Transcript
The director of the Pasifika Centre at Massey University, Malakai Koloamatangi, says back in 1968 and for some time after, the decision to seek independence from Canberra seemed a very good move for the people of Nauru.
Nauru became for a period one of the richest countries in the world, but he says this changed once the phosphate started to run out.
"Infrastructure for one was not maintained and the economy took a down turn and the problem is of course is that Nauru doesn't really have anything, except for the fish to export. And it has faced some growing political problems and instability. It had some constitutional support from Australia, which gives the aid to Nauru that props it up."
A former Nauru MP now living in New Zealand, Roland Kun, says the 50th anniversary is a big deal and it's right that the people are marking the occasion, but he agrees the island remains economically reliant on Australia.
"Nauru is also hosting the offshore processing centre for asylum seekers in partnership with Australia and that is bringing in a significant part of the economic base of the country at present. Unfortunately, as that happens, I am of the view that a large part of the development work on the island has fallen on the wayside."
RNZ Pacific sought comment from the Nauru President Baron Waqa who has largely refused to speak with foreign media over the past four years.
His office said he was too busy this week.
Opposition MP Riddell Akua was happy to comment, though he says the celebrations don't interest him much.
He says while Nauru back in 1968 was keen to get control of its phosphate resource, successive governments, including ones he has been part of, have failed to manage this properly.
"In hindsight after the 50 years of independence we didn't improve on what we had before, in terms of infrastructure, in terms of a new constitution, in terms of more balance, sharing the same wealth, sharing the work duties. There are people suffering under different government."
The attendees include the Australian governor general Sir Peter Cosgrove, Samoa's Prime Minister Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi, the Federated States of Micronesia's Peter Christian, along with the foreign ministers of the Georgian breakaway states of Ossetia and Abkhazia - which are both recognised by Nauru.
New Zealand is being represented by Pacific Peoples' Minister Aupito William Sio.
New Zealand has had a strained relationship with Nauru for several years since the suspension of some of its aid package to the island over concerns about the independence of the judiciary.
He says New Zealand is now trying to rebuild the relationship.
"I have just finished meeting with the president of Nauru, President Waqa, and their minister of finance and looking at strengthening that relationship going into the future. We have gifted Nauru two million dollars as a gift to the Nauru Intergenerational Trust Fund."
Aupito William Sio says he was taken on a tour of the areas mined for phosphate and he says it is like a grave field.
He says Nauru needs top soil to try and re-habilitate the area.
The Nauru government is seeking international help for this.
