Pacific news in brief for 1 July
Photo:
RNZ/ Sally Round
Health, education, social welfare and government salaries have receives a boost in the Niue government's new NZ$12.5 million (US$7.6m) deficit budget.
Last week, the island's finance minister announced the largest expenditure of the government is to cover the salaries of its workforce and the cost of social services.
TV Niue
reported the health department gets the highest increase in this budget of more than $880,000, a 26 percent boost.
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown has announced several new initiatives aimed at enhancing firearm regulation and safety across the Pa Enua (outer islands).
Cook Islands News
reported this includes the resumption of police-issued ammunition and plans to simplify the driving licensing process for tourists.
Speaking in parliament, Brown confirmed that the Cook Islands Police has reinstated its role as the official supplier of ammunition to the Pa Enua.
The move is expected to assist island communities in managing issues such as wild animal control.
East Sepik Governor Allan Bird has raised concerns over a drop in chicken sales nationwide.
Bird said the government banned the importation of frozen chicken from Australia and New Zealand with the pretext of protecting the Papua New Guinea industry from foreign competitors and diseases.
He said it was a short-sighted decision and now as imported chicken stock runs out, the impact is being felt around the country.
He said imported chickens retail at about 22 kina ($US5.33) per kilo, while locally produced chickens retail at about 40 kina.
Bird said local chicken production will remain expensive because the chicken feed is imported and 80 per cent of the cost of producing a chicken is the feed cost.
A large Samoan festival - the Teuila Festival - has been cancelled this year.
The festival, which features cultural performances and the Miss Samoa pageant, has been cancelled to avoid a timing clash with Samoa's general election.
The Miss Samoa pageant has been rescheduled, to run from 27 October to 9 November.
Fijian Nazhat Shameem Khan has been elevated to the topmost prosecutorial position at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The Fiji Times
reported the Office of the Prosecutor at the ICC has announced that deputy prosecutors Nazhat Shameem Khan and Mame Mandiaye Niang have taken over leadership, following prosecutor Karim Khan KC's temporary leave of absence.
In May Khan, who is British, stepped aside pending the outcome of a United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services investigation into alleged misconduct.
Nazhat Shameem Khan is a Fijian diplomat and former judge.
Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka is poised to attend Papua New Guinea's 50th independence anniversary celebrations in Port Moresby on 16 September.
Local media reports Rabuka praising his PNG counterpart James Marape for his leadership in strengthening the region and expressed Fiji's commitment to maintaining strong diplomatic ties with PNG.
Fiji and PNG established diplomatic relations in 1975 and continue to build on their traditional, political, and economic partnership.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Pacific news in brief for 3 July
This handout photograph released by Buckingham Palace on 25 January , 2025, shows Britain's King Charles III, posing for a photograph in the library at Balmoral, Scotland in Autumn 2024. Photo: MILLIE PILKINGTON / AFP King Charles III has been made a "care-holder" of one square kilometre of the Moana Mahu marine protected area, as a gift from Niue. Last week, ministers, indigenous leaders, businesses and investors gathered at a conference convened by the UK Government in London to discuss how to drive private money into restoring and conserving nature and natural services. At the reception after the meeting, Niue natural resources minister Mona Ainu'u presented King Charles with Niue honey and a certificate showing he had been made a Moana Mahu "care-holder". Niue said it is an innovative finance solution to protect oceans for future generations. Police in Papua New Guinea have caught an assistant policeman who allegedly freed his partner and twelve others from police custody in Simbu province. However 12 of the escapees are still on the run and pose a significant risk to the public. The Post-Courier reported the auxiliary officer and the woman, facing trial for murder, were arrested on Saturday after a public tip-off. Provincial police commander Superintendent Muzac Rubiang said the officer facilitated the breakout on 17 June by supplying spare keys to the cell block. Superintendent Rubiang said the escapees are dangerous, with eight accused of murder and one of rape. The assistant officer has now been charged with 13 counts of aiding prisoners to escape while his partner is charged with escaping from lawful custody. A new study has found the Papua New Guinea Government lost 2.59 billion kina - more than US$600 million - to the illicit alcohol market. The National reported illicit alcohol makes up 71 percent of the PNG alcohol market. Economic and financial consulting director Robert Southern has presented the report to the prime minister. He said homebrew alcohol makes up a third of the whole market. Fiji's Ministry of Finance has expressed confidence that the country will be removed from the European Union blacklist following an upcoming review. FBC reported Permanent Secretary for Finance Shiri Gounder saying the export incentive deduction remains the main hurdle keeping Fiji on the blacklist. Gounder said they are having a review with the EU in the next four to six months, "and with the current circumstances and the situation as we have laid out, we are very confident that we should get out of the blacklist". He said they will make a decision about the future of the export deduction, and whether they should modify it to suit EU requirements, at a later point.
