Republic of Nauru Country Brief – March 2008
Introduction
Australia enjoys good relations with Nauru and is its key trade, investment and development assistance partner. Australia is represented in Nauru by a Consul-General, a Vice-Consul, an AusAID in-country officer and two Department of Immigration officials. The Australian High Commissioner in Suva, Fiji, is accredited as Australia's non-resident High Commissioner to Nauru.
Nauru is an island republic in the South Pacific Ocean, 42kms south of the Equator (0º32' S, 166º55' E) and 4,000 km north-east of Sydney. A raised coral atoll, Nauru is one of the three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific Ocean - the other two being Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati and Makatea in French Polynesia. Nauru has a total area of 21 square kilometres.
Nauru has a population of approximately 9,000 people, most of whom are indigenous Nauruans of predominantly Micronesian origin. The remainder are mostly Chinese, Australian and New Zealand expatriates and other Pacific Islanders.
In 2006, 377 Tuvaluan and 1077 i-Kiribati guest workers and their families sought repatriation from Nauru to their home countries. The repatriation exercise was completed in late 2006 by the Tuvalu, Kiribati and Nauru Governments with assistance from the Pacific Islands Forum, Australia, New Zealand and the European Union.
The bulk of the current population lives around a green coastal fringe, up to 300m wide in places, and around Buada Lagoon, a large brackish pond on a raised part of the central south west of the island.
During decades of high incomes from phosphate mining royalties, most of the island's needs were imported and traditional fishing and horticulture declined. Incomes, from royalties and investments, had all but disappeared by 2003 and remain very low. As a result, there are some small-scale efforts to revive the food production skills of former generations. Buada Lagoon and the Moqua Wells were Nauru's traditional sources of (brackish) fresh water but the island is now heavily dependent on two reverse osmosis plants and rainwater collection tanks for drinking water.
Nauru's climate is tropical, with a monsoonal rainy season from November to February. Day time temperatures vary from 26 to 35 Celsius and nocturnal temperatures range from 25 to 28 Celsius.
History
In 1798, Captain John Fearn was the first European to visit Nauru and named the island "Pleasant Island". Germany annexed Nauru in 1888 and, following the accidental discovery of phosphate just after 1900, commenced phosphate mining in 1907 with the establishment of the Pacific Phosphate Company (a German-British consortium). Nauru was captured from Germany by Australian forces in 1914. In 1920, a League of Nations mandate named Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom (UK) as co-trustees of Nauru, with Australia the administering power. Phosphate mining was taken over by the British Phosphate Company (owned jointly by the Australian, New Zealand and UK governments).
During World War II, Nauru was occupied by Japanese forces, which used the island as an aircraft base. Twelve hundred indigenous Nauruans (out of a total indigenous population of 2000) were shipped by the Japanese to Truk (now Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia), where 463 died of starvation. In 1947, Nauru was placed under United Nations trusteeship, with Australia once again the administering power with New Zealand and the UK co-trustees. The British Phosphate Company resumed phosphate mining operations. Following progressive localisation of the legislature, Nauru became self-governing in January 1966. After a two-year Constitutional Convention, Nauru became an independent state on 31 January 1968. On 30 June 1970, control of phosphate mining passed to the Nauru Phosphate Corporation.
Political Overview
Nauru is one of the smallest independent, democratic states in the world. Its constitution, adopted in 1968, established it as a republic with a Westminster parliamentary system of government. The President is elected by and responsible to the unicameral Parliament and, in an unusual variation of the Westminster system, is both head of government and head of state. The Nauruan Parliament consists of eighteen Members of Parliament (MPs), who are elected every three years by resident Nauruan citizens over the age of twenty.
Nauru is divided into fourteen districts, which are grouped into eight electoral constituencies. Seven constituencies are represented by two MPs but Ubenide, which comprises four of the smaller districts, has four representatives in Parliament. There are no formal political parties in Nauru. Candidates stand as independents, contesting elections on the basis of personal or family ties. Loose and fluid alliances develop in Parliament, usually on the basis of extended family ties. Government is formed by a coalition of like-minded parliamentarians, with a majority consisting of at least ten votes. At its first sitting, Parliament chooses a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker, before proceeding to elect the President from among the remaining members. The President then appoints four or five members of Parliament to form the Cabinet.
