PINA

A legal row over moves by the Kiribati government to deport an Australian citizen and senior Kiribati judge who is married to the country’s opposition leader has intensified after a New York-based lawyer acting for the government said the decision of the executive should be treated with “maximum deference”. Lawyers for Australian David Lambourne, a former solicitor-general of Kiribati who...

Four prominent leaders are under the Papua New Guinea police radar for their alleged involvement in the Mendi madness last week which left one person dead and thousands of kina worth of properties burnt to ashes. Police Commissioner David Manning named the alleged four as sitting Governor William Powi, and his rivals Joseph Kobol, Peter Nupiri and Bernard Kaku. The four...

By Dionisia Tabureguci Liquidity in Fiji’s banking system shattered the F$2.5 billion (US$1.25 billion) mark at the end of July, notching another historic high and maintaining a trend that began in January this year. And the word from a major bank is that it is likely to stay this way for the rest of the year before easing by next...

Representatives from the government, private sector, civil society, and development agencies have validated a new draft climate finance and public spending roadmap for the Solomon Islands. The validation rounded off a half day workshop in Honiara, on Friday 12 August. The roadmap provides strategic objectives and an action plan to integrate climate change requirements into the government's financial management systems...

Timor-Leste’s president, José Ramos-Horta, has warned his nation will seek Chinese support if Australia and Woodside Energy fail to back a gas pipeline between the resource-rich Timor Sea and his country’s southern shore, rather than Darwin. Ramos-Horta has warned Timor-Leste – Australia’s neighbour and ally – would “absolutely” look to Chinese investment to secure what he says is the “national...

A new strategy to drive New Zealand’s investment in climate action in the Pacific and globally has outlined how the record $1.3 billion (US$803 million) commitment for mitigation and adaptation will be spent. Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced the International Climate Finance Strategy, Tuia te Waka a Kiwa, which sets out the Government’s approach to deliver a scaled-up climate...

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape says an MP does not have to be a minister to change Papua New Guinea for the better. He said this is a message to all Government MPs as he prepares to announce his full Cabinet on Tuesday (23 August) and as a week-long Parliament induction for new MPs starts Monday (22 August). PM...

Former Vanuatu Opposition Leader, Ralph Regenvanu, has confirmed he and the other former Members of Parliament (MPs) who signed a Motion against the Prime Minister Bob Loughman, will be lodging their case to determine the legality of the dissolution of Parliament on Monday this week. “Just hours before we were supposed to go back to Parliament where the quorum would...

For Tongan sisters Akosita Kristen Urwin and Suliana Fusikata stepping foot on their beloved Atata Island is bittersweet. On one hand, they are desperate to reconnect with their land but on the other, they know all they will find is destruction from January’s tsunami. Kristen, who lives in New Zealand, looks stony-faced at the damage to the resort that employed many...

Kiribati is over-reliant on income from access payments by distant water fishing fleets, according to a newly published study. An examination of climate change vulnerability of the island found that the country has become over-reliant on revenue from offshore foreign-flagged purse seine tuna fishing vessels. The country earns around 80 percent of its revenue from fees charged to tuna companies...