Bougainville independence talks underway at military camp near Christchurch
Photo:
RNZ/Nathan McKinnon
Bougainville independence talks have started just outside of Christchurch, in New Zealand's South Island, between the governments of Papua New Guinea and Bougainville.
In 2019, 97.7 percent of Bougainvilleans voted for independence. The referendum, though mandated by the 2001 Peace Agreement, was not binding.
Both governments are now debating the rules by which the results of a referendum on independence are tabled in parliament.
The discussions at Christchurch's Burnham Military Camp focus on finalising the process to bring the referendum results before PNG's Parliament.
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape called Burnham
the spiritual home of the Bougainville peace process
.
The military camp hosted pivotal talks in 1997 that helped end the Bougainville civil war.
Marape said the Era Kone Convenant committed both governments to present the referendum before PNG's parliament in 2025.
Bougainville has stated that it
expects to be independent
by 1 September 2027.
It has established a Constitution Commission and included it within the region's autonomous parliament.
The Christchurch meetings are closed to the media.
New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade refused to share with
RNZ Pacific
a list of who will be attending the meeting.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
27 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Seabed mine fears ignite coast towns on Ocean Day
A group on the Taranaki cape completed representation for the region's three waka: Aotea at Pātea, Tokomaru at Ngāmotu and Kurahaupō at Pungarehu. Photo: Supplied / Climate Justice Taranaki A match lit six weeks ago in the coastal Taranaki town of Ōpunakē has ignited fires the length of the North Island - and far across the Pacific - with seabed mining opponents taking to the coast on World Ocean Day. South Taranaki's 15-year fight against an Australian mining bid was picked up by more than 200 surfers, stand-up paddleboarders, body boarders, waka ama crew and kayakers at eight spots along the coast between Wellington to Auckland on Sunday. As they paddled-out from Island Bay, Whanganui, Pātea, Pungarehu, New Plymouth, Raglan, Port Waikato and Muriwai hundreds more rallied on shore, with organisers saying strong turnouts in New Plymouth and Raglan took total numbers over 1200. Four-thousand kilometres away supporters in Tāhiti also hit the waves, they said. Fiona Young of Protect Our Moana Taranaki said coastal communities jumped on board after the first paddle-out at Ōpunakē in April. "It's important being connected together for this, because if given the greenlight here it would set a very dangerous precedent for all the rest of our coast and the Pacific." "It's a new experimental extractive industry that doesn't belong in our oceans." Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) has approval to vacuum up 50 million tonnes of sand annually from the South Taranaki seabed for 35 years to extract iron, vanadium and titanium. But the company still needs consent to discharge 45 million tonnes of unwanted sediment a year back into the shallow waters - 160,000 tonnes daily of a recognised pollutant. After a decade failing to win discharge consent right through to the Supreme Court, Trans-Tasman last year quit the latest environment hearing to seek consent via the new Fast-track Approvals Act. Many locals fear sediment would smother reefs and stunt marine photosynthesis by filtering sunlight. TTR's executive chairman Alan Eggers said the discharge wouldn't bother the marine ecology. "De-ored sands will be returned immediately to the seafloor in a controlled process to minimise the generation of suspended sediment ... the plume generated is localised," said Eggers, who's also executive director of TTR's new owners, Australia miner Manuka Resources. Surfboards and water craft spelled-out 'no seabed mining' on the black sand of Autere. Photo: Photo / Tania Niwa The mining ship would work as close as 22 kilometres off Pātea. Saturday's cold snap cloaked Taranaki Maunga with winter's first heavy snowfall but, after dawn karakia, 20 surfers shrugged off the chill at Pātea Beach and formed Sunday's first circle on the water. Among them was Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. As a Ngāti Ruanui leader she fought the miners for a decade before entering Parliament. Ngarewa-Packer said World Ocean Day helped highlight that the proposed mine was an untested precedent, here and internationally. "Seabed mining leaves behind the sludge, or the mud. Imagine 45 million tons of sludge ... a lot of our magic reef life and our marine life will be absolutely annihilated." Sand extraction is common but doesn't involve dumping most of what's taken back into the environment, opponents say. Among the 100 supporters on Pātea's beach and dunes was onshore oil driller Hayden Fowler. Despite working in an extractive industry, Fowler brought his teenage daughter Amelia to Pātea to oppose the marine mine. "I just don't think it's the right thing to be doing." "A lot of people don't actually understand what will take place if it happens ... so it's probably a little bit misunderstood as to how bad it could be." Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui kaiwhakahaere Rachel Arnott said TTR kept losing in court because judges found environmental safety evidence unconvincing "TTR had nothing and in the Fast-track application we still haven't seen any sign that they've adapted to the courts' demands for proof - nothing fresh in terms of evidence." Surfers, kayakers and waka ama paddlers were amongst the 130 who formed a circle off Autere East End Beach in Ngāmotu - one of nine community actions against seabed mining on Sunday. Photo: Photo / Tania Niwa On Sunday afternoon 500 gathered at New Plymouth's Autere, or East End Beach, to cheer more than 130 taking to the waves. Surfer Fiona Gordon said she was there to celebrate the ocean. "The beautiful things that it brings to our lives and the risks that are posed when we start interfering with that, in ways we don't fully understand." Many travelled from Pātea to join the Ngāmotu event including Bruce Boyd, head of community underwater science researchers Project Reef. "I dive off Pātea, that's my playground, and I don't want to see what's there changed in any way, shape, or form. Especially not covered by that sludge." TTR expects to earn US$312 million a year before tax, giving shareholders a near 40 percent rate of return on investment of US$602 million. The company promises an economic boost in Taranaki and Whanganui, creating over 1350 New Zealand jobs and becoming one of the country's top exporters. Opponents believe the financial benefits will land with mostly-foreign shareholders. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Scientists hit back over Prime Minister's 'worthies' insult
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon makes a tourism funding boost announcement at Auckland Airport. Photo: Marika Khabazi A British scientist says it's concerning Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has dismissed him and other climate scientists as "worthies" for raising concerns about plans to lower the country's methane emissions target. Global professor of environmental change at Oxford University Paul Behrens said the government appeared to be trying to deflect attention from questions about the country's agricultural greenhouse gases. "I think the characterisation of climate scientists as 'worthies' reflects a really concerning dismissal of evidence-based policy making," he said. "While the Prime Minister's remarks may aim to deflect criticism of New Zealand's agricultural emissions profile they overlook the clear global consensus that methane reductions are critical to limiting near term warming." Luxon denied he was dismissing science or deflecting attention from this country's farming emissions. "What a load of rubbish, my point was very clear, those scientists can write to leaders of 194 countries before they send it to me," he said. Christopher Luxon says New Zealand is already managing methane emissions better than "every other country on the planet". Photo: Gianina Schwanecke / Country Life Though a decision is yet to be revealed, farming groups appear have swayed the government to reduce the current target, which is shrinking emissions somewhere between 24 and 47 per cent by 2050. Several climate experts say the country will set a dangerous precedent for Ireland and other big methane emitters if it aims too low. When 26 international climate change scientists wrote to Luxon accusing him of "ignoring scientific evidence" showing global heating caused by methane has to reduce, the prime minister said it was lovely if "worthies" wanted to write him letters but New Zealand was already managing methane emissions better than "every other country on the planet". The scientists were worried that the government might be about to adopt a target that lets heating caused by methane emissions stay the same, rather than turning down the thermostat on the country's cows and sheep. That is because the government asked a scientific panel to tell it how much methane emissions would need to drop to just level off global heating from methane, not reduce it. The answer was 14 to 24 per cent by 2050, about half the current target. The debate is whether that is enough. Federated Farmers and Beef + Lamb says yes, because methane is much shorter lived than the other main heating gases, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. One of the members of the government's panel, climate scientist Dave Frame, said New Zealand should lower its target unless other countries commit to bigger cuts to methane from farming than they have currently. He said the planet was not on track to limit heating inside 1.5C hotter than pre-industrial times, despite countries' promises. "If the world really did cut emissions in line with what those kind of guys are talking about, then I think we should absolutely be part of it. "In the absence of that action, I think a 'no additional warming target' is a reasonable fall back position." Victoria University Professor of Climate Change Dave Frame. Photo: RNZ / Chris Bramwell Dr Frame said unlike more profitable dairy farming, sheep and beef farms could not absorb the cost of methane-cutting technologies. Another member of the government's panel atmospheric scientist Laura Revell said it was a tricky call for the government. "Everyone is in agreement - those on the panel, those who wrote the letter - that methane is a greenhouse gas which global action is needed to address," she said. "We know that the consequences of climate change are severe, we are seeing it already and every bit of warming we can avoid helps. "On the other hand, farming is a big part of the New Zealand economy and these emissions are associated with feeding people." The Climate Change Commission said the country should aim for a cut of at least 35 percent, because the costs and impacts of global heating are turning out worse than expected. It said there is no reasonable excuse to do less on methane, under New Zealand's climate commitments. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
Govt injects a further $13 million into tourism
money economy 26 minutes ago The government's making another pitch to get tourists to come here, with a $13 million investment. Mackenzie District Council acting mayor Karen Morgan spoke to Corin Dann.
