Fiji military budget increase criticism

Transcript

An increase in Fiji's military budget has been criticised as money poorly spent, unaffordable and unnecessary.

In the 2016 budget, Fiji's overseas peacekeeping missions have been allocated 37 million US dollars, an increase from last year of three million US dollars.

That brings the military's total budget to 170 million Fiji dollars, which is about 80 million US dollars.

Mary Baines reports.

A National Federation Party MP and shadow defence minister, Tupou Draunidalo, says the government's priorities are wrong.  She says taxpayers, burdened by high living costs and unemployment rates, have to fund a military which has given the country nothing but 30 years of coup culture.

TUPOU DRAUNIDALO:  Giving 170 odd million (Fiji dollars) to the military and yet yesterday they defeated a motion to provide dialysis machines. Very basic stuff. There are thousands of poor people in this country who could have done with those dialysis machines and would have cost no where near one or two million, never mind 170 odd million.

Mrs Tupou says the United Nations should be ashamed that Fiji is increasing its peace keeping allocation.

TUPOU DRAUNIDALO:  I am really disgusted. I don't know what they think they are doing allowing the militarisation of this state to continue, just so that there peacekeeping mission goes on. They have no regard for Fiji whatsoever. The UN gives back in remittance a pittance compared to the hundreds of millions this poor country has to spend on peacekeeping. I don't know how they can justify that.

Up to 1,000 Fiji personnel are deployed in United Nations peacekeeping operations, currently based entirely in the Middle East.  Fiji has personnel in Iraq, Lebanon and the Golan Heights, and makes some contribution to the Sinai Multinational Force and Observers.  A regional security academic, Paul Sinclair, who works out of Victoria University's Centre for Strategic Studies, says the country's military budget is unaffordable.

PAUL SINCLAIR:  Can the country afford this military? At that price, I would say no. I think that money could be much better distributed elsewhere in Fiji. It is a very significant amount. I know they have a significant peacekeeping role which they very much pride. But just how affordable that is is open to question.
 

Mr Sinclair says Papua New Guinea, which has a population of seven million, has a defence force about half the size of the military in Fiji, which has a population of 800,000.

PAUL SINCLAIR:  Papua New Guinea only plays a very minor role in peacekeeping operations but it has many more complex problems, particularly given the topography of the country and the difficulty of linking the various parts of the country logistically. Yet it has been able to make do with a very much smaller defence force.

But the minister of defence, Timoci Natuva, defended the budget increase in parliament, saying it shows Fiji's commitment to protecting global security.

TIMOCI NATUVA:  This commitment has lifted our profile internationally, it has given us a disproportionate influence in various international forums in relation to our size. We are punching above our weight and are acknowledged around the world for doing so. It is well known to the international community that the RFMF was willing to go to Iraq and the Golan Heights where no other military force around the world was prepared to do so. This has given us a huge amount of prestige as a nation and it is a source of pride for every Fijian.

Mr Natuva says much of the budget increase will go towards increasing peace keepers allowances, based on where they are serving.