Poisoning Nauru: How Australia is destroying a Pacific neighbour’s democracy, while New Zealand’s Government looks on

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CORRUPTION IS LIKE POISON. Once inside your system it immediately starts attacking your defences. Eventually, if nothing is done to counteract its effects, it kills you. The tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru, situated approximately 4,000 kilometres north of Auckland, has been corrupted by Australia. Slowly but surely, its democratic institutions are being poisoned.

Some would argue that it all began a hundred years ago when the Australians turfed out the Germans at the beginning of the First World War. At the war’s end, Nauru was declared a League of Nations “mandate” under the joint control of the British, Australian and New Zealand governments. In reality, however, Nauru has always been an Aussie-run operation.

No one would have cared (other than the Nauruans, who weren’t consulted) had it not been for the fact that this tiny dot (just 21 square kilometres!) on the equator had, over thousands of years, accumulated hundreds-of-thousands of tons of top-quality bird shit.

Nauru’s phosphate deposits were among the purest in the world, a fact which conferred upon the hapless island territory the dangerous status of “strategic asset”. Ruthlessly extracted for use as fertiliser, Nauru’s phosphate deposits would, between 1920 and 1980, transform New Zealand’s farms into some of the most productive agricultural units on earth.

The Nauruans were not permitted to get their hands on this crucial resource until the late 1960s. For a few fat years the newly independent republic of Nauru waxed affluent on its rapidly dwindling guano deposits. Briefly, its citizens boasted one of the highest per capita incomes on earth. And then, suddenly, it was gone. Leaving Nauru as little more than, in David Lange’s memorable phrase: “a clapped-out quarry”.

What was Nauru to do? In 1991 it had $1.5 billion in its Nauru Phosphate Royalties Trust – a not insignificant capital base for 10,000 citizens looking for a fresh start. Tragically, by 2001, corruption and mismanagement had reduced the Trust’s resources to barely $100 million. With its levels of expenditure now well in excess of its income, Nauru was broke.

And then along came the Tampa and its hundreds of rescued asylum seekers. Little Johnny Howard responded with his unconscionable exploitation of Australia’s most visceral racist impulses. And that created an urgent political need to get the whole festering problem away from Australian soil. What Howard and his Liberal Party were looking for was a nation state that was not only willing to “accommodate” Australia’s unwanted asylum-seekers, but to also put a dampener on the enthusiasm of interfering human-rights lawyers, UN rapporteurs, and investigative journalists. Thus was born the “Pacific Solution”.

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The detention of the Tampa refugees was arranged with indecent haste, but the transformation of Nauru into an hermetically-sealed site for unaccountable state power was bound to take a little longer. Nauru had a perfectly serviceable democratic constitution. It belonged to the Commonwealth and was a member of the Pacific Forum. It had a respectable and responsible judiciary made up of (mostly) Australian judges. Its small, Australian-trained, police force was reasonably competent and honest. On the debit side, the country was broke, and just about everybody lucky enough to have a job worked for the Nauruan government. Politics and public administration was the country’s Achilles’ Heel. To corrupt Nauru, all Howard (or any other Australian prime minister) needed was a fistful of aid dollars – and 10 of its 19 MPs.

It has taken 14 years, off and on, but the poison is now clearly working. Nauru’s decision to host Australia’s concentration camps for asylum seekers has eroded every constitutional check and balance essential to the survival of democratic institutions.

The first casualty was the Nauruan judiciary. In January 2014 the Chief Justice of Nauru, Geoffrey Eames, was expelled from the country, along with the Australian magistrate, Peter Law. With them went the rule of law in the tiny republic. The administration of justice is now in the hands of persons answerable only to the politicians. Opponents of the Government can no longer rely on the courts for protection.

The police force, too, has fallen under political control. Its inevitable involvement in the oppression of the asylum seekers has fatally compromised its personnel as impartial enforcers of the law. The Nauruan Police have abandoned their role as the the citizens’ protectors to become the Government’s enforcers. In collusion with the private security personnel responsible for keeping “order” at the refugee detention centres, police officers are increasingly regarded as people to be feared; thugs who can break the law with impunity.

The reason so little news of these derelictions filters out of Nauru is due to the ruthless censorship applied by the state-owned and operated television and radio stations. Attempting to report such matters would instantly cost any local journalist his or her job. It’s no easier for foreign journalists. President Baron Waqa and his Cabinet have imposed a mandatory, non-refundable $8,000 “bond” on every journalist attempting to enter the country. If that doesn’t keep them out, the Nauruan immigration authorities can always arrange for them to be put on the next plane to Sydney or Auckland. Oh, and just in case young Nauruans might feel tempted to organise and communicate through social media, the Government has shut down Facebook.

Not surprisingly, with the Judiciary subverted, the Police corrupted and the news media gagged, Baron Waqa and his allies decided in June of last year that it was time to put the finishing touches to their 21 square kilometre dictatorship. This involved the suspension of all those members of the Nauruan parliament who refused to go along with Waqa’s increasingly lawless regime.

Last week, several hundred Nauruans, led by one of the suspended MPs, Matthew Batsiua, attempted to protest the Waqa Government’s ever more draconian attempts to shut down free speech and the Internet. As they approached Parliament House, the Nauruan Police (aided by security officers from the camps) waded into the crowd and a number of protesters were hurt. Batsiua, along with the opposition MPs Sprent Dabwido (a former President of Nauru) and Squire Jeremiah, were later arrested and remain in custody. Another opposition MP, Roland Kun, was physically hauled off a plane due to depart for Wellington and has had his passport cancelled. The Waqa regime is apparently concerned that he will inform the outside world about what is happening in Nauru.

