Pacific News In Brief For 24 July
Reports out of the Papua New Guinea region of Bougainville say prison warders are illegally freeing offenders from jail.
The Post-Courier reports the warders are bypassing legal procedures and allowing dangerous individuals to roam communities unchecked.
Bougainville's head of Correctional Institute Services, Vincent Kundi, says inmates are walking out of Bekut Correctional Facility on unauthorised release - for weeks or months and sometimes even years.
He said legally that makes them escapees.
Calls are ongoing for a maximum-security prison to house Bougainville's high-risk offenders.
Papua New Guinea - water
Police Commissioner David Manning is warning that there is zero tolerance for threats to essential services.
Landowners are threatening to shut off the water supply through the Rouna 2 Hydro Station in Central Province, which feeds Port Moresby.
Manning said police will not tolerate attempted extortion.
The Post-Courier reports Manning saying there are appropriate, lawful mechanisms for resolving disputes.
He has directed police to arrest the landowner group's leader.
Solomon Islands - immigration
The Solomon Islands is modernising its immigration services with a new Digital Border Management System.
Immigration Minister Trevor Manemahanga has hailed it as a major step towards more modern, efficient, and secure border management.
He said digital visas will enhance service delivery and national security.
The digital platform is supported by Australia.
Fiji - sacking
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka will not rule out sacking his Chief Justice Salesi Temo.
This comes as the government works through the Commission of Inquiry report into the appointment of sacked anti-corruption commissioner Barbara Malimali.
Some have accused the government of double standards.
Rabuka said no decisions will be made until Temo has explained his involvement.
Fiji/New Zealand - agriculture
A $3.2 million funding boost from New Zealand should help Fiji support cleaner and greener agriculture under the Pacific Climate Smart Agriculture and Sustainable Land Management Partnership.
Longer-term, Aotearoa has committed nearly $14m over four years to Fiji, Niue, the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu.
Pacific Peoples Minister Dr Shane Reti said the funding will provide scientific and technical support in climate-resilient crop trials and also help in soil monitoring and landscape planning.
Fiji - HIV
Fiji's fight against HIV has received a boost of $5.4 million from the New Zealand government.
Pacific People's Minister Dr Shane Reti met with Fijian Health Minister Dr Ratu Atonio Lalabalavu over the weekend, to hear firsthand about the country's nationwide HIV outbreak, and Fiji's response plan.
Reti said the funding reflects Aotearoa's ongoing commitment to Pacific health security.
He hopes it will help ease pressures on Fiji's public health system.
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2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Former Attorney-General criticises marine and coastal rights law changes
Former Attorney-General and National MP Chris Finlayson. Photo: Nicola Edmonds A former Attorney-General and National MP has lashed out at the government over its decision to push on with controversial legislation that would make it harder for Māori to get customary marine title. Chris Finlayson is calling the move foolish and "extremely harmful" to race relations. But Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says it will see the law returned to its "original intention" and strike a better balance for the rights of all New Zealanders. The changes to the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act would toughen the test for judging whether customary rights should be given. Customary title recognises exclusive Māori rights to parts of the foreshore and seabed, provided certain legal tests are met, including proving continuous and "exclusive" use of the area since 1840 without substantial interruption. A 2023 Court of Appeal ruling , however, declared that groups only needed to show they had enough control over the area that they could keep others from using it, and that situations where the law itself had prevented them from doing so could be ignored. The Supreme Court subsequently overturned that and the government put a pause on any amendments to the law. On Tuesday, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith said after the discussing the ruling, Cabinet felt it still did not achieve the "balance" the government wanted and the test to win customary rights was still too low. His comment were echoed by Luxon who, speaking from Papua New Guinea, said the change would get the legislation back to its "original intention". "We obviously have looked at the Supreme Court decision pretty closely [and] think it's quite broad and able to be interpreted in quite a broad way," he said. "We think the best way to do [that] is actually to get legislation to put it back to its original intent, which struck the right balance." Chris Finlayson disputes that, and told RNZ the Supreme Court had already expressed "very well" what Parliament's intention back in 2010 was. "These amendments do not restore the original intention of Parliament. They undermine them. Let there be no doubt about that at all," he said. Finlayson was Attorney-General at the time the legislation was enacted in law in 2011, which replaced the controversial Foreshore and Seabed Act . "What they are doing by these foolish amendments is destroying the settlement that the National Party and the Māori Party reached in 2010." Finlayson said there was no justification for the move, which he said was "extremely harmful" to race relations in New Zealand. "Tangata whenua have a few wins in court, and it's ripped away from them by the government, which changes goal posts 15 years later. "I am very, very saddened by what they have done, and I think it's a very bad day for race relations in New Zealand. "I just can't believe that they're as foolish as they appear to be," he said. Labour Party Māori Crown-Relations spokesperson Peeni Henare said the changes would restrict the ability of Māori to test their rights in court. "In 2011, the National Party made much of their commitment to Māori 'having their day in court' and this proposed change takes that away again." Henare said the law, as it stands today, does not give Māori ownership rights like control over public access. "This action by the government does nothing to strengthen the Māori-Crown relationship, despite them saying they value iwi Māori. "The government needs to be straight up and admit they don't care about Māori. Their actions don't match their words," he said. The amendments prompted fierce backlash from iwi last year, including Ngāpuhi who walked out of an Iwi Chairs Forum meeting with the Prime Minister in protest of the legislation. It also drew the ire of Northland iwi Ngāti Wai , who said at the time they would not accept the Crown "exercising an authority we do not believe they possess". In September last year, The Waitangi Tribunal found the changes were characterised by a "blind adherence" to pre-existing political commitments at the expense of Māori. 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
