Australia may lift its sanctions on Fiji altogether if it stays true to its word to 'normalise relations', but a Fijian academic says Fiji will take advantage of Australia's uncertainty.
Australia and Fiji agreed in July 2012 to exchange high commissioners, but Fiji has not honoured the deal due to Australia's ongoing sanctions.
The Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop met with her Fijian counterpart Ratu Inoke Kubuabola in Sydney on Tuesday, and pushed him to set an election date.
But a senior lecturer in Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland, Steven Ratuva, says Fiji will continue to use the election date as political leverage, like any incumbent government.
"It's to do with uncertainty in relation to Australia's situation and certainly it looks like it's taking advantage of the situation to try and leverage whatever comes out of it to its own advantage."
Steven Ratuva.
