ASHLYNNE:

Soldiers from Europe are on the streets of one of Australia’s closest neighbours.

JIMMY:

So we can see that the curfew still on from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., but in the night, you can still hear gunshots and, you know, clash with police and the youth on the roadblock.

ASHLYNNE:

This is Jimmy Naouna speaking to us from New Caledonia…

JIMMY:

So the police go through, clear the roads. But the next minute you put the roadblocks back on and barricades back on and things start all over again.

ASHLYNNE:

Back in the 1980s, he manned roadblocks for the country’s biggest indigenous independence movement. Now he’s their spokesperson.

JIMMY:

We have always been marginalised in our society here. I was kicked out of college, basically was because I was part of that, youth, the awakening to the Kanak struggle.

ASHLYNNE:

But this year, he’s seen roadblocks and street battles resume… and Jimmy says they’re still happening every night.

JIMMY:

Even up to last night, we can still hear gunshots and clash within even this morning. Some parts of town are still, still not accessible by roads.

I think media, they don’t look to the root causes of what makes this violence erupt. Like I’m saying this goes back many years and even a generation.

It is a political situation. It's a political issue, and you need a political solution to it.

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ASHLYNNE:

From Schwartz Media, I’m Ashlynne McGhee. This is 7am.

Many Australians have an idea of New Caledonia – 2 hours away by plane, luxurious sprawling hotel complexes… crystal clear beaches… you get the drill.

But riots in the capital, a state of emergency and the intervention of the French military have been reminders that the future of New Caledonia is a fraught political question sitting on our doorstep.

So what has unleashed the unrest? How are we involved? And why are the French trying to still hold on to a pacific nation?

Today, journalist Nic Maclellan who’s covered the Pacific for decades… on the tension that’s been brewing and the French President’s PR stumble.

It’s Tuesday June 4.

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ASHLYNNE:

Nic, how are things right now in New Caledonia?

NIC:

Things are a bit quieter than the last 2 or 3 weeks

Starting on the 13th of May, young people, and they were especially young. Many teenagers were out on the streets at night rioting.

There's been major damage to businesses, to public buildings, to infrastructure. A terrible blow to the economy. You know, supermarkets were looted, many buildings burned down. As we speak, seven people have been killed. And, it's an enormous trauma for people living in the capital.

But there's still underlying tensions. The core problems that have been dividing supporters and opponents of independence are still unresolved. And, President Macron's flying visit to New Caledonia hasn't really addressed core issues raised by the Kanak independence movement.

ASHLYNNE:

It's pretty incredible scenes. Right?

NIC:

Many people were surprised by the explosion of conflict. Frankly, I wasn't. I've been a visitor to New Caledonia for some 40 years.

You know, in many ways, the colonial history of New Caledonia parallels that of Australia.

Audio excerpt – Footage:

“Down there south of the Solomons by some 900 miles and about 1000 miles east of Sydney Australia lies New Caledonia…”

NIC:

Was originally a penal colony. Later there was settlement Kanak land. The land of indigenous Melanesian people was taken. They were driven up into the hills, and the west coast of the main island was used for cattle farming.

Audio excerpt – Footage:

“For years the French colonial government enjoyed New Caledonia’s rich exports…”

NIC:

Then people discovered nickel. New Caledonia has an estimated 20% of the world's reserves of nickel. The whole mountain chain on the main island is really full of strategic metals and minerals. And so indentured labourers were brought. So that long history of settlement and migration of colonial policy really disadvantaged indigenous Kanak. They were pushed into tribal reserves. Kanak and indeed women and indentured labourers didn't get the vote till after the Second World War. So there's been a long campaign by indigenous peoples, including revolts saying that they wanted to control their own land.

Audio excerpt – Unknown:

“The Kanak people decided to fight. We'd been exploited for too long. We wanted to get our land back. We decided to occupy our land and force the French government to talk about independence.”

NIC:

In the 1980s, there were armed clashes between the French military, independence activists, right wing militias.

Audio excerpt – Unknown:

“Referred to obliquely as les evenements. The event. The independence uprising lasted on and off for four years and cost at least 60 lives.”

NIC:

There was a series of peace negotiations and talks, 1988, 1998. And the agreement in 98, called the Noumea Accord, set out a 25 year transition towards a decision on political status. The three referendums were held at the end of this 25 year transition. The first two showed very strong support for independence, 43% of people voted yes for independence. The next vote in 2020, 47% nearly voted in favour of independence. Obviously not a majority, but you can see the trend. People were moving towards a change.

