Does Australia stand by its demand that the Fijian military regime set a date for return to democracy?
STEPHEN SMITH: The date can’t be 2014. We want Fiji to return to democracy and respect human rights much sooner than the date that the military regime has set. What’s been occurring is a three way conversation between Australia, New Zealand and Fiji to try and get our diplomatic representation back on to a professional basis. At the end of last year we saw a three way expulsion of High Commissioners. Fiji and New Zealand have been having a bilateral conversation to supplement the resources in their respective missions. This has not been a problem for Australia because our mission in Fiji is quite large. But step by step we’re seeing whether it’s possible to restore ourselves to professional diplomatic representation, ultimately with our respective High Commissioners reinstated or restored. But there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge, it will be a step by step process. But we had a productive and positive meeting with interim Foreign Minister Kubuabola and there’s a prospect that
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