REPORTER: Bronwyn Adcock
It only takes about five hours to fly to the Pacific island of Nauru from here at Brisbane airport. Instead of being at the departure lounge, though, I'm here waiting for news of Nauru at the arrivals lounge. Visa restrictions designed to keep prying eyes away from Australia's detention centres in Nauru are also having the effect of keeping the plight of Nauruans hidden. Unable to get a visa to go to Nauru, Dateline paid for the tickets of two opposition members of parliament to fly here for an interview.
We also approached the Government with the same offer, but received no response. These parliamentarians tell a story of an unfolding crisis in Nauru, of a bankrupt economy, non-payment of wages and alarming poverty and hunger. In the last week unrest has spilled into open protest on the streets.
REPORTER: So it's been a tumultuous week for you both?
BARON WAQA, OPPOSITION MP: Yeah, it was.
David Adeang and Baron Waqa are opposition MPs in a parliament deadlocked 9-all between the opposition and government. They say the recent protests against the President Rene Harris are a new thing for Nauru.
BARON WAQA: This is unusual. I think it's just got to a to a stage where these people have just had enough. They haven't been paid. Theres so much problems with the Government, and all that.
Both men were involved in the most recent protest held last Friday.
REPORTER: David, I can see the cuts on your head, is that from the protest?
DAVID ADEANG, OPPOSITION MP: Yes.
REPORTER: How did you get that?
DAVID ADEANG: Well, I was being man handled by the police and forced to alight the police vehicle. Of course I refused. I was taken by force by four or five of them. In the process of getting hand cuffed all I recall is somebody hit me right in my left eyebrow and the first three seconds after that I don't recall very well.
Last Friday a crowd descended upon Nauru's airport as president Rene Harris attempted to leave the country on a State visit to China. Protesters poured on to the tarmac, blocking his plane for four hours. Police moved in and, according to some witnesses, used excessive force. The trigger for the demonstration was the calling in of receivers on Nauru's last remaining assets from its phosphate mines.
The phosphate industry is now nearly defunct, but a huge trust fund from previous royalties bought property in Australia, meant to provide for future generations. The company holding the loans on the properties, GE Capital, called them in a few weeks ago, depriving Nauru of its last financial inheritance. While the President is promising he'll be able to refinance the loan, the opposition says the country's bankrupt.
DAVID ADEANG: Weve lost money we can never recover. For us now we basically have to accept that our standard of living will never be the same again. We're basically impoverished for the rest of our life. Why the protest has come about is because people are fighting about their future. It's bad enough now, with GE taking over our properties, it's bound to get worse. That frightens people. How much worse can it get when you're not getting paid for over a year now?
These politicians allege that the mismanagement of President Rene Harris has destroyed the livelihood of their people and they want the world to know.
REPORTER: Okay, thank you both for coming all the way to Australia tonight. Can you tell me why you did agree to come all this way?
BARON WAQA: We would like to share with you, the people of Australia, some of the things that are happening on our small island. The hardships that people are experiencing with their lives and the problem with our government.
DAVID ADEANG: It does translate to a difficult way of life back home, with parents unable to put food on the table for their kids, unable to send them to school.
REPORTER: So people are actually going hungry in Nauru, are they, right now?
DAVID ADEANG: Yes, yes, we can say that, yes, that's a fact. It's a very difficult way of life, not knowing where the next meal is coming from. That's basically how bad it is. You wake up and you don't know whether there's breakfast so you can provide breakfast for the children before they go to school and, if you can, whether they can come back from school and have lunch and if you can do that, whether they'll have supper before they go to bed. That's how difficult it is.
REPORTER: Would that be a common situation or an unusual situation?
DAVID ADEANG: This is common in Nauru now. It's unusual in the sense that this is not a country that is accustomed to that level of poverty. We are a country that used to be the second wealthiest in the world.
REPORTER: What about other basic things, like electricity in the house, medicine, clothes? Are people suffering from a lack of that as well?
DAVID ADEANG: Well, yes, of course. All the other basic necessities have dried up - soap and toothbrush and all that.
REPORTER: Its hard to get soap?
DAVID ADEANG: Because there's no money to buy it. Things like toilet paper too.
REPORTER: When did things start to get really bad?
DAVID ADEANG: This year, I think, it got really bad because at least last year we were getting paid once every, perhaps, three to four weeks and then it grew to the length, or period, of about once every five to six weeks, getting paid once every three months is basically difficult.
REPORTER: When it became public news in Nauru that the General Electric were calling in the loan, how did that affect the mood in Nauru? What did people think about that?
BARON WAQA: They knew that this sort of news was coming, but they really don't want to believe it. But I think once it sunk in, they felt very, very disappointed and saddened, because the mood sort of was so sad.
REPORTER: Were people also fearful about what this would mean?
