Asia Pacific Report Editor A co-founder of the Polynesian Panthers says the government should allow overstayers to remain in New Zealand after it formally apologises for the Dawn Raids later this month. An emotional Minister for Pacific Peoples, ‘Aupito William Sio, also revealed today harrowing details of his own family’s subjection to the notorious police raids of the 1970s. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday acknowledged the racist policies of National and Labour governments that targeted overstayers by their Pacific ethnicity, despite those of European descent making up the majority of illegal immigrants at that time. Ardern will apologise on behalf…
Author: Kalafi Moala
Jason Brown in Auckland for Islands Business Online Transparency International Pacific adviser Mariam Mathew … funding issues leaves “gaps in our understanding of people’s lived experience of corruption around the world.” Long-standing questions about the fairness of corruption ratings and rankings from Transparency International surveys now have answers. From the Pacific, at least. For example, why was New Zealand dropped from TI’s Global Corruption Barometer (GCB)? “I do know about this because we tried to get NZ included,” says Transparency International New Zealand chair Julie Haggie. “Unfortunately it is a funding issue.” This lack of funding means supposedly more corrupt…
Radio NZ with TOT Admin Staff April 30, 2021: Two of Fiji’s latest cases of Covid-19 are being investigated by authorities to determine the source of transmission for both persons. Last night, the ministry announced five new cases of Covid-19 infections. The new cases come amid 605 tests being carried out in 24 hours. The first two cases were close household contacts of previously announced cases and that both persons had tested positive while in quarantine. Health Secretary James Fong said one of the two new cases is the wife of an earlier positive case from Nausori on Viti Levu,…
The sudden death of RSE worker Fuifui Kula ‘o Lofakaitamaki ‘Ealelei in New Zealand has added a huge burden to the already complex and overloaded difficulties facing the RSE program, and RSE workers from Tonga. Also known as Muni ‘Ealelei, the 36-year-old died on Sunday 16 May in his sleep at the workers’ accommodation at Mr. Apple NZ in Hastings, Hawkes Bay. Initial medical diagnosis was that he had a heart attack, another term for his heart stopping. But Muni’s aunty in Tonga, Sofoni Fakahua who raised him, said he had pneumonia, when she talked with him by phone when…
As the criminal trial of ‘Etuate Lavulavu and his wife Akosita started on Monday 12 April, the question on the minds of many people was not so much whether they will be found guilty or not. Many are asking why it has taken five years for the case to come to trial? The Lavulavus were arrested on March 2016 but the trial has been delayed several times, until Chief Justice Whitten ruled earlier this year that the case must be heard by April 12. Criminal cases like that of the Lavulavus are supposed to be part of the priority cases…
A call to review and repeal abortion legislation in Tonga is part of a number of recommendations presented in a report on Adolescent Unplanned Pregnancy in the Pacific. The research was carried out under the auspices of the University of New South Wales in Sydney (UNSW) and funded by the Australian Government’s Gender Equality Fund for “Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development” program. Every year, according to the report, there are 7.3 million girls under 18 that give birth. Pregnancies among teenagers have increased substantially in the Kingdom of Tonga. And almost all these teen pregnancies are unwanted and unplanned. Researchers…
It’s called the Core Team, but it is the ruling board that is in control of the political party known as PTOA, founded by the late ‘Akilisi Pohiva. The Core Team consists of all the PTOA members of Parliament. The Chairperson is Semisi Sika (TT2), Assistant Mateni Tapueluelu (TT4), Losaline Ma’asi (TT5), Semisi Fakahau (TT6), Penisimani Fifita (TT10), Mo’ale Finau (Ha’api 12), Veivosa Taka (Ha’apai 13), Saia Piukala Vava’u 14). And Siaosi Pohiva of Tongatapu 1, until he quit the Core Team last week. Siaosi Pohiva, eldest son of ‘Akilisi Pohiva, and People’s Representative of Tongatapu 1 for almost 3…
(On February 9, 2021 this article was published on the Fangongo Media Watch website. It is hereby published on Talanoa ‘o Tonga. Three months on, nothing much has changed!) A dead man is still the biggest influence in Tonga’s politics. He is the center of the political dialogue in this politically super-charged island kingdom. Even though dead for almost a year and a half, ‘Akilisi Pohiva for better or for worse, is still the biggest influence in the political affairs of a country divided either against him or for him. The current government led by Rev. Dr. Pohiva Tu’i’onetoa can…
Mr. Lopeti Laikesi Jr. Heimuli, of Kolomotu’a has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer for Infrastructure, Ministry of Infrastructure following an official decision made by the Public Service Commission on the 04th May, 2021 with effect from 10th May 2021 for a period of four (4) years. Mr. Heimuli holds a Bachelor of Engineering Technology (2008) from the University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji. He also holds a Graduate Certificate in Project Management and currently studying towards a Master of Project Management from Aberdeen Robert Gordon University, Scotland. His career in the public service began in January…
The Appeals Court of Samoa has ruled that the impromptu swearing-in of the FAST party as the winner of Samoa’s general election on 24 May was legitimate. As such, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa daughter of Samoa’s first Prime Minister since independence, becomes the first woman Prime Minister of Samoa. The Appeals Court found the 24 May swearing in satisfies the requirements of the Constitution as a legitimate convening of the Legislative Assembly. It added that the previous ruling of the Supreme Court, which did not recognize FAST’s swearing in, relied upon the good faith of other actors who are obligated under…