Australia’s Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Senator Zed Seselja, toured the Blackrock Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Camp (Blackrock Camp) in Nadi, yesterday.

The Blackrock Camp redevelopment is a significant project that is due for completion in early 2022.

The new facilities are expected to support Fiji’s security and military training requirements and enhance Fiji’s ability to respond to natural disasters and other humanitarian crises in the region.

“It’s a major credit to all the workers; it’s been a joint effort, a lot of locally engaged employees and Australian expertise coming together,” Mr Seselja said.

“We are seeing a really extraordinary facility and we are hoping it will be a wonderful facility for the Fijian people, the Fijian Government and obviously Fiji when it comes to peacekeeping, to have this peacekeeping facility, to have this humanitarian facility to deal with disaster relief.

“It was great to hear the Vuvale partnership from the workers. I think a lot of other things were slowing down, but to see this kind of construction going on, it delivers long term capacity and creates employment at a time when there is serious hits to the economy.

“It was very valuable to the local community to see the injection of funds and workers having these jobs, being able to reinvest into the local community.”

Seselja meets frontliners

Mr Seselja also met with frontline healthcare workers at Lautoka Hospital to hear their experiences and thank them for their efforts in responding to the outbreak of COVID-19.

Lautoka Hospital received medical equipment and personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies under Australia’s COVID-19 support to Fiji.

This included N95 masks, hospital gowns, face shields, ventilators and oxygen regulators.

Medical personnel from two Australian Medial Assistance Teams (AUSMAT) were deployed to Lautoka Hospital this year and worked with staff in responding to the outbreak.

“Most important was to thank the incredible frontline workers who put their lives on the line during what was a very difficult period,” he said.

“I expressed my admiration and solidarity and condolences, of course, for the losses, we saw a great sense of hope with how the Lautoka Hospital and staff contributed to protecting people and we have seen the great vaccination roll out.”

He was also excited to be briefed about the public-private enterprise between the Fijian Government and Aspen, an Australian company that comes  from his home town of Canberra.