00:00And to get more on this, we're joined by the ABC's Fiji reporter, Leithae Mavona.
00:07Leithae, welcome to the program.
00:08You spoke to Susan, who I understand asked for identity to be withheld to protect her
00:13daughter, who was in Fiji with her, and is clearly quite traumatised by it all.
00:18Can you tell us why she's speaking up?
00:24Dan, thank you for having me.
00:25She reached out to us after she heard an interview between Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rombuka
00:31and myself, in which I put to the Prime Minister that maybe Fijian authorities had withheld
00:37or, at the very least, downplayed the seriousness of the incident which occurred on the weekend
00:42of 16th to the 18th of December last year.
00:45She heard that on Pacific Beat and reached out to us because she said all she needs is
00:50answers, and she didn't think in the last four to five months or so that anyone else was
00:55searching for those answers.
00:56That's how we were able to get to her in northern New South Wales and to hear her story.
01:01And in terms of those answers, what have the Fijian authorities had to say?
01:07Dan, it's been really difficult, near impossible, actually, to get the Fijian authorities to speak
01:13to me.
01:13I asked for the opportunity to put these allegations to them, but all I've been able to get was
01:19a statement from the Deputy Prime Minister, who's also the Minister for Tourism, to say
01:23that the government of Fiji deeply regrets the incident and that it would continue to work
01:28with the Australian High Commission here to update the four Australian nationals about
01:33what had happened and to offer support if they could.
01:36But they did not respond specifically to any of the allegations given to them.
01:40However, I'm happy to say that today, less than an hour from now, actually, the Fijian
01:44Prime Minister is happy to hear from us as to what the evidence says about whether or
01:49not the testing that Fijian authorities said they would do on the patients and on the drinks
01:55actually was conducted.
01:57Yeah, many questions there, Leitha.
01:58It'll be good to hear what the authorities and the Prime Minister have to say.
02:02What about the Warwick Resort, where Susan and her daughter were actually staying?
02:06Initially, in December, they were happy to talk to us, took us through what happened that
02:12day, according to, you know, their records, showed us the bar and the ingredients of this
02:17particular pina colada.
02:18But when these allegations came through after we'd actually spoken with Suzanne, they initially
02:23said they would talk to me and then they didn't.
02:25And yesterday, physically had me removed from a public road outside of the resort premises.
02:31So no luck hearing from them as to whether or not they have some answers for Suzanne and
02:37the other six people who got sick at the Warwick Resort in December.
02:41Wow, that is an extraordinary response.
02:45Leitha, what happens now?
02:49Well, what we're hoping happens is that we'll have this opportunity to present the Prime Minister
02:53some evidence that, at the very least, promises made by Fijian authorities in December and in
02:58January of this year, that they would look into independent scientific testing of the patients
03:04as well as the drinks themselves.
03:06We're going to present that evidence to him and hope that maybe there will be fresh investigations
03:11and that these people who got sick in Fiji in December might have some answers as to what
03:16happened to them that day.
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