ABC Radio interview with John Ridgway

During a period between 2017 and 2018 Chinese development company Freesoul undertook development work for a project which involved damaging the foreshore of Fijian tourist Island Malolo. Freesoul dug a channel in the sea’s foreshore as a means to access land, however the Fiji courts have determined that Freesoul did not undertake a prior Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the particular works, an issue that was exacerbated by the fact that Freesoul did not have a lease to the State owned land that they had damaged. In early 2021 the Fiji Magistrates Court convicted Freesoul of undertaking unauthorised developments for removing mangrove trees, and for destroying extensive parts of a reef to create a boat channel without undertaking an EIA.

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Listen to John Ridgway being interviewed on Radio ABC Sydney about the case (in which he is assisting) in May 2022.