Audio excerpt – News Reporter:

“The Pacific island of New Caledonia has voted in a third and final referendum on independence from France.”

NIC:

The third referendum was rushed through in the middle of the Covid pandemic. It was botched by the French authorities. So the vote dropped from 47% in favour of independence to 3.5%.

Audio excerpt – News Reporter:

“The French president Emmanuel Macron welcomed the result, in a televised address he said “tonight France is more beautiful because New caledonia has decided to stay here”.”

NIC:

And since that time, the independence movement has been very critical about the lack of impartiality by the French state.

JIMMY:

That referendum for us is illegitimate, politically illegitimate, because our indigenous people, the Kanak indigenous people as the colonised people of this country did not take part in that referendum on self-determination.

NIC:

They see President Macron and key ministers as biassed against the call for decolonisation, the call for independence.

ASHLYNNE:

So then, fast forward to May 13th. What was it on that particular day that sparked the unrest?

NIC:

The French government has been preparing a constitutional amendment to change key provisions of the Noumea Accord, particularly around voting rights. The Noumea Accord created this notion that indigenous Kanak long term residents, the descendants of the convicts, the indentured labourers and others born and bred in New Caledonia should determine the future of the country. They should have priority over local employment, and they should be the ones to vote for the local political institutions.

Now France basically wants to change the rules. They want to expand the number of people who would qualify to be New Caledonia citizens and therefore would be able to vote in local elections. And the talk is under President Macron's proposal to add 25,000 people to the voting rolls. Now it's a country of only 270,000 people. That's about 14.5% of the electorate. Most of those people are French nationals who are resident there but can't currently vote. Most of them. It's hard to tell, but most of them, I would say, vote against independence. So not surprisingly, the independence coalition feels that France is rigging the rules just like they did during the 2021 referendum. And the vote that went to the French National Assembly in Paris was on the 13th of May.

JIMMY:

We've been calling for peaceful marches and protests around the country, calling on the French government, the Macron government to withdraw this electoral reform bill.

NIC:

Kanak protesters have been protesting peacefully for months. On the 13th of April, there was. A rally of more than 30,000 independence supporters. As I say, in a country of 270,000 people.

JIMMY:

And there was never any violence. And people were just standing up and, you know, enjoying the march. And to them was with the families and people from non Kanak communities.

NIC:

Saying, don't do this. Don't do this without a comprehensive agreement on the ground. Paris has listened, and they are reaping the consequences of their failure to engage properly with indigenous people.

ASHLYNNE:

After the break - what a small country in Eastern Europe has to do with this conflict in the South Pacific.

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ASHLYNNE:

So, Nic, explain to me why France and Emmanuel Macron is the president. Why are they holding on so tight? Why are they so determined to keep New Caledonia as part of the Republic?

NIC:

He flew literally halfway around the world, 16,700km, and flew back again 18 hours later to capture the headlines.

Audio excerpt – Emmanuel Macron:

“My intention and the government’s intention is to stand by the population and to bring back peace, calm and security as quickly as possible.”

NIC:

Understandably, he called for calm. He called for an end to conflict. He called for dialogue. But he also talked about the need to restore Republican order.

Audio excerpt – Emmanuel Macron:

“In the coming hours and days massive new operations will be scheduled where necessary and Republican order in its entirety will be reestablished because there’s no other choice…”

NIC:

Now, indigenous Kanak people have very poor educational standards, qualifications, opportunities, employment levels in comparison to non Kanak people, particularly European people in New Caledonia. Camp-Est prison in Noumea, more than 90% of inmates are Kanak, and so the young people have been out on the streets. See the wealthy southern suburbs, the yacht harbours, the public servants and obscene salaries and say, you know, this is the Republican order that you're protecting?

So it's a particularly tone deaf comment. But he wasn't talking to Kanak. He was talking to settlers, the descendants thereof, to non Kanak communities who were understandably aggrieved by the terrible destruction, the loss of jobs, the damage to the economy. But in French electoral meetings haven't resolved the underlying problems and ultimately there can be no solution without the Kanak people.

France says it's a Pacific nation because it has three dependencies in the region - New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna. It claims sovereignty over 7,000,000km² of exclusive economic zone. That's an enormous resource that France claims.

