Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: A bolder and greener government
[caption id="attachment_13635" align="alignright" width="150"] Dr Bryce Edwards.[/caption] The Labour-led government is looking bolder, smarter, and greener than it did a week ago. Its announcement of the ban on new gas and oil exploration in the seas around New Zealand has been viewed as a defining moment for the new government. But critics insist the policy is either intrinsically flawed, or doesn’t do enough. [caption id="attachment_16195" align="alignleft" width="400"] Sedco Rig off Port Taranaki, New Plymouth with Paritutu Rock and Mt Taranaki in the background. Image courtesy of Oil and Gas New Zealand.[/caption] Richard Harman has an excellent analysis of the new policy, saying “It may turn out to be a defining moment for Ardern’s Government; a bold rebranding that turns Labour a greener shade of red” – see: Defining moment for Ardern. As Jacinda Ardern put it to Harman, “We are bold… That will be a defining feature for us… We will be willing to take bold action, to take action, to take risks on the big stuff.” Harman compares the policy to when Labour was last in government. At that time Ardern was working for Associate Minister of Energy, Harry Dynhoven, who “presided over an aggressive Government policy which saw it chase big international players, dangling tax incentives and reduced royalties in an attempt to kick-start interest in areas like the Great South Basin.” Labour is now very much targeting the youth vote, which takes climate change very seriously. Harman says the latest announcement “was a relatively cheap policy to implement as it cemented in its youth vote base and paid its dues to the Greens.” And he points out that the exploration ban comes on the heels of the “Government Policy Statement on transport and ending of large-scale irrigation subsidies”. The exploration ban is applauded by conservative commentator Martin van Beynen, who says “it demonstrates this Government is prepared to make uncomfortable changes we all know need to happen” – see: Government’s oil move atones for our environmental sins. He argues that such boldness, based on principle, will be respected by the public even if it is painful, because “the electorate can be surprisingly forgiving on points of principle”. According to van Beynen, if this policy is successful it might well push the Government to go even bolder: “The stance also has the benefit of not appearing as a major cost item on Grant Robertson’s coming budget. With an important environmental notch on its belt, the Government might feel emboldened to deal more bravely with income inequality and poverty next. This will involve some real pain and might force the Government to throw off the shackles of the budgetary rules regarding spending as proportion of GDP.” This article by van Beynen, like many others, emphasises Ardern’s claim that climate change is her generation’s nuclear free moment. Nadine Higgins says the decision is a “line in the sand” that will be challenging to many people, because this is a rare case of real “leadership” rather than the usual “reflectorship” that Labour and other parties typically practice, whereby they do what is popular rather than what is right – see: Jacinda’s ‘nuclear-free moment’ puts Government one step ahead of the public. Higgins says, “There have been many reforms that went against the tide of public opinion at the time but were later lauded as a seminal moment in history that happened not a minute too soon… In the decades to come, I envisage us looking back on this week’s decision about oil and gas through a similar lens.” Similarly, an editorial in the Wanganui Chronicle says that, although there is plenty of criticism of the new policy, “it may be that we look back on this ban the way we look back at our nuclear free stance, or being first to give women the vote, or the 1981 Springbok tour protests. Divisive at the time but we ripped the scab off and they’re now a source of pride” – see: Ripping the scab off oil exploration. Is the policy really such a big deal? Although the articles by Richard Harman and Martin van Beynen emphasise the boldness of the new oil and gas ban, they also make some very good points about its shortcomings. Harman suggests the Government might have simply made a virtue out of reality, as offshore exploration applications appear to have dried up anyhow: “the offshore petroleum exploration industry in New Zealand has been in the doldrums now for the past two years and that it may well have turned out that even if the Government had offered up blocks of ocean for exploration, there may have been no takers.” He quotes a recent industry report: “Interest in New Zealand’s annual oil and gas block offers remains at an all-time low, declining from a peak of 15 new exploration permits awarded in 2014, to just one in each of the past two rounds.” And van Beynen points out how slowly the change will occur, and that under the Government’s policy there might yet be a boom in offshore oil extraction: “The oil change was a bit like the last National Government announcing it was raising the age of superannuation to 67 in a year so far away that it was academic for most people. Radical change to the oil industry, it is not. About 30 existing exploration permits will continue until at least 2030 and viable oil and gas finds made under those permits could mean production for years after that. We could still have a massive oil industry off the coast of Canterbury and Southland