AsiaPacificReport.nz
Ura Tabu dancers perform the Calypso medley song “Yellow Bird” at the launch of the New Zealand Institute of Pacific Research last night. Video clip: Del Abcede/PMC
Foreign Minister Murray McCully has welcomed the launch of a New Zealand-based Pacific think-tank aimed at supporting sustainable development in the region.
“We have identified the need for more targeted research on the Pacific, to underpin development initiatives and support Pacific decision makers,” said McCully, who launched the new institute at Auckland University’s Fale Pasifika last night.
“The New Zealand Institute for Pacific Research will work in support of Pacific governments and regional agencies, and will focus on producing the kind of hard-headed analysis that can support sustainable economic development.
“Our aim is for the NZPIR to become a centre of excellence for research on Pacific development, governance, public policy, and security issues.
“The government has provided a cornerstone investment of $7.5 million over five years to establish the Institute and develop an initial programme of research,” McCully said.
The NZPIR will be based at the University of Auckland.
The research programme will be delivered by a consortium led by the University of Auckland, and including Auckland University of Technology and Otago University.
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AsiaPacificReport.nz
Samoa’s Rugby Union is encouraging more of its country’s women to participate in rugby. Sport administrators and gender equality advocates are seeing greater participation in the sport as a step toward women’s equality and bettering the overall gender balance in Samoa, Anuja Nadkarni reports for Asia-Pacific Journalism.
The Pacific nation’s leading rugby organisation, Samoa’s Rugby Union, has hosted its first Samoa Women’s Rugby Conference and has announced it will be making this an annual event.
The conference was held earlier this month to commemorate International Women’s Day on March 8 in the capital Apia. It highlighted the importance of supporting and encouraging the country’s women in rugby.
The SRU’s women’s development officer Toluiva Keneti says the event’s main focus was to address the issue of gender imbalance prevalent in the sport.
“We are looking at using rugby as a tool to break barriers and stereotyping in the community, especially for women playing rugby,” she said.
Senior programme officer for the Ministry of Women Community and Social Development Robert Wong Sin says there are numerous cultural barriers that contribute to the impediment of women’s participation in rugby but he believes things are changing.
“The idea that ‘rugby’s a man’s sport’ or those stereotypes that women are too fragile… those barriers are slowly starting to break down.
“Families are embracing the idea of having their girls participate in more physical sports,” he says.
Room for improvement
Wong Sin says although things are getting better, “there’s still a lot of room for improvement and definitely lots more room for participation”.
The SRU Women’s Rugby Conference took place over the course of two days and brought in 15 female secondary school teachers to partake in workshops to become coaches, referees and sports administrators in their schools.
According to SRU there are currently just over 500 registered female rugby players in Samoa but Keneti says the union lacks female coaches and referees and believes conferences like these will increase female contribution to the sport.
Samoan National Rugby League (NRL) game development manager Gabrielle Apelu is the country’s last remaining pioneer of Samoan women’s rugby and says she understands the challenges of sportswomen best because of her background in rugby but believes Samoa is given a bad rap from New Zealand on issues of gender equality, especially in sport.
“Most Western philosophies that categorise women and barriers to sport never take into consideration cultural values and standards and quantify results in Western terms which are very often misleading and badly interpreted.
“In this day and age there is no stigma. What changes are women’s priorities,” Apelu says.
Chairwoman of the Samoa Women in Sports organisation Nynette Sass says as Samoan women grow up their domestic responsibilities influence their decisions and their focus shifts to their family.
Sports active when young
“Girls are usually active in sports when young, but progress to refrain from sports as they get up to the university level to focus more on studies. By the time they are in the workforce, they’re required to work and prioritise their families and all other obligations ahead of themselves, hence there is no time to do what is deemed at times as frivolous activities.”
United Nations Samoa representative Mele Maualaivao says financial challenges are also a contributing factor to sports lacking female involvement.
“If women’s sports were able to be the great income earner that they are for men, many more young women would be encouraged to play professionally,” Maualaivao says.
Nynette Sass says encouraging women to play rugby also has health benefits for the nation.
“Samoa is waking up to the realisation of the bad effects of a sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy eating of processed food with increasing numbers of people falling prey to Non Communicable Diseases (NCD). Lately the message has really hit home with the increase in cancer deaths.”
According to the World Health Organisation half of all adults in Samoa are at high risk of developing NCDs such as cancer, diabetes and obesity. A report by the Samoan government last year showed that cases of high blood pressure and obesity have almost doubled in the past 10 years.
Domestic violence
Keneti, Maualaivao and Wong Sin are taking their gender balance message beyond rugby and sport. They are also encouraging women to take a stand against domestic violence through their initiatives.
A study carried out by the WHO last year found that from the 1640 women aged between 15 and 49 years surveyed 65 per cent of respondents reported violence that was either physical, emotional or sexual.
According to Wong Sin, initiatives through sport are the most efficient and effective way to strive toward addressing issues like gender equality.
“In sport there should be no discrimination. Sport encourages team building and character development and develops leadership. So we feel having this forum sustained over the next few years will encourage women to take essential positions not only on the field but also in the background and contributing to sports development overall.”
Keneti says initiatives like the SRU conference are educating women to stand up to violence and encouraging women to play alongside men.
This, she says, nurtures a sense of equality, which can build confidence to face any environment and to “never go silent”.
“This is not just about rugby itself, it’s not about a rugby ball, not about how famous rugby can become in Samoa: it is about educating women that it is a game for all,” she says.
Maualaivao believes “it is an exciting time to be a woman in Samoa,” and says she is optimistic about bringing change in attitudes toward women’s issues in Samoa.
“Any time a woman is asked to think of herself as a woman first, it can bring enlightenment to her situation and to her understanding of the challenges she may face.
“Empowerment of women is key to all other aspects of gender equality being addressed.”
Anuja Nadkarni is a journalism graduate from AUT and is completing her Honours degree in Communication Studies. She is currently on the Asia-Pacific Journalism course.
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Economic Analysis by Tony Alexander.
Tony Alexander, BNZ economist.[/caption]
Welcome to this week’s Overview sent one day early because of Easter.
