A weekly wrap-up of news, issues and current affairs from the Pacific. The programme is broadcast nationwide every Saturday evening on Radio New Zealand National and is produced by the newsroom of Radio New Zealand International. The following rundown is supplied from the broadcaster’s news system:
1. An academic [i.e. Brij Lal] says the Fiji Labour Party is likely to survive after the conviction of its leader, Mahendra Chaudhry, but will have to take a new form.
2. The Chief Administrator in the Papua New Guinea province of Bougainville [i.e. Chris Siriosi] says once the public are informed about the new mining law they will see the protections it offers.
3. An advocate [i.e. Ian Rintoul] says the Australian government's haphazard policies towards asylum seekers have left genuine refugees on Nauru and Papua New Guinea, with nowhere to go.
4. The Solomon Islands National Disaster Management Office says it will no longer assist those still living in a Honiara evacuation centre following flash floods in April.
5. An academic [i.e.Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka] says the prevailing political culture in Solomon Islands has taken the focus of elections away from issues of policy and law.
6. The French Polynesian government is planning to declare the proposed Mahana Beach Resort in Tahiti a "special zone" with different labour laws than the rest of the territory.
7. Amid the stories being aired as the centennial commemorations of World War One start, is the tragic account of the 150 soldiers from Niue who volunteered to serve King George the 5th. Historian and the wife of a diplomat, Margaret Pointer, wrote an account, called 'Tagi Tote e Loto Haaku or My Heart is Crying a Little' after living on the island for several years.