PINA

A Pacific farmworker who left his fruit picking job to work for a labour hire company ended up in hospital, without access to Medicare, after he was allegedly set alight by another worker. Sione Lavalu spent 74 days in the Royal Brisbane hospital with stage three burns earlier this year. When he was first admitted, almost half his body was...

Since its launch four years ago, a financial technology firm has helped over 20,000 Malaysians overcome their lack of a credit score to access micro-financing. Global Psytech, led by founder Hanizah Yon, was able to do this with a fintech product it developed to understand the borrower's behaviour and assign him an alternative credit score. Pacific Islanders will likely be the...

The best approach to safeguarding democracy in the region is for both countries to demonstrate the prosperity and human flourishing that can flow from good governance. By Grant Wyeth Are Australia and New Zealand overlooking democratic decay throughout the Pacific Islands for fear of pushing their neighbors closer to China? This is the assertion of the leader of Fiji’s National Federation...

South Africa swept aside double Olympic champions Fiji to win men’s rugby sevens gold as Australia clinched the women’s Commonwealth Games title for the first time here. Muller du Plessis helped himself to a brace of tries while Jc Pretorious, Shaun Williams and Mfundo Ndhlovu crossed the whitewash in a crushing 31-7 victory over Fiji at a packed Coventry Stadium. Fiji...

The Australian Women's Sevens side have claimed the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games with a 22-12 win over Fiji. A first-half burst put the result out of question as Faith Nathan scored a double, securing the first gold medal in program history. This came after an incredible semi-final performance to eliminate New Zealand 17-12, getting a measure of revenge four...

Papua New Guinea have won the OFC Women’s Nations Cup 2022 for the first time after beating host nation Fiji 2-1 in the final in front of a boisterous crowd at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva. After previously finishing as runners-up on three occasions PNG can finally call themselves champions of Oceania after first-half goals from Meagen Gunemba and...

The two-week extension on the return of writs date in Papua New Guinea has been knocked as unconstitutional. A former Chief Justice, Sir Arnold Amet, said that there are no provisions in the Constitution for any extension of writs beyond the fifth anniversary of the date fixed for the return of the writs, which is today – 29 July. He said...

One of France's most senior defence figures Vice Admiral Nicolas Vaujour has stressed that the Pacific would always be a priority for his military, declaring that "France does not have a presence in the Pacific, France belongs to the Pacific." “We have two territories there in New Caledonia and French Polynesia, and so I have to say that my neighbours...

By Miranda Forsyth and Gordon Peake Elections in Papua New Guinea are notoriously volatile and dangerous. But this year’s elections have involved violence, intimidation, corruption as well as administrative ineptitude on what looks like an exceptional scale. The Commonwealth observer team on the ground has called for an urgent review of the electoral process, noting almost half of eligible voters may...

Tonga have continued their tradition of having an oiled-up, shirtless flag bearer lead their team at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, leaving fans around the world in a frenzy. Pita Taufatofua became a viral sensation at the 2016 Olympics in Rio when he carried the Tongan flag at the opening ceremony while shirtless. He then repeated the trick at...