To read the full analysis, continue reading below or click on this link: Download document
14,000 Residence
28,000 Students
39,000 Work
6,000 Visitors
1,000 Other
Refuse the students and you reduce export earnings. Refuse the workers and you deny businesses the ability to grow, function, and perhaps remain in New Zealand. Deny the visitors and again you hit export earnings. Deny people coming as residents, family linkages, and you renege on rules which were in place when earlier migrants were accepted saying they could bring family members with them such as a spouse and one’s children. In a nutshell, the surge in net migration inflows from three years ago to 67,000 from 1,100 has been driven by 28,000 fewer people leaving, an extra 9,000 Kiwis and Aussies leaving a weakened Aussie economy, and 14,000 higher student numbers. Only 15,000 of the 66,000 three year net inflow surge is true foreigners coming to live here. That is hardly an unsustainable boom in the context of a gross annual flow of people in and out of 181,000 (57,000 out plus 124,000 in). What should the government do if society truly decided the net flow is excessive and causing angst? Pay people to leave. Maybe people without the skills we are short of. Maybe shout them some funding to get tattoos so they can feel right at home amongst Kiwis on the Gold Coast. Assisted passage westward. Housing I gave a talk on the Auckland property market to some 700 people at Ellerslie Event Centre last night and here are the nine key points which I spoke to in terms of whether they represented a threat to the strength in Auckland’s market. The answer for all was no. Hence, as written since 2009, Auckland prices rise. NZ economic growth. Is the growth outlook bad meaning the outlook for jobs and incomes is bad meaning people will find themselves unwilling and in more and more cases unable to buy a house? No. While dairying is weak there is a lot of strength in tourism, export education, wine, pipfruit, kiwifruit, honey, manufacturing even, and construction. Auckland growth Has the surge been a flash in the pan and will we go back to the old world of Auckland being just a bigger version of Wanganui? No. Auckland is New Zealand’s agglomeration delivering growth from the fast interaction of talented young people from diversified backgrounds. Auckland was 21% of NZ’s population in 1961 and now it is over 34% heading to 40%. Migration Is the migration boom about to bust? No. Migration busts when we head across the ditch to make money during an Australian minerals boom and our economy is in or close to recession. But our economy is not forecast to enter recession soon and Australia’s mining boom has been and gone and won’t come back for a generation. Net migration is likely to remain strong for a number of years and 60% of the net flow goes to Auckland. Construction Is Auckland house supply about to boom? No. There is a shortage of builders, shortage of developable land, shortage of land not simply being landbanked, development costs to finance infrastructure can be huge. Supply will rise but the shortage is still getting worse. Interest rates Are they about to rise strongly? No. The RBNZ is still easing monetary policy and the bigger global problem is low inflation rather than any inflation threat. Interest rates look like staying low for a great number of years/decades. Regional investing Are investors flocking to the regions for yield and low mortgages going to keep doing this at the expense of investing in Auckland for the next few years? No. Investors, having soaked up cheap stock which has sat on the market a long time in the regions will soon start to ask themselves whether population growth will justify growth in supply they see in some locations. In certain locations like Hamilton and Wellington prices are likely to rise with logical economic and population growth support for a number of years. But in many locations elsewhere population growth is likely to be less than some people are thinking and investors questioning growth assumptions will eventually wonder whether they can liquidate their asset quickly should times and rentability again get tough in the less popular places. Aging population Are baby boomers going to sell their housing investments soon to fund their retirements? No. They need yield over a greater number of years (rising life expectancy) than people were thinking just a few years ago. The boomers will hold their housing assets for the income they yield. Chinese buyers Have they disappeared for good? No. They are returning in force going by the anecdotes over the past four weeks with more to come when eventually the Chinese implement their Qualified Domestic Individual Investor 2 regime in six large cities. There is no timing on when this will happen and it probably won’t until the capital outflow from China seen this past year eases off. Backlog Have potential buyers given up all hope? No There is no shortage of people bemoaning their decision to hold off buying since 2007. They want to buy and eventually will raise the deposit to do so. There are other factors but these main ones sum up the situation. Pressure on Auckland prices is upward though it is not only doubtful that we will see prices rise at the same average speed as in recent years, we had better not else the Reserve Bank will impose stronger lending controls. Should the regions produce widespread rises near 20% per annum then the 30% minimum deposit requirement for purchase of investment properties in Auckland will be applied to the rest of the country. NZ Dollar The only reasonable change in the NZ dollar between last Thursday and this afternoon has been some extra weakness against the Aussie dollar. We now sit at a six month low near 88.5 cents courtesy of the Aussie dollar attracting some more buyers on the back of hopes of higher infrastructure spending in China and therefore higher demand for coal and iron ore. In addition the Aussie economy seems to be doing okay and for now the threat of an early election (but only by a few months) is not having much impact. If I Were A Borrower What Would I Do? Slap myself to be sure I was awake. Having paid 18.5% for my first mortgage in 1987 the current level of rates is amazing. Of course what has happened since then is that the benefit to borrowers of low borrowing costs has been offset by having to borrow a lot more because prices are a lot higher. Prices would not have skyrocketed if interest rates had not fallen so far. The lower borrowing costs have been factored into house prices to different degrees around the country. So when young people moan about how we older generations paid so little for our houses, remember that we paid interest rates which you can’t relate to – though which are still lower than what you probably pay on your credit card should you take the time to think about what that quick source of credit is costing you. First move in building a house deposit? Get rid of your credit cards, then your coffees, then nights out drinking, then annual trips overseas, fags of course, and your growing number of television service subscriptions. Just as you may have invested in your career by sacrificing wages to spend some years studying at university, now you need to invest in your house purchase (if that is your goal) by sacrificing consumption. Then when you make your purchase in a suburb more distant from your workplace than you wanted (like most first home buyers through history) you switch back to investing in your career through longer commute times with the aim of getting up your relevant ladder and eventually being able to shift closer to your workplace. Or you can bypass this investment oriented life cycle development process by living in a small town – and being vulnerable to the local big employer closing down. What sounds optimal? Living in a small town with occasional trips to a big city whilst pursuing a net-based career. Were I borrowing at the moment I would look to fix most of my mortgage in the 2 – 3 year area. Investors should always seek slightly longer timeframes as an extra hedge against interest rate risk. If I Were An Investor … I’d see a BNZ Private Banker The text at this link explains why I do not include a section discussing what I would do if I were an investor. http://tonyalexander.co.nz/regular-publications/bnz-weekly-overview/if-i-were-an-investor/ For Noting
Analysis by Keith Rankin.
[caption id="attachment_1450" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Keith Rankin.[/caption]
I am worried that too much of the recent talk around the introduction of a universal basic income has been unhelpful. The concept – defined in 1991 – is still not understood by the politicians and journalists who represent the public’s main source of information about policy options.
In 1991 I introduced the subject thus: “a universal tax credit available to every adult – the universal basic income (UBI) – and a moderately high flat tax rate”, in my University of Auckland Policy Discussion Paper. Through this approach, the basic income can be understood as an alternative form of progressivity of the income tax system, as distinct from the traditional stepwise graduations of income tax rates that we are familiar with.
In the newer ‘public equity’ approach which I have emphasised since 2008, the basic income represents an alternative to income-tax progression rather than a form of progression. It adopts sound equity principles that render the need for tax progressivity redundant. While in monetary terms the result is the same, the public equity concept has the greater capacity to bring about the reconceptualisation of income that twenty-first century economies desperately require.
Here I will outline a simple four-step approach to the implementation of the requisite reforms. Any critique of ‘universal basic income’ needs to address these four steps. I am confident that this implementation programme is immune from any substantial criticism on the usual grounds of affordability and work incentives. It is intellectually dishonest for politicians and journalists to confine their critiques to proposals that are easy targets; proposals that are extreme, unimplementable, or not thought through.
The steps can be implemented within either a short-term or medium-term timeframe.