and more onshore wells in Taranaki.” Will the policy have any real impact? The oil and gas extraction industry claims the change will do nothing for climate change, saying the problem can only be tackled at the “demand side” rather than the “supply side”. If New Zealand stops producing oil and gas, this will not necessarily reduce its use – but instead just lead to importing more energy. This is also a point made by Hamish Rutherford: “This will feel good for environmental activists, but unless there are more significant moves to dampen demand, all this will do will be to grant more geopolitical power to countries in the Middle East and of the likes of Venezuela, holder of the world’s largest oil reserves” – see: A knock for the regions, but exploration end won’t curb NZ oil demand. Rutherford says the ban will have “little or no impact on motorists or fliers. Until the Government takes steps to tax users of fossil fuels, the impact on the climate will be limited.” He argues that the policy “seems moderate”. It is for this reason the National Party has been using the term “virtue signaling” about the ban, which is defined by an editorial in The Press as used to “refer to pious but empty gestures by the Left” – see: The virtues and vices of oil. The newspaper also criticises National for opposing the policy, even though The Press agrees the ban may have little impact: “a position must sometimes be taken because it is the right one. A moral example can be set. In this case, it is an example that has left the Opposition confused about whether to call it an empty gesture or wholesale destruction of a regional economy. It cannot be both.” National has also argued the ban could be counter-productive, with Judith Collins alleging that it will actually lead to more coal being burnt, which is worse for the environment. For a discussion of this, see Dan Satherley’s Ending oil and gas extraction – what scientists think. Another criticism that is gaining more resonance is about what the Government failed to do in announcing the new policy. According to Jo Moir, “It’s understood some in the Government executive are frustrated the announcement wasn’t made in the region most affected and that there was no clear strategy for explaining what comes next” – see: Shane Jones looked a little green, and it wasn’t with envy. Having no transition plan for either the regions or for energy use seems unforgivable to Moir: “if you decide to mess around with one, you sure as hell need a good plan for the other. And that’s where the Government got it wrong this week – the messaging about why New Zealand needs to do its bit domestically by moving away from oil and gas exploration was fine, but the explanation of what it was being replaced with was non-existent.” Moir adds: “Wanting to lead the way on the next big technology is one thing, but having a plan is another… a situation not too dissimilar to being told we’re moving you out of your house but we don’t have another one for you to move into.” Political analyst John Armstrong also has concerns about the “failure of the Government to address a crucial aspect of the ban on offshore exploration”, explaining that “Ardern and her Administration were too busy basking in the glow of self-satisfaction when preaching to the converted” – see: More than a touch of irony if Andrew Little becomes Jacinda Ardern’s Mr Fixit. Nonetheless, Armstrong says “Ardern deserves credit for sticking to her principles and delivering something of real substance in the struggle to cut greenhouse gas emissions. She also deserves praise for managing to forge an agreement with Labour’s partners in government which produced compromise on all sides and a meaningful end result.” Finally, to see satire about oil and gas exploration and drilling, see my blog post, Cartoons about the environment and mining.]]>Diabetes ‘ongoing disaster’ tops Fiji health bill at $124 million
The increasing number of diabetes cases has raised red flags in the health sector, a burden Fiji health authorities hope to tackle through the media. Image: Creative Commons/Wansolwara
By Adi Ana Civavonovono in Suva
The estimated financial cost and economic burden of diabetes in Fiji reached a staggering $124 million (NZ$84 million) in 2014 with health experts sounding an urgent need for people to relook at their lifestyles and eating habits.
Dr Jone Hawea, a medical doctor and codirector of the Foundation for Rural Integrated Enterprise and Development, did not mince words when he told participants at the Media and Diabetes Advocacy Workshop in Suva last week about the reality of the disease he tagged as an “ongoing disaster”.
According to Dr Hawea, the total yearly financial cost of diabetes in Fiji in 2014 took into account factors such as the total productivity cost for patients and carers and excluded estimates such as private health care costs, out of pocket expenditures and other tangible indirect costs which were difficult to obtain.
“So you can imagine, the true financial cost is therefore very likely to be higher, a high estimate of about $180.3m,” he said at the Holiday Inn.
“Diabetes has the single highest impact on productivity of all non-communicable diseases in Fiji.”
He said diabetes imposed a huge financial and non-financial burden on Fiji’s economy, adding the latter amounted to more than 56,000 years of life lost because of ill-health, disability or premature death.
“Diabetes is largely preventable, so a large portion of these enormous and unnecessary costs can be averted,” Dr Hawea said.
