Fijian Chief Calls For Scrutiny Of Fiji-Australia Security Treaties

RNZ
Pacific reporters

One of Fiji’s most prominent
traditional and political figures is warning the country’s
lawmakers “not to approve” two major bilateral agreements
with Australia.

In early July, the Fijian and
Australian prime ministers signed
the Vuvale Union and the Ocean of Peace Alliance (Veitacini
Treaty), marking a major upgrade to relations between the
two nations.

The Vuvale
Union is a broad political and economic framework, while
the Veitacini
Treaty is the specific defence and security pillar
within that wider strategic partnership. Both governments
have hailed the agreements as “significant” for future
Fiji-Australia relations.

Australian PM Anthony
Albanese said that signing the agreements was “one of the
most significant endeavours” Australia had undertaken with
any country.

Fiji and Australia say the agreements
will strengthen cooperation on security, economic
development, climate resilience and regional
stability.

However, Ratu Tevita Mara, a paramount
chief of Lau Province, is urging the Fiji parliament to
withhold approval of both agreements “until the people of
Fiji have been given a full, fearless and independent
account of what these treaties commit our nation
to”.

“Both treaties were signed in Suva on 6 July
2026. Under our [2013] Constitution, neither binds Fiji
until Parliament approves it, and both are now before
Parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and
Defence,” he said in a media statement.

“This is the
moment – the last moment – for Fiji to examine them
properly. Once ratified, they cannot easily be
undone.”

He said the examination of the agreements
needed to be given sufficient time, independent advice and
public participation.

“Let me be clear: this is not a
rejection of Australia. It is a defence of Fiji,” he
said.

He described Australia as a “valued friend” but
noted that an arrangement “presented in the language of
family and cooperation” must still be read line by
line.

“We must not accept terms whose deeper
consequences become apparent only after Fiji is
bound.

“Friendship must never require blindness.
Cooperation must never become subordination. And no
government has the right to gamble with the sovereignty of
future generations.”

Ratu Tevita, who is one of the
deputy chairs of Fiji’s Great Council of Chiefs (Bose Levu
Vakaturaga), is calling on the Great Council of Chiefs to
meet to discuss the
issue.

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