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New Zealand's Foreign Minister Murray McCully says a decree issued in Fiji to stop pension payments to retired civil servants critical of the government is no reason to drop efforts to boost diplomatic ties between the two countries.
McCully said while New Zealand did not agree with the latest measures, they are not a reason not to try to improve diplomatic relations.
The Regulation of Pensions and Retirement Allowances Decree gives Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama powers to stop allowances, salaries, pensions or any other State entitlements to pensioners critical of the government.
The decree covers the Parliamentary Retirement Allowances Decree, 1989, the Prime Minister’s Pensions Act 1994, the Judges Remuneration and Emoluments Act and the Pensions Act “and any other related law on pensions”.
Government spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Neumi Leweni has said that former civil servants who were critical of the government will have their pensions stopped to change the view of people opposed to the Bainimarama government.
The provisions of the decree are effective against anyone the PM is satisfied has acted or attempted to “bring hatred or contempt or disaffection against the government or any institution or authority of the government”.
Other grounds on which pensions could be stopped are if the person has promoted or incited “feelings of ill-will and hostility amongst the different classes of population in Fiji; or bring hatred or contempt or disaffection against the administration of justice or the judiciary; or incite communal antagonism or racial discontent”.
The decree does not apply to allowances, pensions or any other benefits or entitlements payable under the Fiji National Provident Fund.
A Fund spokesperson said the decree did not apply to its members and that the Fund is separate from the government pension.
