Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has told Fijians at the Victorian Multicultural Sports Association Business event that old forces of division, corruption and bad governance are again rearing their ugly heads as we will hold parliamentary elections this year.

Bainimarama says it is up to the Fijian people to stand up and defend our nation, our people, our common and equal citizenry, and all that has been achieved over this past decade.

The Prime Minister also said that he stands ready to keep the nation on that path and keep the Fijian people at the centre of national progress and development.

Bainimarama says he stands ready to make life better for every Fijian, everywhere in Fiji.

He also told former Fiji residents at the event that many of them lived in a Fiji that for decades was held back by deep and damaging divisions in our society.

Bainimarama says in those years, Fijians weren’t a united people, and it was the wealthy and privileged who benefitted from the few resources that were able to go around, with ordinary Fijians left fighting amongst themselves for the scraps.

He stresses that gone are the days where Fijians were left fighting over who deserved what.