Here's what is happening in news from around the Pacific today, Wednesday 9 December.
A national dialogue on Tongan democracy and development is being held in Mangere in South Auckland on Saturday. Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
Tongan diaspora get a say
Tongans living outside Tonga get a chance this weekend to have their say about what sort of democracy should prevail in their home country.
A national dialogue on democracy and development is being held in Mangere in South Auckland on Saturday.
Organiser Malakai Koloamatangi said it followed on from a similar event he organised in Tonga just ahead of a snap election in 2017.
He said the Tongan diaspora was very keen to have its say over what is happening back in Tonga.
Westpac withdraws from the Pacific
PNG-based Kina Securities Ltd, which owns Kina Bank, has entered into sale and purchase agreements with Westpac.
Kina Securities has announced it is to acquire 89.91 percent of Westpac's banking operations in PNG and 100 percent of its Fiji operations.
The overall purchase price is $US311 million, or over a billion kina.
The transaction is expected to be complete by the second half of next year, ending Westpac's 110-year history in PNG.
It also effectively leaves only two banks still operating in PNG, after ANZ last year sold its local retail operations to Kina Bank which now only has Bank South Pacific as a competitor.
Bank South Pacific also has operations in Fiji and several other Pacific countries.
Furthermore, Westpac sold its Pacific operations outside of PNG and Fiji to BSP five years ago
Meanwhile, Westpac said it expected the sale to Kina Securities Ltd to boost its core capital by three basis points, but it is factoring in an expected loss of US$170-million from the deal.
Fiji tracking two lows
The Fiji Meteorological Service is tracking two tropical lows which could yet form into cyclones in the region.
One low is located near Samoa and is expected to intensify into a tropical disturbance then drift westwards and pass just to the north of Fiji on Thursday.
The MetService said it could bring more rain and strong winds over the eastern and northern parts of the group.
Another low is located just northeast of Rotuma, and is likely to intensify into a tropical disturbance bringing heavy rain and strong winds by late Thursday.
The MetService said it was expected the two systems will converge, with one of them dominating, gradually intensifying and moving away from Fiji by the weekend.
It's possible this system could then track closer to Vanuatu and New Caledonia, and possibly intensify.
Refugees, asylum seekers can have claims against Aus govt heard
Refugees and asylum seekers held in offshore detention by Australia have won the right to have their claims against the Canberra government heard in the Federal Court.
A director of Australia's National Justice Project, lawyer George Newhouse, said it was a significant blow for Australia's minister for home affairs, Peter Dutton.
Newhouse said the minister had attempted to slow the course of justice for detainees on Nauru and in Papua New Guinea by diverting all of their cases to the country's apex jurisdiction, the High Court.
He claimed a section of the Migration Act prevented claims against government from those held in government custody.
The High Court last week disagreed.