively a reaffirmation of the ongoing suspension of Fiji from the Pacific Islands Forum, and expressions in the Communiqué of the need to continue our efforts for dialogue with Fiji itself.

The most extensive part of the conversation on Fiji was in respect of PACER Plus, the economic integration proposals, and the leaders asked the Ministerial Contact Group to consider the question of Fiji's involvement in or relationship with PACER Plus, and that's been referred back to the Ministerial Contact Group for further work. So the substance of today's discussion, which was not, I have to tell you, a lengthy discussion, was essentially, regrettably, things have not improved in Fiji, the current suspension continues, the Forum wants to find a way of dialogue to bring Fiji back to democracy. The Ministerial Contact Group has been asked to look at the question of Fiji and its relationship or involvement in PACER Plus discussions, and other than that, as Prime Minister Sevele has said, is essentially a status quo outcome which, from Australia's perspective, is regrettable. But the unanimity of the Forum in terms of Fiji's suspension continues until such time as Fiji puts itself back on the path to democracy.

QUESTION: Prime Minister Natapei, last month your parliament proposed to send a (indistinct) to monitor the situation in West Papua. Did this come up in this year's meeting? Or is there any type of status of West Papua in the Pacific Islands Forum?

PRIME MINISTER NATAPEI: Vanuatu intends to raise this issue at the Melanesian Spearhead Group, first, before you can introduce it at the Forum meeting because it has to be taken up with the Melanesian Spearhead Group. There hasn't been any (inaudible) in a group meeting, (inaudible) unfortunately, at this meeting at this point in time.

QUESTION: Prime Minister Sevele, Commodore Bainimarama has in the past few days said Australia and New Zealand aren't Pacific Island Nations and don't belong in the Forum. Was that discussed today? Is he right? And is it a sign that things are getting worse in Fiji?

PRIME MINISTER SEVELE: No, Australia and NZ have been members of the Forum right from the start. At the start there were about seven members of the Forum. Australia and New Zealand were there right from the start and they are still members of the Forum.

QUESTION: Are things likely to get worse in Fiji?

PRIME MINISTER SEVELE: As I've said, the situation there is, as far as membership of the Forum is concerned, the rules have not been complied with and therefore they remain suspended from the Forum.

QUESTION: In the discussion about New Caledonia, was there any discussion about French Polynesia, given that both are Associate Members of similar status? Was there any inclusion of French Polynesia in that discussion about the timing of changing their status in relation to Forum membership?

PRIME MINISTER NATAPAI: Thank you, yes. There was French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna, and New Caledonia which were taken up as a group that need to go through the whole process to qualify to be admitted as members of the Forum.

QUESTION: So any decision would only be taken for three rather than one?

PRIME MINISTER NATAPAI: The position that the leaders took was to consider the three because they are all countries that we would like to see take up their rightful place in the Pacific community.

QUESTION: How are you dealing with the slums in Port Vila? For example, Amnesty International says that 100 people are using only two toilets. How are you dealing with this issue?

PRIME MINISTER NATAPEI: That's a difficult issue to deal with. The government needs

to look at ways and means of relocating some of these people to other areas within Efate. We are still in negotiation with donor partners to see whether or not there can be some assistance to build houses in the suburbs of Port Vila so we can shift some of these people to these areas.

QUESTION: How quickly with this happen?

PRIME MINISTER NATAPEI: It's going to take time. We can't promise anything within the next two years.

QUESTION: In the discussion on Fiji, the President of Kiribati was the only one of the leaders who actually had been engaging with Fiji at the meeting a couple of weeks ago. I was wondering whether the rest of the leaders found out anything from him at the meeting today?

PRIME MINISTER NATAPAI: The President of Kiribati is part of us as one of the members of the Forum, to discuss these issues. At the end of the day, it was the unanimous decision of the Forum, the decision that has been taken is what has already been outlined and is part of that decision.

QUESTION: Did he explain his attendance at that meeting, and what was said?

PRIME MINISTER NATAPAI: No, he was not required to.

QUESTION: This is for Dr Sevele. I'm just interested how you are going to engage with Fiji?

PRIME MINISTER SEVELE: Individual countries have been engaging with Fiji, we have a Secretariat in Fiji and part of the decision of the Forum is for the Secretariat in Fiji to keep talking, keep the lines of communication open.

