Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Australia/Oceania
Newsline: France, Britain, Australia and Canada expel Syrian diplomats
France, Britain, Australia and Canada are expelling senior Syrian diplomats, officials said Tuesday, increasing pressure on Damascus after a massacre in which the United Nations says families were shot at close range in their homes. French President Francois Hollande told reporters Tuesday that Ambassador Lamia Shakkour will be notified “today or tomorrow” that she must leave. British officials said Tuesday that the U.K. is expelling three Syrian diplomats in protest at the killings, among them Charge d’Affaires Ghassan Dalla, the country’s top ranking diplomat in London. In Canada, Foreign Minister John Baird said in a statement that the Syrian diplomats and their families have five days to leave Canada. Another Syrian diplomat expected in Canada will be refused entry. In Canberra, Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr said Charge d’Affaires Jawdat Ali, the most senior Syrian diplomat in Australia, is to be expelled along with another diplomat from the Syrian Embassy. He said they were told to leave the country within 72 hours, in response to the massacre in Houla. In Vienna, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nikolaus Lutterotti said the Syrian ambassador is being summoned to the ministry where officials will deliver a very hard protest about the massacre. When asked if the expulsions were EU-wide, Lutterotti said this had not yet been decided. He said the ambassador to Austria would not be expelled as he holds an additional function as the representative to the UN organizations in Vienna. The Syrian ambassador to Britain left the country in March. The United States and Britain have closed their embassies in Syria.
http://wcfcourier.com/news/world/europe/european-nations-australia-expel-syrian-diplomats/article_6ef36bb4-22de-50bb-8aa7-5db147aeaf00.html
Newsline: US Embassy urges PNG to adhere to constitution
The United States Embassy in Papua New Guinea is calling on the country’s politicians to respect the constitution and uphold democratic institutions. In a statement, the Embassy says recent political developments underscore the need for the 2012 national elections to move forward as scheduled. It says it hopes parliament’s recommendation that states of emergency be declared in parts of the country will not disrupt the election campaign or the voting process. The Embassy says the vote is a unique opportunity for Papua New Guineans to shape their country’s future at a critical time in the nation’s history.
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=68521
Newsline: New Zealand’s embassy in Sweden to close
New Zealand’s embassy in Sweden will close as part of a move to slash $10 million from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Europe budget. The Stockholm post was opened by the Clark government in 2008 and downsized by the current Government in 2009. McCully said in a statement it was not always necessary to have a diplomatic presence in a country to maintain good relations. “Sweden does not have an embassy in New Zealand and I am confident that we can manage the relationship through an accreditation.” McCully said moving some embassies into less expensive accommodation is another option the ministry is considering to cut costs. “The move is part of a series of decisions that will enable the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to meet the Government’s expectations of a $24 million efficiency dividend and then manage within a flatline budget for the next two years.” McCully said the ministry’s cost-cutting plans have been scaled back following feedback from staff and ministers. “I have made it clear the final package will need to provide a structure capable of attracting and retaining capable staff,” McCully said. The Labour Party last month received leaked documents showing the Ministry is planning to halve the number of job losses it had originally announced in February. The leaked documents say the Ministry is also considering downsizing some bases to create mini-posts in Madrid, Rome, The Hague, Vienna and Warsaw.
http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/nz-s-embassy-in-sweden-close-4891357
Newsline: Fiji to open embassy in UAE
Fiji is to open an embassy in the United Arab Emirates in August. The interim foreign minister, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, is in Abu Dhabi to identify suitable locations for the chancery and residences for the diplomats. Ratu Inoke says opening an embassy reflects the government’s wish to expand its relations beyond its traditional partners.
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=68207
Newsline: Senegal embassy will be hub for Australia
A new embassy in Senegal will serve as a “hub” for Australia’s engagement with French-speaking Africa. The federal government’s 2012/13 budget includes funding for a new embassy in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, which will be Australia’s first diplomatic mission in Francophone Africa. The new post – coupled with a previously announced new mission in Chengdu, China – will cost the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) about $53 million over the next five years. A DFAT official says it will be a “small, lean mission” but will have responsibility for much of the region. “The new post in Senegal will serve as a hub for Australia’s broader diplomatic engagement in French-speaking West Africa,” the official said. Foreign Minister Bob Carr said the posting represented the growing importance of Australia’s ties to Africa. “It will provide a significant boost to Australia’s growing commercial and political interests in West Africa,” he said. Opening a mission in one of the roughly 30 French-speaking African countries was a key recommendation of a parliamentary inquiry into Australia’s ties with Africa last year. Australia’s missions in Africa are currently concentrated in eastern and southern Africa, particularly in former British colonies. The Dakar and Chengdu missions will bring the total number of Australia’s diplomatic missions to 97, still well below most other G20 nations.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news-old/senegal-embassy-will-be-hub-for-australia/story-fn3dxity-1226351043878
Newsline: Australian embassy staff injured in Kabul
Two injured Australian embassy staff have been flown to Germany for treatment after a gas stove exploded at their residence in Kabul. The pair was injured on Thursday April 26. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says they were transported from the Afghan capital and are in a stable condition.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8462004/aust-embassy-staff-injured-in-kabul
