Australia not the moral judge for the region [1]
Tuesday, December 23, 2003 - 15:30. Updated on Saturday, April 26, 2014 - 22:36.
Asked about the Australian government's reaction to Tonga's controversial new media laws, the Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told a Press Conference in Nuku'alofa on December 17 that "We are not the regional policeman . . . the moral judge and jury for the region, it is not our job."
Mr Downer said that Australians, "are great warriors for Freedom, I think the world kind of knows."
Mr Downer said that what was concerning him more was for Tonga to be able to work through these difficult issues, "we don't wish to contribute in an aggressive and an insensitive way to internal debate here. To do that will not advance what we want to see advanced, which is the greater advance of the Tongan society and the Tongan economy. [The media law] is a controversial issue, and we will see what will happen as Tonga is still debating the issue."
While in Nuku'alofa he signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Minister of Health, Dr Viliami Tonga for an $8 million Solid Waste Management project that is funded under AusAid. Mr Downer also acknowledged that Australia financed the biggest development assistance program in Tonga, worth $11.5 million per annum.
With regards to Tonga's contribution of 36 soldiers and 10 police officers to the Pacific Intervention Force in the Solomon Islands, he thought that Tonga had made a very solid and important contribution. On Tonga's offer to send a platoon to Iraq, he said, "it is very nice to come to a relatively small country like Tonga and find that it is willing to put its hand up, and offer to make the contribution, and it is very much appreciated by us, and I am sure not the least by the United States."