Step 1: Reconceptualisation of Income Tax
In New Zealand this involves re-interpreting the present income tax regime as a 33% flat tax and a ‘Public Equity Benefit’ of upto $175 per week. (In Australia it would involve re-interpreting the present income tax regime as a 37% flat tax and a public equity benefit of upto $A232 per week.) And for people receiving income in the form of Family Tax Credits, Work and Income Benefits, or Student Allowances, upto $175 of these weekly payments would be reconceived as public equity benefits; any remainder (over and above $175) would continue to be regarded as ‘transfer payments’, to use economist language.
This step has zero cost, except for minor administrative detail. Payslips and benefit notifications would be itemised differently. Company tax at 28% would be understood as incorporating a 5% subsidy (33%‑28%=5%).
The government’s ‘consolidated fund’ could – for conceptual clarity – be renamed the public equity fund.
Step 2: Creation of a Public Equity Dividend
Convert the Public Equity Benefit into a ‘Public Equity Dividend’. (This is the universal basic income component of our income tax reconceptualisation.) For some people this will mean a few more dollars of disposable income. More significantly than its cost, as a rights-based payment, it becomes unconditional.
The immediate beneficiaries will include people grossing less than $70,000 per year who receive total benefits – including public equity benefits – of less than $175 per week. Their benefits would be topped-up to ensure they receive the full $175 dividend. These will also include a number of caregivers – especially mothers – in middle-income households. And they will include working-age recipients of private care who do not currently receive a benefit. All people turning 18 will qualify for their $175 weekly dividend, regardless of work or educational status.
The IRD would pay the PED directly where necessary, including to students and people only in casual employment. Otherwise it would continue to represent an itemisation on workers’ payslips.
Step 3: Indexation
Index the Public Equity Dividend to an appropriate economic variable (such as the Consumers Price Index, or Gross National Income per capita). Set guidelines for appropriate raising of lowering of the tax rate, or adjusting the dividend. It would be expected that political parties – in election campaigns – would offer policies involving making such adjustments.
Move to a collection regime incorporating full income taxation ‘at source’. This would represent the completion of the process that began with the introduction of PAYE in 1958. From this point, workers would be paid net wages from company income that has already been taxed (eg at 33%) and the whole concept of ‘gross wages’ would be consigned to the history books.
Step 4: Reform the Transfer System
The transfer system represents all the benefits payable in excess of the $175 public equity dividend. At present they are abated independently; for example, present Job-Seeker Benefits, Accommodation Supplements, and Family Tax Credits all have their own abatement rates that create high ‘effective marginal tax rates’ (otherwise known as the ‘poverty trap’ or ‘income trap’).
The obvious reforms here are: to rationalise supplementary transfers (raising them where appropriate); to introduce a single abatement rate – say 25% – which would mean that people with the greatest particular needs will experience lesser benefit reductions as their private incomes rise; and, in line with full taxation at source (Step 3), would have their after-tax incomes (rather than their before-tax earnings) assessed for means-testing purposes.
Overall
Once each policy step is implemented, the next steps become obvious. It is the first step that is by far the hardest, and is the most important.
Only steps 2 and 4 involve any actual cost. And a reduction and rationalisation of transfer payments substantially reduces the bureaucratic costs of administering these. Likewise, tax administration and compliance is a much simpler process when there is a single rate of income tax.
To journalists and other media pundits: please understand what is actually being proposed before unleashing your criticisms. And make it clear which specific policies or philosophies you are criticising. Too many quite diverse proposals have been lumped together (by both proponents and critics) under the ‘universal basic income’ rubric. Be clear to your readers, listeners or viewers that by criticising any one such proposal that you are not necessarily applying the same critique to different proposals. Finally, while cynicism may provide saleable copy, appreciate that we do have some very real problems around income distribution; problems that, if not addressed, can undermine our liberal mixed-market capitalist system, ushering alternative forms much less appealing to freedom-loving democrats.
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Today’s edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 4 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Tuesday 22nd of March. It is best viewed on a desktop screen.
NEWSROOM_MONITOR
Noteworthy stories in the current news cycle include: the number of New Zealand soldiers who served in the Gallipoli campaign in World War I doubling what was previously estimated; a steel certification body saying New Zealand is at risk of becoming a dumping ground for inferior steel; and that New Zealand’s next Governor-General will be businesswoman Dame Patsy Reddy, succeeding Sir Jerry Mateparae.
POLITICS PULSE
Government: Counties Manukau Children’s Team largest yet; PM welcomes Dame Patsy Reddy as the next Governor-General;100% Camera coverage achieved on Snapper 1 fleet; Minister to visit NZDF aid operation in Fiji; Smarter land purchasing for future school needs;New Chief of Air Force announced; $895,000 in funding for Marlborough irrigation scheme; NZ Pacific Research Institute launched; Court appearances continue to fall; S&P rating confirms economic programme working
Greens: DOC needs more money, or we’ll lose more tracks; Time to change Governor General appointment process; Rules show PM not allowed to use public money for settlements
Labour: Andrew Little congratulates new Governor-General;Traffic jams caused by scattergun transport approach; Taxpayers paying for more spin; Imported steel must be tested to meet NZ standards; Minister out of his depth on marine sanctuary
New Zealand First: Serious Constitutional Appointment – Sullied By PM’s Media Manipulation;Key Won’t Slow Immigration, He’s Addicted
LINKS OF THE DAY
EDUCATION REPORT: The Education Review Office released a report linking early mathematics skills to later academic achievement. The report “Early mathematics: a guide for improving teaching and learning” can be found at:http://www.ero.govt.nz/National-Reports/Early-mathematics-a-guide-for-improving-teaching-and-learning-March-2016
REFUGEE QUOTA: The Our Voices – Summary Report 2016 Refugee Resettlement Quota Review, by Amnesty International highlights the support for a refugee quota increase. Click here for report:https://www.amnesty.org.nz/sites/default/files/Our%20Voices%20Summary%20Report%202016%20Refugee%20Resettlement%20Quota%20Review.pdf
RETAIL TRADE: Christchurch city’s retail and hospitality spending continues to outpace that at the national level, according to Statistics New Zealand.Click here for more: http://bit.ly/1RbT0f3
TRAFFIC REPORT: TomTom (TOM2) today released the results of the TomTom Traffic Index 2016, the annual report detailing the cities around the world with the most traffic congestion. People can find out more about the TomTom Traffic Index, and discover where their home city ranks at: http://www.tomtom.com/trafficindex
And that’s our sampling of “news you can use” for Tuesday 22nd March.
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A report into illegal fishing is set to make waves across the Pacific, Kendall Hutt of Asia-Pacific Journalism reports.
Officials from 17 nations across the Pacific are welcoming the findings of a landmark report into illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
With the largest tuna fishery on the planet, the report, Towards the Quantification of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU) in the Pacific Islands Region, will allow officials to bolster their monitoring, control and surveillance efforts across the breadth of the Pacific Ocean.
Forum Fisheries Agency director-general James Movick says the report’s findings enable them to identify where key illegal fishing risks are, and in turn, enable them to strengthen their monitoring (MCS) framework.
“It will help us to target our MCS activities in the future much more appropriately.”
