Development, Indigeneity and existing tables

For real and collective development, we must stop insisting on localising strategies, frameworks, tools, or whatever else our Pacific communities keep getting fed with, because it worked somewhere else. We require

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Opinion: Declaration on U.S.-Pacific Partnership abrogates established order

The United States signed the Declaration on U.S.-Pacific Partnership with fourteen Pacific Island Countries (PICs) in Washington on 29 September 2022. Of the sixteen PICs, members of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF),

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Toa Samoa: One for the history books

So close and yet so far. That was what it came down to as the Toa Samoa valiantly fought the Australia Kangaroos in a 30 – 10 Rugby League World Cup grand final slugfest at the legendary Old Trafford Stadium this

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Sydney Road Blaks: Aboriginal and Island History comes to life

In 1847, a group of Pacific islanders were spotted on the road heading towards the city of Port Phillip (modern-day Melbourne). The ten men were hauling two drays laden with wool bales from the colony of New South

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Movers and Shakers

Vanuatu has sworn in its 13th parliament. Ishmael Kalsakau is the country’s newly elected Prime Minister with Sato Kilman appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Lands. Other cabinet ministers include: John

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Japan’s recycling town: Can it inspire the Pacific?

When the residents of Osaki in southern Japan were first told about new plans for waste management and recycling in their small town, some were unhappy. “They threw cans at us,” said the Assistant Section Chief and

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‘Til death do us part: Village holds out against the waves

As the sun sets over Vanua Levu, Fiji’s second largest island, a gong sounds, calling the people to evening prayers. Waves crash on the shoreline, inching ever closer to the village and threatening their very

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A Holy Vow: Churches attempt a lost cause

On the black sand a child ran, face turned upwards as he chased a butterfly. Oblivious to the encroachment of rising sea levels and the gradual erosion of his village, he ran back and forth - lost in this moment. Fifty

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A cog in Fiji’s history: Site links ancient kingdoms

One account of the origins of Vunisavisavi begins with a young chief setting out from the pre-European kingdom of Verata which was, at the time, a dominant political force. With his retainers, the chief left his home on

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Whispers

PNG’s big bills Papua New Guinea government offices have been able to move back into their premises after temporarily being locked out over non-payment of rent, but the matter had to go to court for that to happen.

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America’s Catch-Up Summit

Spooked by China’s influence in the Pacific Islands, U.S. President Joe Biden hosted an unprecedented summit at the White House for leaders from the Pacific Islands Forum on 28-29 September. It was the culmination of

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Blandness Debilitates Regionalism

It has been a bugbear for me for some time. However, over the years, I have learned that I was not the only one being stressed by this. Others, many in fact, have been equally perturbed by this tendency for the Pacific

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