In 2006, the Government of Nauru took the initiative to conduct a review of its Constitution. The first four steps in the process: a community awareness program, community consultations, community submissions and a Constitutional Convention, have been completed. A Bill needs to be introduced into parliament for debate and a referendum needs to be held to approve the revision of the constitution.
Government
The President of Nauru, Marcus Stephen, is both Head of State and Head of Government. Cabinet comprises President Stephen, who is also Minister for the Public Service, Police, Home Affairs, and the Nauru Phosphate Royalties Trust; Dr Kieren Keke, Minister for Foreign Affairs & Trade, and Finance & Economic Planning; Sprent Dabwido, Minister for Telecommunications and Transport; Frederick Pitcher, Minister for Commerce, Industry & Resources and Utilities; Roland Kun, Minister for Education, Fisheries & Marine Resources; and Mathew Batsiua, Minister for Justice & Border Control (including Customs & Immigration, Quarantine & Passports); Health & Medical Services, and Sport.
Governments since independence
For the first two decades following independence, Nauru's political system was very stable. Hammer DeRoburt served as President for most of the period from 1968 to 1989 (in 1977 he briefly lost the Presidency to Bernard Dowiyogo). However, as income from phosphate mining declined from the mid 1980s onwards, the nation was plagued by political instability. Nauru had eighteen changes of administration between 1989 and 2004.
However, stability was restored with the landslide election victory of President Ludwig Scotty and his young pro-reform cabinet on 23 October 2004. The election victory confirmed the Scotty Government’s appointment following a vote of no-confidence in the previous Harris Government in June 2004. The Scotty Government served its full term and was re-elected with another comfortable majority in August 2007. Three new Ministers were appointed by President Scotty on 13 November 2007, following the resignation of three members of Cabinet (Kieren Keke, Freddie Pitcher and Roland Kun) five days earlier. On 19 December, the Scotty Government lost a vote of no confidence. A new government, led by President Marcus Stephen, and including Keke, Pitcher and Kun, was subsequently sworn in.
With the help of the Australian Finance Team in Nauru (see below), the Scotty Government implemented key financial and governance reforms and did much to restore Nauru’s international financial reputation. Nauru posted its third successive balanced budget in 2006-07, and was removed from the OECD’s Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) blacklist in October 2005. Staff numbers and salary levels in the public service and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have been reduced to more sustainable levels and the Nauru Phosphate Corporation (NPC) has been reorganised into the leaner RONphos Corporation, which recommenced phosphate exports in September 2006.
Economic Overview
Nauru continues to face serious economic challenges. Phosphate production, which first began to decline in the 1980s (from 1.67 million tonnes in 1985-86 to 162,000 tonnes in 2001-02) ceased altogether in 2003. Funds invested to provide post-mining income for Nauru are largely gone and the Nauru Government has assessed Nauru’s total debt as A$1005 million, or 2,500 times current GDP (Nauru 2006-07 Budget). However, with investment from Australian phosphate company Incitec Pivot in 2005, basic mining infrastructure has been repaired and the first tentative phosphate exports recommenced in September 2006. Mining of primary phosphate reserves could continue until 2009 or 2010, and a recent study suggested that residual phosphate reserves could be mined economically, in conjunction with the rehabilitation of mined lands, for up to thirty years.
Fishing licenses issued to China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States of America are an important source of revenue for Nauru. While pelagic fish abound in Nauruan waters, Nauru has been unable to establish a fishing industry of its own.
