13 Apr 2015

Bainimarama mouthing off over Forum - Key

6:01 pm on 13 April 2015

The New Zealand prime minister John Key says Fiji's call for New Zealand and Australia to be dumped as members of the Pacific Islands Forum is a bit of joke.

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Photo: RNZ

Fiji prime minister Frank Bainimarama says his country will not rejoin the Forum as long as New Zealand and Australia are members, or unless other donors, such as China, can also be members.

Mr Key told Auckland's Radio Tarana that the activities of the Forum would be severely constrained without the funding it gets from Australia and New Zealand.

"Where would they get the money to do anything? And the answer is nowhere. None of them have that. So i don't think you would want to take him terribly seriously - I'm not and I don't think other people will be either. I think it is just Frank Bainimarama mouthing off, really."

John Key

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