KEY POINTS:
Alexander Downer says yesterday's outcome on Fiji makes the Pacific Islands Forum highly relevant and the Australian Foreign Minister may well be right.
In the long term that will depend on whether Fiji coup leader Frank Bainimarama is true to his word to hold elections by March 2009 and accept the result or, more importantly, what the forum does if he does not.
In the short term, the forum can take a bow for providing the venue for the firmest commitment yet that elections will be held - definitely - rather than in principle.
It would be a sign of good faith now for New Zealand to appoint a new High Commissioner to Fiji - following the expulsion of Michael Green in June.
A period of protest was appropriate. There is no way the unexplained expulsion could not have drawn a business-as-usual response. The extra sanctions applied at that time should also be the first to come off but not until the benchmarks for an election are set, and others gradually as the process unfolds.
Would yesterday's commitments have been made if Commodore Bainimarama had been excluded from the Pacific Islands Forum as Helen Clark wanted? Perhaps in time. But the forum may have provided a short cut.
Principles guide Helen Clark's approach to foreign affairs but there are times when practicality gets results.