Duncan Souter, chief executive of M-RAG Asia Pacific, an independent fisheries and aquatic resource consulting company, which authored the report, says it enables effective tracking of investment.
“What it [the report] does allow for Pacific Island countries is that it allows them to prioritise where they should be putting their MCS resources and it allows us to track the effectiveness of those investments over time.”
However, this does not mean that MCS efforts in the past have been unsuccessful, officials warned.
Technology key
Pita Elisala, chairman of the Forum Fisheries Committee, addressing media at a press conference last week acknowledged the “astonishing” achievements in MCS to date, such as the addition of the first centralised regional satellite-based vessel monitoring system (VMS).
“There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that without that historical and ongoing effort, we would be looking at a much different report today.”
Officials point out that such “astonishing” achievements could not have been made without the high presence of technology.
Hugh Walton, former team leader and policy specialist for the EU-funded DevFish II project, says technology is increasingly important, particularly for MCS efforts.
“The collective of technology for real time reporting and data entry at source means MCS administrations can focus more directly on analysis and follow up on anomalies.”
Delivering a presentation at the 19th Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Meeting in Auckland last week on electronic reporting and electronic monitoring, Walton noted that these technologies play an “evolving role” in MCS.
Potential benefits of adopting both systems in the purse seine and longline fisheries include, among others, enhancing coverage in existing human observer programs, along with eliminating costly, time-consuming shore-based data entry.
Ensuring the future
Movick has also acknowledged the big role technology plays in managing the region’s fisheries and says it is something FFA member countries need to continually take advantage of as it evolves.
“The continual search for new technology is always there and it’s very fundamental to ensuring the future.”
A lack of data in the longline sector (tropical longline and southern longline) however, both M-RAG Asia Pacific and the FFA agree, needs addressing.
The report argues stronger catch monitoring arrangements are required, singling out the fishery in both its main messages and measures to further deter illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU).
The lack of these arrangements are seen as a rather gaping weakness in the current MCS regime.
Longline fishing does not currently meet the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission’s five percent benchmark for observer coverage, a policy directive which has not escaped the notice of officials.
Souter says the five percent benchmark is currently being met by few fleets and says meeting this would “certainly be a very good first step”.
Bolstering the network
Movick agrees and says reporting in the longline sector needs the most work, and will be a central focus in bolstering the current MCS network.
“We will be continuing the trials and moving beyond trials to the implementation of electronic monitoring surveillance, moving, where we can, to reduce fishing on the high seas, and to banning, where we can, transhipment.”
Reporting and post-harvest offences accounted for around 58 percent of the total ex-vessel value (market value) of IUU activity.
But the bad news for the longline sector does not end there.
The FFA and Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s Regional Roadmap for Sustainable Pacific Fisheries acknowledges its regional longline fisheries are “barely economic”, while its Tuna Fishery Report Card 2015 highlights that “clear challenges and opportunities” remain in increasing returns from this fishery.
Longline fishing currently represents a small proportion in value for the FFA’s Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), both in terms of catch value and value access.
Purse seine dominates both arenas, increasingly doing so since 1997, climbing to a catch value of over US$4 million.
Though longline fishing may be seen as a blight on the report’s landmark implications, the blow is lessened by the report effectively debunking several misconceptions about IUU in the Pacific.
Illegal fishing culprits
The report has revealed that the source of illegal fishing in the Pacific is closer to home.
The most prevalent and costly form of IUU in the region is in fact from misreporting and underreporting by licenced vessels, and not rogue, pirate vessels as some may believe.
“Assuming catch transhipped illegally is taken by licenced vessels, IUU fishing by the licenced fleet accounts for over 95 percent of the total volume and value of IUU activity,” the report says.
This is a stark contrast to the five percent of unlicensed vessels, and it is something officials have taken comfort in.
Movick acknowledges that although such illegal fishing is an affront to the Pacific’s sovereignty, there has been marked improvement.
“We can take comfort that this is a big change from years gone by, where patrol vessels and aerial surveillance would routinely detect vessels in fishing areas that they were not licenced to be in.”
However, it does not mean that Pacific nations have escaped unscathed.
Although the report has been able to place a more accurate dollar figure on the proportion of illegal catch — an estimated US$616 million — Movick says the actual loss is better reflected in looking at lost fishing access revenues.
“Using economic rent calculations this report estimates that the actual loss to Pacific Island countries from lost fishing access revenues is around $152 million.”
Figures “bandied about in the past” have seen the loss estimated at between US$750 million to $1.5 billion.
Despite this, Elisala and officials agree, the report serves as an incentive for the Pacific to continue its fight against illegal fishing.
“It’s a hard fight…but it is a fight that we have made significant ground on, and one that we will continue to challenge.”
Kendall Hutt is a graduate journalist from AUT University, currently completing her Honours year in Communication Studies. She is reporting on the Asia-Pacific Journalism course.
Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency
Pacific-wide study tipped to show ‘real value’ of lost fisheries
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Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz – Feature report by Ami Dhabuwala is a postgraduate student journalist at AUT University.
Women meeting in Suva as part of Femlink’s first National Women’s Human Security Consultation. Image: Jeff Tan/Action Aid[/caption]
Information is then taken to the district level and finally feedback is sent back to the community.
Ami Dhabuwala is a postgraduate student journalist at AUT University.
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Today’s edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 4 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Tuesday 22nd of March. It is best viewed on a desktop screen.
NEWSROOM_MONITOR
Noteworthy stories in the current news cycle include: the number of New Zealand soldiers who served in the Gallipoli campaign in World War I doubling what was previously estimated; a steel certification body saying New Zealand is at risk of becoming a dumping ground for inferior steel; and that New Zealand’s next Governor-General will be businesswoman Dame Patsy Reddy, succeeding Sir Jerry Mateparae.
POLITICS PULSE
Government: Counties Manukau Children’s Team largest yet; PM welcomes Dame Patsy Reddy as the next Governor-General;100% Camera coverage achieved on Snapper 1 fleet; Minister to visit NZDF aid operation in Fiji; Smarter land purchasing for future school needs;New Chief of Air Force announced; $895,000 in funding for Marlborough irrigation scheme; NZ Pacific Research Institute launched; Court appearances continue to fall; S&P rating confirms economic programme working
Greens: DOC needs more money, or we’ll lose more tracks; Time to change Governor General appointment process; Rules show PM not allowed to use public money for settlements
Labour: Andrew Little congratulates new Governor-General;Traffic jams caused by scattergun transport approach; Taxpayers paying for more spin; Imported steel must be tested to meet NZ standards; Minister out of his depth on marine sanctuary
New Zealand First: Serious Constitutional Appointment – Sullied By PM’s Media Manipulation;Key Won’t Slow Immigration, He’s Addicted
LINKS OF THE DAY
EDUCATION REPORT: The Education Review Office released a report linking early mathematics skills to later academic achievement. The report “Early mathematics: a guide for improving teaching and learning” can be found at:http://www.ero.govt.nz/National-Reports/Early-mathematics-a-guide-for-improving-teaching-and-learning-March-2016
REFUGEE QUOTA: The Our Voices – Summary Report 2016 Refugee Resettlement Quota Review, by Amnesty International highlights the support for a refugee quota increase. Click here for report:https://www.amnesty.org.nz/sites/default/files/Our%20Voices%20Summary%20Report%202016%20Refugee%20Resettlement%20Quota%20Review.pdf
RETAIL TRADE: Christchurch city’s retail and hospitality spending continues to outpace that at the national level, according to Statistics New Zealand.Click here for more: http://bit.ly/1RbT0f3
TRAFFIC REPORT: TomTom (TOM2) today released the results of the TomTom Traffic Index 2016, the annual report detailing the cities around the world with the most traffic congestion. People can find out more about the TomTom Traffic Index, and discover where their home city ranks at: http://www.tomtom.com/trafficindex
And that’s our sampling of “news you can use” for Tuesday 22nd March.
