Australia steps in with $47m budget support amid fuel crisis

Australia has committed AUD$30 million (FJD$47 million) to support Fiji’s fuel response as global price shocks fuel uncertainty in households across the country.

The announcement today by Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong, was welcomed by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who applauded the financial support.

“It also will reinforce your role as a supply and storage hub for so many Pacific nations,” Ms Wong said.

“We want a Pacific-led response to global shocks that we can all back in because that is what makes our economy stronger and more resilient,” she said.

Ms Wong reinforced Australia’s position as a committed partner to Fiji and the Pacific, highlighting Australia’s dialogue with Asian economies — Japan, China, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

“All critical countries for our region and critical countries for energy markets, and we use those opportunities to advocate to those key suppliers, those key trading partners, the importance of keeping fuel supplies flowing to our region.

“And we'll continue to provide that advocacy and technical assistance to other to Fiji and other Pacific partners to respond to the current energy shock.”

Ms Wong said the world was now at the juncture of ensuring that commercial supply chains affected by the crisis were made more resilient.

“Governments can't replace global supply chains, but we can work to make them more resilient. At the moment, we are seeing fuel being sourced from a range of other countries to reflect the need to add to supply.

“And we'll keep working with the Pacific on how we best collectively engage with those global supply chains to ensure supply keeps growing.”

On the regional front, Mr Rabuka expressed Fiji’s support for the Biketawa Declaration as the framework to coordinate Pacific responses to the current fuel crisis.

The Biketawa Declaration is an agreement by Pacific Islands Forum leaders that outlines how to respond to regional crises.