PINA

New Caledonia's pro and anti-independence camps have launched their campaigns for the third and final referendum on independence from France. In 2018 and 2020, a majority voted against independence, but the winning margin shrank from 56.7 percent to 53.3 percent. A senior member of the pro-independence FLNKS Aloisio Sako has told its weekend meeting in Noumea that a victory in December...

By Catherine Wilson The urgency of finding solutions to the most pressing development challenges of our times has increased as the Covid-19 pandemic threatens to reverse the global momentum in recent years toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). And small island developing states (SIDS), with their physical remoteness, restricted land and resources and dependence on trade and tourism,...

The Adjudicatory Chamber of the OFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee in a decision notified on 06 July 2021 has found Lee Harmon, President of the Cook Islands Football Association, guilty of having breached the OFC code of ethics. The ethics proceedings are part of an extensive investigation into the OFC in which Harmon was identified as having allegedly breached articles...

Three climate vulnerable Pacific nations have asked the world’s governments to agree to aim to make international shipping emissions-free by 2050. In a proposal to the UN’s shipping body, the Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands and Kiribati cited a major report published earlier this month summarising the latest climate science. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said to limit global heating...

Fiji has recorded 591 new cases of COVID-19 and six new deaths Monday, increasing the total number of cases in the Pacific nation to 44,118 and 442 deaths since the outbreak in April. Permanent secretary for Health, Dr James Fong said 498 cases are from the Western division, 89 cases are from the Central division and four cases are from...

Samoa has received COVID-19 vaccines from the Government of Japan through the COVAX Facility – a partnership co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the World Health Organisation (WHO), with UNICEF as the key delivery partner. The 112,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, manufactured in Japan, will contribute towards fully vaccinating more...

A community leader questions why officials haven't heeded to calls for more Pacific-led organisations to lead their own vaccination drives. Pasifika peoples account for more than half of cases in New Zealand's Delta outbreak. Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield made the revelation in Monday's press conference, in which it was also announced that Aotearoa will extend its nationwide lockdown until 11:15pm...

The Australian federal government will introduce a dedicated agriculture visa to help fill a COVID-induced labour shortage across the farming, fisheries and forestry sectors. The Australian Agriculture visa, aimed at enticing Pacific and Southeast Asian workers, is not capped and will include pathways towards permanent residency and regional resettlement. It is unclear at this stage which countries will sign up for...

The only Pacific nations that still have the death penalty enshrined in law, are Tonga and Papua New Guinea, although it has been decades since either country has carried out an execution. But as Tonga's parliament considers a proposal law to introduce capital punishment for serious drug offences, the issue is back in the spotlight in Papua New Guinea too. A...

One of the Pacific's biggest suppliers of seasonal workers to Australia, Tonga, has been blacklisted by the State of Tasmania because of COVID-19 rules, despite the country not having a single coronavirus case. Siona Vaka, who is Tonga's Seasonal Worker Liaison Officer, said they became aware of the problem when Australian companies were told they could no longer bring in...