Tangible solutions
While opening the workshop, Assistant Minister for Health Alex O’Connor said the gathering of media professionals and partners in health and wellness programmes was a platform to find tangible solutions to combat this major health issue.
“About 15 percent of Fiji’s adult population have diabetes and another 15 percent have impaired fasting glucose – these are people who have high blood sugar and are at risk of being diagnosed with diabetes,” O’Connor said.
Journalists from print and broadcast media as well as student journalists from the University of the South Pacific, civil society and non-governmental organisations, and the Fiji National University were part of the one-day event, which was organised by Diabetes Fiji in conjunction with the Ministry of Health.
Adi Ana Civavonovono is a final year journalism student at the University of the South Pacific reporting for Wansolwara News.
USP Journalism Programme’s final year student Adi Ana Civavonovono interviews Fiji’s Assistant Minister for Health and Medical Services Alex O’Connor at the Holiday Inn in Suva. Image: Wansolwara NewsArticle by AsiaPacificReport.nz
]]>PMC’s Bearing Witness 2018 crew arrive in Fiji
Touchdown Fiji … Last week: Our intrepid Pacific Media Centre Bearing Witness climate media team Blessen Tom (left below) and Hele Ikimotu Christopher prepping in Auckland before departure … Now: On the ground at the University of the South Pacific.
Touchdown Fiji … Last week: Our intrepid Pacific Media Centre Bearing Witness climate media team Blessen Tom (left below) and Hele Ikimotu Christopher prepping in Auckland before departure
Report by Pacific Media Centre ]]>
O’Neill government suffers first election court rebuff in Bougainville
A delighted Sam Akoitai (in red tie) outside the National Court yesterday after winning back his Central Bougainville seat in the National Parliament. Photo: Sally Pokiton/Loop PNG
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk
Bougainville Affairs Minister Fr Simon Dumarinu has been ousted by four votes as the first casualty of the Peter O’Neill government in Papua New Guinea after last year’s general election, reports Loop PNG.
The National Court in Waigani has declared Sam Akoitai, a former mining minister, reelected as the Central Bougainville member of Parliament after hearing an election petition.
Justice Lawrence Kangwia yesterday afternoon declared Akoitai elected under section 212 of the Organic Law on National and Local Level Government.
He formally ratified election results from the recount, filed in court on March 20, as correct and valid, reports Loop PNG.
Akoitai won 7257 votes in the recount while Dr Dumarinu had 7253 votes.
Akoitai was declared the winner after the court refused a motion by Fr Dumarinu for a further recount.
‘Peace must be winner’
“We’d like to continue to maintain peace in Bougainville and peace must be the winner,” Akoitai said outside the court.
“It’s now down to work, both in Bougainville and Papua New Guinea.”
He is regarded as a cheerleader for Rio Tinto and Bougainville Copper Limited, having worked for the company for eight years. He also fought against the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) during the region’s 10-year civil war.
Fr Dumarinu is a Marist Catholic priest from Deomori in the Panguna mine area and had been elected to Parliament as a member of the Social Democratic Party led by National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop.
Bougainville faces a referendum on independence on June 19 next year.
Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz
]]>Baseless rumours: why talk of Chinese military base in Vanuatu misses point
How the Vanuatu Daily Post reacted to the Australian “news” of a possible Chinese military base plan. Image: VDP
BRIEFING: By Dan McGarry in Port Vila
The “news” this week that Vanuatu was to be the site of a Chinese military base caught most people by surprise. Government officials with detailed knowledge of relevant matters swore hand on heart they’d never even heard hints of such talk.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ralph Regenvanu questioned the sourcing of the report, telling the Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat radio programme, “I’m not very happy about the standard of reporting in the Australia media”.
Chinese embassy officials in Vanuatu declined an interview request, stating, “The report is groundless and not worth any comment at all.”
READ MORE: Vanuatu rejects ‘speculative’ base claim
The topic has quickly become the loudest non-conversation in town.
Tacitly at least, officials from all nations recognise Vanuatu’s strategic importance.
A Chinese sailor raises the red flag on the prow of a PLA Navy frigate during a visit to Vanuatu. Image: Dan McGarry/Vanuatu Daily PostLuganville, on the island of Espiritu Santo, was the site of one of the largest military bases in the entire Pacific Theatre during WWII.
Home to about 100,000 personnel at its peak, it saw nearly one million service people pass through before it was decommissioned in 1946.
