By Harriet Smith, an intern with the Lowy Institute's Melanesia Program.
- An opinion piece in the New York Times by columnist Roger Cohen has drawn international attention to Australia’s offshore detention centres, and the asylum seekers detained there.
- Foreign Minister Julie Bishop reiterated the government’s position on the offshore detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru at a recent talk on human rights at the Lowy Institute.
- Australia’s Pacific Minister Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells has attended a Green Climate Fund meeting in Samoa.
- The University of PNG has said that unless the government meets the terms of the agreement which brought protesting students back to class, notably outstanding funding commitments, the university may close.
- Around 6000 West Papuans demonstrated on Human Rights Day, calling for a self-determination referendum.
- Aid has arrived to Makira province in the Solomon Islands, the area worst off after Friday’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake.
- New research has suggested that traditionally prepared kava could help treat or prevent some types of cancer.
- A crowdfunding campaign in PNG is hoping to raise funds to upgrade women-only busses in Port Moresby.
- The first microstate visas to Australia have been issued to Kiribati citizens who will work on Hayman Island, under a visa scheme announced last year by then Prime Minister Tony Abbot.
- Research from the Lowy Institute examining the effects of increasing Pacific migration to Australia has shown that it would have significant development benefits for the region.