The People’s Alliance leader will take over after he secured the backing of the Social Liberal Democratic party to oust longstanding rival
Frank Bainimarama’s reign as leader of Fiji has ended almost 16 years after he instigated a coup in 2006 and installed himself as prime minister the next year.
Cheering, singing and car horns filled the streets on Tuesday outside the office of the man who will be crowned Fiji’s new prime minister.
Continue reading...Sodelpa negotiating with government and People’s Alliance on who it will support with its balance of power
Fiji’s prime minister, Frank Bainimarama, has lost his parliamentary majority with the election’s final ballot count being returned.
The former opposition Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa) is in negotiations with the FijiFirst government and People’s Alliance over which it will support with its balance of power.
Continue reading...Sitiveni Rabuka calls for calm, while his claims of irregularities are rebuffed by election supervisors
Fiji’s opposition leader, Sitiveni Rabuka, has alleged irregularities in voting data while calling for calm, as counting continued in the country’s national election.
Provisional results had the opposition People’s Alliance party hovering in the mid to low 40s and incumbent prime minister Frank Bainimarama’s FijiFirst party in the mid-20s four hours after polls closed. The results were taken offline for a number of hours and, when they returned, the results had flipped.
Continue reading...Ioane Koroiveibau’s case gives hopes to hundreds of other Commonwealth nationals who served in UK forces
A Fijian British army veteran who suffered from deafness after serving in Afghanistan has been allowed to return to the UK, in a case that gives hope to hundreds of other Commonwealth former soldiers living abroad.
Ioane Koroiveibau, 36, gave up on Britain in 2015 when his immigration paperwork was lost after his discharge on medical grounds, his hearing loss caused by repeated exposure to gunfire on a dangerous tour in Helmand.
Continue reading...Australia’s foreign affairs minister to give speech in hope ‘nationalistic domestic posturing won’t sink efforts to build safeguards’
Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has urged China to take up a US offer to put in place “guardrails” to prevent growing tensions from spiralling into war.
Wong will use a speech in Washington DC on Thursday to hit back at claims that Australia’s plan to acquire nuclear-powered submarines under Aukus is driving a regional arms race.
Continue reading...Government websites and email still offline, leading to delays in payments and services across the country
One month after a cyber-attack brought down government servers and websites in Vanuatu, frustrated officials were still using private Gmail accounts, personal laptops, pen and paper, and typewriters to run the government of the prime minister, Ishmael Kalsakau, who came into office just a few days after the crash.
The malware attack on state networks has caused delays in communication and coordination in the Pacific island nation of 314,000 people and 80 islands.
Continue reading...Two countries said their police chiefs were unable to attend video meeting chaired by Chinese and Solomon Islands ministers
China said it held a video meeting to discuss police cooperation with a group of Pacific island nations on Tuesday, however at least two nations told Reuters their ministers and police commissioners had been unavailable to attend.
China’s attempt to strike a security and trade deal with 10 Pacific island nations in May fuelled concern in Washington and Canberra about Beijing’s military ambitions in the region, and prompted a boost in western aid.
Continue reading...First magnitude 7.0 earthquake briefly triggered tsunami warning and disrupted communications and radio services
Buildings were left damaged and widespread power outages reported in the Solomons Island capital, Honiara, after two earthquakes struck just off the south-west coast on Tuesday.
The first magnitude 7.0 earthquake briefly triggered a tsunami warning from the United States Geological Survey, but this warning was withdrawn soon after.
Continue reading...Lowy Institute’s Pacific Aid Map charts thousands of projects and activities from 67 donor entities, including Australia and the US
China is funnelling aid to Kiribati and Solomon Islands, while its overall spending in the Pacific region is in decline, the latest Pacific Aid Map reveals.
The Lowy Institute on Monday released its 2022 updated version of the map, an interactive analytical tool that enables users to track aid flow and development funding in the Pacific.
Continue reading...Another 15 people are missing after tensions between two groups boiled over into violence
Tribal warfare on Kiriwina Island in Papua New Guinea’s east has left 32 people dead and 15 others missing, with fighting continuing.
The fighting erupted on Monday between the Kulumata and Kuboma people on the island, which is in Milne Bay province.
Continue reading...Previously accused of ‘egregious’ security failures, MTC will be paid $47.3m to oversee detention of 111 refugees and asylum seekers for two months
The private prison operator now in charge of Australia’s offshore processing regime on Nauru will be paid more than three-quarters of a million dollars every day to provide “garrison and welfare services” for a little over 100 people.
The US-based Management and Training Corporation – a company previously accused in US courts of “gross negligence’’ and “egregious” security failures – has been awarded a contract for $47.3m covering just 62 days of work on the Pacific island.