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Asia Pacific Report photographer Del Abcede captures some colourful and poignant moments at today’s SkyCity climate change protest against the New Zealand Petroleum Conference.
1. Anti-TPPA advocate Barry Coates and former Greenpeace NZ executive director Bunny McDiarmid doing their bit at SkyCity today.
2. Barry Coates and Bunny McDiarmid at SkyCity today.
3. All the way from Cape Reinga for the climate change protest.
4. Protesting outside SkyCity.
5. A family outside SkyCity.
6. Another family at SkyCity.
7. Protesting inside SkyCity.
8. Protesting inside SkyCity.
9. Protesting inside Sky City.
10. One of the two sit-ins inside SkyCity.
11. Sit-in inside SkyCity.
12. Amnesty International’s Margaret Jones and another climate change protester.
13. A Maori Television crew getting footage.
14. A Maori Television crew getting their interviews.
15. Unitec’s A/Professor Evangelia Papoutsaki among the climate change advocates.
16. Pavement graffiti – “the planet before profit”.
17. Message from the tangata whenua.
18. A colourful protest headdress.
19. A sit-in outside SkyCity.
20. A message from the wash line – “What future is John Key fuelling?”.
21. Police marshalling their reinforcements.
22. A sit-in outside SkyCity.
23. Another angle on the sit-in.
24. What’s the difference between an oil spill and a solar spoil? Answer: Moral bankruptcy.
25. Another pavement message for the oil kings – “Say ‘kahore'”.
26. What next for the boys – and girls – in blue?
27. What next?: Global devastation.
28. Climate change protesters at SkyCity.
29. Greenepeace NZ’s Russel Norman speaks to the climate change committed.
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AsiaPacificReport.nz
More than 200 protesters converged on New Zealand’s largest oil industry conference at dawn today, blockading its entrances as part of a Greenpeace-organised demonstration of peaceful civil disobedience.
It is the first time in New Zealand that Greenpeace has invited the general public to take civil disobedience action en masse.
The day’s activities are being livestreamed by Greenpeace and Asia Pacific Report also has Storify coverage.
Climate campaigner Steve Abel said today that despite years of public opposition and a failure to find any deep sea oil, Prime Minister John Key’s government had continued to invest in the drilling that threatened New Zealand communities, coastlines and climate.
The protest comes just days after the announcement that February 2016 was the hottest month in history.
“We have a government and an oil industry hell-bent on drilling for the very oil that must stay in the ground if we’re going to avoid climate change causing human catastrophe,” said Abel.
Hundreds of people planned to sit outside the main entrances of SkyCity in Auckland, where the 2016 Petroleum New Zealand Conference is being held.
Tuvaluan protesters
Protesters are expected to include Anglican ministers, nurses, teachers and members of the Tuvaluan community, whose Islands are on the frontline of sea-level rise.
Inside the conference, Minister of Energy and Resources Simon Bridges is expected to announce the 2016 “Block Offers” – the areas of New Zealand’s ocean that will be on the market for oil exploration this year.
Last year, almost 430,000 sq km were opened up for potential drilling.
‘Life and death’ action needed
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AsiaPacificReport.nz
LIVE NEWSFEED: Peaceful civil disobedience in Auckland, March 21 – Greenpeace
On Monday, March 21, Greenpeace will be at the oil industry conference in Auckland – and so will masses of other people.
Through non-violent peaceful civil disobedience, Greenpeace pledges to “send the strongest message we can that New Zealand must join the global fight to quit oil and meet the greatest challenge of our time – climate change”.
#RealClimateChange
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AsiaPacificReport.nz
Investigative journalist Adele Ferguson has accepted the Graham Perkin journalist of the year award at the state of Victoria’s Quills, using her speech to rally against job cuts at Fairfax Media, reports ABC News.
The Quills are awarded for excellence in Victorian journalism and “acknowledge outstanding work produced by journalists, photographers, camera people, cartoonists, illustrators and editors”.
Ferguson took out the top award as Fairfax staff continued to strike in protest at plans to cut 120 editorial jobs as part of cost-cutting measures at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Australian Financial Review.
Ferguson’s work for The Age, in partnership with ABC Four Corners, last year revealed retail giant 7-Eleven was systematically paying its workers about half the minimum wage at stores around the country.
The story prompted the resignation of the company’s chairman Russell Withers, along with chief executive Warren Wilmot and general manager of operations Natalie Dalbo.
The company has since established a panel led by former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) boss Allan Fels to help staff recover wages, and the Fair Work Ombudsman expects to take more court action over worker exploitation.
Ferguson told the audience gathered in Melbourne that the cuts would make her job and others’ much more difficult.
‘Heavy heart’
“Given the past 24 hours at Fairfax, it’s with a heavy heart I’m here tonight,” she said.
“If there are job cuts it’s going to be harder.
“I hope we’re not going to go on cutting, cutting, cutting until there’s nothing left.”
The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) believes the cuts amount to one-quarter of the editorial workforce.
The mood at the awards has been a sombre one, with journalists wearing “Fairgo Fairfax” T-shirts in support of the diminishing editorial workforce at the company.
A number of media professionals have tweeted in support of Ferguson and other Fairfax staff for their commitment to quality journalism.
Fairfax cuts hurt democracy: protesters
Fairfax job cuts plan produces mass walkout as staff ‘take a stand’
#FairGoFairfax
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AsiaPacificReport.nz
By Ariane Adam
The Veiqia Project Exhibition is now open at Auckland University of Technology’s St Pauls St Gallery Three as a result of the journey of seven women reconnecting with a “sleeping” cultural practice.
The exhibition boasts the artwork of five contemporary artists from Australia and New Zealand that were developed from 12 months of research and museum visits, in the hope of further understanding “Veiqia” – the practice of female tattooing in Fiji.
“The project is about reawakening ourselves as Fijian woman,” says curator Tarisi Sorovi-Vunidilo.
“The exhibition highlights a process each artist took to learn more about Veiqia, an ancient practice that is part of the rite of passage for young girls before they become a woman,” says Sorovi-Vunidilo.
“It reminds us of our role in Fijian society and reaffirms our place in our family.”
Artist Donita Hulmes says she only heard the word Veiqia a year ago.
