Air Nauru In Financial Trouble.
Nauru to be evicted in Melbourne
July 2, 2004 - 6:05AM
The eviction of the Nauru government from its Australian headquarters in Melbourne will begin as the nation wrestles with a crippling debt crisis.
The General Electric Capital Corporation (GE) has moved to recover a $230 million of debt owed to it by the Nauru government, and properties owned by the Nauru Phosphate Royalties Trust (NPRT), purchased in the 1960s and '70s to provide for Nauruans after phosphate mining ended, are in the hands of receivers, chartered accountancy firm PPB.
PPB last week served an eviction notice on the Nauru government offices on the top three floors of Nauru House in Collins Street, Melbourne.
Offices to be vacated include the Nauru Phosphate Corporation, which sells phosphate mined on the island, the Nauru Corporation, which buys food and consumer goods for Nauru's 13,000 citizens, and the nation's airline, Air Nauru.
Other offices including Nauru's consul-general and the NPRT will be evicted the following Friday.
A source in Nauru said talks were held with GE in Melbourne on Thursday. Although the eviction notice still stood, further talks might be held today.
Nauru MP Fabian Ribauw, who was appointed as chairman last week after former president Rene Harris was ousted in a vote of no confidence, said he, like many Nauruans, had been forced to fish to feed his wife and three children because the public service, Nauru's largest employer, had not been paid for a year.
"A lot of people back home are just surviving and they're probably living below the poverty line and are trying to live off the island, but you have to understand Nauru has hardly any arable land," Mr Ribauw told AAP.
"All they can live on is fish, but these are a people that have been spoon-fed for 30 years and a lot of people have lost traditional skills to get food for their family."
The problems in Nauru would be exacerbated by the loss of government offices in Melbourne, Mr Ribauw said.
"Nauru is a remote island and to have no offices or representation overseas, I do not see how they will be able to function," he said.
Mr Ribauw said GE and PPB were forcing the eviction because Harris had failed to respond to an earlier deadline set by PPB.
But the new government was about to approve a refinancing deal, and it hoped GE would delay further sales of the trust's properties.
Earlier this month, the Mercure Hotel on Broadway in Sydney was sold for $80 million, and the Royal Randwick Shopping Centre in Sydney is on the market. Apart from Nauru House, the NPRT owns two Melbourne hotels.