• Well, he’s done it. Voreqe Bainimarama has seized his place in history by blitzing his opponents and scoring a decisive win in the first genuinely democratic election in Fiji since Independence 44 years ago. By any standard, it is a remarkable achievement. Because this is no run-of-the-mill election win of the kind the world routinely witnesses, a changing of the […]

    # THE NEW DEMOCRACY BEGINS

    Well, he’s done it. Voreqe Bainimarama has seized his place in history by blitzing his opponents and scoring a decisive win in the first genuinely democratic election in Fiji since Independence 44 years ago. By any standard, it is a remarkable achievement. Because this is no run-of-the-mill election win of the kind the world routinely witnesses, a changing of the […]

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  • Foreign Ministers of the Melanesian Spearhead Group are set to tip-toe through a diplomatic minefield with news that a MSG delegation – led by Fiji’s Ratu Inoke Kubuabola – will make its long-awaited visit to the Indonesian province of West Papua this week. The mission is fraught with potential difficulty and will require all the diplomatic skills the Ministers can […]

    # A MELANESIAN MINEFIELD

    Foreign Ministers of the Melanesian Spearhead Group are set to tip-toe through a diplomatic minefield with news that a MSG delegation – led by Fiji’s Ratu Inoke Kubuabola – will make its long-awaited visit to the Indonesian province of West Papua this week. The mission is fraught with potential difficulty and will require all the diplomatic skills the Ministers can […]

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  • The bellowing Canadian Moose, Dr Marc Edge, has spluttered back into life after a period of self-imposed hibernation with yet another of his perennial attacks on Grubsheet and our fellow blogger, Professor Crosbie Walsh. The former Head of Journalism at USP – who was sacked for misconduct – claims that Croz and I have gone quiet because we have “outlived […]

    # SPLUTTERINGS FROM THE EDGE

    The bellowing Canadian Moose, Dr Marc Edge, has spluttered back into life after a period of self-imposed hibernation with yet another of his perennial attacks on Grubsheet and our fellow blogger, Professor Crosbie Walsh. The former Head of Journalism at USP – who was sacked for misconduct – claims that Croz and I have gone quiet because we have “outlived […]

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  • One of the last links to the Government that took Fiji to Independence 43 years ago has been severed with the death in Australia of Douglas Walkden-Brown – a member of Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara’s cabinet both before and after Independence. The highly respected agriculturalist known more informally in Fiji as Doug Brown passed away peacefully last Saturday, a week […]

    # DOUG BROWN – A TRIBUTE

    One of the last links to the Government that took Fiji to Independence 43 years ago has been severed with the death in Australia of Douglas Walkden-Brown – a member of Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara’s cabinet both before and after Independence. The highly respected agriculturalist known more informally in Fiji as Doug Brown passed away peacefully last Saturday, a week […]

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  • In the latest chapter of the seven-decade-long search for the legendary missing American aviatrix, Amelia Earhart, investigators in the United States want to locate the descendants of three Fijians who were close associates of a distinguished former head of the Fiji Medical School in Suva. They believe a box may have been left to one of the i’Taukei in the […]

    # FIJI KEY TO AMELIA EARHART MYSTERY

    In the latest chapter of the seven-decade-long search for the legendary missing American aviatrix, Amelia Earhart, investigators in the United States want to locate the descendants of three Fijians who were close associates of a distinguished former head of the Fiji Medical School in Suva. They believe a box may have been left to one of the i’Taukei in the […]

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  • The final version of the 2013 Constitution that will underpin the first genuine democracy in Fijian history has been released to the public. His Excellency the President will give his assent to the document on September 6th. It will be the supreme law of the country and pave the way for elections by September 30th 2014 conducted, for the first […]

    # BLUEPRINT FOR A BETTER FIJI

    The final version of the 2013 Constitution that will underpin the first genuine democracy in Fijian history has been released to the public. His Excellency the President will give his assent to the document on September 6th. It will be the supreme law of the country and pave the way for elections by September 30th 2014 conducted, for the first […]

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  • It’s taken Radio Australia more than 60 hours to broadcast a landmark speech given on Monday night to the Australia Fiji Business Forum by the Deputy Opposition Leader and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop. (see previous posting) In that speech, Ms Bishop signaled a radical overhaul of Australia’s policy towards Fiji if the Coalition wins the forthcoming Australian […]

    # 60 HOURS LATE. THE ABC OF NEWS

    It’s taken Radio Australia more than 60 hours to broadcast a landmark speech given on Monday night to the Australia Fiji Business Forum by the Deputy Opposition Leader and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop. (see previous posting) In that speech, Ms Bishop signaled a radical overhaul of Australia’s policy towards Fiji if the Coalition wins the forthcoming Australian […]

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  • Compelling evidence has emerged that Radio Australia – the overseas service of Australia’s public broadcaster, the ABC – has suppressed public comments in which the country’s alternative foreign minister outlined a radical change of Australian policy towards Fiji. Grubsheet can reveal that when Julie Bishop, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, made […]

    # THE ABC OF PROPAGANDA

    Compelling evidence has emerged that Radio Australia – the overseas service of Australia’s public broadcaster, the ABC – has suppressed public comments in which the country’s alternative foreign minister outlined a radical change of Australian policy towards Fiji. Grubsheet can reveal that when Julie Bishop, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, made […]

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  • For the first time in nearly seven years – since the Bainimarama takeover of 2006 – there’s been a change in the official Australian attitude to Fiji. It’s outlined in a remarkable speech by Julie Bishop, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, to this week’s Australia Fiji Business Forum in Brisbane. In […]

    # FINALLY, THE TIDE TURNS

    For the first time in nearly seven years – since the Bainimarama takeover of 2006 – there’s been a change in the official Australian attitude to Fiji. It’s outlined in a remarkable speech by Julie Bishop, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, to this week’s Australia Fiji Business Forum in Brisbane. In […]

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  •   Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation   SPEECH   20th Australia Fiji Business Forum,   July 28-30, 2013.     The Honourable Matt Thistlethwaite, Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs     The Honourable Julie Bishop, Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade   The President of the Australia-Fiji Business Council, Mr. […]

    # FIJI LEADS PACIFIC REVOLT

      Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation   SPEECH   20th Australia Fiji Business Forum,   July 28-30, 2013.     The Honourable Matt Thistlethwaite, Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs     The Honourable Julie Bishop, Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade   The President of the Australia-Fiji Business Council, Mr. […]

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