National: soft on dictatorship

Since the Fijian coup two years ago, New Zealand has imposed sanctions on the Fijian regime, including a travel ban on official sports teams. But not any more:

[T]he National-led Government's Foreign Affairs Minister, Murray McCully, has said Fiji's under-20 [football] 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".

So, the first move of the new National government is to go soft on dictatorship. I guess they just don't think democracy in Fiji is worth making a fuss over.