Each Thursday the Lowy Institute's Myer Foundation Melanesia program brings you a selection of reading from and about the Pacific island region.
- Attempts to generate revenue via immigration and citizenship are causing controversy in Vanuatu and Samoa.
- Former Fiji PM Mahendra Chaudhry will appeal against both his conviction and sentence for fraud-related offences. If the appeal against conviction fails he will be ineligible to contest in the forthcoming elections.
- The foreign minister of Marshall Islands argues that Australia's approach to climate change puts a strain on relations with Pacific island states. Meanwhile, Giff Johnson provides a local perspective on Marshall Islands' diplomatic and legal activities.
- The UNDP has released an analysis of the 2010 Household Income & Expenditure Survey of Vanuatu.
- Indonesia has been accused of using 'cheque book diplomacy' to keep West Papua off the UN's Decolonization List ahead of a special regional conference of the Special Decolonization Committee, to be held in Fiji later this month.
- A recent policy brief from the Alfred Deakin Research Institute & Sustineo assesses the impact of donor countries on Pacific development. Spoiler alert: it's not all about aid and New Zealand comes out on top.
- For many in the Hela province of PNG, Exxon Mobil's success in getting LNG flowing is not a cause for celebration.
- Also in PNG, the Governor of the National Capital District, Powes Parkop, has hit out strongly at the use of detention for asylum seekers in his country:
I am under no illusions that this is a delicate and sensitive matter but I believe we can and should adopt a more human and morally superior approach than adopting Australian policy and culture or be blinded by our people's fears and prejudice.