Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has dismissed as a ruse a threat by Fiji's military regime to cancel planned elections in 2014.
The Pacific nation's self-appointed prime minister Frank Bainimarama said Fiji might not be ready for an election if it did not get any assistance from Australia and New Zealand.
His comments came shortly after Australia's acting high commissioner, Sarah Roberts, was ordered out of Fiji.
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Commodore Bainimarama has accused Canberra of having pressured Vanuatu Prime Minister Edward Natapei to cancel a meeting of the Melanesian Spearhead Group planned for next week in Suva.
Mr Smith says such claims are nonsense.
"It is just a ruse by the commodore," he told ABC Radio on Wednesday, adding it would be no surprise if an election was not held in 2014.
"But we want elections before then."
Mr Smith said Australia would persist in its diplomatic relations with Fiji although it was hard to maintain a one-way dialogue.
"But we are not going to give up," he said.
