French Polynesia Country Brief - September 2008
Introduction
Relations between Australia and French Polynesia improved markedly after France ended its nuclear testing program in 1996. Australia provides approximately AUD1 million annually to fund vocational training and tertiary degrees in Australia for students from New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna. Currently 15 students from these three territories are studying at TAFEs and universities in Australia. Their scholarships are focused on employment needs in tourism, hospitality, mining, aquaculture, environmental studies, international relations and trade, information technology and professional specialised English language training.
Political Overview
Government
The Head of State is the President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy. The Head of Government is the President of French Polynesia, Gaston Tong Sang. The High Commissioner of the French Republic in French Polynesia is Adolphe Colrat.
Growing Autonomy within the French Republic
French Polynesia was designated an Overseas Territory of France in 1946 and given a Territorial Assembly on 25 October 1946. French Polynesia's constitutional status ('Statut') defines its institutions, legal powers and relationship with France. The French Government has amended this Statut several times since 1946.
The government of French Polynesia was given executive responsibility for many areas (including local financial and economic affairs, customs and taxation, tourism, transport, agriculture, fisheries, public works, health, primary and secondary education, social welfare and other internal matters). A new Statut created by an Organic Law (no. 96-312) and accompanying legislation (no. 96-313) on 12 April 1996 gave French Polynesia ‘autonomous status’ and broadened its powers to include control over its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), air and sea transport links, telecommunications and postal services and internal security. French Polynesia was also enabled to negotiate and sign in its own right administrative arrangements and regional cooperation agreements with countries in the Pacific region.
Under amendments made to France’s Constitution in 2003 to decentralise power in France, French Polynesia is allowed - like other parts of France - some greater measures of local self-regulation. However, the constitutional amendments also strongly anchored all the French overseas possessions to the French Republic by including the names of all ten overseas entities in the French Constitution. French Polynesia is among the ‘overseas collectivities’ (collectivités d’outre-mer), which include Wallis and Futuna, which are governed by Article 74 of France’s Constitution. (New Caledonia is governed by Articles 76 and 77).
Pursuant to Article 74, for French Polynesia specifically, a new statut came into force through an Organic Law on 27 February 2004. This strengthened French Polynesia’s degree of autonomy and redefined the former overseas territory as ‘an overseas country (pays d’outre-mer) within the French Republic’ (as specified in article 1 of the Organic Law). The position of President of French Polynesia was created and a new electoral system for the Assembly was established.
The French Government is represented in French Polynesia by a High Commissioner, currently responsible for police and justice, monetary policy, tertiary education, immigration, and defence and foreign affairs.
French Polynesia is a parliamentary democracy, with a 57-seat Assembly and an executive headed by a president elected by a simple majority vote within the assembly. French Polynesia uses its own flag, seal and anthem in conjunction with the French national symbols.
Recent political developments
General elections were held in French Polynesia in January and February 2008. Three main political groupings contested the Assembly election: the UPLD independentist coalition which former President, Oscar Temaru, leads; the Tahoera’a Huiraatira party which is led by a long-time political leader, Gaston Flosse, and the To Tatou Ai’a coalition, which is led by Gaston Tong Sang. The former ruling party, the UPLD independentist coalition, lost support. With 38.26% of the vote, the UPLD secured 20 seats; 7 seats fewer than it held previously. The To Tatou Ai’a coalition polled 44.87% to secure 27 seats in the new Assembly. The big loser in terms of seats was Gaston Flosse’s Tahoera’a Huiraatira party, which, after polling 16.88%, lost 7 seats to retain only 10 seats in the new Assembly.
An alliance was assembled involving Gaston Flosse and Oscar Temaru. Flosse was elected to the position of President, with Temaru subsequently elected as Assembly Speaker on 1 March 2008. The government comprised five Tahoera’a and 10 UPLD members. The To Tatou Ai’a coalition, which attracted more party preferred support but which failed to achieve a simple majority was excluded.
Members of Tong Sang’s coalition reacted strongly. Tong Sang led a demonstration of 10,000 in Papeete to protest the election of Flosse, and lodged a legal appeal with the French State Council. Reactions from Paris have been similarly negative – the French governing party, with which Flosse had been affiliated, announced it would sever all ties with him. After the governing alliance was agreed by Flosse and Temaru, UPLD and nine of the 10 Tahoera’a members united to form a new grouping, sitting in the Assembly under the name of Union pour le Developpement, la Stabilite et la Paix – UDSP (ie Union for Development Stability and Peace).
