Australia’s reputation will plummet among allies in the Pacific if the Voice to Parliament fails, according to a Fijian politician.
Ralp Regenvanu, Fiji‘s former foreign minister and current leader of the opposition, said it was ‘inconceivable’ that Australians might not back the Yes campaign.
‘Respect for Australia in the Pacific will be elevated by a positive Yes vote,’ Mr Regenvanu wrote on Twitter.
‘It is almost inconceivable to us that this may not happen, but that possibility fills us with dread.
‘A no vote will be a blow to our relationship, especially perceptions of Aust(ralia) in our general public.’
Ralp Regenvanu, Fiji’s former foreign minister and current leader of the opposition, said it was ‘inconceivable’ that Australians might not back the Yes campaign (pictured)
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attending the Pacific Islands Forum in Suva, Fiji, last year. Australia sent almost $170 million in official development assistance aid to Fiji in 2021-22
It is believed that his comments mark the first time a sitting Pacific politician has explicitly go on record to say that a No victory would dent Australia’s reputation within the region.
But Mr Regenvanu’s intervention met with fierce criticism, with many urging him to ‘stay out of Australia’s politics’.
‘Just imagine what Australians think of Vanuatu’s politics,’ wrote author Crispin Rovere.
‘Clean up your own scandal-ridden politics before you criticise ours,’ added another.
However, others expressed support for his position.
‘The Voice referendum is being very closely watched in the Pacific,’ said writer Grant Wyeth.
‘A no vote will be hugely damaging to our relationships in the region. Trust is not just government to government, it is people to people.’
His comments echo those made by former Liberal foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop who told a Yes campaign event in August that a No result would send a ‘very negative message’ to the rest of the world about Australia.
‘I know that Australia’s international reputation can be affected by a No vote,’ she said.
‘I have no doubt that it will be sending a very negative message about the openness and the empathy and the respect and responsibility that the Australian people have for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.’
Others have also argued it will be hard for Australia to explain a No vote to allies in the Pacific – as well as China.
‘It would be tough to explain a ‘No’ globally, especially so in the Pacific and other postcolonial nations,’ wrote policy expert Hugh Piper for the Lowy Institue earlier this year.
‘Australia could also expect the likes of China to use a ‘No’ vote to deflect criticisms about its own human rights record – a tactic it has used before. ‘
Mr Regenvanu certainly has close ties with Australia.
Former foreign minister Julie Bishop has thrown her support behind the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, arguing that a No result would send a ‘very negative message’ to the rest of the world about Australia
Mr Regenvanu’s (pictured) intervention met with fierce criticism, with many urging him to ‘stay out of Australia’s politics’
His mother is an Australian missionary teacher who moved to Vanuatu in 1968 and he studied at Australian National University in Canberra where he obtained an honour’s degree in anthropology.
One of his first acts after he was appointed Minister for Justice and Social Affairs in 2011 was to call for the descendants of ‘blackbirding’ victims living in Australia to receive Vanuatu citizenship.
Blackbirding was the coercion of people from Pacific nations through deception or kidnapping to work as slaves or badly-paid labourers in Australia and other foreign countries.
Since Fiji gained independece from British rule in 1970, it has experienced three military coups, a civilian coup and multiple constitutional crises.
In February this year, the then opposition leader and former prime minister Frank Bainimarama was suspended from parliament for insulting the president.
In 2021-22, Australia sent almost $170 million in official development assistance aid to Fiji.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last visited Fiji in March this year to re-iterate the line that Australia’s $245 billion nuclear-powered submarine programme does not violate its nuclear non-proliferation commitments.
Australia is part of a nuclear-free zone treaty with 12 other South Pacific nations, including Fiji.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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