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Pacific Island links: PNG students protest, Senate aid inquiry, Fijian politics, MSG Leaders Summit and more

Pacific Island links: PNG students protest, Senate aid inquiry, Fijian politics, MSG Leaders Summit and more
Published 18 May 2016   Follow athomasdavis

  • Police are patrolling the two main campuses of the University of Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby following a two week protest by students calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill.
  • The Lowy Institute is hosting our first GE Papua New Guinea Emerging Leaders Dialogue Fellow, Jessica Siriosi, who will be writing for The Interpreter on Bougainville in the coming week. 
  • Devpolicy ran an analysis of the Australian Senate inquiry into Australia’s bilateral aid program in Papua New Guinea, which can be found in full here.
  • The Fiji Times has launched a legal challenge against the decision by the Fijian Government to award an exclusive contract for the publishing of government notices to the other major Fijian newspaper, the Fiji Sun.
  • Biman Prasad, the leader of the National Federation Party, the smaller of the Fijian opposition parties, has been removed as the chair of the Public Accounts Committee and replaced by government whip Ashneel Sudhakar.
  • The postponed Melanesian Spearhead Group Leaders Summit will take place in Papua New Guinea next month, not Vanuatu as was originally planned. Filling the vacant role of director general of the secretariat is likely to be addressed at the summit.
  • The first group of countries to ratify the Paris Climate Agreement are all small island nations. The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat is developing a regional strategy to manage climate change and human mobility in the Pacific.
  • This piece from Devpolicy explores the growth of temporary labour migration from the Pacific to New Zealand.
  • Bal Kama also wrote for The Interpreter on the student protests in PNG protests, explaining the context of student activism in Papua New Guinea and the potential outcomes of the current situation. A news report from NBC PNG also provides an excellent overview below:

 

 



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