OK, firstly, many of you will remember me as “Jim” Huey @ Westpac … but I have re-branded myself as “James” and I now spend most of my time in China; Westpac is a distant memory -- though Fiji certainly isn’t!
Fiji was my family’s home from late 1983 to the end of 1987.
The biggest highlight of my involvement with the FABC was, of course, its foundation.
I came to Fiji in 1983 with the knowledge from Westpac’s international operations, that there were several other successful bilateral Business Council functioning in and between Australia and Asian regional countries. After a while, I thought, why not Fiji?
In 1985 I prevailed on my colleagues at Westpac in Australia to consider driving the establishment of an Australia Fiji Business Council, while I could work to get the wheels rolling to set up a counterpart Fiji Australia Business Council.
So the parallel impetus was started, and as I recall with the support of the well-respected Sir Ian Thomson, I started to drum up interest among businesses operating in Fiji with an Australian connection. Ken Roberts who was then the Secretary of the Fiji Employers’ Consultative Association (FECA) provided a lot of leads and introductions, and the administrative and secretarial services. We also worked to get government support and recognition at both ends.
We launched both Councils together in the first half of 1986 with a joint meeting and functions in Sydney (I am hazy about the date – was it April?). The rest is history.
Of course, another major highlight of my time – some might say it was a “lowlight” – was the military coup in 1987, when shortly after 10.00 am on May 14th, Sitiveni Rabuka staged Fiji’s first coup! All hell broke loose. At that time, I was having a discussion in my office with an Australian entrepreneur who was considering an investment in fruit processing in Fiji. The discussion was more in my role as President of the FABC than as Chief Manager of Westpac. I was blithely telling this guy not to worry about the demonstrations that had been occurring in the streets of Suva. I said that when the people of Fiji realised that the newly elected government had broadly similar development and economic policies to the ousted government, things would quieten down into the usual idyllic harmony of Fiji -- and just then my Secretary burst into the room to tell me that the military have taken over the parliament! I asked the guy to leave, and to forget what I had said, things might be different now, and at that moment I had to handle more pressing priorities.
There is a lot that can be said about those times, and lots of anecdotes. With the passing of time, it probably fair to say now that in my role as President of FABC, and with the strong support of our committee and members, I was able to facilitate a lot more rational dialogue between the respective governments and the major players on all sides of politics, than was happening through the more “official” government to government channels. We, as FABC, also were very active in urging a “business as usual” approach, rather than overt hand-wringing and moralising.
Of the surviving Presidents who followed me, Ikbal Jannif and Ross Addison were also key FABC committee members in the post-Coup days. I add my personal tribute and respect to those past Presidents who are no longer with us: Don Aidney, Greg Blakeny, and Dhiraj Hemraj, who were also fellow members at that time.
Maybe we can get onto some of those anecdotes over a beer or two.