“What came to me was the question – why don’t we know about this? This project now gives me hope that we can put the practice back into light and give the names back to our great-grandmothers.”
Artist Joana Monolagi says this is not the end for the Project.
“This has opened up a lot of our personal life as a Fijian women and who knows where this will take us.”
The artists: Donita Hulmes, Dulcie Stewart, Margaret Aull, Luisa Tora
and Joana Monolagi.
The Veiqia Project is supported by AUT’s Office of Pacific Advancement.
“Pacific communities across the world have a wealth of Pacific artistic talent,” says Head of Pacific Advancement Walter Fraser. “We are pleased to be a part of helping showcase this diverse talent.”
The exhibition is at the St Paul Street Gallery Three from March 16-26, and is aligned with the Pacific Arts Association XII International Symposium.
Artists: Margaret Aull, Luisa Tora, Dulcie Stewart, Donita Hulmes, Joana Monolagi.
Curators: Tarisi Sorovi-Vunidilo and Ema Tavola.
When: 16-26 March 2016
Where: St Pauls St Gallery Three, AUT, Auckland City
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AsiaPacificReport.nz
Julian Ligo recently published an online piece purporting to tell the “real” story down at the wharf, in which Port Vila Efate Land Transport Association (PVELTA) executive member Ronny Noal claims that “the media is to be blamed for this mess”. He claims, “at no time did any of the drivers throw a rock at the Adventures in Paradise bus.”
The Vanuatu Daily Post has seen more than half a dozen individual statements that chunks of wood and rocks were thrown at the vehicles, that bystanders—presumably other drivers—were shouting “stonem olgeta!” (“Stone them!”) and laughing as the tour vehicles full of bewildered tourists ran a gauntlet of angry drivers.
Mr Noal seems to have forgotten that the buses were blocked by a PVELTA official, who tried to stop the stoning, but waved the buses on when he realised the situation was out of control.
Our staff have received reports from bus drivers present at the scene who state that stones were thrown at the vehicles.
We called Adventures In Paradise and they confirmed that stones were thrown, vehicles were damaged and that criminal complaints have been submitted.
Julian Ligo’s so-called journalism, on the other hand, seems to consist of a single conversation he had with one single person whose motives or memory are questionable, to say the least. He tries to paper over the fact that other vehicles were stoned and damaged as well at the wharf that morning, and for this too we have incontrovertible evidence.
His claim that we made no attempt to contact the PVELTA is false. We were already working on a story about problems at the wharf, and had been trying—unsuccessfully—to reach them for some time. Immediately after the news broke, we tried once again to call, SMS and email, but with no success.
Correct the record
The PVELTA has had numerous opportunities to correct the record. Until this dubious tale was told to Julian Ligo, not a single word was said.
The association was copied into the official correspondence that followed the incident at the wharf. To our knowledge, they never objected to the way the events were described.
I met with the president of the PVELTA on the same morning this scurrilous tale was being compiled. Massing said nothing to me to about our version of the events. I sat with him again just yesterday, and still he did nothing to deny that stones were thrown that morning.
Julian also claims that the Daily Post has not presented “both” sides of the wharf story. He clearly hasn’t read our paper. In every news item and editorial, we clearly contextualised the outbursts and underlined the difficulties that local transport drivers have been facing for some time.
But all of this is losing the forest for the trees:
A woman was kidnapped, threatened and beaten. This is the story that Ronny Noal and Julian Ligo are trying to distract us from.
The Daily Post didn’t stone anyone’s vehicle. The Daily Post didn’t abduct and beat a helpless woman. The Daily Post wasn’t involved in thuggery. The Daily Post is the one that shone a bright light on these shameful events.
For months now, there have been a series of violent incidents, disturbances, assaults and intimidation on the wharf, all of them attributed to bus and taxi drivers. Mr Noal knows better than to dispute that.
The Acting Harbour Master has stated that members of his security staff were assaulted several times. We have received reports of citizens being assaulted and their vehicles stoned on other occasions as well.
Today, PVELTA president Donald Massing has done the right thing and apologised to the public for the shameful actions of a few out-of-control individuals.
Mr Noal and Mr Ligo need to apologise too. They need to apologise for doing the very thing they blame the Daily Post for: Inciting anger and intolerance against others.
But more than anything, they need to apologise to Florence Lengkon for trying to imply that the responsibility for violence against women lies with anyone but the perpetrators themselves. They should be ashamed. Ms Lengkon—and the people of Vanuatu—deserve better.
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Economic Analysis by Tony Alexander.
Tony Alexander, BNZ economist.[/caption]
In this week’s Overview I start by taking a look at reasons why not all banks have passed on all the 0.25% cut in the Reserve Bank’s official cash rate. It comes down to changes in the OCR not being the best measure of changes in overall bank funding costs since the global financial crisis – something well known by the Reserve Bank and a message delivered by all of us since 2008. If the Reserve Bank wants all floating rates to drop at least 0.25% given that the credit spread for us borrowing funds offshore has increased sharply recently, all they have to do is cut the cash rate again. Simple.
I also take a three page look at the dairy sector with a graph on page 2 which visually explains why the sector went ballistic post-GFC and which allows you to generate your own “assumption” about what the payout for the next five years will average if we strip out the boom period and look at the underlying price trend from 1990 to 2007. You’ll need a ruler. Instructions at the bottom of page 4 for those who have never extrapolated a trend before.
I also take a quick updated look at the Auckland housing market noting the strength seen in February’s numbers, rumours of Chinese buyers returning, ever-increasing migration, and how dwelling consent numbers are running at about half the level needed to start reducing the shortage. The price implications are obvious – especially with the recent (small) cuts in mortgage rates with it seems more to come.
Probably worth a few minutes to have a read this week.
For the full analysis, continue reading below or Download document
1. There are signs that Chinese buyers are returning. If true then extra demand lies ahead, one day to be added to by buyers from India.
2. Interest rates have just been cut, further cuts lie ahead, the pool of savers needing to boost yield through assets other than bank deposits has grown again and will grow further.
3. There remains a big stack of young people wanting to buy property, some catching up on buying they have delayed since 2007.
4. Ney migration inflows are not only high and expected to stay high, they are still growing and 60% of the net flow goes to Auckland.
5. The number of dwelling consents being issued in Auckland is running at about half the number needed just to stabilise the shortage at current levels.
