Author: TMC Palau

All players playing at the 2026 Rugby League World Cup will be paid AU$850 per week as a standard match fee, but individual federations can pay their players more if they can afford to.The International Rugby League clarified this to RNZ Pacific on Thursday, following reports that some member associations are concerned that Australian players are reportedly due to receive AU$40,000 flat payment per player.That deal is being reported to have been made between the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) and the Rugby League Players’ Association (RLPA).That match fee will be equally paid to both male and female players in…

New Zealand’s spy agency says it is increasingly coming across espionage activity in the Pacific – and has identified individuals connected to an unnamed foreign intelligence service.The NZSIS reports that individually, Pacific states remain vulnerable to attempts at subversion, both in politically, and in the community.Security expert Al Gillespie told RNZ’s Midday Report that China has been singled out as a regional threat like never before.”In previous reports you’ve seen it also making that point about Russia, or about Iran. But they’re not mentioned this time. But China is,” he said”And it’s mentioned not just with regards to domestic interference…

An incursion by a Chinese research vessel into a tiny Pacific Island nation’s waters has led to accusations that Beijing is carrying out a mass surveillance program. Palau’s President, Surangel Whipps Jr, said China’s research vessels enter the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) uninvited and “do whatever they want.”“What are they looking for, and what is the ultimate intention?” he said, according to the ABC.The national broadcaster reported at the end of May that China’s 89-metre icebreaker, Ji Di, ventured 74 km into Palau’s waters and was moving slowly through the island nation’s maritime zone. The Ji Di was officially…

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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…