KEY POINTS:
Defence Minister Phil Goff yesterday warned that New Zealand and Australian forces may no longer be welcome in the Solomon Islands and may have to leave.
"Without a consent environment from the Government, even though there is strong popular support for the mission, our presence may not be able to be sustained," Mr Goff said in a speech to the Asia-Pacific Model United Nations Conference in Auckland.
He said it would be tragic if the huge advances made in the Solomons were lost.
The Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (Ramsi) mission was established in 2003 after years of ethnic conflict had turned the Solomons into virtually a failed state.
The mission was scaled down but was boosted again to restore order when riots erupted after last year's election.
"The new Government, however, is less welcoming of the regional assistance mission, which it saw as an obstacle to pursuing its own vested interests," Mr Goff said.
The situation in the Solomons "demonstrates the complexity of providing security and development assistance in an environment which may be corrupt".
Mr Goff's comments follow a review on the mission commissioned by the Pacific Islands Forum and carried out by former Fiji Foreign Minister Kaliopate Tavola and former head of New Zealand Foreign Affairs Neil Walter.
The review arose from tensions that came to a head last year between Australia and the Solomons Islands Government over the powers of Ramsi.
The Solomons Government is also considering amending the Facilitation Act that mandates the Ramsi mission to revoke its immunity against prosecution.
Mr Goff hoped the Government would delay any decisions until the forum meeting in October.
He said any revocation of the immunity "would make it very hard to continue what we are doing".
It would also raise questions about delivering development assistance generally.
"If we weren't confident about what was happening in the country because there was instability, there wasn't rule of law, then would you want to leave your development assistance component in the country?"
"That would be another challenging question that would arise in those circumstances."
