The Department of Foreign Affairs is providing consular assistance to the family of Australian United Nations development worker Jennifer Downes after she was killed in Fiji.
The United Nations (UN) confirmed the death and said Downes, known professionally as Jenna Lusaka, had worked as a logistics officer in the capital, Suva, for the World Food Programme in the Pacific since 2017.
A spokesperson from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was providing consular assistance, "in accordance with the Consular Services Charter, to the family of an Australian woman who died in Fiji".
"Owing to our privacy obligations we will not provide further comment," the spokesman added.
Local media is reporting she was killed in her home in an apparent domestic incident and her husband has been hospitalised at the capital's Colonial War Memorial Hospital.
His condition was not known.
The couple had three children under five, but had recently separated.
The UN's deputy spokesperson for the secretary-general told the ABC: "We are aware of the tragic death of [a World Food Programme] staff member.
"The UN closely collaborates with national law enforcement authorities in Fiji in following up on this case."
Australian embassies have no authority to intervene in local judicial matters, conduct local investigations, or pay for funeral or repatriation costs.