We also ask, in our decision, that Fiji consider reopening or restarting (inaudible). There's a joint Forum group working in Fiji. It hasn't been for the last two years, but it is a mechanism (inaudible) of where there is a constant dialogue. We are asking Fiji to kindly consider reopening that line of communication. As I said, the Forum remains committed to keeping lines of communication with Fiji open.

QUESTION: The Forum next year may be in New Zealand, we understand, and I'm wondering, Prime Minister Sevele, whether you'd be willing to wear an All Blacks jumper?

PRIME MINISTER SEVELE: Well maybe after the match I'll be wearing my red colours before then, but I look forward to a very good match that night.

STEPHEN SMITH: I think if the New Zealand Prime Minister were here he would say that he was seeking to require all members of the Forum to wear an All Blacks Jersey but gave dispensation to Tonga, but I claim dispensation on the part of Prime Minister Gillard should we be successful in the next couple of weeks.

QUESTION: Mr Smith, do you think there will be more unity in the approach than there was in Copenhagen last year between Australia and the Pacific Islands in terms of what they want to achieve with climate change?

STEPHEN SMITH: Well, I wouldn't categorise the run-up to Copenhagen in any way other than Australia and the countries of the Pacific working very closely together.

Indeed, one of the contributions to the Forum was a contribution that was let's make sure that in the run-up to Cancun we do work closely together. Australia has been very conscious in its work on climate change that we represent very much of the different views and concerns of the Small Island States. We have used our close working relationship with our knowledge of the Pacific, and the adverse consequences of climate change for the small islands in the Pacific, to also make representations on behalf of small islands in the Indian ocean and the Caribbean, and we have done that as a member of the G20, for example, but also as a country that has played a very active role in the United Nations Climate Change Convention negotiations.

I've made the point before, and I made it again today at the Forum, whilst we would have preferred better outcomes from Copenhagen, there were a couple of very important outcomes.

One of course was the Accord itself which we encouraged countries to sign up for. Secondly, and more importantly in my view, the focus of our conversation on climate change today was on the strong commitment on the part of developed countries to provide fast-tracked climate change financing for developing countries.

We spent a lot of time going through the need for the Forum and Forum countries to gear up to make sure that those funds are utilised in an effective way. So, certainly, in the run-up to Mexico, all of the countries of the Forum will work closely together, and that's a good thing. But we are also working in the knowledge that with the commitment by countries, including Australia, to fast-track climate change financing, we do need to gear up the capacity of, for example, the Forum Secretariat itself, but also of member countries to be able to utilise those funds in effective programs and projects for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

QUESTION: With the current state in Fiji, has there been any offer by any Pacific countries, or any thoughts among leaders, in relocating the Forum Secretariat from Fiji to one of the more democratic countries of the Forum?

PRIME MINISTER SEVELE: No, there hasn't been any formal discussion of that in the Leaders' meeting nor at the Ministerial Contact Group. The issue has not been formally discussed. I know it's been raised by various people, I know, but to go to that would need careful consideration of implications of taking that step, or even discussing it as a possible move.

I think, in this atmosphere, in the current situation, you've got to carefully consider the issues that you're going to discuss and the proposed moves that you are going to take, so that's where the situation is, and of course at the Auckland meeting I was wrongly quoted by the New Zealand media that the issue had been considered and that it was too costly. No, what I said was it had not been considered formally by the Ministerial Contact Group nor by the leaders.

QUESTION: I just want to know if there was any confirmation of where next year's Forum will be held?

PRIME MINISTER NATAPAI: The meeting decided it was going to be held in New Zealand next year.

QUESTION: Do you know what city?

PRIME MINISTER NATAPAI: No, we haven't been given a city.

QUESTION: Mr Smith, you mentioned that you are encouraging countries to sign on to the Copenhagen Accord. Three countries have formally notified the United Nations that they at this time cannot engage in the Copenhagen Accord. Did you get any indication from the Small Island States that they were willing to change their mind in the lead up to Cancun?

STEPHEN SMITH: Well it wasn't an issue that I raised today at the Forum, but in the past Australia's position is that we've signed the Accord, we've said to other countries “we encourage you to sign”, but of course it's entirely an exercise of discretion of the individual country, whether they do or they don't.

The bulk of our conversation, as I've outlined earlier, was about climate change financing and to gear ourselves up to make that effective. In Australia's case, for example, in our last budget, in May of this year, we allocated funds for the next financial year and our forward estimate years to deal with our contribution to climate change financing. That was a good feature of our budget but it was also a good feature of Copenhagen itself.

END

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