Fijileaks: We are aware that Fiji paying up the millions it is withholding will only embolden and benefit the thoroughly compromised Prasad-Rabuka USP academics (NOT all), but for students and the future of the regional university, the new Foreign Minister, PENNY WONG must demand payment.
* Vice-Chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia, who was deported from Fiji, has been cleared of any wrongdoings. The last one, Project Striker by KPMG, said that there was nothing that he had done wrong. Let Fiji embrace China if it wants to become another Sri Lanka in the
South Pacific
 Fijileaks: *As members, and major donors to USP and the Forum, Australia and NZ should insist that Fiji must, in the interest of good governance and transparency, pay up or else withhold their direct budgetary assistance to the FFG until it pays up its dues. |  Penny MUST Drop, Wong. Let us hope that someone finally understands the financial plight of USP after not understanding it for a long time  |
*We understand the former Prime Minister Morrison was also too preoccupied in trying to woo Frank Bainimarama and Aiyaz Khaiyum away from the Chinese which allowed Solomon Island's PM Sogovare to slip away from his radar.
*So much for the Vuvale Accord. Aiyaz Khaiyum's conduct in the USP Council was totally unacceptable and very anti Vuvale spirit.
*Australia and New Zealand should assist the USP Council to set up a dispute mechanism to address such abuse and not allow it to fester.
*We hope when Wong meets Fiji's Foreign Minister Bainimarama she will compare their travelling allowances. In Bainimarama's case, he pockets $3,000 per day, on top of his salary and other perks as the Prime Minister.
*The Malaysian-born Australian Foreign Minister PENNY WONG has come a long way in her political career. She held Malaysian citizenship until 2001.
* Thankfully, she was NOT Foreign Minister of Fiji in 1987, for SITIVENI RABUKA would have overthrown her in his racially motivated COUP. In 1987, he deposed and locked up KRISHNA DATT as Bavadra's Foreign Minister, claiming Datt was a Libyan and Soviet Union stooge in Fiji
SYDNEY -- A day after being sworn in as Australia's first foreign-born foreign minister, Penny Wong was thrown straight into the diplomatic fray on Tuesday as she accompanied new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to the Quad summit in Tokyo.
Wong brings a lot of experience to the role, having previously served as climate and finance minister and as shadow foreign minister since 2016. She will need these chops to help a prime minister with little diplomatic experience navigate the spillover from the Ukraine war and an acrimonious relationship with China.
Wong was born in 1968 in the Malaysian part of Borneo to an Australian-born mother and Chinese Malaysian father. After her parents split up, she moved with her mother and younger brother to Adelaide in South Australia at the age of 8.
Growing up in 1970s Australia as the country was opening up to more non-European migrants, especially refugees from Vietnam, Wong experienced racial discrimination and bullying. She often faced verbal attacks and saw anti-Asian slogans painted outside their home
.
A strong sense of injustice drove her to outperform her classmates in academic subjects and on the sports field. She managed to get a scholarship to Scotch College in Adelaide, one of the most prestigious schools in the country.
Wong first sought a career in medicine, but after spending a year at hospitals in Brazil on a volunteer exchange program she realized she was not cut out for dealing with death and blood. She switched her major from medicine to law and arts at the University of Adelaide, and graduated with honors in 1992.
After working for a trade union and the local government, she was elected to the Senate for the Australian Labor Party in 2001. In her maiden speech in parliament the following year, she criticized Prime Minister John Howard's use of race as a political issue.
"I seek a nation that is truly one nation, one in which all Australians can share, regardless of race," Wong said.
Wong is also the country's first openly gay female national politician and was instrumental in legalizing same-sex marriage in Australia in 2017. She broke down in tears when the result of the referendum on marriage equality was announced.
She lives with her partner, Sophie Allouache, and the couple are raising two daughters, Alexandra and Hannah.In 2007, Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd appointed Wong as minister for climate change and water, making her the first Australian cabinet member to be born in Asia. She went to Bali, Indonesia, to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on Australia's behalf.
She was appointed as finance minister in 2010, going on to serve as Labor's Senate leader when the conservative Liberal-National coalition took power in 2013.
Since 2016, she had been the shadow foreign affairs minister. She used her role to attack the government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison over his handling of key diplomatic relationships.
