Australian deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles says the opening of the Vuvale Maritime Essential Services Centre in Suva marks a major milestone in regional security cooperation between Fiji and Australia.
Speaking at the official opening last Friday, Marles said the new $83 million(US$41.5 million) facility represents not only a significant investment by Australia but a lasting partnership built on shared security and trust.
“It is an enormous honour, and an excitement really, to be here today for the opening of the Vuvale Maritime Essential Services Centre,” Marles said.
“This is an incredible achievement – over the course of two years, transforming what was essentially jungle into this incredible facility that we all sit within today.”
“More than 1400 contracts were signed with Fiji and partners for the delivery of this facility. 1275 jobs were created in the building of this facility. It was, over the last two years, a massive endeavour to bring us to this day. But as significant as these facts and figures are, what is much more profound is the capability that this now represents for Fiji and indeed for the Pacific region,” he said.
Marles said the centre demonstrates the power of coordination among Fiji’s key agencies.
“Under one roof, we have the Fiji Navy, the Fiji Police, Fiji Customs, Fiji Fisheries, the Search and Rescue Coordination Centre, the Hydrographic Office and more. Bringing those agencies together into one place represents power. It represents the ability to make change. It represents the ability to give effect to practical outcomes,” he said.
Marles said the centre gives Fiji greater control and agency over its maritime domain, strengthening its capacity to respond to illegal fishing, drug trafficking and other transnational crimes.
“The ability to coordinate in that way is profound, and it represents an ability to have much greater agency and control over Fiji’s maritime domain,” he said. “That is significant, because Fiji is a maritime nation. The maritime domain for Fiji is utterly central to Fiji’s economic prosperity and Fiji’s national security.”
He said the Vuvale Maritime Centre embodies the meaning of “Vuvale,” or family — both within Fiji’s agencies and in the broader Fiji-Australia partnership.
“Vuvale, family, is exactly the word which captures what this centre is about, because the agencies at work here are indeed a family, and this is the opportunity for all of those agencies to now operate as one,” he said. “But Vuvale is also a word which is used to refer to another family, a family which encompasses both Fiji and Australia and indeed the Pacific.”
Marles said the centre is one of the largest infrastructure investments Australia has made anywhere in the world and forms part of a 20-year sustainment package alongside the Blackrock Camp in Nadi.
“These are the two most significant investments that Australia has made in respect of Fiji,” he said. “It’s more than bricks and mortar — it will ensure that both of these facilities are at the cutting edge of their capability for decades to come.”
Marles highlighted Fiji’s leadership in regional peace and security under Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka.
“I want to acknowledge your personal leadership within the Pacific in seeking and aspiring to have the Pacific as an ocean of peace,” Marles said. “It is impossible to conceive of Australia’s security without, in the same breath, acknowledging the need for the security of the Pacific region.”
He said Australia and Fiji’s security are “intimately connected,” and the centre’s establishment demonstrates that shared understanding.
“There is an intimate relationship between the security of Fiji and the security of Australia, and this facility goes to both,” he said.
Marles concluded by thanking all those involved in building the centre.
“I want to thank all the contractors who have been involved in the construction of this incredible facility, all the workers who have laboured to bring this about, all the agencies who now reside in this facility,” he said.
“Your service, your contribution is to Fiji, but it is very much to the security of both of our countries and to our region. And for that, Australia stands deeply grateful,” he said.
