Doubletake

Second report found

As Pacific Islands Monthly went to press, the Australian federal govern ment found itself in the embarrassing position of having to deal with emer gence of a second classified document.

The report - also marked AUSTEO

(Australian Eyes Only) - was similarly

discovered on a table by a journalist (this time from AAP).

The document was prepared for bilateral meetings held by Treasurer Peter Costello the day after the FEMM and set out a strategy to coerce New Zealand into increasing defence spend ing at the expense of social pro grammes.

While there have been attempts to dismiss comments in the earlier report as not those of the government, the sec ond report proves to be a lot trickier.

According to the 39-page document, cabinet had agreed in February that all Australian ministers were to pursue a whole-of-govemment approach in their relations with NZ counterparts.

Costello was to use the bilateral talks with Winston Peters to encourage NZ to maintain its defence spending. “Your meeting with Peters could be influen tial in swaying him (and the NZ Treasury) in favour of Australia’s con cerns,” the paper said. The paper was also critical of island nations selling special investor passports. ■