A Roy Morgan survey of 1,409 Australians in March found that Wong was the most trusted politician in Australia. The same poll showed that Morrison was the least trusted.
Neil Thomas, an analyst at Eurasia Group, said Wong would bring "a new dynamism" to the role of foreign minister. As a political force in her party, "Wong's gravitas would help boost the role of diplomacy in Australia's China policy."
Wong has a close friendship with Albanese, who is likely to lean heavily on her for foreign policy.
Richard McGregor, a senior fellow at the Lowy Institute, said China would likely seek to make life difficult for Wong.
"The Chinese government will no doubt try to test her in some fashion. And she will have to respond," McGregor said. "But I think she's not inclined to take a soft roll."
During the election campaign, China signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands, which is historically close to Canberra, and Wong hinted that her Labor government will retain Australia's tough stance against Beijing.
"We understand the reality of China's assertiveness and aggression. We understand that our region has been reshaped," Wong told reporters on April 23. "We understand that the key to ensuring Australia's security is securing our region. And that means a foreign policy that is more active and more vigorous in our region."
Wong brings a lot of experience to the role, having previously served as climate and finance minister and as shadow foreign minister since 2016. She will need these chops to help a prime minister with little diplomatic experience navigate the spillover from the Ukraine war and an acrimonious relationship with China.
Wong was born in 1968 in the Malaysian part of Borneo to an Australian-born mother and Chinese Malaysian father. After her parents split up, she moved with her mother and younger brother to Adelaide in South Australia at the age of 8.
Growing up in 1970s Australia as the country was opening up to more non-European migrants, especially refugees from Vietnam, Wong experienced racial discrimination and bullying. She often faced verbal attacks and saw anti-Asian slogans painted outside their home
.
A strong sense of injustice drove her to outperform her classmates in academic subjects and on the sports field. She managed to get a scholarship to Scotch College in Adelaide, one of the most prestigious schools in the country.
Wong first sought a career in medicine, but after spending a year at hospitals in Brazil on a volunteer exchange program she realized she was not cut out for dealing with death and blood. She switched her major from medicine to law and arts at the University of Adelaide, and graduated with honors in 1992.
After working for a trade union and the local government, she was elected to the Senate for the Australian Labor Party in 2001. In her maiden speech in parliament the following year, she criticized Prime Minister John Howard's use of race as a political issue.
"I seek a nation that is truly one nation, one in which all Australians can share, regardless of race," Wong said.
Wong is also the country's first openly gay female national politician and was instrumental in legalizing same-sex marriage in Australia in 2017. She broke down in tears when the result of the referendum on marriage equality was announced.
She lives with her partner, Sophie Allouache, and the couple are raising two daughters, Alexandra and Hannah.In 2007, Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd appointed Wong as minister for climate change and water, making her the first Australian cabinet member to be born in Asia. She went to Bali, Indonesia, to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on Australia's behalf.
She was appointed as finance minister in 2010, going on to serve as Labor's Senate leader when the conservative Liberal-National coalition took power in 2013.
Since 2016, she had been the shadow foreign affairs minister. She used her role to attack the government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison over his handling of key diplomatic relationships.
A Roy Morgan survey of 1,409 Australians in March found that Wong was the most trusted politician in Australia. The same poll showed that Morrison was the least trusted.
Neil Thomas, an analyst at Eurasia Group, said Wong would bring "a new dynamism" to the role of foreign minister. As a political force in her party, "Wong's gravitas would help boost the role of diplomacy in Australia's China policy."
Wong has a close friendship with Albanese, who is likely to lean heavily on her for foreign policy.
Richard McGregor, a senior fellow at the Lowy Institute, said China would likely seek to make life difficult for Wong.
"The Chinese government will no doubt try to test her in some fashion. And she will have to respond," McGregor said. "But I think she's not inclined to take a soft roll."
During the election campaign, China signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands, which is historically close to Canberra, and Wong hinted that her Labor government will retain Australia's tough stance against Beijing.
"We understand the reality of China's assertiveness and aggression. We understand that our region has been reshaped," Wong told reporters on April 23. "We understand that the key to ensuring Australia's security is securing our region. And that means a foreign policy that is more active and more vigorous in our region."
SRI LANKA WAS DANCING TO THE CHINESE BEAR:
"Look: the Muslims are here, the Hindus are here, the Catholics are here. All the same blood. This is the real Sri Lanka."
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