Author: TMC Palau

The Minister for Pacific Peoples has denied that a recent law change ruling out late enrolment will disenfranchise Pasifika voters.However, others beg to differ, echoing a report from the government’s own Attorney-General at the time this change and other voter restictions were announced.The report said they would adversely affect Pacific people and be inconsistent with people’s rights.The change means that in the upcoming November general election, voters have to enrol 13 days before election day, after the government ended the ability for eligible voters to enrol and cast special votes during the voting period.In the report, former Attorney-General Judith Collins…

Papua New Guinea’s agricultural production has been in steady decline for more than two decades, and continued emphasis on policies and legislation will not reverse the trend without a fundamental change in how farming is carried out on the ground. The decline began around 1990 with the Bougainville crisis, low world commodity prices and the weakening of government research and extension services. Since then, successive governments — those of Grand Chief Michael Somare, Peter O’Neill and now James Marape — have tried interventions including the National Agriculture Development Plan (NADP), the Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Project (PPAP), the Papua New…

Schools in several areas of Papua New Guinea have been shortening class times due to El Niño.El Niño is the warm phase of the El Nino/La Nina Southern Oscillation (ENSO) that occurs across the tropical Pacific Ocean.NBC New Ireland reported revised operating schedules were announced last week across all education levels in the province.Early childood education (ECE) were to finish at 10am daily, and primary school classes at 12pm.Secondary school schedules were reduced from eight periods a day to six.School officials were told to monitor available water supplies, ​suspend or modify sporting and outdoor activities during extreme heat, and ​monitor…

Māori and Pacific people have a lower stigma towards people with mental illness than Europeans and Asians, according to a University of Otago study.It found integrating Māori and Pacific attitudes towards mental illness into health campaigns may result in a less judgemental New Zealand.Using data from the long running New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS), the study examined more than 58,000 participants’ ‘ratings of warmth’ towards those with mental illness.Lead author Issac Jamieson told RNZ the study analysed the relationship between ethnicity and mental health stigma in Aotearoa.”Stigma has many different components to it, and we focused just on…

The Forum Fisheries Agency is shifting its focus to value retention and economic development for its members.FFA Director-General Noan David Pakop said the shift was critical for members as Pacific tuna stocks remain among the healthiest in the world.This was a key aim laid out in the Vakamanu Regional Pacific Fisheries Strategy 2026-2035, adopted by Fisheries Ministers in Wellington, New Zealand in JulyThe strategy was presented to Pacific Islands Forum Foreign MInister in Suva last Friday by Pakop and the Pacific Community (SPC) Deputy Director-General Dr Andrew Jones.The Vakamanu strategy includes both key elements of the East New Britain Initiative…

Preliminary results are starting to come in for the Cook Islands general election.As of 10pm local time, preliminary results indicated the incumbent prime minister and Cook Islands Party leader Mark Brown had easily won the Takuvaine-Tutakimoa seat.Brown had 269 votes, while the next best placed was Davina Hina Te Raurea Joan Hosking-Ashford of the Democratic Party with 103.In other preliminary results for leaders of the main parties, Teariki Heather, the leader of the United Party won the Murienua seat with 320 votes, more than double that of the second placed Cook Islands Party candidate, Nooroa Baker.In an upset, the Democratic…

The Pacific Games Council has given the thumbs-up to Tahiti’s preparation for the 2027 Pacific Games.Chief executive Andrew Minogue told RNZ Pacific from Sydney on Wednesday the host country is doing a great job in getting the Games ready.”It was a very good week in Tahiti last week,” Minogue said.The week saw both the Pacific Games Council general assembly, where representatives of the 24 participating nations and territories were present, and the Pacific Games Council executive board meet in Pape’ete, hearing from the French Polynesian government, the Tahiti 2027 organising committee and stakeholders.”I think everybody came away very happy knowing…

1 / 8 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Jonathon Guthrie, left, global director for operations at Norwegian People’s Aid; U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Lance Okamura, middle, deputy commanding general for U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) Homeland Affairs; Jennifer Anson, right, national security coordinator for the Republic of Palau; and U.S. Soldiers assigned to the 74th Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company (EOD), 303rd EOD Battalion, 8th Military Police Brigade, 8th Theater Sustainment Command, check the detonation site after the disposal of unexploded World War II-era white phosphorus munition in Koror, Palau, Aug. 2, 2026. At the request of the Palauan government, U.S.…

A number of Pacific Islands countries have joined the United States in effectively accusing China of skirting the rules after Beijing’s recent nuclear-capable missile test in the Pacific.A joint statement released by the US government on August 11th implicitly claimed that China gave the world less than 24 hours notice before launching a dummy warhead in South Pacific waters, near Tuvalu, in early July.The statement had four Pacific Islands Forum country signatures, including New Zealand, Australia, and two island states which both recognise Taiwan over China – the Marshall Islands and Palau.It comes just days after a PIF Foreign Ministers…

Palau is a western Pacific island nation comprising about 300 islands, located in the Northern and Eastern hemispheres. Read more about Palau, Location, Language, Latest News Palau Latest News Seabirds have returned to Palau’s Ulong Island, helping nearby coral reefs recover just one year after invasive rats were removed. About Palau It is an island nation located in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of a tightly clustered archipelago of approximately 300 islands with a total land area of 458 sq.km. It is geographically positioned in both the Northern and Eastern hemispheres of the Earth. Palau shares maritime borders with…