Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said Interim Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama won't be welcome at this year’s Pacific Islands Leaders Forum in Tonga.

Speaking in Auckland where he was engaged in biannual talks with his New Zealand counterpart Winston Peters, talks were again dominated by the fluid political situation in Fiji and its faltering economy.

Downer said that whether he attended or not was a matter for host Tonga and Bainimarama.

But he said that the view throughout the Forum was that it would be better if he did not come.

The forum will be held in October.