Lawyers 'losing hope' for Nauru opposition MPs

Transcript

A lawyer for the Nauru opposition MP who can't leave the Pacific Island because his passport's been cancelled says the country's justice minister is pursuing a personal vendetta.

And David Lambourne is worried that even if the island's Supreme Court decides there's been injustice, the only person who can reconsider Roland Kun's case is the justice minister himself.

Alex Perrottet has more

The opposition MP Roland Kun's lawyer David Lambourne, says the justice minister, David Adeang, has a personal vendetta that he is executing at will.

Mr Lambourne says he hadn't actually lodged his visa application to see his client before he was denied, which speaks volumes of the credibility of the process.

"This is all part of the game that minister Adeang in Nauru is playing. As far as I can work out, his whole objective is to try and make life as difficult as possible for his political opponents. And so he is using every legal means he can to try and disrupt their lives and cause as much grief as possible."

David Lambourne is one of several lawyers the government has blocked from entering the country to represent the MPs, including Mr Kun, who's been unable to leave Nauru since June

One lawyer has been allowed in, after paying for a business visa of $6000 Australian dollars.

Roland Kun hasn't been charged with anything but four other opposition MPs are in court facing charges over a protest outside Parliament in June.

David Lambourne says it's a horrendous situation, particularly for Mr Kun, who has not even been charged.

"I don't know what other work the department of justice and border control is doing at the moment because it seems to me that they've devoted all of their legal resources in the pursuit of Minister Adeang's quixotic headlong rush to try and crush the opposition."

Since the June protest, there has been very little dissent in Nauru.

The former resident magistrate, Peter Law, who was deported last year, says there's a reason for that.

"Well there's a level of intimidation, which can't help but make people very apprehensive or fearful about doing anything. Public servants who were at the demonstration have been sacked. So that's fairly intimidating behaviour. It's very hard to get a job in Nauru, if you get one you don't want to lose it, because the government really operates most businesses. There's very little private enterprise."

Peter Law says Australia needs to put more pressure on the island nation, given it's bankrolling the Nauru government with the controversial asylum seeker detention centre.

The Australian media have battled, largely unsuccessfully, to get to Nauru, prompting this response from the Nauru Government.

"The Australian media approaches us with great arrogance and an air of racial superiority, which is highly offensive to us. They do not show us the respect of a sovereign nation and in return we have little respect for them."

David Lambourne says the efforts of New Zealand to withhold funding and put pressure on Nauru have been met with a mere shrug of shoulders in Nauru.

"Certainly I've seen the way in which President Waqa and Minister Adeang mocked the New Zealand government and the New Zealand government's attempts to try and discuss their concerns with Nauru. President Waqa and Minister Adeang think this is a joke, and really countries like Australia should be joining New Zealand in its expression of concern about the complete erosion of the rule of law in Nauru."

David Lambourne says he's not holding many hopes for Mr Kun. Even if the Supreme Court decides there's been injustice, it can only refer the matter back to the minister for him to reconsider.

New Zealand's foreign affairs ministry could also not respond in time to requests for further comment.