Nauru slams foreign media

NAURU – Nauru’s Justice Minister has launched a strident attack on Australian and New Zealand media outlets over coverage of asylum seekers housed on the island, saying recent elections should make them feel “humiliated”.

In a statement, David Adeang singled out organisations including the ABC, Fairfax, The Guardian and Radio New Zealand for criticism.

The comments come after national elections returned Nauru’s President Baron Waqa’s government.

Adeang said reporting of offshore detention processing by Australian and New Zealand journalists “unethically attempted to influence our domestic politics by spreading lies, promoting opposition MPs and refusing to report the huge progress Nauru has made over the past three years under the Waqa government”.

“These activist-journalists kept saying we were stifling democracy, yet Nauru has always championed democracy, and this election was held under the scrutiny of international observers,” he said.

“They lied about us ignoring the rule of law, but have refused to report the fact that our courts – thanks to our reforms – are now among the most independent and respected in the Pacific.”

The Australia-run refugee detention and processing centre on Nauru has been the focus of intense media scrutiny in recent times despite the Nauru government’s moves to block international media from visiting the island.

The ABC says conditions for asylum seekers have beeb described by some psychologist as “demoralising”.

Earlier this year, two refugees set themselves alight on the island.

“We understand that we receive more scrutiny because the agenda of these organisations is really against the Australian government’s offshore processing policy, but we are sick of the lies and the lack of respect of our sovereignty,” Adeang said.

The Justice Minister alleged opposition MPs, supported by the ABC and other outlets, had been defeated at the election, after launching riots against the government last year.

The statement said the campaign to destabilise the government “failed dismally” and “the defeat of their favoured candidates leaving the media humiliated”.

“They now must accept the will of the Nauruan people in a democratic vote, respect our country, our government and the fact that we are a sovereign country not beholden to them, and start reporting the truth,” Adeang said. - ABC