Press Conference - Suva Fiji

Sitiveni Rabuka, Prime Minister, Fiji: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen of the press corps, my pleasure to extend a very warm welcome to Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Honourable Senator Penny Wong, the Honourable Minister for Pacific Affairs and Defence Industry, the Honourable Pat Conroy, back into Suva. They have been here a few times. They're great friends of Fiji. They know that Fiji is a great friend of Australia. And I think they are enjoying their visit, probably not as much we are enjoying their visit. This visit, ladies and gentlemen, reflect the strength, the maturity and the depth of the Fiji-Australia partnership and our shared commitment to advancing a stable, secure and prosperous blue Pacific. I want to be clear that Fiji stand to the Pacific Islands Forum and the Forum leader's decisions on the processes that the region have had in place to manage the issues confronting the region today. In particular, Fiji has expressed its support for the Biketawa Declaration as the framework to coordinate our responses to the current fuel crisis. Our discussion today reaffirmed the significant progress that has been made on the Vuvale Union - Fiji's first ever - in its formal process now nearing completion. This represents a huge step up in our relationship, I acknowledge both the officials of both our countries in the work that they undertook in getting us to where we are today. I thank Australia for your understanding and willingness to embrace Fiji in that journey. I firmly believe that the foundation upon which our wider partnership is built is anchored in shared values, one that is fit for the century, and it is designed to deliver enduring outcomes across security, economic cooperation and people-to-people connections. Importantly, the Vuvale Union operationalises the Ocean of Peace vision, embedding the principles of sovereignty, respect and Pacific-led solutions into a practical cooperative framework. It positions Fiji and Australia as trusted partners working together to strengthen resilience, safeguard stability and advance the collective interests of our region. Security is a central pillar in our partnership. Fiji continues to address increasingly complex transnational threats, particularly the rise in illicit drug activities. I believe that through coordination between our national security agencies and with the valued support of our Australian partner, we are enhancing our capacity in intelligence sharing, law enforcement cooperation and operational responses. This collaboration reflects our shared commitment to protecting our communities and upholding peace and stability in line with our Ocean of Peace principles. When we come to deal with the Ocean of Peace, our Australian counterparts prefer that we take the lead in its mention to the world, out of their respect for it being a Fiji initiative. But I've always said that Fiji is just a partner in our cooperation in this part of the world.

We also discussed the ongoing global fuel crisis. And I thank Australia and its leadership, Honourable Prime Minister Albanese for hosting our Minister for Foreign Affairs when he visited them two weeks ago. We have ongoing discussions on the fuel crisis, which continues to apply pressure on small and vulnerable economies. We appreciate very much Australia for taking a regional approach, and we thank you for your efforts to ensure fuel supplies into our region is sustained. Fiji has a responsibility, as you do, to other Pacific Island countries, and you probably know that Honourable Minister for Tonga had called me a week prior to the escalation of the crisis to just remind me, remember, we are getting our supplies through Fiji. Fiji has a responsibility that was voiced by that in that conversation with the Prime Minister of Tonga. Fiji has been actively pursuing measures to secure stable supply, and we acknowledge that this challenge requires coordinated regional and international responses. We take confidence in the solidarity of our partnership and our shared resolve to navigate this period together, and we assured very much by assurances this morning that that will continue.

Pre-COP31 looking ahead, we welcome Australia leadership role in COP31 in partnership with Türkiye. And I am sure that the Australians are celebrated ANZAC Day two weeks ago, thinking of the bravery of the Australian troops during the war, and it would have been a great celebration if it was held there or both in Australia. Fiji is honoured to host the pre-COP31 meeting later this year, which will serve as a critical platform to shape the global climate agenda. It will enable us to consolidate Pacific priorities, build consensus and provide the political momentum needed to deliver ambitious outcomes on climate action, finance and ocean protection. This is an important opportunity for Pacific leaders to influence global decisions that directly impact the Pacific future.

In closing, honourable ministers and ladies and gentlemen of the Press Corps, I extend the sincere appreciation for the Australian Vuvale partnership for our continued Australian Vuvale partners for our continued partnership and friendship together, we are stronger and we remain committed to advancing a peaceful, resilient and united Pacific region. Thank you very much.

