Fiji's prime minister Frank Bainimarama has announced an end to emergency laws that have been in place in the country since 2009.

In his New Year's address to the nation, Commodore Bainimarama said the Public Emergency Regulations would end from Saturday.

The regulations give police and military extended powers, restrict media freedom, limit the right to public assembly, and set limits on political and religious commentary.

Commodore Bainimarama says the laws will be removed to allow preparations for drafting a new constitution, after the old one was abandoned in 2009.

He says a nationwide consultation process for a new constitution will be announced in the next few weeks.

"The constitution must establish a government that is founded on an electoral system that guarantees equal suffrage - a truly democratic system based on the principle of one person, one vote, one value," he said.

"We will not have a system that will classify Fijians based on ethnicity; and, our young men and women, those 18 years old must have the right to vote."

But some Fijians fear the restrictions are only being lifted by the interim regime in preparation for upcoming elections.

Last week, former Fijian MP and businesswoman Mere Samisoni was detained by police and has been held in custody since for allegedly inciting political violence.

Ms Samisoni's daughter, Vanessa Charters, says she doubts the emergency laws are being lifted for the reason given.

"It is probably related to a press junket that's been organised for the international press," she said.

Commodore Bainimarama stressed that "public order" would be maintained despite the easing of emergency laws.

"We must all remember that public order, protecting the vulnerable and safeguarding the economy will always be paramount," he said.

"We must also as a nation be intolerant of those that seek refuge and political power in religious, ethnic and communal divisions."

Sorry, this video has expired Fiji to end public emergency regulations

Australian relations

Relations between Fiji and Australia have soured since Commodore Bainimarama seized power in a coup in 2006.

He has been under heavy pressure to return the country to democracy after delaying parliamentary elections several times.

Australia's Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs, Richard Marles, says the Government is cautiously optimistic about the lifting of the regulations.

"The public emergency regulations were an abuse of human rights and we have been calling for their lifting since they were imposed back in 2009," he said.

"It is good now to see that they are being lifted. It is a step in the right direction.

"There is a long way to go and I think we need to remember that in acknowledging the important step forward today."

Australian Council of Trade Unions president Ged Kearney has cautiously welcomed the end to emergency regulations.

Ms Kearney, who was part of a trade union deputation deported from Fiji in December, says the laws are draconian.

"We will wait to make sure that the lifting of these violations of human rights actually extends to people like trade unionists, who have been particularly targeted with regards to being not able to meet or operate in a free way," she said.

A Fijian National University academic is hopeful the lifting of the emergency regulations will help ease Australian concerns about the restoration of parliamentary democracy by 2014.

Governance and ethics professor Richard Herr says it is now up to the Australian Government to accept that Fiji is working towards meeting the timeframe.

"The government of Fiji would expect at least some acknowledgment that it's keeping to its own timetable," he said.

"I don't know that it would expect Australia to lift all the sanctions, but I think that it might help that it would at least begin to engage on some of the issues associated with those sanctions and that would be a positive step."