"Breaking! Army heading to Fiji Water factory! The Fiji Water fallout has gathered momentum with reports the army is heading out to the Rakiraki factory.Coupfourpointfive understands the army will arrive at Fiji Water in a short while, one o'clock according to our source. We understand the army will be posted at the factory for two weeks. ... More to come as we get it. "
I checked the story out with the Information PS. She replied: "You can inform your readers the Military are NOT on their way up to Fiji Waters as reported on the other blog site. On the related matter of accurate reporting, I am intending to take up Michael Fields and the NZ media on their story that the PM was dead. Can the NZ media please declare their interest in Fiji? It is appalling at the moment. They seem willing to publish anything without seeking verification. What is going on?
TRULY BREAKING NEWS. Fiji Water has announced it has decided to reopen its plant at Yaqara.
Fiji Water has announced it will re-open its facility in Yaqara, Rakiraki – tomorrow morning.
In a statement – the company says they have decided to re-open it’s facility following discussions with Fiji officials.
The company says – they have also agreed to comply with the 15% Water Resource Tax to be introduced next year.
Fiji Water says they are committed to working with the Fiji government and remains dedicated to helping the country’s economy and people.
The company shut down its Fiji facility yesterday - following a dispute with government over the new water tax.
Government had announced that water companies that extract 3.5 million liters of water per month will pay a 15 cents per liter tax next year.
Source: click here.
15 comments:
Good for you, Croz. A beacon of sanity amid all the madness.
What the hell is going on with Fiji Water? One can only conclude that the backlash it's faced in the past 24 hours has forced it into this humiliating backdown.
US sites like Mother Goose have seen a wave of damaging comments from American consumers about Fiji Water's efforts to avoid tax by basing its operations in European tax havens and the Cayman Islands. Does this have anything to do with this extraordinary about face?
Doubtless we'll know more as the story unfolds. But it sure looks as if these guys tried to stare down Frank Bainimarama only to realise that he was fully intent on staring back. They rolled the dice and lost.
Many people like me won't be in the mood to let them off the hook over all of this so easily. What they did to their workers at Yaqara yesterday was unspeakably cruel. The fact that these loyal ordinary Fijian workers were reduced to tears and frog-marched from the premises was an utter disgrace.
Fiji Water needs to apologise to them and the nation in the traditional Fijian manner for their appalling breach of etiquette. I want to see them grovel or leave the country for good after this disgusting episode. It will certainly take them a long time to rebuild the trust of ordinary people, let alone an angry regime.
Fiji Water might be a good product but its owners are utter bastards for taking a whole nation to the brink to avoid having to pay us for a fair share of a national resource. Shame, shame, shame.
Well this was the only sensible option they could take. It also brings into question the initial knee jerk reaction to try to bully the government to change its tax. It did not seem sensible unless there were other factors in play. This is pure speculation, without any proof, but I am wondering how they kept their tax free status for so long under previous governments. Were bribes being payed to politicians or local chiefs that then put pressure on? Did they try it recently and was somehow part of the David Roth saga? They seemed to think they could change the governments mind, and maybe that was a mixture of threats to leave as well as trying to make some "specific government contributions".
For all the anti-gov people who keep saying Bainimarama is corrupt, here is another example of his honesty. He could have easily organised a huge bribe in exchange for no water tax. But no, instead he gains over $20M per year for all of Fiji.
Croz, I think the following pretty much explains Fiji Water's backflip, a piece in Britain's Guardian newspaper. No, Lion bars don't contain lions. Even a six year old can grasp that. But when a bottle of water says "Fiji Water", adult consumers expect it to come from Fiji. End of story.
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"Fiji Water faces a marketing nightmare after its owners threatened to close its Fiji plant after a tax increase imposed by the Fijian government. Is Fiji Water still Fiji Water if it no longer comes from Fiji, asks the Wall Street Journal. Well, Lion Bars don't contain lions, do they?"
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Gee, Croz, why is Sharon Smith Johns asking you what is going on with the NZ media? How can even someone of your statute explain the inexplicable? But let's just try to guess.
All of Fairfax Media's Fiji stuff is done by Michael Field. This means a large part of the NZ media is in the grip of one of the protagonists in the Fiji story, a journalist expelled by the regime and carrying a massive grudge that spills over into everything he does.
