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Australia’s Government has branded as unhelpful and destructive a decision by Fiji's interim Government to expel Canberra's South Pacific Defence Adviser.
The unnamed official had been in Suva on a visitor visa awaiting a decision by the interim Government on his long-term visa status.
Australian Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon told The Australian newspaper: "The interim (Fiji) Government has indicated that no visa will be granted.
"This is an important position, not only in relation to Fiji but also to the four other Pacific island countries, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Kiribati and Nauru, all close neighbours of Fiji, to which the defence adviser position is credited," he said.
“This is unhelpful and destructive behaviour by the Fiji interim Government, which should instead be focusing all of its efforts on returning Fiji to democracy - as it had promised to do."
In a sign of worsening relations with Australia, the Fiji interim Government rejected the defence adviser’s application and ordered the Australian out of the country.
The move followed the recent expulsion and denial of consular access to New Zealand journalist Barbara Dreaver and the expulsion of two Australian journalists earlier this year.
Relations between New Zealand and Fiji sank to a new low last week with announcements by both countries of tit-for-tat expulsions of each other's ambassadors.
Fiji's action against New Zealand's Caroline McDonald followed an outburst on Monday by the interim Government's attorney-general, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, who alleged that New Zealand and Australian authorities were tapping phone lines and using locally hired Fijians as spies.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said he had no knowledge of any such activity, and the reference to locally hired Fijians was "one of the less pleasant aspects" of recent statements.
McDonald is the second Kiwi high commissioner to be given marching orders by Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama.
In June last year, Michael Green was declared persona non grata after being accused of meddling in Fiji's affairs.
The diplomatic breakdown comes as Pacific Island Forum leaders prepare to make another attempt to persuade Fiji to hold democratic elections next year.
Regional leaders, including New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key, are due to meet in Papua New Guinea at the end of next month to discuss a way forward.
The latest sparring started when New Zealand refused to grant a student visa to the son of the private secretary to Fiji’s President Ratu Josefa Iloilo under sanctions Wellington imposed on key members of Fiji's Government and their relatives following the December 2006 coup.