And you know, France's status as a global power is based on it maintaining an empire that was first created in the 19th century.

ASHLYNNE:

Nic, in spite of what's at stake for France here, Macron left New Caledonia with, you know, obviously no real progress made. And instead of addressing the real issues that are being raised there, instead his government has come out swinging against Azerbaijan.

Audio excerpt – News Reporter:

“Is Azerbaijan trying to take advantage of the political unrest in New Caledonia? That’s what France’s interior minister alleges.”

ASHLYNNE:

What's that about?

NIC:

There's a thing in politics called the dead cat. When you want to distract attention from something. You throw a dead cat on the table. Can I put to you that Azerbaijan is France's dead cat?

Audio excerpt – Unknown:

“I regret some of the Caledonian independence leaders made a deal with Azerbaijan that it indisputable and it gives an idea of what democracy would look like if we listened to certain leaders.”

NIC:

Granted, there have been connections between Kanak independence people in the Azerbaijan government. I would put to you that the discussion around Azerbaijan, while there is a kernel of truth in it, is a distraction from the core issue.

ASHLYNNE:

Nic. We are one of New Caledonia's closest neighbours. What's the Australian government's response been?

NIC:

Australia is in a pickle at the moment. As part of her outreach to all Pacific Island countries, Penny Wong has been actively engaging with New Caledonia.

[Penny Wong speaking in French]

NIC:

She was the first foreign minister from Australia ever to address the Congress of New Caledonia in April last year. So the government is trying to reach out to integrate New Caledonia into regional affairs.

Audio excerpt – Penny Wong:

“It is a great honour to be the first Australian Foreign Minister. Indeed, the first Australian minister to address the Congress of New Caledonia.”

NIC:

But at the same time, successive governments, both Coalition and Labor in Australia, have been backing France's Indo-Pacific strategy. France is seen as a Western power, useful in the mobilisation against Chinese influence in the region. And Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles has been at the forefront of a series of agreements with the French government trying to work very closely together.

Audio excerpt – Richard Marles:

“France matters because they are effectively our closest neighbours, I mean the closest overseas population to where we’re all sitting today is in France it’s in Noumea. And France see us as a critical partner as well.”

NIC:

And this is a sort of tension, in Australian policy. They're engaged with Indo-Pacific strategies with France, but they've also got a Pacific island strategy, what's often dubbed the blue Pacific. Agendas around development, around poverty, around climate, climate, climate. You know there's a whole lot of practical things that could be done to help improve the country.

JIMMY:

So what's our next step? Will we keep calling on this electoral reform bill to be withdrawn and for a high level independent message to be sent to New Caledonia from Paris.

NIC:

The independence movement, FLNKS, has called for a high level mediation mission.

They're calling for high level dignitaries, indeed, not just from France, but from the region and internationally to participate in this Talanoa as they say in the Pacific, there's talking through all of these tensions, trying to calm tensions, create a dialogue that's respectful, that takes time in the Pacific way.

Jimmy:

What we can say is regrettable out of this whole situation is that people already have difficulties in meeting, you know, debt and and needs are now the most impacted by this situation.

While on the other side of town, people are still living their lives as as these things happen in this country, going to the beach, going to restaurants, you know, having access to the to the, to the basic needs, where at some of the other part of this town, people are struggling to find food.

NIC:

I think one of the most important things is that we need to listen to people on the ground, regardless of whether they support independence or opposed it. You know, we need more sustained engagement with Kanak voices, with other New Caledonian voices to understand what are their priorities, their hopes, their aspirations.

ASHLYNNE:

Nic, thanks so much for your time today.

NIC:

Thank you kindly.

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Also in the news today…

Australia’s minimum wage and award wages will increase by 3.75 per cent… according to an announcement from the fair work commission.

The decision, which will come into effect from July 1, will see the national minimum wage increase to 24 dollars and 10 cents an hour.

And

The immigration minister has admitted he was wrong to claim that surveillance drones were monitoring people released from immigration detention.

Andrew Giles made the assertion last week, while explaining why a cohort of people released from indefinite detention, that included convicted criminals, were not required to wear an electronic ankle monitor or observe a curfew.

Drones are being used to capture footage of their accommodation but the minister has now released a statement saying that Border Force isn’t using drones to track the individuals.

I’m Ashlynne McGhee. This’s all from our 7am team, thanks for your company. We will see you again tomorrow morning.

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