The Pacific Conference of Churches is urging people to follow social-distancing and avoid congregations. Faith alone will not be enough to combat Covid-19, the Conference says. The Conference has told preachers not to claim the pandemic is a punishment from God. Nor may they vilify those who are infected. Reports from around the Pacific region Read more
Another wide-ranging and frank press conference with Pope Francis on his flight home from World Youth Day in Panama raised a number of questions for reporters—and resulted in some wildly divergent headlines. Among the confused questions: Is Pope Francis open to married priests? Is he committed to maintaining celibacy for priests? Will men who are Read more
The prime minister of Fiji Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama says New Zealand and Australia are bad neighbours. He says they are putting their own economic interests ahead of the need to protect Pacific Island nations from the effect of climate change. “I won’t be going to Paris wearing the usual friendly, compliant Pacific smile,” warned Bainimarama. Read more
On my recent visit to the Pacific island of Tuvalu, I was intrigued to discover its unusual sporting story. When the sun sinks, and the baking heat subsides, the 1.7km airplane runway in the capital Funafuti comes to life as the main sports ground on the island with games of football and volleyball taking place Read more
A new book, “New Flags Flying: Pacific Leadership”, was launched in Apia last last Monday. The book describes the hopes and fears of early Pacific political leaders in the period from 1960 to 1990 as islands across the Pacific gained independence or self-government. Ian Johnstone and Michael Powles interviewed the Pacific people in key leadership positions in Read more
Planning permission is being sought to build a $100,000-plus Pacific Island village in Porirua, a city near Wellington in New Zealand. The man making the proposal, Ueli Sasagi, says that with 26 per cent of Porirua’s community made up of Pacific people, it was the ideal place for the proposed village. Ueli, a resource management planner, Read more
This report, authored by Richard Herr and Anthony Bergin, suggests that with rising Chinese influence in the region, the US appears to doubt that Australia can deliver on South Pacific issues. The Pacific Island members of the United Nations now meet under the rubric of the Pacific Small Islands Developing States that excludes Australia. The Melanesian Read more
A severe drought in the Pacific Islands has created a critical water shortage. The island groups of Tuvalu and Tokelau have declared emergencies, relying on bottled water and seeking more desalination machines. Parts of Samoa are starting to ration water. Six months of low rainfall have dried out the islands. Climate scientists say it’s part Read more
Pope Benedict XVI has suggested that New Zealand has a moral responsibility to be a good neighbour to Island States. “Due to its geographical position, your country is able to assist in the development of smaller, more distant countries with fewer resources. Some neighbouring countries, including the Small Island Developing States, look to New Zealand Read more