25 Jun 2015

NZ's foreign minister "deeply concerned" about Nauru

6:09 pm on 25 June 2015

New Zealand's Foreign Minister Murray McCully says it's an understatement to say he's deeply concerned about developments in Nauru.

180714. Photo RNZ. Foreign Minister Murray McCully talking with media about the Mayalsia Airlines MH17 flight.

Murray McCully. Photo: RNZ

Five suspended opposition MPs have either had their passports cancelled, or are facing criminal charges following anti government protests in Nauru last week.

Mr McCully says he will have what he calls a pretty direct conversation with the Nauruan President Baron Waqa at a meeting of Pacific Islands Forum Foreign Ministers in just over a week's time.

"I'll certainly take the opportunity in any informal discussions to raise these issues and to see if we can find a pathway forward. We need to take pretty seriously the reports that are coming out and we need to have some focused conversations about these developments."

Mr McCully says he will also again raise with Nauru its 7-thousand US dollar journalist's visa which he says has diminished scrutiny by the international media.