Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama announced last night that the Fiji government has notified the governments of Australia and New Zealand to recall their High Commissioners who are based in Suva, by later today.
The Fiji High Commissioner to Australia Kamlesh Arya has also been recalled to Fiji.
Bainimarama revealed at just after 6 o'clock last night that the two High Commissioners should leave the country within 24 hours.
The Deputy High Commissioner for New Zealand to Fiji is Todd Cleaver while the Australian High Commissioner to Fiji is James Batley.
We are currently in the process of speaking to the two High Commissions in Suva.
Batley who is currently in Australia, refused to make any comments last night when contacted by Fijivillage.
While delivering the national address, Bainimarama confirmed that he was briefed by Chief Justice Anthony Gates on the problems the Fiji judges are currently facing.
These issues included the problems faced by Justice Anjala Wati who faced a number of issues while trying to get a visa for urgent eye surgery for her 22 month old son in New Zealand.
The Prime Minister was also briefed on the problems faced by the new Fiji judges who were trying to get a transit visa through Australia, to come to Fiji.
Bainimarama said he had to take the step to send the Australian and New Zealand High Commissioners back to their countries due to the continued interference in Fiji's judiciary, which he termed as a well planned out policy to sabotage the Fiji government's efforts to build strong institutions in the country.
Bainimarama said he also briefed the Vice President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau on the matter and they agreed that no one should stop the government from achieving its objectives.
The Prime Minister also said the ordinary Australians and New Zealanders are not affected by the Fiji government's decision.
Soon after the national address, Fijivillage spoke to Bainimarama.
We asked him if Chief Justice Gates had intended to hand in his resignation.
Bainimarama did not want to divulge that information.
At about 11 o'clock this morning, the Prime Minister was briefed by Chief Justice Anthony Gates on the treatment of Fiji's judges by the governments of Australia and New Zealand.
The Chief Justice has already said that some countries have failed to be supportive or constructive to ensure that Fiji's judiciary continues to function.
He has called on the governments of Australia and New Zealand to discard its policies which has affected the judiciary.
Discussions between Chief Justice Gates and Commodore Bainimarama focused on the case in relation to Justice Anjala Wati whose visa was initially rejected by the NZ High Commission.
The issue at hand in this case is the way the NZ High Commission treated Justice Wati and her son's case.
According to Chief Justice Gates, who has all the documentary evidence of the correspondence, on the 15th of October Justice Wati and her husband lodged an urgent application for a medical visa with the NZ High Commission.
They took this step because their 22 month old child Katik had been diagnosed with a fully detached retina on his left eye.
The medical report had already stated that urgent surgery is needed overseas as the corrective surgery was not available in Fiji.
Chief Justice Gates has publically maintained that the NZ High Commission had rejected the visa for Justice Wati, her husband and their 22 month old child.
He also quoted a letter sent to Justice Wati from an official at the NZ High Commission.
Chief Justice Gates said the NZ High Commission is still trying to maintain that they did not know about Justice Wati's son's medical condition.
It has also been revealed that Chief Justice Gates spoke to Commodore Bainimarama on the Australian government not allowing the transit visa for the judges from Sri Lanka.
The Chief Justice was concerned about the way the Australian High Commission in Colombo approached the Sri Lankan judges telling them about the travel restriction policy and discouraging them from taking up the positions.
Fijivillage has managed to obtain a recording of a telephone conversation between an Australian High Commission official in Colombo and a Sri Lankan judge.
The telephone conversation which has been authenticated reveals how the High Commission official is telling a Sri Lankan judge of the implications of a person taking up a judge's post in Fiji.
This conversation occurred late last month when the Sri Lankan judges were trying to get a transit visa for Australia, to come to Fiji.
The official also made it clear that if a person takes up a judicial appointment in Fiji, then it would be seen as supporting the current government.
Meanwhile, the Australian High Commission in Suva earlier issued a statement saying that they never disallowed the incoming judges from Sri Lanka to transit through Australia to Fiji.
The High Commission states it is not the case that visas were refused to individuals travelling from Sri Lanka to take up judicial positions in Fiji.
The Australian High Commission said in fact, a decision had been made to issue visas to enable the new judges to transit Australia.
It revealed that the people concerned withdrew their visa applications after deciding instead to travel to Fiji via Korea.
However, it states that as a courtesy, the Australian High Commission in Colombo advised these individuals that once they took up their positions in Fiji, they would be subject to Australia's travel restrictions policy.
The New Zealand High Commission in Suva also earlier issued a statement that they did not reject the visas for Justice Wati and her family.
The High Commission also said that if the visas were rejected, the passports would have been returned to Justice Wati and her family. Instead they said the visa applications were still being considered.
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Bainimarama says go back within 24hrs
