Fiji PM accuses Scott Morrison of ‘insulting’ and alienating Pacific leaders

Frank Bainimarama with New Zealand’s
prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, at the forum. 

Scott Morrison has been accused of causing an extraordinary rift between Australia and Pacific countries by the prime minister of Fiji, who said the Australian prime minister’s insulting behaviour while at the Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu would push nations closer to China.

In an exclusive interview with Guardian Australia after the conclusion of the PIF, Frank Bainimarama, the prime minister of Fiji and a political heavyweight in the region, said Morrison’s approach during the leaders’ retreat on Thursday was “very insulting and condescending”.

“Yesterday was probably one of the most frustrating days I have ever had,” he said of the leaders’ retreat, which lasted for nearly 12 hours and almost broke down over Australia’s red lines on the climate crisis.

Read the story from The Guardian by Kate Lyons - “Fiji PM accuses Scott Morrison of ‘insulting’ and alienating Pacific leaders.”