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Catholic Church voices opposition to PNG's Christian nation declaration
Christianity will now be reflected in the Fifth Goal of the Constitution, and the Bible will be recognised as a national symbol. Photo: RNZ Pacific The Catholic Church in Papua New Guinea is telling the government it was wrong to declare PNG a Christian country. Earlier this year, the PNG parliament passed a constitutional amendment formally recognising the nation as a Christian country. Prime Minister James Marape declared he was happy to see this written into the country's constitution The Post-Courier reports the Rabaul Archbishop Rochal Tamutai warning that this threatens constitutional freedoms and risks damaging the country's future. He told a parliamentary committee that the "claim that PNG is a Christian country is not supported by law." He said the Catholic Church disagrees with the government's move, saying adding it conflicts with the constitution's guarantee of freedom of religion and freedom of conscience. The archbishop's remarks cam amid a broader presentation on the influence of evolving technology on church authority, but he took the opportunity to confront what he called one of the major topics in PNG today. His concerns centres on the legal, social, and theological implications of attempting to legislate Christianity into state law. The archbishop said politicians are not theologians and risk entering spiritual territory without the understanding to handle it responsibly. And he asked "if we declare PNG a Christian nation," he asked, "whose version of Christianity are we referring to? We're not all the same." He warned of a future where attending church could become a legal obligation, not a matter of faith. "If PNG is supposedly a Christian nation, police could walk into your village and tell you: it's not just a sin to skip church on Sunday it's illegal and get you arrested.' That's how dangerous this path could be."
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Bougainville parliament wrapping up ahead of election process
Bougainville President Ishmael Toroama said the government has been consciously grooming young people to step into more roles in the region's burgeoning bureaucracy. Photo: Autonomous Bougainville Government Bougainville President Ishmael Toroama says he is "committed to building a government that is efficient, accountable, and fully capable of leading Bougainville into the future." Speaking to the final session of parliament, ahead of the September elections , he said that independence remains the ultimate goal of Bougainville's political leadership. Toroama has, for the past five-year term, relied on a five-pronged strategy to achieve this goal. This strategy, he said, aimed to establish control and create a society where citizens can become responsible and law-abiding. He said economic development is a key part of this, with the "Anchoring Bougainville Economy" programme, with revenue generation far below the level needed for self reliance. This allows the establishment of a Bougainville-owned investment registry, a restructure the Bougainville Tax office and a new independent taxation system. It also includes "the responsible reopening of the Panguna mine which is a vital economic asset that holds the potential to sustain a significant portion of Bougainville's budget." With an eye to the future, Toroama said the government has also been consciously grooming young people to step into more roles in the region's burgeoning bureaucracy. He said "we are now working to transfer key powers from the national government to Bougainville so that we can manage our own services, develop our own policies and build a public service that truly understands and serves our communities." Toroama said it is about "real, practical control of our schools, our health services, our economy and our laws." "Our journey towards self-determination must be built on solid, long-term planning," he said. "Our government has moved beyond short-term responses to focus on where we want Bougainville to be not just tomorrow, but in the years and decades ahead." Toroama also talked of the issues Bougainville still faces, including the financial dependence in the Papua New Guinea national government. He said law and order issues, especially armed groups who remain outside the formal peace framework, remains a major problem. "Bougainville still carries the scars of unresolved historical grievances, and pockets of social division linger in some communities."
