Shell shocked

At 5pm in pretty much any Pacific island nation you care to name, there will be a group of islanders drinking kava and telling stories. Workers enjoy a shell or two after a long day, businessmen seal a deal over kava, while a Foreign Minister welcomes visiting dignitaries with a shell. Important social events, from weddings and funerals to reconciliation ceremonies, particularly in countries like Vanuatu and Fiji, are not considered complete without kava.

So Australia’s proposed decision to ban the importation of kava has outraged many across the Pacific, none more so than among the tens of thousands of islanders who live in Australia and enjoy a quiet shell from time to time. Kava is not just a product, it is part of kastom and culture; a beverage that acts as social glue, a way to commune with ancestral spirits and one that binds communities together. Important social and political decisions are made around a kava bowl. Imagine Australians being told they couldn’t drink beer anymore because some in their community can’t handle their grog.

The Abbott government thinks it is doing the right thing to protect its Aboriginal and Torres Strait island community from abusing kava. These are communities who already suffer from high rates of alcoholism and domestic violence and there is a persuasive argument to protect them from further ‘drugs’. But is an outright ban the only way? The decision to do so further underlines how little Australia regards its Pacific island community at home and its relations with neighboring island countries, for whom kava is part of their identity and a major export.

It will also hit businesses across the region, not just Australia. Cameron McLeod is an Australian entrepreneur who runs the Kava Emporium in Vanuatu. He says the ban will be devastating for his business and the farmers and communities he sources from.

‘Approximately 80 per cent of our customers are Australian tourists and a further 80 per cent of sales to these customers are kava. Obviously if the ban is put into place we will have to close our doors. However it is not just about The Kava Emporium (we employ 5 sales staff and 3 production staff), but the flow onto the islands that we source kava from in Tanna and Epi. The money used from our purchasing of kava goes back into the communities to pay for essential services such as school fees.’

Every year Australian aid money flows to a variety of workshops, consultants and reports all tasked with helping build export products for the islands, since their two-way trade is always vastly one-sided in Australia’s favour. And yet the one unique product from the Pacific with major export potential – kava – struggles to get beyond a Pacific island market. Before a scare campaign caused a temporary ban, kava was a USD$100 million business in the 1990s. The EU and US lifted their temporary ban on kava some time ago and no long term detrimental health effects have been proven. Quality control is important – those exporting Vanuatu kava only export the four ‘noble’ varieties, which have no side effects. In a world awash with serious drugs, the natural, non-alcoholic, non psychotropic, non-addictive kava is about as mild as you can get.

The problem in indigenous communities in Australia is that there was never any cultural history of using it, so it is an introduced drug as much as alcohol and tobacco. Also the quality of dried and powdered kava brought into those communities is nowhere near as good as fresh kava drunk in the islands.

Kirk Huffman helped found the Vanuatu Cultural Centre and currently works at the Australian Museum. He is a regular imbiber of kava and is dismayed at the sudden ban and its insensitivity to the wider Pacific community.

‘Rather than just a knee-jerk ban, why doesn’t the government create an exchange mechanism so Aboriginal communities understand how kava is used properly within island communities. You could bring down chiefs from Vanuatu and Fiji to go into the Aboriginal communities and talk to them about using it in kastomary ways, and not abuse it like it is just another drug.’

‘Alternatively, take Aboriginal elders up to the islands so they see how it is done responsibly in island communities. Maybe you only have kava available in ‘dry’ communities as an incentive for people to get off the grog and enjoy the peace that comes with kava. Let’s think constructively and find a way forward rather than just banning it. Let’s face it, alcohol abuse is far worse and this kava ban will damage Australia’s standing in the region’.

Huffman also points out that Australian companies are already producing kava pills to relieve stress and anxiety as a natural alternative to Prozac and other anti-depressives, so there is some inconsistency in policy. If Australia does value its relations with Pacific island communities it needs to see kava in a wider sense, understanding kava is not just a drink, but cultural too, and come up with a more nuanced approach. Why not engage the Pacific community to help solve this problem in Australia’s indigenous communities?

A petition has already started to challenge the ban while others are finding the lighter side of the ban.