Stories from Hawaii, Tahiti, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, and the Cook Islands, including 'Rustbucket', 'Poisoned Waters', 'Eating Rover','Paternalism is back', 'Button it up in Suva', 'Do not collect 200 pounds' and 'Tanga Whenua upset'. More...
PACIFIC countries' economic growth is forecast to slow to 3.1percent this year following last year's historical high of 5.1percent. It is against this background that the PACER Plus — Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations — negotiations are taking place this weekend in Brisbane and which could be crucial to development in the region says Oxfam in a new paper.
Fiji and Samoa had larger than expected contractions in gdp, and in the Solomon Islands the decreased demand for timber, combined with the depletion of forests, is contributing to a rapid decline in income and potential balance of payments crisis.
Fiji however has been excluded from the talks and the PIC 14 (Pacific Island Countries) does not include French Polynesia, American Samoa or Hawai'i.
Despite favourable trading arrangements under SPARTECA (South Pacific Regional Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement) the PICs have been unable to make the most of access to the Australian and New Zealand markets. By far the largest PIC exports to their two neighbours are from the extraction of Papua New Guinean oil and gold. With these two items excluded, PIC imports from Australia and New Zealand (US$1,905 million) far outweigh exports (US$332 million) by a factor of nearly six to one.17 This is of particular concern given that Australia and New Zealand are the most important trading partners for the region.
A 2007 study by Nathan Associates commissioned by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat found that, for 10 of the 14 PICs, either Australia or New Zealand was the primary source of imports.
It is particularly striking that so few agricultural products are exported to Australia and New Zealand from the PICs, given the predominance of agriculture for subsistence and cash income in many of the PICs, and the comparative advantage of climate vis-à-vis Australasia. The dominance of extractive industry exports further highlights the weak links between the productive sectors in most PICs and the region’s export profile. The importance of agricultural exports, particularly in the New Zealand export figures, shows that the challenge for the Pacific is not only in boosting exports, but also increasing production for the domestic market to repin the Pacific.
One option is to improve on the current non-reciprocal arrangement using SPARTECA, to create a ‘SPARTECA Plus’ framework. Such a scheme could remove the existing technical barriers to Pacific exports, while retaining the flexibility for Pacific governments to adopt targeted policies to add value to their natural resources, boost exports and better supply their domestic markets. More...
As understanding of the full effects of the massive tsunami early in October on the Samoas and Tonga comes through, aid has been pouring in from many sources, especially New Zealand with its strong ethnic family ties. NZ Minister of health Tony Ryall is calling it the recovery phase as staff is rotated out to the islands to man hospital and field clinics seeing over a 100 people every day. Almost 200 people were killed, most drowned, some struck by debris as the tsunami waves came through at very high velocity.
Australia and New Zealand each contributed $6.1million to the emergency. New Zealand also gave $2 million immediately and sent HMNZS frigate Canterbury to the area with medical, military and search and rescue teams. She is currently anchored west of the Tongan island of Niuatoputapu deploying helicopter and inflatables to ferry supplies ashore (see pic). Next port of call is Samoa with 12 containers of aid cargo donated by New Zealanders.
UNICEF aims to reach 11 000 children with vitamin A and measles vaccines — its early estimate was that 2 000 children were displaced — in the 60 badly hit villages, 40 of which were destroyed. And AUT Pacific Scoop reports that China, France, Japan, Papua New Guinea, the USA and even Tonga itself have responded with assistance.
Fundraising and assistance has taken many forms, from donations to the Red Cross, Oxfam, Catholic aid agency Caritas Aotearoa, Habitat for humanity, the TEAR fund and World Vision, to airtime donated by a Christchurch radio station to link New Zealand Samoans to their friends and relations in the islands as well as raising $30 000. The National University of Samoa has raised $11 000 cash and also brought in clothing, cutlery, sheets and food. Many volunteers from Oceania destinations have flooded in to rebuild houses, and help survivors cope. Essential supplies of food, water, shelter, clothing and sanitation facilities, remain a top priority, says UNICEF.
SPC TO BIGGER
SPC (Secretariat of the Pacific Community) will grow from 390 to 540 staff in coming months as most of the Suva-based Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission and all the the South Pacific Board of Educational Assessment will be absorbed into the one body.
All 22 member countries were unanimous in voting for the plans which will improve the spread of the network of regional and country offices across the Pacific says the SPC. Australia, France, New Zealand and the USA all offered backing at the meeting and Australia's parliamentary secretary for development assistance Bob MacMullan said that Australia was 'very positive' about the role of SPC and how it made a good fit with its Pacific Partnerships for Development programme and the Cairns Compact which had come out of the recent Pacific Islands Forum for coordinated assistance in the region.
SPC director-general Dr Rodgers said SPC aimed to complete its planned assistance strategies with Fiji, Guam, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu in 2010 covering agricultural research, tuna stock assessments, public health, human rights, gender and youth issues, statistics, economic development, shipping and communication technology. More...
- Soon after dawn on Wednesday Sept 1 NZ time the results of a 30km deep tectonic shift and earthquake in the southern pacific sent a tsunami to devastate coastal towns and villages in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga.
Two days later the body count continues as people pull away the debris but well over a hundred have been drowned and many more injured by the fast-flowing rip.
The US Geological Service registered the initial quake at 8.3 on the Richter scale with the aftershock a substantial 5.6 twenty minutes later. Its Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a warning to south Pacific nations. Location was midway between Western and American Samoa, just over 200km from each.
There were nine deaths and some injuries in Tonga, over 400 miles south west, with the village of Hihifo baring the brunt, but Niue though only 300 miles distant, seems to have been spared as were the islands situated in an arc running west of the Samoas — Mata-Ulu, Wallis and Futuna, and the Fiji group, all within a 400 mile radius.
