Participants at the 2023 Pacific Feminist Forum in Fiji. Photo: Pacific Feminist Forum 2023
Fiji - feminist forum
The Pacific Feminist Forum is underway this week at the Pearl Resort in Fiji.
More than one hundred and fifty feminists, women's rights defenders and human rights activists from twenty countries in the Pacific region are attending.
The Fiji Women's Rights Movement said activists were challenged to continue to fight for each other and speak out against the injustices faced by women and girls in the different Pacific communities.
During the three day forum, Pacific feminists will reflect and strategise on key issues around gender equality and women's human rights, particularly urgent as the forum has been organised after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which further exacerbated the challenges faced by women globally.
"Feminist work is to change civilization so it's necessarily hard and complex as much as it can be joyous. It is tough and beautiful - that's the reality of doing work that matters," DIVA for Equality Fiji's (DIVA Fiji) Political Advisor Noelene Nabulivou said.
Tonga - dawn raid
Tonga's Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni Hu'akavameiliku says he has raised concerns with New Zealand's Prime Minister Chris Hipkins about recent reports of a dawn raid conducted on a Tongan overstayer in Auckland.
Hu'akavameiliku met with Hipkins in England where he was attending King Charles III's coronation.
He said Hipkins had reassured him that dawn raids on overstayers would not be repeated in the future.
It was the Tongan leader's first first face-to-face meeting with Hipkins, who became New Zealand's 41st Prime Minister in January.
Vanuatu - cabinet
The Vanuatu Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau has made a minor reshuffle in his cabinet after the Minister of Internal Affairs, Torba MP, Christophe Emelee resigned for personal reasons.
Emelee told PM Kalsakau he felt unable to continue as a minster but intended to stay on as a backbencher.
Kalsakau has appointed Rick Tchamako Mahe as the new Internal Affairs Minister, while the Santo MP, Gaetan Pikioune, takes over his old post as the Minister of Health.
Northern Marianas - hospital
The only hospital in the Northern Marianas (CNMI) has agreed to pay the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation $US525,000 a month for a year to avoid having its power and water supply cut.
The Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation owes the utilities company over $US50million in outstanding bills.
With negotiations at a standstill and disconnection looming on Thursday last week, it took an intervention from CNMI governor Arnold Palacios and Lt. governor David Apatang to secure an agreement.
The final figure reached is a compromise given the hospital only wanted to pay $US225,000 per month but the utility company was demanding it pay $US725,000 per month to cover ongoing bills and service its outstanding debts.
Pacific/Australia - sheep
Pacific Islanders could be working in shearing sheds across Australia by spring if negotiations between industry groups and the government go well.
Accoridng to Sheep Central, if an agreement is reached then training could begin as early as August under the Pacific-Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme.
A longtime champion of the scheme and wool producer Robert Ingram said an industry representative group is finalising a proposal to the federal government to have PALM workers engaged by a New South Wales shearing contractor this year.
Ingram, who has been working on wool industry access to the PALM scheme since 2016, said it is finally approaching fruition.
He told Sheep Central issues on the table at the moment to be finalised include union participation in the industry group and ministerial approval of the new PALM scheme procedures and guidelines released last week - which will need to align with the recommendations in the federal government's recent migration review.
Nauru - funding
Nauru has been given funding from the UN Adaptation Fund for projects in fisheries reslience and aquaculture.
It has been given $US8 million which the secretary for the Department of Environmental Management and Agriculture Berilyn Jeremiah calls a milestone achievement for Nauru in terms of climate resilience.
Jeremiah said it would allow the island to solve issues in the coastal fisheries and aquaculture sector and improve food security, nutrition and ecosystem health.
The project components include strengthened policy and planning strategies, together with increased technical abilities of civil servants and communities through awareness raising campaigns.
It will also look at improved food security and nutrition through farmed fish supply, and increased resilience of ecosystems and adaptive capacity of communities for adaptation planning and environmental protection.