PRIME MINISTER HON. SITIVENI RABUKA'S ADDRESS ON OCEAN OF PEACE AT THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB, CANBERRA

Ni sa bula vinaka – thank you for your generous welcome.

Thank you to the board, sponsors and journalists, for this welcome opportunity to be at the National Press Club today.

As we do in Fiji, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Ngunnawal people, and pay my respects to their elders past and present.
 
The Pacific Ocean and Fiji’s Place in it
On 15 November 1520, long after the first Pacific islanders had reached this ocean, Ferdinand Magellan sailed into the Mar del Sur and renamed it Mar Pacifico – the Pacific Ocean – because of its calm waters.
Those waters have sustained and linked generations of Pacific people. 
 
However, the waters of the Pacific are not always calm.
 
This ocean has been a theatre for external wars, it has been treated as a testing ground for the most dangerous weapons, it has swollen because of climate change, and its rich resources are coveted by many.   
 
This is the current reality of the Blue Pacific that Fiji and Australia are part of.
 
Fiji’s Foreign Policy White Paper in 2024 reaffirmed the central position of the Pacific in our foreign policy calculations. 
 
We assessed that Fiji’s most significant security threat lies in the prospect of a region which is riven by division, insecurity and instability.
 
It therefore flows that contributing to a stable Indo-Pacific region is Fiji’s highest strategic priority.
 
And the most significant contribution Fiji can make to a stable balance in the broader Indo-Pacific is to focus on the challenge of peace and security in our own Pacific neighbourhood.
 
For Fiji, as our Foreign Policy White Paper sets out, a “family first” Pacific regionalism is the foundation of our foreign policy priorities and the way we work.
 
Pacific responses to Pacific challenges. 
 
I feel a particular responsibility as the Prime Minister of Fiji. 
 
First, of course, for the sovereignty, security and prosperity of Fiji.  But also, for the contribution we can make to the region.
 
Fiji is strategically located as a regional hub. 
 
We host many regional institutions; we are a Pacific economic and trade centre; we connect the Pacific with our air and shipping links – and I should mention for all members of the press currently shivering here in Canberra; you can even fly directly from Canberra to Nadi!  It is currently around 27 degrees in Nadi today!
 
Fiji has a crucial regional role.  And we take that regional role seriously.
 
Just last week Fiji took over the Chairmanship from Vanuatu of the Melanesian Spearhead Group when we hosted the Leaders’ Summit in Suva.  
 
I said at the time it is not a responsibility I take lightly.
 
I am also concerned about the growing challenges the region is facing.
 
We do see geo-strategic tensions playing out in the region.
 
There is growing economic uncertainty throughout the world, and that is felt keenly in our geographically dispersed Pacific states.
 
Our Blue Pacific is environmentally vulnerable – climate change is an existential threat.  And I should add that Fiji is a strong supporter of Australia’s bid for COP31 in partnership with the Pacific.  We need Pacific voices, supporting responses that make sense for the Pacific.  
 
Our rich resources in the Pacific, particularly fish, are coveted by many.  We face the scourge of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing impacting our economic wellbeing and damaging our fragile Pacific environment.
 
And unfortunately, transnational criminals now crisscross our Pacific waters.  Last week in Fiji’s national budget we announced funding for 1000 more police as we respond to a growing drug challenge, including as Fiji is a transit point for the international drug trade.
 
We also face new challenges – for example Fiji as a financial and administrative hub of the region needs to be awake to the dangers of cybercrime.
 
Unfortunately for now, I contest the region’s outlook is more uncertain than at any time since Fiji’s independence.
 
Perhaps we have reached a point in our Fiji-Australia relationship where our renewed and elevated Vuvale Partnership need a further step up to an agreement or treaty.
 
Ocean of Peace
So that brings me to what we can do as a Pacific family.
 
It is because of my belief in a Pacific approach to security, stability and prosperity, and my concerns over the challenges we face, that I proposed at the Pacific Islands Forum in Rarotonga in 2023 that regional leaders agree on a set of principles that embed peace as the cornerstone of our individual and collective policies.
 
This is the Ocean of Peace concept.

I believe it could represent the evolution of our longstanding commitment to the peace and prosperity of our people, to meet the needs and expectations of a Pacific facing a complex and challenging global environment.
 
The Ocean of Peace is a signal that we seek a region in which strategic competition is managed; where stability is the touchstone of regional relationships; and where coercion is eschewed.  A region where differences are resolved peacefully.
 
The Ocean of Peace sits at the centre of our outlook on the security of the Pacific which also rests on the unity of the region and the vital role that cooperation plays in building and strengthening that unity.
 
It offers this generation of Pacific Leaders the opportunity to live up to the goal codified in the Treaty of Rarotonga - ‘to ensure, so far as lies within their power, that the bounty and beauty of the land and sea in their region shall remain the heritage of their peoples and their descendants in perpetuity to be enjoyed by all in peace’.
 
