French Home Affairs and Overseas minister Gérald Darmanin speaks to local media. Photo: Screenshot
France's Darmanin in Australia to discuss "strategic protection" matters
French Home Affairs and Overseas minister Gérald Darmanin has left New Caledonia on Friday for Australia, where he is scheduled to meet cabinet ministers.
The focus, he said, was in relation to France's "Indo-Pacific" strategy.
"We are working very well with our Australian friends who are also watching New Caledonia's developments very closely. We want to work with them on matters of strategic protection in relation to great powers such as China, which is sometimes behaving in a predatory manner towards our territories".
New speed radars
A new generation of mobile speed radars, dubbed "Parifex", is being introduced in New Caledonia, where latest statistics show 51 persons have died on the roads in 2023.
French delegate minister for Overseas Marie Guévenoux, who is visiting the French Pacific entity this week, said the new generation of speed-monitoring devices will initially cost about 280,000 US dollars and then another 63,000 US dollars per year starting 2025.
The new funds would also be used for road safety awareness campaigns.
The new machine is said to be able to 360-degree scan its surroundings and to take high-resolution pictures.
New Caledonia's road toll is described as four times higher (in percentage) compared to metropolitan France.
The main causes for crashes are excessive speed, not using seat belts and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
New speed radars for New Caledonia's road users. Photo: LNC
'Green fund' signed for New Caledonia
New Caledonia will benefit from a 80-million-Euro "Green fund" focusing on mitigating the effects of climate change in the Southern province.
The fund pact, which is part of a wider French-funded "development contract", was inked on Wednesday between Southern province President Sonia Backès, visiting French Home Affairs and Overseas minister Gérald Darmanin and his delegate minister for Overseas Marie Guévenoux.
It would help reduce coastal erosion on sensitive sites already affected by rising tides, like the Amédée islet which features a lighthouse, a popular excursion site off the capital Nouméa.
Three meteorological observation radars are also to replace older equipment at the local of Météo France station.
The expected upgrade was also expected to boost the capacity to monitor and foresee tropical cyclones.
One of Météo France's radars. Photo: Météo France
Party launches 'school of governance' workshop
French Polynesian party A Here Ia Porinetia was this week holding its first "school of governance", a series of informal workshops aiming at "training" and "informing" people interested in engaging in politics... and even those who have already been elected.
Some of the chapters of those sessions include the way local institutions (such as the local Territorial Assembly -Parliament-) work.
"It's all about making sure people are better informed but mostly that those who have just been elected are more efficient (...) Because we can see very clearly that many of the newly-elected MPs actually don't know much about how all this works", A Here Ia Porinetia co-organiser Nuihau Lorei told Polynésie la 1ère.
The party plans to hold more sessions later this year.
A Flying fox Photo: Supplied
Hunting permits in New Caledonia's Island province
For the first time, hunters in New Caledonia's Island province (North-west of the main island Grande Terre, comprising the islands of Maré, Lifou, Ouvéa and Tiga) are now required to apply for a hunting permit before 1 March.
The permit is delivered free of charge but is not transferable.
The new measure also means that anyone found hunting without a permit will now face a fine of the equivalent of 1,600 US dollars.
New Caledonia has a very long bush hunting tradition, with high on the list of targeted species the "flying fox" fruit bat or the "notu" pigeon.
In recent years, environment and wildlife protection NGOs have expressed concern over the ever-dwindling population of those species which they say is over-hunted.
On occasions, they have managed to get temporary hunting bans enforced to allow the local population of notus and flying foxes to repopulate.