LATEST FIJI NEWS 112
There is little confidence Fiji will return to democracy in the short term, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says.
The island nation, led by self-appointed Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, needs to be engaged in some way to set a realistic timetable to return to democracy, Mr Smith said in Perth on Wednesday.
Fiji was axed from the Pacific Island leaders forum after tearing up the country's constitution.
Commodore Bainimarama seized power in a December 2006 coup and has faced a barrage of international criticism after a speech last week which set an election date more than five years away.
He says he needs until September 2014 to introduce a fairer, non-race-based voting system and write it into a new constitution that replaces the one his regime tore up in April.
Mr Smith said reports the military leader was lobbying other Melanesian countries to oppose Fiji's exclusion from the Pacific Island Forum were not a concern.
"I'm confident that all members of the Pacific Island Forum will conduct themselves in accordance with the two most recent unanimous resolutions of the Pacific Island leaders forum ..." Mr Smith told reporters in Perth on Wednesday.
A method to successfully engage Fiji in a plan to return to democracy was necessary, the foreign minister said.
"The recent abrogation of the constitution and Commodore Bainimarama's recent speech give us no confidence that there is any short-term prospect for advancement or for improvement," Mr Smith said.
"But at some point in the process we need to successfully engage Fiji in a dialogue about its return to democracy on a timetable which is much more realistic than the timetable, the unreasonable timetable, which Commodore Bainimarama published through his speech in the last week or so."
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