Workers in Fiji may enjoy a reputation as being super-friendly and bursting with positive vibes and good will. The reality though is that they have no rights.
The Australian Human Rights Commission today released its 2010 Christmas Island immigration detention report which recommends an end to mandatory detention and offshore processing on the islands.
By Rich Bowden: The Pacific nation of Fiji’s water crisis continues this week with the water supply of a small island reaching critical levels, according to local reports. The Fiji Times has reported that over 100 families on Druadrua Island, off Vanua Levu, the second largest island of the country, have been identified by...
Fijian authorities are blaming the El Nino weather pattern for the water crisis that has emerged in the country's Western Division.
By Damian Baker: As part of our new focus on development and human rights issues, theangle.org is reposting old articles printed on the site which still have a high degree of revelance. We start with co-founder Damian Baker’s trip to Papua New Guinea in November 2009 where he encountered the lives of the people...
An integrated water management system, though essential to protect developing nations facing climate change, is but one part of a wider “climate proofing” system, a report released by the UK-based sustainable development NGO Forum for the Future has said.
Reading back over my very first article for theangle.org it's interesting to note the changes (or lack of them) to Australia’s policies regarding treatment of asylum seekers.
Melbourne-based writer, blogger and activist Kevin Rennie originally wrote this article on an East Timor solution for refugees for an international audience as part of the European Journalism Centre's Th!nk3 blogging project. We reprint it here with his kind permission.
ADB Assistant Chief Economist Juzhong Zhuang, editor of a new book on inequality and inclusive growth in Asia, says rising growth rates in Asia have masked rising inequality, leading to two faces of Asia - one shining and the other suffering.
when you look at the statistic that refugee and humanitarian visas make up just 0.03 percent of all visas granted last year, you wonder why this issue has become so politicized and such a sticky policy issue leading into the election.
Asian and Pacific countries are amongst the beneficiaries as Australia's Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, Mr Bob McMullan, announced earlier in the month his government would provide grants for 44 clean drinking water and sanitation projects throughout the world.
Paul Bateson, of the Blue Mountains-based sustainability consultants EcoSTEPS, recently took time out from a tourism-focused sustainability meeting in Samoa to present the country's prime minister with a Socceroos shirt.
With the issue of overseas aid emerging as an election issue in Australia (as indicated in an earlier Th!nk3 post) the tabloid attacks/exposé on government expenditure and a series of electoral forums on making poverty history have begun.
By Sue Pennicuik and Bob Hale: ‘Fair Share’ was the theme of the second Asia Pacific Greens Network Congress (APGN), hosted by the Green Party Taiwan and Taiwan Friends of the Global Greens, that we attended on the weekend of 30 April – 2 May. It was a huge effort for the small group...
Developing countries, including those in the Asia Pacific region, require increased funding and community cooperation to ensure schools have access to clean water and adequate sanitation facilities, according to a new UNICEF report.
A growing population and increasing industrialisation have been listed as the chief threats to water supply in the Asia Pacific, according to a UN-sponsored report released last month.
Kevin Rennie interviews Clive Porabou — representative of the people of Bougainville — about the Mekamui people's continued opposition to the giant Panguna copper mine.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to discuss asylum seekers with his hosts as he arrives in Australia for a three-day visit.
Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare today tabled in Parliament the results of a three-year corruption investigation into PNG's Finance Department , promising people would "shudder in awe" at the level of corruption exposed.
Two researchers from Western Australia's Murdoch University have combined to dispel the myths and misconceptions surrounding those seeking asylum in Australia.
Regional editor Alex Schlotzer takes a look at what lies ahead for the big, and not-so-big, political players in the Southeast Asia/Pacific in 2010.
Political analyst Alex Schlotzer takes a look at the important events and examines Australia's influence in the Pacific's political year of 2009.
By Rich Bowden: Former Australian of the Year Prof Tim Flannery has praised a climate agreement reached by world leaders at Copenhagen and described Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s role in the key talks as “outstanding.” In a online statement from the Danish capital, author, leading climate scientist and commentator Prof Flannery, speaking on behalf...
By Alex Schlotzer New Zealand is far better placed to be a stronger regional partner, or “peacekeeper” (or even “sheriff”) than Australia. Some will decry me as being “un-Australian” or worse but in my humble opinion our neighbours from across the ditch are in a superior position to exercise successful regional diplomacy than Australia....
By Rich Bowden: As key climate talks in Copenhagen enters its second week, Australian Government climate adviser Ross Garnaut has said relocation of Pacific climate refugees was “inevitable.” Professor Garnaut, who conducted the Australian Government’s climate review, told Radio Australia that rising sea levels in the Pacific would inevitably force relocation of many low-lying...
