Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has described death threats against Australia's high commissioner in Fiji as "vile and repugnant", as the government moved to repatriate diplomatic families.The federal government will pay for families of diplomatic staff to voluntarily return to Australia after the Fiji government continued to ignore requests for extra security at the mission in Suva.Mr Smith said families would not be forcibly repatriated.The move came after Fiji refused a request from Australia for two unarmed Australian Federal Police officers to provide personal protection for high commissioner James Batley.And, so far, the Fiji government has failed to respond to a subsequent request for Fiji police to provide increased protection for Mr Batley and his staff."A number of additional steps will now be taken, by the high commission itself, to further strengthen the security of our staff, their families and our premises," Mr Smith told reporters.Australia's chief representative in Fiji received a death threat through the mail last week, just days after another was left in an envelope at the high commission after being delivered by a man who had pulled up in a taxi.Mr Smith said while the first threat was directed against Mr Batley, the second hinted at a wider target."Both anonymous threats were vile and repugnant in the extreme," he told reporters."The first threat, in my view, was a clear death threat against the high commissioner."The second threat was of the same order but also could be interpreted as a wider threat to Australian officials at the high commission."Mr Smith indicated there were no plans, as yet, to recall Mr Batley and he has said previously that Australia won't be intimated by the threats.The minister was reluctant to comment on reports that the military could be behind the threats."I'm not proposing to comment on the anonymous threats other than to say ... that the Australian government regards these threats as credible," Mr Smith said.The issue has put further strain on Australia's relationship with Fiji, which soured after the nation's elected government was ousted in a bloodless military coup in December 2006."The only way forward for Fiji is through a return to the rule of law, a return to respect for human rights and in the first instance that requires a democratically-held election where there is full, free and fair participation," Mr Smith said.Fiji has promised to hold democratic elections by March 2009 but Australia remains unconvinced it is prepared to meet this timetable."We are very concerned about the lack of progress towards that election," Mr Smith said."The Fiji interim government, for example, has not yet appointed an election supervisor." AAP