Climate protestor claims Stockton Mine employee fired gun to scare him
Two Climate Liberation Aotearoa protesters used the aerial rope way down to Ngakawau to access a coal bucket for a sit-in protest. Photo: Supplied A climate activist camped in a coal bucket suspended high above the ground near a West Coast mine claims one of the site's workers fired a shotgun to scare him off - but the mining company denies the accusation. For nine days, two activists from the group Climate Liberation Aotearoa had been camped in coal buckets at Stockton Mine , north of Westport. The protest was against plans for the Bathurst Resources mine to expand under the government's fast track approvals legislation. One of the pair, Tamati Taptiklis, told RNZ that at 2:30pm Tuesday three shotgun shots were fired into the air nearby. Taptiklis said he could see a person 250 metres away in a Bathurst Resources uniform. They were walking away and lowering a long, thin object. The activist believed that the person was from the company and intended to fire warning shots to scare the pair and encourage them leave the mine. RNZ put these claims to Bathurst Resources chief executive Richard Tacon, who rejected them. "No firearms were let off at any time." Tacon said the company had strict rules and that he did not believe they employed "anyone stupid enough" to commit such an act. Bathurst Resources chief executive Richard Tacon. Photo: Supplied Taptiklis said that his group had also received an online threat from one of the mine's employees that read: "Angry, upset locals have been busy collecting information on you, your organisation and on those within our community that may have assisted you in your recent industrial sabotage. "I would strongly suggest that it would not be very wise for any of you to be seen within our district over the next few months, years, or if at all ever." Tacon said he was not aware of such a threat and would not condone the behaviour if a worker did write the statement. "We certainly don't use threats and innuendo to try to get where we want to be, so you know I do not condone it. "I can understand that there's a lot of angst because of the really existential threat to their livelihoods." Tacon said that he would talk to the police about the claimed threat and the ongoing protest action. Police told RNZ it was aware of broad threats made against the activists at Stockton Mine, but no reports had been made to the agency. The mine had to transport coal by truck because of the protest - which had so far cost the company $270,000. "We have had to put a trucking road bridge in, we have got about ten trucks hauling coal, additional cost is about $30,000 a day," Tacon said. Productivity levels were quite low at the mine, he said. "Everyone is very worried about what is going on. The main topic of conversation is, are they still there? What are we going to do? How are we going to get them out of there?" He said he would not be putting his staff at risk to rescue the protestors. "They are roped on, they obviously have some experience in that, but one slip and there's no coming back, and we can't help them." Tamati Taptiklis said that the point of safety was "interesting" given the environmental and climate damage expansion of the Stockton Mine would have caused. "The impact of opening this new mine will be a huge number of deaths here in Aotearoa and around the world, there's absolutely nothing safe about that." Tacon said he understood that the protestors wanted the company to withdraw from the fast-track legislation. He acknowledged that Bathurst's mining caused damage to ecosystems, but said the company had solid rehabilitation and offsetting programmes. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
16 hours ago
- RNZ News
NCEA overhaul concerns Kura Kaupapa Māori, opportunity to consider own qualifications
A student's book at Te Kura Kaupapa Maori O Takapu Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly Kura Kaupapa Māori have expressed concern about the government's proposal to replace NCEA with a new qualification model, saying kura kaupapa students have only just mastered the current system. Co-chairperson of Te Rūnanga Nui o ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa Rawiri Wright said he supports the establishment of an assessment framework that ensures integrity and mana for Māori learners, but the current proposal fails to accommodate the proven strengths of Kura Kaupapa Māori. "My gut reaction is it's a return to the bad old days of the school certificate regime and that didn't do us any favours as Māori people." But Wright said there could be an opportunity for kura to consider their own qualifications. "Perhaps the time has come for Kura Kaupapa Māori and Te Aho Matua schools to consider establishing our own qualifications and assessment strategies, aligned with the learning programmes of the Māori wānanga across the country." Education Minister Erica Stanford told Nine to Noon there was "too much credit counting" with NCEA. "I can see the system is being gamed... Credits are being used to get students across the line, like participating in a group activity or filling out a form," she said. Rawiri Wright says the proposed replacement was a monocultural, Eurocentric approach to education, he said. Photo: Te Rawhitiroa Bosch But Wright said the NCEA model has provided greater flexibility for Kura Kaupapa. He questioned why the game was being changed now. "It seems to us that our Kura Kaupapa Māori kids and kaiako (teachers) and kura, we got really familiar, we learnt how to play the NCEA game really well, to the point where the ministry now has 15 years of data which shows that our kids have outperformed all other schooling options in the country in terms of NCEA achievement." A Qualifications Authority report from 2024 showed that students at kaupapa Māori schools achieved better NCEA results than their peers at comparable English-medium schools. They had NCEA achievement rates of 63 percent at level 1, 72 percent at level 2 and 73 percent at level 3. Achievement rates for all students in the comparator group of English-medium schools were 54, 66 and 61 percent and for Māori students in those schools the rates were 50, 64 and 56 percent. Wright said the consultation process, which closes 15 September, is a very short window to pull together a high quality meaningful response to the governments proposal. "The minister and the prime minister have said themselves that they want to get something in place before the end of the year so it just means that we all have to be on our game and get our submissions together quickly." The proposed NCEA replacement was a monocultural, Eurocentric approach to education, he said. "The process of education that they're still insisting on foisting upon us is that of a mono-cultural Eurocentric education system which has been in place in the country for 269 years. It has not worked for thousands of Māori and Pasifika students, why on earth would they think these changes are going to make any significant difference to that."