DAVID ADEANG: Quite obviously, yes, because it represented the exhaustion of what was left of over overseas assets, which are supposed to be our future. If that's exhausted, thats evaporated, you're basically accepting that your way of life will basically be extremely difficult from hereon. And I think that's basically what prompted all the public demonstrations and protests last week. And they will continue, they will continue so long as they consider that President Rene Harris government has failed to find a solution to the GE's problem during the administration.
REPORTER: So you're clearly saying that mismanagement is going on. You're also alleging that there is corruption going on, are you?
DAVID ADEANG: Mismanagement certainly. Corruption will require accessibility for us to document, to prove, at this time.
REPORTER: If we can turn now to the Australia's Pacific Solution and the detention centre. Australia's given Nauru millions of dollars over the last few years in return for Nauru housing the detention centre. Have you seen a tangible benefit for Nauru from that?
DAVID ADEANG: Yes. I do believe that without the detention centres, the decline of our way of life would have been much swifter and our living circumstances would have been much, much more difficult. What it has done is normalise the supply of power and provide regular paying jobs to a considerable number of Nauruans who are somehow assisting the housing of the detainees in Nauru.
REPORTER: So aside, though, from the question of the benefits to Nauru, are you comfortable with Australia's Pacific Solution on a humanitarian level?
DAVID ADEANG: It's a bit of a dilemma for the people of Nauru. We have people detained up in those two camps who at some levels are living better than Nauruans. They get better medical care, we would say better attention to their educational needs. They get food, better food than we do. But at the same time they do require more than that because we are people, we are human beings who deserve better treatment than just getting fed, but being detained in countries not of your own choosing.
REPORTER: Is it a humane solution, the Pacific Solution, do you think?
BARON WAQA: I don't know about humane, but I think it solves the problem for Australia and Nauru to some extent with regards to finances, and that.
REPORTER: Do you have a problem with the fact that it's so difficult for people to visit Nauru, for example myself as a journalist, I can't get a visa to come to Nauru?
DAVID ADEANG: Of course, yes, yes, of course. I don't believe that we should be hiding something. The latest incident of withdrawing the visas for namely Julian Burnside QC who was about to depart for Nauru to represent the detainees in an important legal matter in the Nauru Supreme Court, it's not a notion that we would condone.
REPORTER: Has politics in Nauru become less transparent and less accountable since the Pacific Solution began?
BARON WAQA: I don't know about that.
DAVID ADEANG: I wouldn't put a causal effect on that, yes. I wouldn't say that the Pacific Solution has in itself caused a decline in transparency, no. I wouldn't say that. I would say that it has helped prop up governments which have been notorious in Nauru for lacking transparency and lacking accountability and lacking all things relative to good governance. I would say that.
It only takes about five hours to fly to the Pacific island of Nauru from here at Brisbane airport. Instead of being at the departure lounge, though, I'm here waiting for news of Nauru at the arrivals lounge. Visa restrictions designed to keep prying eyes away from Australia's detention centres in Nauru are also having the effect of keeping the plight of Nauruans hidden. Unable to get a visa to go to Nauru, Dateline paid for the tickets of two opposition members of parliament to fly here for an interview.
We also approached the Government with the same offer, but received no response. These parliamentarians tell a story of an unfolding crisis in Nauru, of a bankrupt economy, non-payment of wages and alarming poverty and hunger. In the last week unrest has spilled into open protest on the streets.
REPORTER: So it's been a tumultuous week for you both?
BARON WAQA, OPPOSITION MP: Yeah, it was.
David Adeang and Baron Waqa are opposition MPs in a parliament deadlocked 9-all between the opposition and government. They say the recent protests against the President Rene Harris are a new thing for Nauru.
BARON WAQA: This is unusual. I think it's just got to a to a stage where these people have just had enough. They haven't been paid. Theres so much problems with the Government, and all that.
Both men were involved in the most recent protest held last Friday.
REPORTER: David, I can see the cuts on your head, is that from the protest?
DAVID ADEANG, OPPOSITION MP: Yes.
REPORTER: How did you get that?
DAVID ADEANG: Well, I was being man handled by the police and forced to alight the police vehicle. Of course I refused. I was taken by force by four or five of them. In the process of getting hand cuffed all I recall is somebody hit me right in my left eyebrow and the first three seconds after that I don't recall very well.
Last Friday a crowd descended upon Nauru's airport as president Rene Harris attempted to leave the country on a State visit to China. Protesters poured on to the tarmac, blocking his plane for four hours. Police moved in and, according to some witnesses, used excessive force. The trigger for the demonstration was the calling in of receivers on Nauru's last remaining assets from its phosphate mines.
The phosphate industry is now nearly defunct, but a huge trust fund from previous royalties bought property in Australia, meant to provide for future generations. The company holding the loans on the properties, GE Capital, called them in a few weeks ago, depriving Nauru of its last financial inheritance. While the President is promising he'll be able to refinance the loan, the opposition says the country's bankrupt.
DAVID ADEANG: Weve lost money we can never recover. For us now we basically have to accept that our standard of living will never be the same again. We're basically impoverished for the rest of our life. Why the protest has come about is because people are fighting about their future. It's bad enough now, with GE taking over our properties, it's bound to get worse. That frightens people. How much worse can it get when you're not getting paid for over a year now?
