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Hamish McDonald

Penny Wong must speak up on New Caledonia

It’s time for the foreign minister to act as the honest friend and tell France that they are mishandling their Pacific territory.

Hamish McDonaldCommentator

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Many Australians hold the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in sympathy and warm regard for the way he was deceived by our former prime minister Scott Morrison, and for the way he called out Morrison as a liar. But the time has come when we must point out he has made a huge mistake in New Caledonia.

The Pacific territory, only 1500 kilometres from Australia, has in the past week slid into a virtual civil war between the indigenous Melanesians, the Kanaks, and the mostly French settlers.

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Hamish McDonald is a former foreign editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and author of a forthcoming book on Melanesia.

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    Original URL: https://www.afr.com/world/pacific/penny-wong-must-speak-up-on-new-caledonia-20240519-p5jeuq