The silence of Tony Abbott’s Coalition Government in the face of this “Lord of the Flies” descent into lawlessness and brutality is readily understood. Abbott needs the Pacific Solution and he is fully aware that it cannot be made to work in a democratic country where the rule of law holds sway.

More difficult to understand, and harder to forgive, however, is the silence of our own government. The Nauruans and their phosphate may have made New Zealand rich, but that does not appear to have inspired a reciprocal determination on our part to keep them free.

 

16 COMMENTS

  1. Many people who participated in the protests lost their jobs within days, even non-government jobs like working security at the hotel. (Source: RNZI).

    Another unfair thing that NZ is doing to our pacific neighbours is a trade pact called PACER Plus. I’ve heard it strongly favours NZ and Aus, but so far it looks like the islanders aren’t buying it – good on them.

  2. New Zealand is heading in the same direction as Nauru. We have a corrupt government that has no real regard for New Zealand and international law. This will inevitably see corruption permeate throughout New Zealand society

      • You are dumb if you think that corruption doesn’t exist in NZ society today!

        This government gives away millions to a saudi businessman so he doesn’t sue us! WTF IS THAT. WE DIDN’T EVEN GOTO COURT. THIS ISN’T A SETTLEMENT ON A CASE.

        REGARDLESS OF HIM SUING US. WE ARE OUR OWN COUNTRY AND SOME saudi businessman CANNOT MAKE DECISIONS OF HOW OUR COUNTRY IS RUN. AND WOULD HAVE NO PRECEDENCE IN COURT AGAINST A PARLIAMENT OF A COUNTRY.

        WTF NATIONAL

  3. Seems like a similar situation to what is happening in Venezuela (which you are very quiet about I note).

    • No I don’t this so. The US has tried hard to corrupt Venezuela but unlike the Aussies in Nauru they haven’t been very successful – see the film: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised to see what I mean. Too much popular support over there I’m afraid.

    • Translation from Gosman-speak: “I don’t care about other countries’ human rights records. I serve the interests of the status quo power-establishment”.

      Funny thing though… Gosman is a high-ranking ACT official (according to an admission he made recently).

      I thought ACT were very, very, very supportive on the rule of law?

      I guess not.

  4. This article is full of inaccurate and non-factual reporting. You can say all the bull you want but the fact remains that the majority of the Nauruan people do not share your one-sided story. For instant, were you here during the riot? Did you know that the protesters were intoxicated with alcohol when they launched their assault on police and parliament? Did you saw the bloodied face of police officers who were punch by these radicals using brass-knuckles? Did you saw the supporters of these selfish MPs threw stones and damaged the parliament building and hurting people in the process? Did you know that two of the MPs were suspended from parliament because they vandalised parliament property and swore, live on national tv? I guess not, you were not here and do not know these facts! You insulted the Nauruan people and other citizens of the Pacific who are serving in the Police, Judiciary and Justice Department by implying that Australians did all the good work on Nauru, and once they longer here, our institutions becomes questionable. I believe you are a racist person and you should refrain from commenting on issues when you do not have the facts!

    • Criticising a particular government does not constitute a racist action, irrespective of the facts being correct or incorrect.

    • “Peter” – your allegations might withstand better scrutiny if you provided evidence for your assertions. Or even your name, so we could check your bona fides.

      Otherwise, you come across as a stooge for the Nauruan regime that has seized power.

      Am I correct?

  5. Why don’t we offer to take all the Nauru detainees; about 650 by my count, maybe a bit more or less, on condition the Aussies close it down.

    It won’t solve Nauru’s financial woes, but it might clear the way for it to become a credible state again, while helping a particularly egegious abuse.

    Surely this will be high on John Key’s agenda?

    Yeah, right.

  6. Great article.

    Absolutely disgusted. It’s little wonder the Australian government has no leg to stand on when it calls out its Asian neighbours (ie. Indonesia) let alone anyone else for that matter, for human rights atrocities when they are committing the worst of them and even outsourcing it!

    There are a lot of angry people here in Aus but with little power to do much besides protest in their own capacity when there is bipartisan support for this and a foaming at the mouth Murdoch media egging them on.

    There will be a reckoning one day, that I have no doubt. They are hysterical about terrrorism and national security when very little true threats exists here while being totally blind to the fact that they might be creating a whole generation of radicalised, motivated youth at the door.

  7. Chris, I am surprised that you seem to be unaware of the allegations of sexual abuse on Nauru by the employees of the contracted security firm, Wilson Security, which is a sub group of Wilson Parking (which seem to hold a monopoly of parking contracts in NZ).
    Check the following link ( http://beta.trtworld.com/news.php?q=asia-guards-film-sexual-abuse-of-refugees-in-nauru-detention-camp-3479 )
    There are plenty of other web pages on this topic, but this is one of the most recent. I would like you to publicise this story further.

    • Thanks for sharing this Dennis. I’ve always felt uneasy about Wilson Parking and could never quite put my finger on why. The fact that Wilson management know their employees are extorting women for sex and filming them, and don’t see that as a problem, boggles the mind. Perhaps we need to organise occupations of their parking lots as an opportunity to explaining the problem to them?

  8. Abott and Key are quite comfortable with the abuse of power and quasi dictatorship taking place at Nauru.

    John Key promoted mike sabin to a senior government position regarding justice and law in OUR county ……

    Female visitors to our country visiting Kim Dotcom get sexually assaulted by our customs agents ………

    Roastbusting is not a crime in New Zealand at the moment …..

    Didn’t John key say that any boat refugees who made it to New Zealand would be shipped off to Nauru?.

  9. Excellent report, Chris. I suspect on-going revelations will soon force the Australian public to understand what is being done in their name.

    If the Australian public do nothing to stop this – and Abbott’s repressive legislation restricting freedom of speech – then they stand condemned alongside their government.

    I have shared this via Facebook so it is disseminated far and wide.

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