On 15 April 2008, a successful motion of no confidence in the Flosse/Temaru government led to the appointment of Gaston Tong Sang as President.
In the French presidential election of April-May 2007, voters in French Polynesia supported the eventual winner, Nicolas Sarkozy (UMP – giving him 51.89 per cent of votes in the second round). At the same time, they gave stronger support (48.11 per cent in the second round) than French voters generally to the socialist candidate who had been endorsed by Temaru’s UPLD.
In the French general elections held in June 2007, French Polynesia saw a play-off with two autonomist candidates standing for Tahoera’a Huiraatira versus Oscar Temaru and Pierre Frébault for the UPLD. This was the first time since 1993 that Tahoera’a had not won outright in the first round, but it won easily in the second, sending Michel Buillard (incumbent) and Bruno Sandras (a new MP or député), to occupy French Polynesia’s two seats in the French National Assembly. (Their party is affiliated with the UMP majority which governs France under the leadership of President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Fillon). In the French Senate, French Polynesia is represented by Gaston Flosse.
Economic Overview
Funding from France continues to underpin the economy
French Polynesia’s economy has faced a number of challenges since the conclusion of nuclear testing in 1996, due largely to the country’s limited resources and options for diversification, and to its isolation. Financial transfers from France (around AUD$2 billion in recent years) have made up around 30 per cent of French Polynesia's GDP but in recent years this has risen as high as 60 per cent. Of these transfers, some 83 per cent constitute expenditure on education and research, defence, public service salaries and pensions, with some 17 per cent going directly to the French Polynesian and municipal governments for administration and investment.
Since 2004, the economic activity has been negatively influenced by the political situation, with political instability eroding business confidence. In addition, two mainstays of the economy – pearls and tourism – have performed poorly in recent years. Pearl revenue has fallen 3.5 per cent in the past year as a result of over-supply and poor quality product. Tourism revenue has declined 20 per cent in the past year, the sector suffering from the weak US dollar which has kept US tourists away, and strong competition from other top-end tropical destinations such as the Maldives. While some sectors, notably retail trade, agro business, and construction, should achieve satisfactory results in 2008, the primary sector (with the exception of vanilla and monoï) has been depressed with a 6.4 per cent drop on coprah production, and a dramatic 35.3 per cent fall on noni-generated revenues.
Bilateral Relationship
An issue of current bilateral interest is the development of further two-way trade. Tourism in both directions has benefited from visa waiver arrangements negotiated by Australia and France in 1998, from a working holiday-maker arrangement with France from 1 January 2004, and from the launch of a direct Papeete-Sydney route by Air Tahiti Nui in 2005.
Foreign Relations
French Polynesia maintains close ties with other Pacific island countries and territories, particularly its near Polynesian neighbours, through trading partnerships and other links. French Polynesia was granted Observer status to the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in 2004 and in 2006 attended the PIF for the first time as an Associate Member. French Polynesia is a member of: the Pacific Community (SPC), the South Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP), the Pacific Islands Development Program (PIDP), and the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO), and an associate member of the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC). French Polynesia hosted the SPC's 33rd Annual Governing Council Conference in 1999. In July 2003, it hosted the first France Oceania Summit for Pacific leaders to meet French President Jacques Chirac. In September 2004, it hosted SPREP's 15th annual conference. In April 2007, French Polynesia hosted the 11th general meeting of the Pacific Islands Telecommunications Associations (PITA).
Bilateral Economic and Trade Relationship
French Polynesia was Australia's sixth largest Pacific market in 2007, with Australian merchandise exports to French Polynesia totaling AUD82 million (including cereal preparations, coffee and coffee substitutes, beef and liquefied propane and butane). But import duties on non-EU products and some quotas restrict Australia's market. Distance and transport costs are other limiting factors. An ongoing program of tax reform, involving the phased elimination of a number of French Polynesian import duties in favour of a Value Added Tax, should make market access conditions more attractive in the longer term, although French exporters will probably continue to enjoy certain practical advantages (including existing relationships and a common language and legal system). In 2007, Australia imported AUD7 million worth of goods from French Polynesia, mostly black pearls. As French Polynesia is currently entitled to 'developing country' status under the Australian Customs Tariff, most French Polynesian goods entering the Australian market are given a five percent reduction on the general tariff rate.
Visitor Information
Australians travelling to French Polynesia are advised to consult the Smartraveller travel advice.