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Continue reading...Vanuatu Election Commission yet to declare official results but Julia King likely to be lone female voice in 52-member parliament
Votes are still being counted in Vanuatu’s snap election, but with the preliminary votes tallied, one change seems certain: Vanuatu’s all-male parliament is no more, with the first woman elected to office since 2008 likely to be announced within days.
“I’m excited for Vanuatu women of course,” Julia King said. King looks set to be returned as the MP for Mele on the outskirts of the capital of Port Vila. “I’m happy for women in general to know they have a voice that can be represented up there. That’s the part I can be excited about.”
Continue reading...Funding will help tackle poverty and shore up security in the region and make Australia ‘more influential in the world’, Penny Wong says
The Albanese government will increase aid to Pacific countries by $900m as it declares next week’s budget will deliver the biggest rise in Australia’s official development assistance in more than a decade.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, will announce the extra funding during a speech in French Polynesia on Friday, arguing the budget will be “a major step toward the goal of making Australia stronger and more influential in the world”.
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Continue reading...Thirty-four officers travel to China as part of effort to improve cooperation between the two forces
A delegation of more than 30 Solomon Islands police officers has travelled to China to undergo training for the first time, in a sign of deepening ties between the two countries, which signed a controversial security deal earlier this year.
The group of 34 officers, including a deputy and an assistant commissioner, will be in China for a month, during which time they will receive training, visit police stations and departments and learn from the expertise of Chinese police, according to a statement issued by Solomon Islands government.
Continue reading...Anthony Albanese meets with Solomons Islands PM Manasseh Sogavare, who reiterates ‘no foreign military bases’ pledge. This blog is now closed
Skill shortages ‘an indictment on the failure to plan’: skills minister
The National Skills Commission’s annual update of the skills priority list is out today, showing the number of occupations facing skills shortages have almost doubled in past year.
Well, I wouldn’t say exactly that. I would say, though, it is very high that we have so many occupations where there are significant shortages.
I mean, the fact that it almost doubled in a year speaks to a labour market that is crying out for skills. But also, it is an indictment on the failure to plan, invest in education and training to have the skills our labour market, our economy and our employers need and our workforce need so that they can find good jobs.
We do need to make sure, 1) the investment in education and training is in the right places so that we supply the skills needed for our economy now and into the future. And, of course, 2) we need to have a much faster way of delivering on the skilled migration pathways for industries that are crying out for skills. And whether they be nurses or tech worker, baggage handlers. Wherever you look across the economy, there are shortages and it is a very significant priority of this government.
Conditions haven’t changed that significantly.
The government went to the last election saying again and again they would honour the legislated tax cuts.
In the time since we’ve seen in Australia interest rate rises yes ... but we’ve seen an Australian economy that continues to perform very strongly.
Continue reading...New name Beowa means orca in Thaua language and comes after consultation with Aboriginal and South Sea Islander communities
A national park in New South Wales that was named after a pastoralist linked to the slave trade has been renamed.
The move to rename Ben Boyd national park was announced last year and new signs were installed at Beowa national park near Eden on Friday.
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Continue reading...With rising seas expected to submerge the nation by 2100, official says ‘we should always be able to remember Tuvalu as it is, before it disappears’
When Tuvalu vanishes beneath rising seas, its diaspora still want somewhere to call home – and that could be a virtual version of the tiny Pacific nation.
Global heating is threatening to submerge Tuvalu by the end of the century, and its 12,000 inhabitants are considering the future.
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Continue reading...Antony Blinken opens landmark meeting a day after leaked documents showed discord among some Pacific leaders over US proposals
Joe Biden’s administration has welcomed Pacific Island leaders for a landmark summit in Washington with promises of greater aid and diplomatic presence, as it attempts to counter China’s rising influence in a region historically linked to the US.
In a first-of-a-kind summit in Washington, leaders from across the remote but strategic islands will meet Biden and the rest of the top US leadership on issues from maritime security to pandemic recovery to climate change, which threatens to devastate many of the low-lying islands.
Continue reading...Fighting since country’s election in July has continued in the highlands, with women and children most vulnerable
An estimated 90,000 people have been displaced by violence in the highlands of Papua New Guinea since May, with about 25,000 children unable to attend school and reports of rape, kidnapping and other violence, say the UN and local officials.
The fighting has been related in many cases to the recent national elections, in which around 50 people were killed and schools and other public buildings burnt down.
Continue reading...Ian Gowrie-Smith says he was frustrated the Australian government did not respond to urgent funding request for turtle conservation
The owner of 21 tropical islands off the coast of Papua New Guinea says he never threatened to sell them to China and his main aim is to save the turtles that nest there.
Ian Gowrie-Smith, an Australian businessman and investor, bought the Conflict Islands, which lie less than 1,000km from the Australian coast, almost two decades ago.
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