Tensions flare at Pacific forum as NZ media focus on refugees in Australian camps.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern landed in Nauru today for the Pacific Leaders’ Forum, with the first item on her agenda being the police detention of a respected TVNZ journalist yesterday.
The national network’s Pacific correspondent, Barbara Dreaver, was detained for three hours yesterday and had her media accreditation to cover the forum revoked.
Dreaver has been covering the Pacific for almost three decades and is very well known in the region.
She was interviewing a refugee on Nauru yesterday afternoon. Police turned up within moments, saying she had breached her visa conditions, and she was taken to the island’s police station.
Dreaver said she was still able to report forum events but could not access the media centre or go to press conferences.
“I think it probably shows that things are a wee bit sensitive here, in fact a lot sensitive.”
The Nauru Government released a statement saying she was never detained but voluntarily accompanied them while they made inquiries. It said no journalist had been prevented from talking to refugees but Dreaver did not follow the correct procedure.
In another tweet addressed to “NZ journalists on Nauru,” it said: “You aren’t above the law. Walking into certain areas unannounced where emotions run high increases risk & places lives in danger. The police work hard to protect everyone. Follow the rules and go through proper channels & you won’t have a problem.”
Jenna Lynch, political reporter for NZ’s Newshub network, said it had been unclear from the beginning if interviewing refugees was outside journalists’ visas.
“The president has spoken about the refugee issue. A lot of people have been speaking about it inside the forum so it’s a matter of interpretation as to whether any rules were broken.”
Lynch says media access has been an ongoing issue. “A lot of Australian media isn’t here because the ABC was banned from coming, and in solidarity the press gallery in Australia said ‘No, none of us are going’.”
While the forum’s official agenda lists concerns such as regional security and climate change, leaders have been confronted with the situation facing refugees in Australian-run camps on the tiny island.
Ardern and her foreign minister, Winston Peters, have pledged to raise the issue, and to repeat their offer to take 150 refugees from Nauru and Manus islands. However, Australia’s new Prime Minister Scott Morrison will not be there to hear it. He has sent new foreign minister Marise Payne in his place.