Penny Wong, Foreign Minister: Bula Vinaka. Can I first thank the Prime Minister for those wise words and also acknowledge my counterpart, Foreign Minister Ditoka. Thank you for your warm welcome back to Fiji. This is my 8th visit here as Australia’s Foreign Minister, and I’m always delighted to be back. I want to start by echoing the Honourable Prime Minister’s remarks about the closeness of the friendship between our countries and the enduring strength of our partnership. And I want to again acknowledge and thank and express our respect for Prime Minister Rabuka’s leadership in the region and Fiji’s leadership in the region.

The Prime Minister spoke about the challenge of the moment. Which is, of course, the unprecedented consequences for fuel prices and the stability of global energy markets, resulting from the conflict in the Middle East. As you know, 20 per cent of global oil passes through the Strait, but 80 per cent of the oil, into our region. So we are proportionally affected. Last night I spoke about the work Australia is doing with the Pacific and other partners to strengthen regional security and my message remains clear: Australia is a committed partner. We are a reliable partner. We have stood with the Pacific family through challenging times in the past and we stand with you today.

I have just come back from a visit to North Asia, the economies, the countries of Japan, China and Korea and prior to that, the Prime Minister and I were in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. All critical countries for our region and also critical countries for energy markets. And we used those opportunities to advocate to those key suppliers, those key trading partners, the importance of keeping fuel supplies flowing to our region. And we will continue to provide that advocacy and technical assistance to Fiji and other Pacific partners to respond to the current energy shock.

I also advised the Prime Minister that Australia will provide $30 million in targeted budget support to assist with Fiji’s fuel response. We understand the extent to which this is being felt as a price shock in Fiji and we want to provide our assistance. It also will reinforce your role as a supply and storage hub for so many Pacific nations. We want a Pacific-led response to global shocks that we can all back in because that is what makes our economies stronger and more resilient.

Minister Conroy and I were also very honoured to meet with your Cabinet this morning. And you might recall that the last Pacific Islands Forum meeting, the two Prime Ministers, Prime Minister Albanese and Prime Minister Rabuka, expressed their intent to bring our two countries even closer together, and I am very pleased to confirm, as Prime Minister Rabuka has said, that we have agreed that we will establish a Vuvale Union. And I thank Prime Minster Rabuka again for his vision, for his leadership and his stewardship in his proposal that we are taking forward to develop a bilateral Treaty.

Vuvale, of course, the best translation in English is ‘family, under one roof’, and it is a union that will rest on our shared trust, respect and responsibility. It will have 3 pillars: security, economic, and people, and it will be guided by durability, sovereignty and regionalism. This reflects our shared understanding, that in a world that is challenging, and in a world that is more contested, we are stronger together. We are stronger together in an agreement that is grounded in a Pacific way, and gives practical expression to the Ocean of Peace Declaration endorsed by all of the Pacific. This Union will benefit our people and our region, for generations to come. Thank you.

Pat Conroy, Minister for Pacific Island Affairs: Good afternoon all, and again I pay my respects and acknowledge the presence of Prime Minister Rabuka and several members of his Cabinet here today. It’s a great privilege and pleasure to be here with Minister Wong to renew our relationships and our commitment to the government and people of Fiji.

And it was indeed a great privilege to meet with the Fijian Cabinet to discuss the Vuvale Union. The Vuvale Union is a natural progression of the close relationship between our two countries and our two peoples. Our countries are only divided on one thing, and that’s on the playing field. Besides that, we share deep values and commitment. A commitment to an Ocean of Peace. A Pacific Ocean where all humans, all members of the Pacific family, can have prosperity, stability and security.

And the Vuvale Union will be a practical embodiment of that and I want to pay tribute in particular to Prime Minister Rabuka who has been the driving force of this concept of an Ocean of Peace. A concept that he has been promoting and articulating for many years now, not just in Fiji, in Australia through a seminal speech to our National Press Club and to our think tanks, and throughout the region through the Pacific Island Forum. And to see that reach agreement with all Pacific Leaders at last year’s PIF, was a historic achievement and is a credit not just to Prime Minister Rabuka, but to the people of Fiji and confirmation yet again of your role as regional leaders for the Pacific.

