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Pacific news in brief for 10 June
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Facebook / Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme
The Australian Government is taking further steps to improve the protection and wellbeing of Pacific workers under its labour scheme, following reports of exploitation and mistreatment.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Jan Hutton told a roundtable talanoa at the Australian High Commission in Suva there are also concerns relating to worker abuse and absconding.
Hutton said her government has zero tolerance for any form of exploitation.
She said the overwhelming majority of employees and stakeholders engage very positively in the PALM scheme.
She added that a special taskforce looking into the issue of workers absconding found that many workers were misled by false promises of better jobs, often outside the legal program.
Hutton said Australia has introduced new options, such as allowing workers to transfer to different employers if there are issues and these changes have helped reduce disengagement from 10 percent to 5 percent, and she said those numbers continue to drop.
About 400 Fijians are reported to have left the programme since its inception in 2017.
Fiji's Minister for Justice, Siromi Turaga has been appointed as acting Attorney-General.
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka made the appointment after the dismissal of Graham Leung, following the Commission of Inquiry report into the appointment of the now-suspended Commissoner of the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption.
The acting appointment will be in effect until a permanent Attorney-General is appointed.
The Government of the People's Republic of China will fund the repair of Vanuatu's national parliament chamber.
The parliament building has been closed due to structural damage from the December 2024 earthquake.
The
Vanuatu Daily Post
reported Prime Minister Jotham Napat confirmed the funding during a recent press briefing.
An engineer's report has confirmed the building to be unsafe.
Speaker Stephen Felix said the building is a risk is high, especially not knowing when the next earthquake will occur.
Parliament has been operating from a temporary location.
A secondary school student in East New Britain in Papua New Guinea faces seven years in prison for possession of drugs, live ammunition and an offensive weapon.
The 20-year-old student appeared separately from his 116 school mates who were involved in an inter-school fight.
Those students have been fined around US$500 each that they must pay or face a one-year prison sentence.
Magistrate Mesmin said lawlessness in East New Britain is caused by drug abuse.
Guam's push for a United Nations visiting mission to advance its decolonization efforts has hit a roadblock under the Trump administration, with US officials claiming no record of previous approval granted during the Biden presidency.
Executive director of Guam's Commission on Decolonization, Melvin Won Pat-Borja, told the
Guam Daily Post
the setback emerged following his participation in the UN Special Committee on Decolonization in Timor-Leste last month.
The UN visiting mission would allow international observers to assess Guam's progress toward self-determination independently of US reporting.
Guam is one of 17 non-self governing territories worldwide, a designation that requires the administering power - in Guam's case, the United States - to support decolonization efforts under international law.
New Zealand is funding a feasibility study for redevelopment options for Niue's wharf.
The wharf is nearly 100 years old and discussions of an upgrade have been ongoing for years.
Poor weather can make it difficult for ships to deliver supplies.
New Zeland's foreign affairs ministry said while no funds for construction have been committed, the study will outline options around wharf infrastructure for the government of Niue.
Niue is a realm country of New Zealand.
It is very isolated, with typically just one cargo ship visit per month.
Flights from New Zealand arrive weekly or twice weekly - depending on the time of year.
Opposition leader, Douglas Tomuriesa, has replaced the late Sir Julius Chan as leader of the People's Progressive Party.
The National
reported that the sons of Sir Julius welcomed Tomuriesa with a customary ritual of wearing a mis and tabu.
Sinasina-Yongomugl MP Kerenga Kua said: "We must remember that our late founding father Sir Julius concluded his long and distinguished career in the opposition."
