PINA

Athletes and para-athletes of Oceania can expect a decade of change that increases their chances at growing through access to high performance, and winning medals as the Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC) propel the Continent into a new, high-level set of partnerships and initiatives culminating with the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games – the second Games to be...

A panel of commentators who helped cover King Charles’ coronation are facing backlash after making light of rising sea levels threatening to wipe out a remote Pacific Island country. During a Sky News discussion about whether more countries may eventually become republics, presenter Anna Botting mentions the Pacific nation of Tuvalu. One of the three panellists, Australian-British author Kathy Lette, interrupts...

Papua New Guinea is not ready to adopt the system of the people electing the prime minister, says University of PNG political science lecturer Patrick Kaiku. He said the review of the form and system of government recently launched by Prime Minister James Marape could be “unconstitutional”. The Government has directed the Constitutional Law Reform Commission to undertake a review and...

Tonga has received mixed reactions during its human rights evaluation at the 43rd Session of Universal Periodic Review in Geneva. The Kingdom's Foreign Minister Fekitamoelo 'Utoikamanu heard mixed reviews by over 50 UN member states, with all of them commending Tonga's Government for continuing efforts to ratify international treaties. “New Zealand...commends advancement in human rights,” said New Zealand's delegate Anna Louise...

The head of the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared “with great hope” an end to COVID-19 as a public health emergency, stressing that it does not mean the disease is no longer a global threat. “Last week, COVID-19 claimed a life every three minutes – and that’s just the deaths we know about”, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO...

Chair of the Pacific Small Islands Developing States (PSIDS) Ilana Seid met with Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration (MFAI) Tepaeru Herrmann at the end of April in Rarotonga. Ambassador Seid, who is based in New York and Palau’s Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), was in Rarotonga to attend the Pacific preparatory meeting for the second...

The Australian and New Zealand governments have renewed their commitment to the World Bank’s work in the Pacific through an agreement to strengthen cooperation in the region. The PNG and the Pacific Islands Umbrella Facility (PPIUF) will be in place until at least 2031 and will support World Bank projects across the Pacific through a commitment of AUD$109 million from...

By Kalafi Moala The Ministry of Infrastructure oversees all major infrastructure developments and construction in the Kingdom of Tonga. These developments include the construction and repair of roads, wharves, airports, government buildings, government schools, and reconstruction works after damages from cyclones, flooding, and tsunamis. The expenditure on infrastructure in any nation is among the highest in the Government’s annual budget. This...

By Dr Shailendra B Singh and Dr Amanda H A Watson This piece is the third in a series that addresses media freedom in Papua New Guinea. In this part, the authors compare a media law that was in place in Fiji for years with a proposed media policy in PNG this year. Fiji’s media law Soon after a coup in Fiji in...

The Pacific’s premier regional body, the Pacific Islands Forum, is concerned that it is being left on the sidelines of a regional dialogue between India and Pacific island countries in Papua New Guinea later this month. And it has called on PNG to remind the Indian government to respect and work with existing regional mechanisms, such as the PIF. The Forum...