Key Points
- When Australia offered to fund Solomon Islands' election, Penny Wong said it reflected Australia's "longstanding and historical commitment" to democracy.
- Solomon Islands PM Manasseh Sogavare described the offer as an "assault on parliamentary democracy".
When Australia offered to fund Solomon Islands' election, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said it reflected Australia's "longstanding and historical commitment" to democracy in the Pacific.
However, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare did not see it that way.
While Senator Wong said it was "reasonably common" for the government to support elections throughout the Pacific, Mr Sogavare labelled the offer and announcement as "inappropriate" and an "assault on our parliamentary democracy" the same day.
So what does this all mean, why is it important, and what's behind the two very different perspectives?
Why is Australia offering to fund a foreign election?
As Senator Wong said, the offer to financially support the election is not entirely unusual, and Australia also supported the Solomon Islands 2019 election.
Mihai Sora, research fellow in the Pacific Islands program at the Lowy Institute, agrees that supporting democratic processes is an important part of Australia's foreign policy.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has criticised Australia's offer to fund the Solomon Islands election. Source: Getty, AFP / William West
"That support can range from printing ballot papers, assisting with the logistics to deploying Australian Electoral Commission officials in the country helping to run elections; it really can scale up and down depending on the needs of the country."
Why did Solomon Islands call the offer 'foreign interference'?
Australia's offer came after Mr Sogavare said his country could not afford to host the Pacific Games and the election in the same year.
He is seeking to amend the constitution in order to extend parliament and is preparing to introduce controversial legislation to do so.
"The timing of the public media announcement by the Australian government is in effect a strategy to influence how members of parliament will vote on this bill," Mr Sogavare said in a statement.
"This is an assault on our parliamentary democracy and is a direct interference by a foreign government into our domestic affairs."
Shadow Foreign Affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham told ABC News while the offer to assist with the elections was appropriate, he believed the execution was a "giant misstep".
"These are quite damning statements from the Solomon Islands government and there is much now to be answered by the Albanese government in terms of the way in which this offer was communicated, the discussions that have been had, the conditions or nature of this offer and why it was revealed in the public way it was when it was revealed."
"It appears as though they have taken a giant misstep in the relationship in the way they are handling it, and so clearly they've got to explain what has gone wrong here to elicit this extraordinary response from the Solomon Islands government that sees them accusing Australia of interfering in the Solomon Islands democracy."
Talk of interference 'rubbish', Solomon Islands Opposition MP says
Speaking on ABC's RN Breakfast program, Solomon Islands Opposition MP Peter Kenilorea Junior said he welcomed the offer from Australia, and labelled Mr Sogavare's accusation of foreign interference as "rubbish".
"The Games are very important, we love sport, but also our democracy is perhaps even more important, and we need to ensure that elections are carried out in accordance with our constitution as it stands now," he told ABC News.
"This is not interference in our democratic processes, it is actually upholding our constitution, and we've been hearing now for two years that we can't hold a Games and election, and finally we have a friend right next door that's offering (to help) ... so I don't see it at all, I don't buy it and I think it's rubbish, this kind of talk that this is interference."
When asked whether he thought it was a "misstep" for Australia to reveal the offer publicly, he said "not at all".
"There was nothing wrong with it," he said.
Why does this all matter, and what happens now?
Mr Sohai said Australia's relationship with Solomon Islands is a 'difficult balance'.
"For a country like Solomon Islands that still requires external assistance ... that external support does change the dynamic between the two countries.
"It's always tricky to maintain this relationship where you're providing support to some of the most intimate functions of government and public policy, but you're not interfering in those decisions that have been made."
Mr Sohai said the bilateral relationship "remains complex".
"The relationship between Prime Minister Sogavare and Australia's new Prime Minister Albanese started off on the right foot, and it was very important to resume that dialogue and resume a positive tone in relations," he said.
"It's going to be a very tricky relationship to manage for Australia, there will be future disagreements, but that doesn't automatically mean that one side has said or done something wrong, it's just a consequence of these difficult strategic forces at play in our region."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was looking forward to hosting his Solomon Islands counterpart next month despite the public outburst.
"We want good relations with our Pacific neighbours," he told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.
"I'm very much looking forward to hosting Prime Minister Sogavare, I'll be hosting him at The Lodge for dinner in just a few weeks' time in October."
The HMAS Sydney will this week transit through the Solomon Islands and provide maritime surveillance support to the nation's police force, Australia's high commissioner in Honiara confirmed.
