FPR Portrait
The Framework Gordon Left Behind: Sir Arthur Gordon in Fiji, 1875-1880
Sir Arthur Gordon and the framework he left behind. Read the FPR Portrait.
Vanua
Vanua
Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs: More Power, Partial Daylight
Parliament has given the Great Council of Chiefs new duties to report. Yet those duties are conditional, and Bill No. 32 would soon require the chiefs' own senators to approve any change. The case for completing the paper trail is strongest now.
Policy Watch
What the Law Actually Gives the Great Council of Chiefs
Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs now has a statute of its own, and Bill No. 32 would entrench it in a new Constitution. Together, the two measures shift real power to the chiefs while leaving gaps that will be harder to close after 2028.
CRC Watch
The Clause and the Note: Where Bill No. 32 Departs From Fiji's Constitution Review
Bill No. 32's immunity clause gives a different end date from its own Explanatory Note. Read against the Constitution Review Commission's report, it also hands chiefly nominees a Senate majority, and may run into the Supreme Court's 2025 Advisory Opinion.
Vanua
The Māori Queen's quiet lesson in indigenous leadership
On 10 July 2025, the Māori Queen sat in Lakeba for the installation of the Sau ni Vanua o Lau. A year on from her own accession at 27, Te Arikinui Kuini Nga wai hono i te po is building something at the intersection of chiefly authority and modern economic power. Fiji has reasons to study it.
Vanua
iTaukei Land Legislation and Vanua Consent: The Framework the Constitution Delegates
The 2013 Constitution protects iTaukei land ownership. It says nothing about who decides what happens on it. That work sits in the iTaukei Land Trust Act 1940 and the Land Use Decree 2010 — instruments that vest control in state bodies. The vanua owns. The Board decides.
Vanua
Ceremony as Constitution: The Tui Nayau and the Limits of Written Sovereignty
The Tui Nayau's authority is not delegated by the Fijian state. It predates the Fijian state. It has continued through every constitutional order the Fijian state has produced.