Transcript
Nauru president Baron Waqa, who is now chair of the Pacific Islands Forum, launched an extraordinary attack on journalists at a press conference during the forum meeting.
"You'd rather talk about the issues and refugees - things that only interest you but not the Pacific. You came here to report on the interests of the Pacific. You again the media are impressing your will on us. Don't tell me about refugees being an issue. How can it be an issue for Tonga? For Kiribati? No it's an issue for Australia and all those refugee advocates."
Refugee advocate Ian Rintoul says it was the responsibility of journalists to scrutinise the refugee issue.
"The fundamental problem I think is that the Australian government, the Nauruan government is doing everything it possibly can to avoid any kind of scrutiny of what really is the business that keeps Nauru in operation. It's an irony that celebrating 50 years of independence, Nauru should be a neo-colony dependent on money from Australia to warehouse refugees and asylum seekers."
New Zealand's foreign minister Winston Peters also condemned journalists for overlooking other stories.
"Can I just say to some of you journalists this is a meeting of the Pacific island countries. These people have been here thousands and thousands of years. So please do not have us with all the critical issues like climate change, economic sustainability, security, cyber security - all those issues sidelined, for your preference as to what the PIF should be saying now."
The $US8000 application fee for a journalist visa to Nauru prohibits reporters from visiting the country to interview refugees exiled there by Australia.
But with the fee waived for the forum, Massey University Pacific academic Malakai Koloamatangi says it was inevitable the media would want to meet refugees.
He says police detaining a New Zealand journalist for talking to a refugee back-fired on Nauru.
"Because journalists were prevented from interacting with refugees it made it news worthy. It was ironic. Perhaps it would have been better for Nauru to allow journalists to talk to refugees rather than preventing them because that became bigger news."
Dr Koloamatangi says coverage of the refugees came at the expense of issues more pertinent to Pacific people like climate change.
"To their minds I think there are things that are more important such as putting bread on the table and getting kids through school, rather than worrying about these camps, which I think is the kind of stance you would expect from wealthier societies. So perhaps they are not as important to Pacific people as they are to New Zealanders and Australians.
Dr Koloamatangi says New Zealand and Australia need to work together to end refugee detention in the Pacific before war and climate change force more refugees into the region.
