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Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia - Source: ONE News -
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The Maori Party has canned a plan to visit Fiji to talk to coup leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama, Prime Minister John Key says.
Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia on Sunday showed sympathy to Fiji's military government and said there had been "misunderstandings" about what it was trying to achieve.
She raised the idea of sending a Maori delegation to the forum on TV ONE's Q&A programme.
Fellow co-leader Pita Sharples had advocated the idea and suggested taking Ngati Tuwharetoa chief Tumu te Heuheu and Maori King Tuheitia Paki, she said.
"(The idea was) maybe a very small delegation that could go and talk with Bainimarama because I think that in a lot of ways there's been a misunderstanding about what it is that he is trying to achieve."
But Key, speaking at his post-Cabinet press conference on Monday, says Sharples had decided it would be best for New Zealand if he did not go.
"The Maori Party would like to see a successful resolution to the position in Fiji as would the Government," he says.
"They understand completely that it's important New Zealand speaks with one voice. They are well intentioned, they would like to see a successful resolution."
New Zealand would continue dialogue via the Pacific Islands Forum, he says.
Sharples had understood the importance of presenting a single government voice on Fiji, Key says.
"He is not going to go unilaterally to Fiji."
Key says he invited Dr Sharples to travel to Pacific nations in July and expected to him to go.
He would visit the Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa and Tonga and Dr Sharples would have the chance to talk to other Pacific leaders about Fiji.
At midnight on Friday Fiji was suspended from the 16-nation Pacific Islands Forum. It was an unprecedented move for the forum, which takes a Pacific-style inclusive approach.
Suspension came as a forum deadline lapsed for Cdre Bainimarama to set a date for
democratic elections this year.
Cdre Bainimarama took power in 2006. Last month after the Court of Appeal ruled his regime was illegal, the judiciary were sacked, the constitution dissolved and the date for elections moved further into the future.
