‘A bucket of dirt dropped on us’: Backlash grows to Australia-Tuvalu treaty

Australia is facing an intense backlash to its landmark resettlement and security treaty with Tuvalu, as the island nation’s opposition leader vows to scrap the pact in its current form if elected.

Former prime minister Enele Sopoaga, who wants to retake the top job when Tuvalu holds elections on January 26, blasted the deal announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Tuvalu’s Prime Minister, Kausea Natano, last month as “alarming”, “bullish” and “inconsiderate”.

Enele Sopoaga, pictured in 2017, says the pact should never have been signed without prior consultation with the people of Tuvalu.Credit: AP

Sopoaga said many Tuvaluans were offended and confused by the treaty, promising to campaign strongly against it in the lead-up to the Pacific nation’s elections.

“This is like a bucket of dirt that is being dropped on the people of Tuvalu,” Sopoaga, who served as prime minister from 2013 to 2019, told this masthead in an interview.

“I can’t express how disappointed I am with the wording of the text. This should never have been signed without prior consultation with the people of Tuvalu.”

The pact, known as the Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union, would allow 280 people a year to migrate from the climate-affected nation while granting Australia defacto veto rights over any security pact signed by China and Tuvalu.

Sopoaga said he was concerned that the special visa pathway would see many of the nation’s most highly skilled workers depart for higher wages in Australia.

“This would deplete the economy of Tuvalu within two to three years,” he said, noting the nation had a population of 11,200 people.

“There are very serious questions that need to be answered.”

He said it was insulting that Tuvalu’s government would have to ask Australia permission to strike any defence or security agreements with any other nation under the deal.

“When are you going to stop selling the sovereignty of Tuvalu to other countries like Australia?” he asked his successor as prime minister.

Sopoaga said he would rather strike a similar arrangement with the United Kingdom than Australia given it was a member of the United Nations Security Council.

“This text is very one-sided for Australia,” he said.

“If elected, I would work to improve it for the betterment of the people of Tuvalu. I think I can offer the people a much better deal.”

Tuvalu, a collection of nine low-lying atolls, is considered by the World Bank and the United Nations to be at risk of being deserted as sea levels rise.

Sopoaga earlier blasted the treaty as an act of “bribery” and a way to “buy Tuvalu’s silence over Australia’s coal exports” in an opinion piece published by Radio New Zealand this week.

Sopoaga was regarded as a close friend of Taiwan, rather than mainland China, when he was prime minister, retaining formal diplomatic relations with the self-governing island rather than Beijing.

But he said he was concerned that Australia was using the treaty with Tuvalu to try to contain China’s influence in the Pacific.

Tuvalu is seen as one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to climate change.Credit: Louise Southerden

“We cannot go on using small states like Tuvalu as pawns in the game of major powers,” he said.

All 16 members of Tuvalu’s parliament will be decided at the upcoming elections, and they will then gather to decide the nation’s prime minister.

Sopoaga said he wanted the treaty to address the trade imbalance between Australia and Tuvalu, a move that would encourage Tuvaluans to stay on the island nation rather than seek economic opportunities overseas.

“We buy millions of dollars worth of goods from Australia, but Australia doesn’t buy so much as a coconut from us,” he said.

Anthony Albanese and Tuvalu Prime Minister Kausea Natano announced the landmark pact in November.Credit: AAP

“Why does Australia not buy our tuna, our coconuts, our coconut oil? I see there is a golden opportunity here but let’s make sure the golden chicken lays golden eggs.”

Albanese hailed the treaty as “the most significant agreement between Australia and a Pacific island nation ever” when announcing it at the Pacific Islands Forum in the Cook Islands in November.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said: “The Falepili Union was developed at the government of Tuvalu’s request and is focused on Tuvalu’s priorities of security, climate change and mobility with dignity.

“The treaty recognises that the statehood and sovereignty of Tuvalu will continue, notwithstanding the impacts of climate change-related sea-level rise, and commits Australia to support Tuvalu’s adaptation priorities.

“And it commits Australia to come to Tuvalu’s assistance in the face of military aggression, natural disaster or global health pandemic, at Tuvalu’s request.”

Sopoaga noted there was recent history of Australia announcing security agreements with Pacific nations that became ensnared in controversy.

Vanuatu’s Prime Minister, Sato Kilman, vowed in September to rewrite a security pact his predecessor signed with Australia last year, saying his nation’s parliament was unlikely to ratify the agreement in its current form.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.