PINA

Samoa Supreme Court has ruled in favour of the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) and ordered the Speaker of the House to swear in the party’s members who were elected in April’s national poll and have not been knocked out by post-election legal challenges. The orders conclude a hearing of the declaratory order application filed by HRPP members against the...

Changes to Australia's Pacific worker programmes have been welcomed but questions remain over the pathway to permanent residency. The Australian government hailed their reforms to the labour programs as a "new era", claiming they are designed to reduce red tape for employers. It announced the changes on Tuesday and said they would streamline the application process for the two labour programmes,...

Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Zed Seselja,has called on Micronesian Leaders not to leave the premier political body- the Pacific Islands Forum saying the region is ‘stronger together’. Seselja made the call after the recent move made by the Micronesian Leaders’ Summit last week to set up their own interim secretariat in Nauru- signalling the withdrawal of...

Fiji has recorded 146 new cases of COVID-19 and one new death reported Wednesday, increasing the total number of cases to 49,320 and 538 deaths since the outbreak that started in April. Permanent secretary for Health, Dr James Fong said 69 cases are from the Western division, 68 cases are from the Central Division in Vitilevu, Fiji's main island and...

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare urges journalists to be fair and accurate when reporting integrity and corruption issues. Sogavare made the call in his address to Pacific Media Chief executive officers and owners attending the virtual Reporting on Integrity and Anti-Corruption summit at the Tavanipupu resort in East Guadalcanal Wednesday. He said it is important for journalists to understand the...

Pacific nations continue to raise questions and concerns in closed briefing sessions around plans by Japan to discharge over a million tonnes of treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean. The Government of Japan committed to ongoing dialogue with Forum Members as a priority follow up to the PALM9 Summit in July. This followed...

Deportation of Pacific overstayers is continuing despite the global Covid-19 pandemic putting pressure on island nations. Fiji has been particularly ravaged by the virus of late, with hospitals overrun with infected patients. And yet New Zealand, with its largely successful Covid response, continues to deport members of the Pasifika community – with 17 people sent back to Fiji this year. Members of...

Thirty kilogrammes of methamphetamine, exported from Tonga to New Zealand in a refrigerated food container, was seized in a joint operation by police and customs taskforces. There have been six arrests: one in Tonga and five in New Zealand, Tonga Police announced Wednesday. A 45-year-old man from Nukuhetulu, Tongatapu, was arrested on 09 September and charged relating to the exportation of...

What was the purpose behind the PacificAusSports Olympic and Paralympic Partnership? The purpose of the partnership is about providing elite level pathways to Pacific athletes, both potential Olympic and potential Paralympic athletes. One of the facts about the Pacific is there is extraordinary sporting talent and one of the things that Australia is blessed with is something we've developed...

Samoa Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mataafa and Parliament Speaker, Papalii Lio Taeu Masipau have assured the Head of State, Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi 11 that peace and calm will prevail despite the current political friction between the government and the Human Rights Political Party(HRPP). The Prime Minister and Speaker met with the Head of State and the Member of the Council...