As Minister Wong has articulated there will be three pillars to the Vuvale Union. One critical pillar will be the security element and a commitment to embodying the Ocean of Peace concept. Part of it will be a commitment to combatting transnational crime. This a shared threat throughout the region, but obviously transnational crime, the threat present has been magnified in Fiji, in recent events. And I’d like to be crystal clear with you and through you to the people of Fiji, the Australian Government stands shoulder to shoulder with Fiji in combatting transnational crime and stopping drug trafficking in the Pacific. Let me repeat that. The Australian Government stands shoulder to shoulder with the people of Fiji and the Rabuka Government in combatting transnational crime and eliminating drug smuggling in our region.

This is a priority of the Vuvale Union and we must work together to combat and disrupt criminal operations. We are using all tools available through a coordination at a national, bilateral and regional level. We are already, prior to the establishment of the Vuvale Union, providing support to Fiji, including improved capacity to detect threats through the provision of two Guardian-class patrol boats and the $83 million investment in the Vuvale Maritime Essential Services Centre, to support Fiji’s maritime capabilities.

We are already working together to disrupt the drug trade including a joint operation with Fiji police, Operation Nautilus, that has seized over 4 tonnes of methamphetamine, and we’re already working together to secure Fijian borders, through investing in a container examination capability at key ports. And we are announcing today that we are providing financial support for Fiji to acquire an integrated border management system to track people of interest. Transnational crime is not just about illegal goods like drugs, it’s about transnational criminals and we are committed to investing in systems to help that tracking.

Looking ahead, the Vuvale Union will further strengthen Fiji’s capabilities across interdiction, policing, legislation, prosecution and importantly, health. We will support also, Fiji’s leadership in bringing forward a stronger regional approach to better tackle the threat, including before it reaches Fiji. As the names suggest, transnational crime is not limited to one nation and we need a regional approach, and yet again Fiji will be a regional leader in combatting this issue.

The first ever Pacific Police Ministers meeting will be co-hosted by Australia and Fiji in Fiji on May 19. It will have a focus on transnational crime, and I thank Prime Minister Rabuka for hosting the first ever Pacific Police Ministers meeting and for opening it. I look forward to continuing these discussions at the Vuvale Maritime Essential Services Centre later this afternoon, where will get into the details.

But in conclusion, the Vuvale Union is the natural progression of our close partnership. It will provide greater peace and stability and prosperity for our two peoples, and it will be in the decades to come, bedrock for further Pacific cooperation. So yet again I want to thank Prime Minister Rabuka for his leadership and vision, his government and the people of Fiji for their commitment to Pacific stability and prosperity. Vanaka.

Journalist: [indistinct]

Foreign Minister: Thanks very much for that. First can I make clear that obviously, the final details of this will be negotiated by official and Ministers in the coming weeks. How will it benefit Australians? Well, this goes to our objective of a peaceful, stable and prosperous region. And Australians know we live in contested times. Australians understand and can see the challenges that our external environment places upon us and what the government has been very focused on is ensuring that we work to assure Australia’s interests and security in these times.

I speak about the region, relationships, rules and resilience, and the first of those is the region. And it is the first for a very important reason, which is our security, our stability our prosperity is grounded in, located in, our region. And so, you have seen the government engage in closer agreements within the Pacific, also Southeast Asia. Fiji is a leader in the Pacific region, so it only natural we would want to deepen our relationship with Fiji as a regional leader.

Journalist: [indistinct]

Foreign Minister: We are a sovereign nation, as Fiji is and we will make our decisions in our sovereign interest.

Journalist: Minister Wong, this question is directed to you as well. Eva from the Fiji Sun. I understand one of the three pillars of the Vuvale Union is security and I understand that sharing of intelligence will also fall under that between the two countries. There are concerns in Fiji that our institutions are compromised. Does Australia also have that concern?