Controlling air, sea
What was true in the 1940s remains true today: Whoever controls Vanuatu controls air and sea traffic between the United States and Australia. Right now, that’s the government of Vanuatu.
For more than a decade, this tiny island nation has leveraged regional rivalries to drive infrastructure development. Its dalliances with China, for example, resulted in a US$20 million investment by telecoms giant Huawei in an island-hopping communications network.
That move is said by some to have motivated a multimillion-dollar commitment from Australia to fund telecoms regulation and management.
For years, western nations were simply not interested in big-ticket, high-risk projects. Infrastructure projects worldwide are fraught with budget overruns, scope creep and delays. Risk-averse donors therefore shied away.
But not China.
Largely on the back of questionably “concessional” loans from the China EXIM Bank, contractors secured a mixed bag of infrastructure projects, ranging from roads to wharves to buildings. They include sport facilities, a convention centre and a school.
But the most noticeable project was a US$90 million wharf project in Luganville. Almost from the outset, people raised the spectre of the old American base there.
Revived interest
Many Pacific watchers think there’s no coincidence to a recently revived interest from the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and other funding bodies in Pacific islands infrastructure.
At the same time as the Luganville wharf was being constructed, Japan was also demonstrating its friendship to Vanuatu by building a major wharf facility in Port Vila, the capital. The US$70 million project came at much more favourable terms.
Australia meanwhile signed on to a US$30 million urban infrastructure development project in the capital. The World Bank has already committed $60 million to the nation’s airports, and is reportedly considering upping the ante to $150 million.
Despite the fact that Australia remains the largest donor in Vanuatu and the Pacific, analysts suggest that China has stolen a march on them by ingratiating themselves with politicians who see infrastructure projects as vote-getters.
An artist’s view of the completed Luganville wharf … source of the “base” controversy. Image: Shanghai Construction Group/VDPLacking coherence
It is widely felt that Chinese engagement lacks coherence, and that the quality of its work is variable, to be generous. But nobody doubts its popularity with the political elite here, and that is something that should cause concern in Canberra.
Locally, engagement between Australian development workers and their government counterparts is excellent. But communication between Pacific capitals and Canberra is sadly lacking.
Ill-considered stories such as the recent Fairfax article, or Senator Fierravanti-Wells’ January diatribe about Chinese “roads going nowhere” play poorly in the Pacific. They only offer China an opportunity to commiserate with local officials, and to go on quietly building roads and wharves.
Dan McGarry is media director of the Vanuatu Daily Post group. This article is republished with permission.
Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz
]]>Bearing Witness students win big at AUT communications studies awards
Spasifik Magazine’s Laumata Lauano (from left) with winners Julie Cleaver, Kendall Hutt, and Pacific Media Centre’s chair Associate Professor Camille Nakhid and Storyboard donor Professor David Robie (rear) at last night’s AUT communication studies awards. Image: Del Abcede/PMC
By Jean Bell in Auckland
Bearing Witness climate change project students won big last night at the annual awards ceremony for AUT’s School of Communication Studies last night.
Julie Cleaver and Kendal Hutt took out the Spasifik Magazine Prize and Pacific Media Centre Storyboard Award for Diversity Reporting for their work on the Bearing Witness climate change project last year.
Hele Ikimotu was awarded the John Foy Memorial Award for broadcast journalism and will be flying to Fiji tomorrow to continue the Bearing Witness climate change project this year.
READ MORE: Bearing Witness climate project stories
‘Great honour’
Cleaver and Hutt both travelled to Fiji last year where they created a multimedia feature on the Fijian village of Tukuraki, which was hit by a deadly landslide and two cyclones in the space of five years.
The project also won the Dart Asia-Pacific Prize for Journalism and Trauma at the annual Ossie Awards for Student Journalism at Newcastle, NSW, last December.
Cleaver is now editor of Debate Magazine and Hutt is a reporter with the North Shore Times.
Hutt said it was a great honour to receive this award.
“This award is not just our award, it is also Tukuraki’s award for letting us come up to the community and let us tell their story. I think it had only been told in Fijian media and ABC Australia,” said Hutt.
‘Journalism highlight’
Cleaver said her time in Fiji was a moving experience. “It was a privilege to be a journalist and hear these people’s stories. When else would you get to hear these people’s personal testimonies from someone who has been through so much as well.”
“The Pacific Media Centre has been so supportive to both of us throughout this process. Thanks so much to Professor David Robie and everyone else involved,” said Cleaver.
“The trip was a journalism highlight. This is why I wanted to get into journalism.”