Newsline: Australia’s embassy flouts French unions and faces court
It is one of the most sought-after diplomatic postings, but Australia’s embassy in Paris has been a hotbed of industrial disputes including claims of unfair dismissal, harassment and union bashing. The saga, involving three former embassy staff who are French, is being played out in that country’s industrial relations court. An investigation by The Sun-Herald into the embassy, picturesquely located next to the Eiffel Tower, has revealed a long-running legal stoush with former workers. Documents obtained under freedom-of-information laws show the Australian government is being sued for a raft of claims, including unfair dismissal, unpaid pension payments and damages related to a medical disability caused by unsafe working conditions. Allegations of harassment have also been made against a former senior embassy official. The former employees will be represented by France’s biggest trade union, the Confederation Francaise Democratique du Travail, when the matter returns to court in October. In the meantime, other French staff in the embassy have been forced onto non-union workplace agreements, imposed by the Australian government in the past 18 months, and have lost the right to be represented in negotiations by a French union. A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman said it would not comment on legal action while the matter was before the French courts.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/embassy-flouts-french-unions-and-faces-court-20120421-1xdks.html
Commentary: U.S. Marine Deployment seen as diplomatic “pivot”
The new deployment of U.S. marines to Australia is part of the much-discussed “pivot” by the United States toward the Asia-Pacific region, a series of muscular military and diplomatic initiatives intended to balance the rise of China. The first group of marines arrived Wednesday in the port city of Darwin, as reported by my colleague Matt Siegel. The force level in Darwin will eventually reach 2,500. The American ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich, said the deployment had nothing to do with China and was more about a new place for the marines to hold training exercises. “There’s this kind of sexy, fun narrative that you hear from pundits and others trying to suggest this is about China, but it’s not,” Mr. Bleich said in an interview with Sky News. The ambassador said the Marine Corps, which he noted was “mostly an amphibious force,” had been landlocked in recent years, principally in terra firma deployments in Iraq and Central Asia. “So they need to start training and doing amphibious maneuvers again, and we’re looking for the best places to do it and the best partners to do it with, and Darwin is an ideal spot for it.” It remains to be seen whether anyone in the region will actually accept such an argument. China certainly isn’t buying it. If China thinks a new insertion of U.S. marines is about China, then it’s about China. Indeed, when the deployments were first announced, a Defense Ministry spokesman in Beijing said that U.S. moves to strengthen regional military alliances reflect a “Cold War mentality” and would be “detrimental to the mutual trust and cooperation between countries in the region.”
http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/u-s-marine-deployment-wont-put-china-at-ease/
Newsline: Cambodian seeks ‘clarification’ from Australian Embassy
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s nephew Hun To said yesterday that he has filed a complaint with the Australian Embassy in Phnom Penh against Australian newspaper The Age after it named him in connection with a drug-trafficking and money-laundering racket. The complaint to the embassy follows a similar complaint filed by Hun To’s lawyers with the Ministry of Interior. “This complaint is to ask the paper for clarification and to show the proof to me. If they don’t, I will seek a lawyer and file a lawsuit,” Hun To said. On Monday, the Australian daily reported that Hun To had been targeted by Australian police investigating a massive heroin drug-trafficking scheme between Cambodia and Australia in the early 2000s, funnelling the funds through a Melbourne casino. Hun To, whose wife and children reside in Melbourne, vehemently denied the accusations made in The Age. Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak, who met with Hun To’s lawyers the day the article was published, said he had checked the information in the story and it “wasn’t true”, and denied Hun To’s name had ever been connected with drug trafficking. A spokesman for The Age said yesterday that the newspaper stands by the veracity of its story. The Australian Embassy in Phnom Penh refused to comment on the issue and would not confirm or deny receipt of Hun To’s complaint, stating that they do not comment on current legal investigations.
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012032855288/National-news/hun-to-complaint-seeks-clarification.html
Newsline: NZ embassy repair man paid $154,000
Lucrative allowances are nearly doubling the pay of some overseas-based foreign affairs staffers – including a maintenance worker making as much as $154,000 a year. It is not uncommon for overseas Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade staff members to collect $100,000-plus a year in allowances, and even workers on roughly the average wage are collecting six-figure sums. Once extra costs such as rental accommodation and school fees are taken into account, a person earning $51,874 in salary – such as a maintenance worker at the New Zealand embassy in Moscow – can collect about an extra $100,000 once direct employee benefits including allowances, phones and internet are included. Rent is not included in that figure. MFAT refused to comment on the figures but confirmed it was taking “appropriate” steps over the leak of information. This month, ministry chief executive John Allen announced radical plans to scale back the allowance system and introduce a merit-based appointment system after being told to find $40 million in savings. He also suggested that overseas staff might have to pay a “nominal” contribution to rent. But Mr Allen’s plans have sparked a furious response from diplomats, and a threatened exodus of senior diplomatic staff has pitted him against the Government, which has warned that his plans are too “harsh”. Some workers could apparently lose $60,000 a year as a result of the cuts. Among the 144-overseas based staff allowances can reach as high as $211,000 a year, not including rent. Some workers earning under $100,000 a year can push their packages to well over $200,000 once allowances are included.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6641624/Embassy-repair-man-paid-154-000