These politicians allege that the mismanagement of President Rene Harris has destroyed the livelihood of their people and they want the world to know.
REPORTER: Okay, thank you both for coming all the way to Australia tonight. Can you tell me why you did agree to come all this way?
BARON WAQA: We would like to share with you, the people of Australia, some of the things that are happening on our small island. The hardships that people are experiencing with their lives and the problem with our government.
DAVID ADEANG: It does translate to a difficult way of life back home, with parents unable to put food on the table for their kids, unable to send them to school.
REPORTER: So people are actually going hungry in Nauru, are they, right now?
DAVID ADEANG: Yes, yes, we can say that, yes, that's a fact. It's a very difficult way of life, not knowing where the next meal is coming from. That's basically how bad it is. You wake up and you don't know whether there's breakfast so you can provide breakfast for the children before they go to school and, if you can, whether they can come back from school and have lunch and if you can do that, whether they'll have supper before they go to bed. That's how difficult it is.
REPORTER: Would that be a common situation or an unusual situation?
DAVID ADEANG: This is common in Nauru now. It's unusual in the sense that this is not a country that is accustomed to that level of poverty. We are a country that used to be the second wealthiest in the world.
REPORTER: What about other basic things, like electricity in the house, medicine, clothes? Are people suffering from a lack of that as well?
DAVID ADEANG: Well, yes, of course. All the other basic necessities have dried up - soap and toothbrush and all that.
REPORTER: Its hard to get soap?
DAVID ADEANG: Because there's no money to buy it. Things like toilet paper too.
REPORTER: When did things start to get really bad?
DAVID ADEANG: This year, I think, it got really bad because at least last year we were getting paid once every, perhaps, three to four weeks and then it grew to the length, or period, of about once every five to six weeks, getting paid once every three months is basically difficult.
REPORTER: When it became public news in Nauru that the General Electric were calling in the loan, how did that affect the mood in Nauru? What did people think about that?
BARON WAQA: They knew that this sort of news was coming, but they really don't want to believe it. But I think once it sunk in, they felt very, very disappointed and saddened, because the mood sort of was so sad.
REPORTER: Were people also fearful about what this would mean?
DAVID ADEANG: Quite obviously, yes, because it represented the exhaustion of what was left of over overseas assets, which are supposed to be our future. If that's exhausted, thats evaporated, you're basically accepting that your way of life will basically be extremely difficult from hereon. And I think that's basically what prompted all the public demonstrations and protests last week. And they will continue, they will continue so long as they consider that President Rene Harris government has failed to find a solution to the GE's problem during the administration.
REPORTER: So you're clearly saying that mismanagement is going on. You're also alleging that there is corruption going on, are you?
DAVID ADEANG: Mismanagement certainly. Corruption will require accessibility for us to document, to prove, at this time.
REPORTER: If we can turn now to the Australia's Pacific Solution and the detention centre. Australia's given Nauru millions of dollars over the last few years in return for Nauru housing the detention centre. Have you seen a tangible benefit for Nauru from that?
DAVID ADEANG: Yes. I do believe that without the detention centres, the decline of our way of life would have been much swifter and our living circumstances would have been much, much more difficult. What it has done is normalise the supply of power and provide regular paying jobs to a considerable number of Nauruans who are somehow assisting the housing of the detainees in Nauru.
REPORTER: So aside, though, from the question of the benefits to Nauru, are you comfortable with Australia's Pacific Solution on a humanitarian level?
DAVID ADEANG: It's a bit of a dilemma for the people of Nauru. We have people detained up in those two camps who at some levels are living better than Nauruans. They get better medical care, we would say better attention to their educational needs. They get food, better food than we do. But at the same time they do require more than that because we are people, we are human beings who deserve better treatment than just getting fed, but being detained in countries not of your own choosing.
REPORTER: Is it a humane solution, the Pacific Solution, do you think?
BARON WAQA: I don't know about humane, but I think it solves the problem for Australia and Nauru to some extent with regards to finances, and that.
REPORTER: Do you have a problem with the fact that it's so difficult for people to visit Nauru, for example myself as a journalist, I can't get a visa to come to Nauru?
DAVID ADEANG: Of course, yes, yes, of course. I don't believe that we should be hiding something. The latest incident of withdrawing the visas for namely Julian Burnside QC who was about to depart for Nauru to represent the detainees in an important legal matter in the Nauru Supreme Court, it's not a notion that we would condone.
REPORTER: Has politics in Nauru become less transparent and less accountable since the Pacific Solution began?
BARON WAQA: I don't know about that.
DAVID ADEANG: I wouldn't put a causal effect on that, yes. I wouldn't say that the Pacific Solution has in itself caused a decline in transparency, no. I wouldn't say that. I would say that it has helped prop up governments which have been notorious in Nauru for lacking transparency and lacking accountability and lacking all things relative to good governance. I would say that.