Pacific

Fiji MP cautions NZ and Australia about more coups

09:28 am on 20 November 2014

A Fiji opposition MP Tupou Draunidalo says New Zealand and Australia's softening stance towards Fiji only serves to encourage more coups.

She told scholars and diplomats in Wellington by giving Fiji aid, New Zealand and Australia are effectively subsidising misspending by the military.

Ms Draunidalo says recently-released Auditor General's reports show a staggering amount of money spent by the military, including a 23 million US dollar budget blowout in 2007.

"You pick up the slack that our government can't pay for as the money has gone to funding the military at the whims of coup-makers. Any soft stance from the governments of New Zealand and Australia towards coup-makers tells potential coup-makers that Australia and New Zealand don't mind bankrolling coup-makers."

Tupou Draunidalo says economists estimate Fiji's coups have cost the country more than five billion US dollars.