Foreign Minister: This partnership is predicated on a number of key principles. And one of them is sovereignty and one of them is democracy. We work with you on strengthening your capability. We work with you in partnership in the areas that Fiji identifies as priority to strengthen your resilience, your institutions and your capacity, because we are both democracies and that principle is very dear to both governments and both countries and both peoples.

Minister Conroy: If I can give a practical example of that cooperation. We right now have an entire company of the Fijian military embedded in the 7th brigade of the Australian Army. We also have Australian Defence Force officers embedded in your armed forces. We have police personnel embedded in each other’s forces as well, particularly AFP here. The trust between our institutions is extremely high and we have deep and abiding relationships that go back decades. So, this is about enhancing the security cooperation of both countries.

Journalist: Bula Vinaka. [Indictinct] from the Fijian Broadcasting Corporation. Honourable Conroy, this question is for you. Just for context, you must be aware of a complaint, a company registered under the PALM Scheme, to employ people from around the world and they employ the majority of their workers from the Pacific. The company recently collapsed, owing about $12 million, including $4 million in unpaid superannuation. There were ongoing complaints about underpayment, as well as welfare breaches, and the liquidator found it may have been trading while insolvent for several years. Minister, how did an approved employer, under the PALM Scheme, accumulate millions in unpaid superannuation and multiple compliance breaches without earlier intervention? And what concrete changes will Australia make to ensure Pacific workers are protected from this happening again?

Minister Conroy: Thank you very much for the question. First off, can I say, we are extremely grateful for 5000 Fijians who are in Australia right now as part of the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Scheme. This is a scheme where you provide assistance to fill our labour shortages while developing skills to grow your economy and send back remittances to your families. And we are deeply grateful for your contribution that helps grow both our economies. An important principle of the Albanese Labour Government around the PALM, is we changed the law to make sure that Pacific workers get exactly the same entitlements and protections as every Australian worker. They are required to be paid the same wage under the same industrial agreements, including superannuation. And we have allocated over $400 million to compliance activities for PALM, since we came to government in 2022.

I’m very aware of that particular company and I’m urging the authorities to throw the book at them and to pursue every single dollar of unpaid wages and superannuation. We’ve recently made changes to the way superannuation is paid that will give greater certainty and security to all workers in Australia, including Pacific workers. Because as I said, a fundamental principle of this government is that we will treat Pacific workers exactly the same as an Australian worker. So, we will continue to pursue that particular company for any wrongdoing and breaches. We will continue to work with the workers that are impacted. But I want to finish where I began, by thanking Fijians and their families for working in Australia, for helping grow our economy while getting skills and income to help grow the Fijian economy.

Journalist: Minister Wong, just on the fuel, how optimistic are you with discussions that are ongoing with the Republic of Korea and other Asian countries in terms of supply to the Pacific, and an update on the visa-free Pacific, between Australia and Fiji?

Foreign Minister: Firstly, in relation to the visas, we are very aware that having more flexibility, having more capacity for Fijians to come to Australia is a very important priority for Fiji and you would anticipate that that has been part of the discussions in the context of the Union. We certainly want to make it easier, to visit, study and conduct business and that has been our focus.

In terms of fuel supply, we have sought to use our engagements to elevate the needs of the Pacific and to advocate for them, for you, for Paicifc Island nations, not to be forgotten by the large economies and to remind them of the vulnerability of Pacific nations in the fuel supply chain. I think the feedback we have had from Fiji and from the region is at the moment, the supply shock is not as present, not as near term, as the price shock. In other words, fuel is still coming, but it is much more expensive. And so, one of the reasons we have provided the announcement that I have announced today, that we have announced today, is to reflect that issue.

I would make this point about fuel supply though. The way we think about it from Australia’s perspective, is that we have, there is a network of private supply chains, commercial supply chains which have been affected by this crisis, and what governments have to think about is how we ensure that those supply chains are made more resilient. So, governments can’t replace global supply chains but we can work to make them more resilient. At the moment we are seeing fuel being sourced from a range of other countries to reflect the need to add to supply and we will keep working with the Pacific on how we best collectively engage with those global supply chains to ensure supply keeps flowing.