The Auckland housing market has been in pause mode since about October last year. We can see this in the Days to Sell measure which went from 3.5 days faster than average in September, 4.2 days in August and 5.1 days in July to only 0.9 days in October, 0.4 days slower than average in November, 0.4 days faster in December and only 0.1 days faster than average in January. I’ll tell you February’s outcome further along. The stratified median dwelling sales price rose 2.6% in August and 3.3% in September, then fell 4% in October, was flat in November, then fell 2.3% in December and again in January. I will tell you February’s result below. The Auckland market has paused since October and that was when the requirement for all buyers to have an IRD number came into play along with the two year bright line test for capital gains tax. And from November 1 all investors needed at least a 30% deposit. But now look at the February numbers. The Days to Sell measure in Auckland for February was 3.7 days faster than average. Back at September’s level. The median stratified dwelling sales price jumped 5.5%. The upshot? There are growing signs that after pausing for four months the Auckland market is sparking back into life with new assistance now from the latest easing of monetary policy and indications of more to come. Will the return of Auckland strength be at the expense of the rest of the country’s surge? No. Its a nationwide phenomena now. NZ Dollar The Kiwi dollar was edging lower this week until the Federal Reserve adopted a more dovish than expected tone last night whilst leaving their funds rate target unchanged. We end against the USD just over 67 cents compared with just under last week. Nothing interesting to note in other words. More interesting is the NZD’s continuing weakness against the Aussie dollar. The AUD was lifted a couple of weeks ago by anticipation of some further improvement in minerals prices stemming from China’s stepped up efforts to boost growth focussing on infrastructure. The NZD is near where it was last Thursday against the AUD at about 89 cents. Personally speaking it feels like a good level to shift some funds back to NZ from Australia. You will find current spot rates here. http://www.xe.com/currency/nzd-new-zealand-dollar If I Were A Borrower What Would I Do? The surprise move by the Reserve Bank last week to cut the OCR to 2.25% provides us with an opportunity to remind everyone of a key point we have been making with regard to interest rates for six years now. You are foolish to make your interest rate risk management decisions highly dependent upon a particular set of interest rate forecasts proving accurate. As noted here so many times before, our ability to forecast interest rates has gone out the window post-GFC because apart from correctly picking the 1% rise in the cash rate over 2014 we and everyone else have gotten essentially nothing right – since late-2007 in fact. We cannot pick the low point in interest rates this cycle. There is in fact no identifiable cycle in place. Monetary policies globally are in uncharted territory, inflation forecasts are repeatedly too high yet the world is awash with printed money looking for a home which pre-GFC would have sparked a massive inflation surge. Post-GFC households and businesses are reluctant to boost their debt levels – dairy farmers being the exception. Were I borrowing at the moment maybe to buy another disused bar in Auckland (see The Listener, February 29) I would have one-third floating to allow repayment flexibility and offsetting against credit funds, and the rest fixed for two years at 4.39%. If I Were An Investor …I’d see a BNZ Private Banker The text at this link explains why I do not include a section discussing what I would do if I were an investor. http://tonyalexander.co.nz/regular-publications/bnz-weekly-overview/if-i-were-an-investor/ For NotingCurrent account deficit at just 3.1% of GDP = very low and one reason for NZD strength.
Probable Trump candidacy for Republicans in the US. Impact on NZ. No-one knows. Not even him.
Brexit? Increasingly probable. Source of weakness for both the British pound and Euro, upside for other currencies, huge uncertainties and deeper questions about the future of the European Union.
Wellington house prices – lots more upside to come. Big catch-up with Auckland.
GDP up 0.9% in the December quarter after 0.9% in the September quarter bringing calendar year growth of 2.5% forecast to rise above 3% soon. The economy is in a strong state with many sectors offsetting weakness in dairying – just as we have been saying for all the past year and will do so for all this year.
NewsroomPlus.com
Today’s edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 5 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Thursday 17th of March. It is best viewed on a desktop screen.
NEWSROOM_MONITOR
Noteworthy stories in the current news cycle include: the Commerce Commission investigating revelations a major building product manufacturer has been using false certificates for the last four years; an Australian economist, George Barker saying the government has grossly overestimated the cost of extending copyright laws under the Trans-Pacific Partnership by tens of millions of dollars; and the economy continuing to grow, with stronger activity in the services sector driving a 0.9 percent rise in the gross domestic product (GDP).
POLITICS PULSE
Government: New Zealand economy continues to grow; McCully welcomes UAE Foreign Minister; Weak environment Bill fails parliamentary vote; Progress of Rangitāne – Manawatū Bill described as bittersweet;Two Settlement Bills – a road to healing for iwi;Government Welcomes Forest Safety Charter;Shortlist announced for transfer of social houses in Tauranga and Invercargill; New Board line-up to lead fire services sector;t: NZ concerned at Israeli land appropriations;Berhampore centre strengthens community;Minister welcomes Polyfest celebration
Greens: Welcome end to harmful pollution subsidy;NZ should follow UK’s bold sugar levy move; Mojo Mathers to receive 50,000-strong petition to ban rodeo; Weak environment Bill fails parliamentary vote; Green Party Pleased Changes To Regeneration Bill Will Give More Power To Christchurch;New local government changes a blow to communities;GDP stats highlight two-speed economy;John Key knew NZ ‘jihadi brides’ claim to be false
Labour: 400,000 bogged down in driver licence log jam;DOC struggling to protect our biodiversity;Govt to blame for low burglary resolution, not parents;Goodhew needs to back local forestry companies; Sell-off drives community groups into arms of bankers;Tertiary education books an indictment on Govt
New Zealand First: Big Bill For Flag Change, But No One Did The Sums; Speech – Grey Power Whanganui;Govt Shows No Concern For Maori Men’s Health;Two Lane Bridges In The Dead Slow Lane;Supergold Cardholders Urged To Fight For Card’s Survival
LINKS OF THE DAY
ENVIRONMENT CANTERBURY REPORT: Environment Canterbury released its Compliance Monitoring Annual report for the 2014-2015 year. For the compliance report, including zone reports, go tohttp://ecan.govt.nz/publications/Pages/compliance-reports.aspx
FOREST INDUSTRY SAFETY COUNCIL: The Forest Industry Safety Council (FISC) Charter has been launched. The Charter publicly commits the industry to a mission of ‘Together Towards Zero’ as the driver for achieving safe outcomes for all forestry industry workers. For more information on the Charter, see http://www.fisc.org.nz.
GDP INCREASE: GDP increased 0.9 percent in the December 2015 quarter, boosted by the service industries, Statistics New Zealand said today. Click here for more: http://bit.ly/22nn6zV
GLOBAL WATER SHORTFALL: A 2016 research paper in the Journal Nature predicts a 40% shortfall of available water across the globe by 2030 with effects not just for drinking, food production, hygiene and public health, but also for 98% of global electric power generation. Read more:https://www.bec.org.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/113741/Resilience-managing-the-risks-of-the-energy-water-food-nexus.pdf
YOUNG GLOBAL CITIZENS: The New Zealand Centre for Global Studies is calling for senior high school students to apply for its 2016 Global Citizenship Conference. Featuring workshops and addresses from leading academics, the conference will encourage Kiwi high school students to reframe their perceptions of global citizenship, and examine its increasing importance to them in the 21st century. Applications are open to Year 11–13 students from throughout New Zealand. Find out more and apply online by 10 April 2016 at: bit.ly/NZCGSconf.
And that’s our sampling of “news you can use” for Thursday 17th March.]]>
AsiaPacificReport.nz
By TJ Aumua of Pacific Media Watch
A research report about Pacific media outlets in New Zealand was launched today at Auckland University of Technology – the first time an extensive investigation of the Pasifika diaspora media in Auckland has been produced.
