Tuesday, September 04, 2018

No press freedom in Nauru

The Pacific Islands Forum is happening in Nauru, and the media focus has understandably gone on the refugees Nauru detains in a concentration camp on behalf of Australia. But it seems that Nauru's authoritarian government isn't very keen on that:
1 NEWS Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver has been detained by authorities in Nauru while covering the Pacific Islands Forum.

World Vision told 1 NEWS that Dreaver was conducting an interview with a refugee when detained by police around 1pm today.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is with Dreaver but 1 NEWS is unsure of her whereabouts.


Detaining journalists for doing their jobs and reporting on matters of public interest is outrageous - but sadly what's expected now in Nauru. Once a democracy, the country has become an authoritarian state, driven in that direction by the flow of Australian gulag money. Australian racism has given us a dictatorship in our own back yard. And if Australia ever changes its policy and cuts off that money, then things on Nauru will likely get even worse.