People on the Samoas spoke of the initial quake going on for at least three minutes. Both capitals — Apia in Western Samoa, Pago Pago in American Samoa — were badly affected and with little time to get to higher ground many of the people drowned were children and the aged.
This week aid is flowing in from the US, Australia and New Zealand whose Orion aircraft was scouring the coastal areas for survivors this week.
Geologists spoke of an undersea rupture to the earth of more than 200kms — compared to the 2004 earthquake off Sumatra with a fault length of more than 1000kms. Its alignment was southeast/northwest throwing its tsunami out against the Samoas and in the opposite direction Tonga and finally New Zealand. More...
- In Hawaii they're importing milk from the mainland as shrinking livestock numbers cut production by half, from 24.3 million 'pounds' to 12.7 million over the past two years, reports the Honolulu Advertiser. Farmers are wailing about subsidy cuts and politicians about revitalising the livestock industry. At the same time a classic stoush is firing up between recreational fishers and commercial fishing interests in the sensitive coral reef areas. Commercial fishers reported catching 268 225 pounds of reef fish, thought to be much smaller than the recreational catch. There are no bag limits for recreational fishers and only two-thirds of the 3 200 licensed boats file the required monthly catch reports.
- The impact of the right/left switch in Samoa is starting to come through as the combination of alcohol-fuelled drivers and the dominance of left-hand-drive vehicles takes its toll. Savea Sano Malifa, writing in the Sept 27 Sunday Samoan, advocates an outright ban on night driving until the road switch concept is better accepted. Of 19 000 vehicles in Samoa, 16 000 are LHD. He questions whether the government should consider subsidising conversions from LHD to RHD and suggests more forethought should have been applied before the road switch was implemented.
- The ongoing saga of the latest Fijian coup has prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama expressing disappointment that his country's troops have been barred from joining any new UN peacekeeping operations. Of course it's just one of a number of sanctions applied against Fiji by a disapproving international community including last month's suspension of Commonwealth membership.
It's ironical that Commodore Bainimarama's objectives are unexceptionable, with the aim of achieving a genuine one-man, one vote democracy across the Indian and indigenous Fijian communities, but he obviously fails to realise that the means become the end, to loosely quote Arthur Koestler. So his intimidatory tactics, suppression of media freedoms, the snails-pace towards a promise of elections in 2014 are what distinguishes his regime to outside eyes. More...
New Zealand’s relationship with the Pacific is at a crucial juncture, writes Dev Nadkarni in Fiji's Island News. The events of the past few years have taken some sheen off New Zealand’s long-standing image as the islands’ best friend. This has to some extent served to undermine the Pacific islands region’s strategic and commercial importance to New Zealand More...
For many communities - especially America's Native American tribes - radio still promises a way to spread news, share stories and support a cultural or regional identity.
As new technologies take hold in the marketplace - and in the minds of consumers - old media are starting to look, well, older. FM radio is no exception. The debut of new cell phones that deliver audio applications spurred predictions of radio's demise.
But for many communities, radio still promises a way to spread news, share stories and support a cultural or regional identity. This is especially true for the country's Native American tribes, which have seized a rare chance to start new radio stations as a way of strengthening their communities.
Last fall, many Native people joined hundreds of schools, activists, churches and nonprofit groups that applied for new noncommercial FM pmc@aut.ac.nzstations with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). More...
The University of Auckland has appointed New Zealand’s first Associate Dean, Pasifika to the Faculty of Education. Dr Meaola Amituanai-Toloa has taken up the role.
Although other tertiary institutions, including The University of Auckland, have appointed Associate Deans to focus on Māori and equity issues, an equivalent position dedicated to the academic support and achievements of Pacific Island students has not previously existed. Dr Amituanai-Toloa will support Pacific students studying within the Faculty of Education.
The appointment is an integral part of the University’s dedication to improving educational outcomes and opportunities for Pacific peoples. It also reflects the leadership role played by the Faculty of Education (and the former Auckland College of Education), which boasts the first Pasifika Early Childhood Education programme at diploma and degree level; the first graduate studies programme and qualification in Pacific languages education and in Pacific bilingual education; and the first Pacific-focussed services for academic achievement. The Faculty also has the largest team of Pacific education academics in New Zealand. More...
The Fiji Daily Post said today it was a 'cards on the table' situation in its editorial commenting that the meeting between Fiji's political leaders and the interim regime was a good baby step in our efforts for national recovery. Many people were hoping for some decisive statements and action plans pronouncing which direction the leaders would head towards and on what platform.
In fact the nation was looking forward to something of a breakthrough in talks. But what many did not know that it was the first time for quite a while for these leaders to sit together and talk openly.
Political adversaries finally were able to face each and present their views directly without these being mediated by the press. The media have played the messenger role between the warring politicians and interim regime. More often than not we’ve been shot at in the process. More...
Noumea: Oct 14.
The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) today announced the launch of the Pacific Islands HIV & STI Response Fund. The Australian government is contributing 30 million dollars and from the New Zealand government 7.5 million dollars over the next five years. More...
A new internet-based Pacific Island channel is set to be launched as a number of new stations are developed to bring Polynesian culture to a wider audience � news announced at the Pacific Islands Media Association conference held at Auckland University of Technology October 10. More...
AUCKLAND (PMC/Pacific Media Watch): Leading Pasifika journalists have predicted a major shift in the structure and style of Pacific media to grapple with new trends in communications technology, writes Josephine Latu, Pacific Media Watch reporter. More...
Nauru better equipped to face emerging infectious diseases. More...