Most other NZ journalists - and especially TVNZ's Barbara Dreaver - also harbour a personal hatred of the regime. It gnaws at their very being, in particular what they perceive as the grossly unfair crackdown on their fellow scribes in Fiji. So that when people they trust like the simpletons at Coup 4.5 float anything, no matter how improbable, they leap on it as gospel truth. It's visceral. They can't help it. It's an alliance of the damned.
Let's just see how Michael Field handles Fiji Water's backflip. Every single word he writes of the climb down will, for him, be as painful as if you and I were obliged to shit watermelons. What a nightmare for Field and his Kiwi kai vata! First Frank isn't dead and isn't even ill. Then Fiji Water pulls stumps to their cries of " it's the end of the world as we know it" and bugger me, if within 24 hours, the watermelon isn't shoved right back up. Ouch.
i suppose the simple way around the problem would be for FW to extract exactly 3,499,999 litres per month and no more. That way the are fully compliant with the law but still pay no tax.
@ Truly Breaking news:
So what do we learn from this extraordinary saga of corporate arrogance, greed and inequitable commercial dealing? We learn that the March of Folly must end. That all business deserves a level playing field for commercial operations and that no indigenous (widest meaning here) should be disadvantaged through "Mates Rates" deals. Is that so difficult to understand? Is equitable corporate governance not a worthy, justifiable attainment? Is justice and equity for all the workers at Fiji Water and any other water-bottling industry not worth fighting for? Howls of execration may say 'No'. Not at that price! Others, more reflective and with consideration may well and rightly decide 'Yes'? We only need to think about Google and the EU investigation taking place now to look at this entire issue again.
I don't fully understand this new tax. If there is a 15c/litre tax and Fiji Water is extracting 3.5 million litres, does this translate to an additional $525 000 in tax they have to pay? If this is correct, why was Fiji Water so upset about paying such a nominal fee for continuing to profit from extracting and selling such a valuable and profitable resource?
Croz
in the past month coup 4.5 hasn't gotten one prediction right, it makes it much easier to dismiss the outlandish gossip they spew forth. one day they might get it right!
Who's the goose at Water Under the Bridge? The US website that's been doing most of the running on this saga is Mother Jones, not Mother Goose. But I can see how anyone could start to think this was all a fairy tale. Totally bizarre. And much as I don't like Michael Field, could we also be spared the watermelon analogy? Some people here are decidedly weird.
Croz, good to see the Fiji Times back on form with its coverage this morning of the Fiji Water saga. Lots of great stuff of ordinary workers recounting their shock and grief at being shut down and their joy at the reprieve. This is what good journalism is all about so full marks to Fred Wesley and his team and big boss Dallas Swinstead. They've well and truly scooped the Fiji Sun on this one. Incidentally, for all the negative publicity Fiji Water has got over this, it was interesting to hear their workers talk about the company. Without exception, they were full of praise, saying how much they valued Fiji Water's role in their lives. Something, at least, for Fiji Water to take comfort from given the appalling public relations disaster of the past 48 hours.
Croz, the US website Mother Jones reports that two of Fiji Water's tax structures in Switzerland are called Daisy and Jasmine. Well, guess who one of Fiji Water's lawyers was at yesterday's talks with the PM and AG? Marigold. Yep, Marigold Moody. Are they by any chance related? I think we should be told.
It appears to me that the price for media muzzling must be very high for the Fiji regime. In an environment rife with rumor and speculation, in an atmosphere where the truth can only be spoken in the dark, false information and sheer nonsense gets into main stream media and is reported world wide. And while the gossip of the idle may not be of much consequence in the real world, articles published in the Wall Street Journal actually are of consequence. Why on earth does the Fiji regime not allow normal media reporting?
They didn't leave the article reporting Fiji Water's backdown up long - had to Google it.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/4408920/Fiji-Water-turns-tap-back-on
Congratulations Fiji water - the regime got the message - and you got your message cross to the international media excellently!! And you are smart enough to know this is not the sugar industry - this is 400+ Fijians....I think we all know the difference in how they would have responded!!! Win-win for all that matter. Cheers.
@ free speech said.....
What makes you believe that 'The Truth' was not previously spoken only in the dark in Fiji? Do you really think that it was ever possible to speak out freely and openly about many things ...ever? What of the cultural, ingrained 'tabu' "No Go Areas"? A Culture of Silence that always prevailed...long before any imposed censorship of the media. Since time immemorial there have been things one may not say. So, where was this uncensored free speech you so imaginatively and creatively summon up, as if from nowhere: a chimera of freedom which never actually existed?
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