National goes soft on sports sanctions

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A decision by the new Government to give a Fiji soccer team transit visas to travel through Auckland tomorrow has raised questions over whether National is going soft on the stance taken by Labour over sports sanctions.

Fijian officials say the new Government has waived sports sanctions - previously used to block Fijian sports teams - to allow the Fiji under-20 football team to transit on its way to Tahiti for the Oceania World Cup Qualifying tournament.

As part of the sanctions imposed after the 2006 military coup, New Zealand refused entry or transit visas to Fijian sports teams , though it made an exception for the Wellington Sevens rugby in February last year, because the IRB said Fiji must be allowed to play.

Last August, Fiji's champion under-12 soccer team unsuccessfully begged the former Labour-led Government's Foreign Minister Winston Peters to help it get permission to transit through New Zealand to play in age group world championships in France in September.

The general secretary of the OFC, Ta'I Nicholas, wrote to Mr Peters seeking an exemption: "I'm sure when he reads the letter ... and finds out it's just for kids and they just want to play football, and they're all under 12," he said at the time.

Though he suggested the children could simply pass through in transit, the team eventually had to fly through Malaysia.

In the run-up to the general election, ACT Party leader Rodney Hide - now a cabinet minister in the National-led government - called for New Zealand to take a less hard approach with Fiji's coup Government.

His call came shortly after coup leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama urged Fijians of Indian descent in New Zealand not to vote Labour.

Now, the National-led Government's Foreign Affairs Minister, Murray McCully, has said Fiji's under-20 team can enter New Zealand, even though the team was told by immigration officials at the New Zealand High Commission in Suva that visas would not be issued.

The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) lobbied Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman for the exemption.

Mr McCully said ministers retained discretion to grant exemptions , "and in this case it was decided an exemption was appropriate".

"We took into account the OFC's submission, which highlighted the significant additional expense and inconvenience the team would face if its application was declined," he said.

Fiji Football Association president Sahu Khan said he appreciated the Government's stance of not mixing politics with sports: permission to transit through New Zealand saved the association at least $61,600.

Asked whether the change between Labour's failure to allow the Under-12 soccer team to transit last August, and National's exemption for the Under-20 team signals a switch of attitude on the sports sanctions, Mr McCully said he understood the Under-12 side wanted to train in New Zealand before travelling on to France.

"But that decision was made by the former government and it is not for me to compare the consideration of that application to this one," he said.

"I know that this decision will be welcomed by the team and soccer fans within Fiji.

"It is perhaps also a reminder of the way relations might be improved more broadly in the event that the Fiji interim government engaged constructively with the Pacific Islands Forum to advance a credible roadmap back to democracy."

Ironically, Fiji will face the competition's favourites, New Zealand, in their opening match.

- NZPA