Bilateral Relationship
The ICJ Case and Compact of Settlement
In August 1993, the Nauru and Australian Governments signed a Compact of Settlement (NACOS) which ended litigation by Nauru against Australia in the International Court of Justice over rehabilitation of phosphate land mined before independence. As part of the settlement, Australia paid Nauru A$57 million in cash and agreed to provide A$50 million over a period of twenty years (paid in annual installments of A$2.5 million indexed at 1993 values) for projects to be undertaken under a Rehabilitation and Development Cooperation Agreement (RADCA). Australia and Nauru are cooperating closely on using NACOS funds to facilitate the mining of secondary and residual phosphate reserves, in conjunction with the rehabilitation of mined-out lands.
Australian assistance to Nauru
Australia provides assistance to Nauru under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Development Assistance to Nauru and Cooperation in the Management of Asylum Seekers, the latest of which was signed on 16 July 2007. The MOU is part of a four-year intensive commitment by the Australian Government to help Nauru to restore essential infrastructure and services and regain economic self sufficiency.
Under the MOU, Australia has deployed Australian officials and contracted advisers to work in in-line positions for the Nauru Government. An Australian finance team, comprising a Secretary of Finance and two advisers, is responsible for the formulation of Nauru's budget, and providing technical advice on economic reforms needed to improve financial management. An Australian Federal Police officer is deployed as Commissioner of the Nauru Police Force, supported by Australian Federal Police officers in advisory positions who manage a program of police infrastructure development and training for the Nauru Police Force and provide advice to the Nauru Government on law and justice reforms. In addition, Australia funds the placement of an in-line Director of Education, a Secretary of Health, a Director of Nursing for the Republic of Nauru Hospital and a central utilities manager for the island.
A number of officials - the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, a planning specialist and the Resident Magistrate - are provided under the auspices of the Pacific Islands Forum’s Pacific Regional Assistance to Nauru (PRAN) program
Foreign Relations
Nauru became a full member of the Commonwealth in May 1999 but has fallen behind in membership dues in recent years and its status has slipped to ‘special member'. Nauru was admitted as the 187th member of the United Nations on 14 September 1999. It is also a member of several regional bodies including the Pacific Islands Forum, Pacific Community, the Asian Development Bank, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific ESCAP and other specialised agencies.
Nauru maintains official overseas representation in Australia (Brisbane), Fiji, Taiwan, Bangkok and at the United Nations in New York. Taiwan and Nauru first established diplomatic relations in 1980. Relations with Taiwan were severed in July 2002 when the Harris Government recognised China, but were re-established by the Scotty Government on 14 May 2005.
Bilateral Economic and Trade Relationship
As an isolated island, Nauru is dependent on shipping and air services for the provision of food and other supplies, mostly from Australia. It has no natural harbour. Ships moor at deep-water anchorage buoys and use piping slung under the phosphate cantilevers to pump fuel up to the tank farm, and lighters to unload other cargo. Only two of the four huge cantilevers used to load phosphate are currently operational, but the mooring buoys, to which ships tie up in deep water just off the fringing reef, were recently repaired using donor funding.
Economic indicators for Nauru (such as GDP, inflation and GDP growth) are not available.
Visitor Information
Our Airline (formerly Air Nauru) currently operates twice weekly flights between Brisbane and Nauru via Honiara (Solomon Islands) and Tarawa (Kiribati).
Visitors should be aware that local infrastructure, including power generation, drinking water and health services, has been adversely affected in recent years by the decline in income from phosphate mining. Power is rationed and distributed to districts 6 hours on and 6 hours off. Up to date information on local conditions can be obtained from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on (02) 6261 3632.
A valid passport and visa is required for Australians travelling to Nauru. Transit visas are available on arrival. For further information, contact the Consulate-General of the Republic of Nauru, 15 Minerva Street, Rochedale South QLD, 4123 Tel: (07) 3342 5217, Facsimile: (07) 3342 5217; Email: cnjeremiah@optusnet.com.au. or nauru_aust@optusnet.com.au.
An airport fee of A$50 is payable on departure from Nauru. The local currency is the Australian dollar. At present, there are no ATMs, nor any other commercial banking services, on Nauru. Credit cards are not accepted, other than (Amex and Diners) at the Menen Hotel subject to a surcharge of 5%.
Australians traveling to Nauru are advised to consult the Smartraveller travel advice website.