By Damian Baker Joint venture partners in Papua New Guinea’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) development announced the go ahead of one of the country’s largest resources projects in a statement earlier this week. The AU$16.5 billion project will proceed, subject to the signing of final agreements. The consortium of companies involved in the operation...
By Rich Bowden: On the eve of key climate talks in Copenhagen, an independent Pacific think tank has called for world leaders attending the conference to hear the region’s plight in battling rising sea levels. With the low-lying Pacific nations struggling to adapt to a changing environment brought about by climate change, the Pacific...
By Rich Bowden: Documents and emails purporting to show manipulation of climate data and suppression of dissenting material have been hacked from the University of East Anglia, U.K. The university has confirmed the theft of documents though said it is impossible to say if all the data now released on the Internet is genuine....
By Damian Baker: The Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project is the biggest of its type in the history of PNG. Oil was found in the southern highlands 20 years ago but gas has emerged as the energy hope for the future. An Australian company, Oil Search, is in the process of developing its gas...
By Damian Baker: Blood could again be spilled in the autonomous Papua New Guinea region of Bougainville if negotiations to restart the Panguna gold and copper mine are successful. Remnant members of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA), now known as the Mekamui Defence Force, have said their demands must be met before they will...
By the NewsHooker: Sitting in the comfortable surrounds of the Bismark Ramu offices in northeastern Madang, with broadband, air-conditioning and the relative comforts I’m used to in Australia, PNG and its accompanying drama seem a little like a surreal dream. The highs of making new Papuan friends and diving in the islands are balanced...
Fiji's relations with its neighbours hit a new low as its leader announced the expulsion of the Australian and New Zealand ambassadors.
Well I'm on the road again to an area called Kainantu. The road is good, the sun is out, reggae music is being played on the bus stereo and the countryside passing my window is breathtaking.
theangle.org's Damian Baker previews his next assignment in the eastern Highlands town of Kainantu.
Porgera is nestled in a valley in the PNG highlands shadowed on one side by 300-meter rock walls, with all other approaches covered in dense tropical jungle.
Many Pacific nations face inundation by rising sea levels blamed on warming global temperatures, a Fiji-based climate expert has said.
A regional emergency response to yesterday's tsunami has swung into place as the death toll rises to 140, with many missing.
Reports of death and destruction in Samoa as a massive earthquake in the South Pacific triggered a tsunami, killing at least three and injuring 50.
Fiji's military leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama has used an address to the UN to defend a 2006 coup in which he came to power.
Hundreds of people in PNG have been reported killed and thousands infected by cholera, dysentery and influenza.
The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Kamalesh Sharma has announced the suspension of Fiji from the Commonwealth with immediate effect for failure to commit to 2010 elections.
Fiji's interim leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama has slammed international media reports linking him to a bid for the country's vacant presidency.
Commonwealth, Fiji agree to keep open lines of negotiations despite a disagreement over the country's return to democracy.
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The Papua New Guinea Opposition has called for the resignation of Prime Minister Michael Somare, blaming him for rampant corruption in the country.
Australian PM Kevin Rudd has rejected calls for an uprising against the recalcitrant rule of Fijian leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama.
By Rich Bowden Img: Oxfam International logo. Aid organisation Oxfam has released a report on the eve of the Pacific Islands Forum calling for development of the Pacific Island nations to be prioritised over a standard free trade agreement. Delegates and press have begun arriving for the annual four-day forum which starts in Cairns,...
By Rich Bowden Img: Fiji’s Parliament House, Suva. Credit: jaredw_1986 New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully has declared the Commonwealth’s decision to give Fiji a month to commit to holding elections next year or risk banishment as a Commonwealth member as a “clear ultimatum” to the military government. However Fiji has said it would...
Img: East Timor President Jose Ramos Horta. Credit: Jeffrey Kingston. East Timor’s President Jose Ramos Horta speaks to the ABC’s Jim Middleton about the five newsmen killed in Balibo, East Timor on the eve of the Indonesian invasion in December 1975. In this video Ramos Horta gives a fascinating insight into the events which...
By Rich Bowden Img: Morning Star, the flag of the Free West Papua Movement. A representative of the Free West Papua Movement (OPM) has denied members of his organisation were responsible for for the recent killings at the giant Grasberg gold and copper mine in Indonesia’s Papua province. The news comes as the doctor...
By Rich Bowden Img: Grasberg gold and copper mine. Credit: Alfindra Primaldhi Indonesian law enforcement officials have confirmed that a security guard working at the giant Grasberg mine has been killed, one day after Australian Drew Grant was shot in an apparent ambush. Twenty-nine-year-old Grant, worked for the US mining company Freeport McMoRan, the...
