Fiji tosses Aus, NZ diplomats

The Bainimarama junta was looking to re-stack the High Court, and the Governments of Australia and New Zealand made it clear that *whoever* got hired into the jobs was going to get added to the travel ban on the junta leadership. Fiji, to say the least, disapproved:

The latest spat is over a group of expatriate judges from Sri Lanka that Fiji wants to hire to replace some of those fired by Bainimarama's administration in a power grab earlier this year.

Australia and New Zealand told the judges this week that if they take up the posts in Fiji they would be subject to travel bans the two countries have placed on all senior officials in Bainimarama's government because of the coup.

...

In April, Bainimarama ally President Ratu Josefa Iloilo fired all of Fiji's judicial officers after a senior court ruled that the commander's government was illegal. Since then, Bainimarama has been appointing new judges, with critics complaining they are not independent appointments.

And with that, hi-ho-and-out-they-go...

The Heads of Mission for Australia and New Zealand have been given 24 hours (Wednesday, local time) to be out of Fiji.