“It’s so awesome that Dr Robie is driving this PMC project. It needs someone passionate to keep it going and it’s such a privilege to be a part of that.”
John Foy Memorial Award for broadcast journalism Hele Ikimotu with his parents Grace and Jone at last night’s AUT communication studies awards. Image: Del Abcede/PMCIkimotu ‘excited’
Bearing Witness climate change project participant Hele Ikimotu received the John Foy Memorial Award.
Louise Matthews, curriculum leader of AUT’s journalism programme, presented the award to Ikimotu and said he “aced” his undergraduate courses and stayed on to do postgraduate study this year.
Ikimotu thanked God, the John Foy Memorial Trust sponsors and his “supportive and inspiring” journalism tutors in his acceptance speech.
“I’m so excited and nervous to go over there. I come from an ancestry of storytellers. There are times I doubted I had the ability to be a good storyteller but this award has affirmed I have what it takes, and I’m so excited to see where journalism takes me.
“I’m so excited to use it as a platform for my people and continue being a voice for the Pacific. I was born in the Islands and I know my family back home are proud that I’m doing it and representing them.”
Ikimotu leaves for Fiji tomorrow with fellow participant Blessen Tom to carry on this year’s version of the Bearing Witness project.
Ikimotu and Tom will be heading on a two-week climate change mission to the main island of Viti Levu where they will be interviewing local people who are directly affected by the devastating effects of climate change in the Pacific.
Ikimotu and Tom will be searching for stories, interviewing people directly affected by climate change and reporting directly for Asia Pacific Report, Wansolwara and other media.
Tagata Pasifika’s master of ceremonies John Pulu, an AUT graduate and past winner of the Storyboard for diversity journalism, entertained the audience with his witty remarks. Image: Del Abcede/PMC.Full 2017 School of Communication Studies awards:
School of Communication Studies Award for Top Student in the Certificate in Communication Studies: Schumacher Liuvaie
School of Communication Studies Award for Top Year One Bachelor of Communication Studies: Amy Wang
School of Communication Studies Award for Top Year Two Bachelor of Communication Studies: Jamie Ensor
School of Communication Studies Award for Excellence in Communication Theory: Adam Szentes
Communication Studies Postgraduate Scholarships: India Fremaux, Yulia Khan, Malini Radkrishna, Jayakrishnan Sreekumar
Dean’s Award for Best Postgraduate Diploma in Communication Studies: Elizabeth Osborne
Dean’s Award for Excellence in Master of Communication Studies – Thesis: Ximena Smith
Oceania Media’s Spasifik Magazine Prize and the Pacific Media Centre’s Storyboard Award for Diversity Reporting: Julie Cleaver and Kendall Hutt
The Radio Bureau Award for Top of Research Project: Radio: Georgina Cain-Treleaven
The Radio Bureau Award for Top Radio Student: Maxene London
John Foy Memorial Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism: Hele Ikimotu
Bauer Award for Excellence in Magazine Journalism: Nicole Barratt
New Zealand Herald Award for Top Post Graduate Diploma Student in Creative Practice – Journalism: Arun Jeram
National Business Review Award for the Outstanding Graduate in the BCS Journalism Major: Nicole Barratt
New Zealand Geographic award for Excellence in Photojournalism: Adam Szentes
Public Relations Institute of New Zealand Award for the Top Year 2 Public Relations Student: Jamie Ensor
The winners of the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand Paul Dryden Tertiary Award 2017: Boyan Buha, Jodealyn Cadacio, Simon Cooper, and Georgia Ward
Highly Commended Public Relations Institute of New Zealand Paul Dryden Tertiary Award 2017: Abby Berry, Emma Hilton, Morgan MacFadyen
Public Relations Institute of New Zealand President’s Award for the Top Academic Student in the Public Relations Major: Adam Szentes
The Postgraduate Public Relations Global Virtual Team Winner (2017): Alex Ubels
FCB Change Agency Award for Digital Media Excellence: Stefanee Chua
School of Communication Studies joint Award for Academic Excellence in the Creative Industries Major: Kaylah Burke and Laura Reid
QMS Awards for Advertising Creativity:
QMS Art Director of the Year – Holly Smith
QMS Account Executive of the Year – Ella Bilham
QMS Team of the Year – Will Macdonald and Adam Ramsdale
Francis Porterfield Memorial Award for Excellence in Multicamera Production: Steven Yee
MediaWorks Award for Best Producer: McKay Carroll
Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz
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