Ocean of Peace Principles
To achieve this the Ocean of Peace concept draws on foundational tenets of Pacific regionalism.  It is our opportunity to weave the threads of our Pacific past with our vision for our Pacific future.
 
While much work remains, Fiji promotes an Ocean of Peace based on the following ten principles:
 
1. A shared commitment to the peaceful resolution of disputes based on the Pacific Way.
Respect for international law and norms. We recall the United Nations’ General 2. Assembly Declaration on the Rights of People to Peace, that was adopted on 12 November 1984.
3. Rejection of coercion as a means to achieve security, economic or political advantage.
4. The freedom to determine our own security and strategic policies.
5. Upholding freedom of navigation and overflight.
6. A commitment to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons
7. Protecting the maritime environment.
8. A recognition that common challenges require common solutions.
9. Respect for human rights.
10. Support for regional institutions.
 
These principles are based on the Pacific Way.  As I set out before that is the underpinning of Fiji’s foreign policy approach. 
 
They also offer an opportunity for us to set out how we expect those from outside the region to respect our approaches and participate with us.  This means respect for the Pacific way.   Respect for norms and law.  No coercion.  Protecting the environment. Pacific regionalism.
 
I also believe, through the Ocean of Peace there are opportunities to share Pacific Way successes with the world. 
 
For example, Fiji pioneered the Talanoa Dialogue as a new approach to climate negotiations, with the Pacific concept of ‘Talanoa’ or storytelling supporting consensus building and decision making. 
 
And it was in 1970, when Fiji’s first Prime Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, introduced “the Pacific Way” at the United Nations General Assembly, setting out to Fiji’s peaceful transition to independence.
 
So, the Ocean of Peace can also offer a platform to expand for a global audience, concepts central to the Pacific Way, including to articulate how those within and beyond the Blue Pacific can embrace opportunities to work together and resolve differences respectfully and with understanding.
 
There is no greater acknowledgment of the pivotal role that Pacific ways of life and values play in fostering peace than that articulated in Chapter 6 of the UN Charter, which mandates parties to disputes to pursue a “pacific settlement of disputes.” By the Ocean of Peace, we’re putting a face to that verb – pacific – we’re the Pacific. This principle aligns with the region’s long-standing traditions of peacebuilding through dialogue, consensus, and communal restoration
 
As we speak officials across the Pacific are working to prepare the Ocean of Peace Declaration for our upcoming Pacific Forum Leaders Meeting in Solomon Islands in September. 
 
I would like us, as a Pacific family, to take a stand there in Honiara for an Ocean of Peace.
 
Australia-Fiji
Before I finish, I’d like to talk a little about the Fiji-Australia Vuvale partnership – including as it links to Ocean of Peace.
 
In Fijian, ‘Vuvale’ means ‘family’ – ‘my home is your home’.
 
Since the return of the Albanese Government in May, I have been honored to welcome to Fiji the Australian Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, and just last week the Minister for Pacific Island Affairs, Minister Conroy.
 
I have welcomed Prime Minister Albanese and his ministers to my home, Fiji.  Just as you are welcoming me now to your home. 
 
Yesterday I received a welcome to country ceremony and laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier.
 
It underlined we have deep, historical connections. And shared values.
 
While I am here, I will see first-hand some of the important work we are doing together in support of regional security and stability.
 
I will visit RFMF troops – for the first time a whole company – participating in Exercise Talisman Sabre.
 
And I will visit the Pinkenba Police training centre – where police from across the Pacific are training including in preparation for regional Pacific responses to regional challenges such as natural disasters.
 
This all points to how the Fiji – Australia partnership can contribute to the Ocean of Peace.

I am confident in Australia’s support. 
 
As Foreign Minister Wong said in Suva in May, “our priority is to ensure the Blue Pacific is an Ocean of Peace, and it remains peaceful, prosperous and equipped to respond to the challenges of our time”. I agree.
 
None of us can face these challenges on our own. Partners such as Fiji and Australia need to be able to rely on each other; to each play our part in a shared Pacific that is peaceful, stable and prosperous. And we do.
 
I am committed to building our Vuvale Partnership – there is much more we can do together.
 
And I should finally say being Vuvale, family, does not mean we cannot enjoy friendly competition. I am very much looking forward to seeing the Flying Fijians beat the Wallabies in Newcastle this Sunday.
 
I was pleased to be invited to speak here today. 

I am a firm believer in the importance of Pacific voices on international issues. 

And of course, I am a strong advocate on Pacific specific responses to Pacific challenges. 

So I am looking forward as Prime Minister of Fiji, as a regional partner, and as a friend of Australia, to promote an Ocean of Peace for the wellbeing of all our people. 

Vinaka vakalevu, thank you, I look forward to your questions.