KEY POINTS:
Australia last night denied reports it is considering a sporting boycott of Fiji.
The Australian newspaper yesterday reported a renewed diplomatic push against military dictator Frank Bainimarama was gathering pace and included the possibility of a sporting boycott.
A spokeswoman for Foreign Minister Stephen Smith rejected the report.
"At this stage, further sanctions against the Fiji military regime, including sporting sanctions, are not envisaged," the spokeswoman said.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will visit Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands this week before an expected meeting of Pacific Island Forum foreign ministers in Auckland on March 26.
Fiji was the main issue on the agenda, a spokesman for New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said.
He said Mr Peters was due to speak with Mr Smith the day before the meeting.
Mr Peters had been concerned at recent events in Fiji, including the forced exit of Australian newspaper publisher Russell Hunter, the spokesman said.
The decision had raised concerns in Australia.
"The Australian Government is strongly concerned about the regime's slow progress in preparing for elections," Mr Smith's spokeswoman said.
"The recent deportation of Mr Russell Hunter would appear to be another move by the illegal Fiji interim government to muzzle freedom of speech.
"This is another act in a disturbing pattern of behaviour since the coup of December 2006 which has resulted in the severe erosion of fundamental human rights and the rule of law in Fiji."
The spokeswoman reiterated the Government's calls for democratic elections in Fiji.
New Zealand already has a ban on Fijian sports teams and people competing in New Zealand, unless New Zealand is hosting an international tournament.
A ban on families of those involved in the new regime has also stopped individual Fijian sports people coming to New Zealand for international games.
The Australian Government's increasing concern comes in the wake of the beating and detention of opponents of the military regime, as well as last week's deportation of Mr Hunter, the publisher of the Fiji Sun.
It also comes as Commodore Bainimarama's finance minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, announced that he would sue the Fiji Times newspaper for F$1 billion for defamation, following a series of articles in that newspaper and in the Fiji Sun, raising allegations about his tax dealings.
Commodore Bainimarama, a keen rugby fan, last year expelled New Zealand's high commissioner to Suva, Michael Green, after Fiji rugby officials reportedly invited Mr Green ahead of Commodore Bainimarama into a VIP area for the Junior All Blacks' match against Fiji.
- additional reporting AAP
