The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the
Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, August 20th, 2003.
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Australia: Pacific military thug
By overriding and ignoring simmering resentment among Pacific Island
States, Australia and New Zealand (with the US standing in the wings)
forced the re-colonisation of the whole of the region a big step
forward. An Australian diplomat was imposed as the Secretary-General of
the Pacific Island Forum last week when it convened in Auckland.
Mr Greg Urwin was "elected" after five rounds of voting although the
normal practice of the Forum has been to appoint a Pacific Islander by
consensus. Howard broke this method and insisted on a voting procedure
which gave the Australian Government the opportunity to threaten Pacific
Island states that if they did not agree with Australian proposals for
"reform" they would not receive aid funds.
Howard told delegates that Australia would hold back aid from those
states that did not fight "crime and corruption". The reference to
"crime and corruption" is a façade, to provide an excuse for imposing
financial penalties (or worse) on those governments that do not carry
out the economic and social policies demanded by the Australian and New
Zealand Governments.
Australia is now playing the role of Pacific thug in the name of the
corporations that wish to seize the land and natural resources of the
Island states.
"pack a stronger wallop"
Howard declared after his "victory" that the Pacific Islands Forum would
now "pack a stronger wallop". It is the Pacific Island states that are
going to feel the force of this "wallop" and it is primarily Australia
that is going to administer it.
A taste of what is now intended for all other Pacific Island states is
the occupation of the Solomon Islands by predominantly Australian
military and police forces and the takeover of the judicial, financial
and other government departments by persons appointed by the Australian
Government.
Already the Solomon Island's police are commanded by a British Police
Commissioner with an Australian as his Deputy. They are being backed up
by about 2000 heavily armed, mainly Australian troops. They are to
retain their arms while all Solomon Islanders are being disarmed.
Arrogantly strutting the stage at the Forum, Howard claimed that Mr
Urwin was "not a blow-in from Canberra" but had been a lifelong
(Australian) diplomat in the Pacific region. None-the-less he is going
to be instructed to carry out the "reforms" imposed on the Forum by the
Australian Government and will carry out policies that are in the
interests of the Australian Government while protecting the vested
interests of Australian, US and other transnational corporations.
Although the "reforms" are not spelt out in any detail by the daily
newspapers and are said to concern the Pacific Island states pooling
their resources even to the point of establishing a European Union type
body, the immediate emphasis is on the creation of a "rapid
multilateral" force of police and military to "fight regional instability".
US applause
The "pre-emptive" strike against the Solomon Islands drew the immediate
applause of the US Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, who
visited Australia last week. He said Australia's action "speaks a very
hopeful vision for the region . I think it's very commendable and from
the top to bottom of the US Government we're in admiration for the
stand-up efforts of the Australian Armed Forces and the Government."
Invoking the theory of the "failed states" Armitage said, "You see
trouble, you've realised, just as we have realised, that any failed
states can reach out and touch us badly."
In a clear warning to other Pacific Island states in the region Armitage
went on to say that "We know that there are difficult situations in
Papua New Guinea, Nauru from time to time has been troublesome, so big
or small there are potential trouble areas.
"Australians are clearly the lead nation in terms of assistance to Papua
New Guinea but the United States is, I hope, a close second and we'll
continue to work closely with Australia following Australia's lead to
try to bring about a better future for Papua New Guinea."
New Zealand's Labor Government fell in behind the policies of the
Australian Government indicating that there are no policy differences
between the NZ Labor leader and the extreme conservatism of Howard.
Another indication that repression of any opposition to Australian and
New Zealand policies is now the order of the day was the refusal of the
New Zealand Government to give media accreditation to attend the Forum
to The Pacific News Bulletin. The Bulletin is a monthly publication
owned by 120 member organisations of the Nuclear Free and Independent
Pacific Movement from 33 countries within the Pacific region.
The Director of the Bulletin, Motarilavoa Hilda Lini said, "New Zealand
is playing double standards by talking about the importance of media
freedom and civil society participation and at the same time closing the
door to the Pacific News Bulletin, that reports the voice of Pacific
civil society on human security issues in the region".
She said that this is the first time in 15 years of publication that the
Pacific News Bulletin has been refused media accreditation.
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