New Zealand journalist and former Auckland University of Technology postgraduate student Michael Neilson undertook the research in 2015 with the guidance of PMC director Professor David Robie.
The monograph, published by the Pacific Media Centre, includes interviews with staff at more than18 of Auckland’s Pacific media outlets and provides a broad snapshot of Pasifika media representation in New Zealand and seeks to improve the recognition of Pacific within media coverage as well as the profession.
Neilson, who is currently in Indonesia after an internship with the Sydney Morning Herald bureau in Jakarta, was unable to be at the launch but he was praised by staff and colleagues for the depth and range of the research.
Former postgraduate leader at AUT, Dr Frances Nelson, said the monograph included quotes, data and photographic material that had captured the essence of the organisations that participated in the research.
‘Beautifully written’
“It is also beautifully written. And it shows his engagement with the Pasifika community and their media outlets,” she said.
Dr Robie, who is editor of the Pacific Journalism Monograph series, said: “This will be a tremendously useful booklet for both Pasifika newsrooms and our student journalists. Michael did a really dedicated and thorough job on this project.”
Outgoing chair of the Pacific Media Centre, Isabella Rasch, launched the monograph before she stepped down after three years in the role. Associate Professor Camille Nakhid, a social scientist with a media profile, was elected as the new chair.
The monograph can be purchased at the AUT bookshop. It will be distributed to Pasifika media offices and libraries, and will eventually be made available online.
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AsiaPacificReport.nz
By TJ Aumua
The kidnapping and attack on a local Vanuatu female tourism manager, Florence Lengkon, has stirred strong criticism of violence against women in the island nation.
Deputy Prime Minister Joe Natuman, who holds the Tourism, Commerce, Trades and Ni- Vanuatu Business portfolio, was quoted by the Vanuatu Daily Post today as saying: “Enough is enough.”
He sent a clear message which told police to “arrest those involved in the kidnapping and assault of a female employee of the Vanuatu Helicopters”.
Lengkon was allegedly abducted and beaten after posting criticism of Vanuatu bus and taxi drivers on social media.
In an email to the Auckland-based Pacific Media Centre, Post media director Dan McGarry, who broke the story on Monday after interviewing Lengkon, said today: “I think this might just be a watershed moment in Vanuatu society.
“It’s the very first time that the preponderance of opinion has been in defence of the vulnerable instead of deferring to bullies.”
The Post reported today local police had so far arrested seven people alleged to have been involved in the kidnapping and attack on Lengkon.
Court warrant
The prosecution unit reportedly applied for a court warrant to detain the seven suspects until police completed the investigations and subsequent court hearings.
The attack on Lengkon came after she commented on a Facebook post in an online discussion where members of the public blamed the Port Vila and Efate Land Transport Authority (PVELTA) for a recent string of violent activity at the wharf.
Dan McGarry’s article about the incident on Monday reported that Lengkon’s comment had called the bus and taxi drivers “big headed” and “unprofessional”.
In her interview with the Daily Post, Lengkon she was approached by three men who pulled her from office, located on the Port Vila waterfront, on mid-Sunday morning. They forced her into a bus and took her to the wharf.
She said there were lots of taxi and bus drivers, who she was ordered to apologise too, but received verbal abuse and eventually was hit. McGarry’s report quoted her as saying:
“I apologised. I apologised for a second time, and one of them gestured like he was going to hit me. That’s when I started to cry and bent down to hide my face. I don’t know who hit me, but someone did. Blood began to run down my face.”
Details have not been released on why Lenkon’s comment was singled out and targeted as a threat when her comment was only one of more than 100 responses to the public Facebook post.
Her attack emphasises the escalating tensions between bus and taxi drivers who are dealing with loss of tourism at the port due Vanuatu’s shaky economy.
In February, rocks were thrown at a passenger-full tour bus.
A Daily Post article stated “eye witnesses reported that the ‘bus drivers were banging on the back of the buses, yelling at them and then started to stone the vehicles’”.
TJ Aumua is contributing editor of the Pacific Media Centre’s Pacific Media Watch freedom project.
Brave woman tells of beating by Vanuatu drivers – 7 arrested
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AsiaPacificReport.nz
Opposition Leader Ishmael Kalsakau has alleged that the inclusion in the Vanuatu government’s “100-day plan” to review the health conditions of detainees is a “disguise” of plans to pardon some of the jailed former members of parliament.
Kalsakau said during the Opposition’s recent press conference that they had first said that it was apparent that those in government were thinking of pardoning some of the leaders now in jail for alleged corruption.
“They came out and denied this and said it was a lie but inside the 100-day plan you will see that they will review the health conditions of detainees,” he said.
“This, the Opposition wants to signal is the exact disguise of the pardoning plan.
“If it is true that pardoning will not happen, then you will know that this is because the Opposition raised this today, making them back down on the plan,” Kalsakau alleged.
“You can say detention, detainee, but we all know that when you talk about the health conditions of detainees, most of those with health conditions are only the jailed leaders. You don’t hear very much about others having health conditions.
“So, the government must come clean with the public, and not mislead the people, by saying ‘no we will never do it’ but you have turned this around so the public do not understand it.
“Still a pen”
“They write it differently in the plan, but you can turn a pen upside down, inside out, but it is still a pen,” the Opposition Leader added.
Activity number six under the Ministry of Justice and Community Services as part of the 100-day plan states, “review medical conditions of all detainees”.
The 100-day plan does not specifically mention plans to pardon inmates.
The Prime Minister’s Office in February said there were no plans to pardon the jailed 14 politicians in the 100-day plan.
The second point the Opposition had also first raised was the government’s plans to increase seats of ministerial portfolios.
“First of all they [government] indicated that this will not happen, but now it is in the 100-day plan,” Kalsakau continued.
“You will take this constitution and change it and increase the seats based on what? The tall and short of it all is just simple. You want to do this to stop MPs from jumping around. It is just not based on the needs of the people.
Fragmented policies
“As long as politics of Vanuatu is fragmented, you will not solve this problem by increasing the number of seats in Parliament. You must deal with the issue of the Constitution with care, caution, and pride so that you answer the needs of the people. Don’t answer to the needs of politics,” he told the weekly Opposition press conference.
“There are many more things in the 100-day plan but because we were first to raise these two issues in the media and they came out and denied them, we have identified these in their 100-day plan and put in such a way that it is a trick on the eye.”
In the 100-day plan under activities of the Prime Minister’s Office, activity number 11 states: “Review government structure and realign certain ministerial functions (possibility of creating new ministries to ease workload of few ministers…amendment of constitution a prerequisite).”
Jonas Cullwick is a former general manager of VBTC and now a senior journalist with the Daily Post.
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Political Roundup by Dr Bryce Edwards.
TVNZ’s controversial Kiwimeter survey
[caption id="attachment_4808" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr Bryce Edwards.[/caption]
Is TVNZ’s Kiwimeter survey simply designed to effectively gather public opinion on matters around national identity, or is it fostering racism? That’s the question at the heart of the current controversy over the broadcaster’s attempt to carry out the biggest survey of national identity ever undertaken in New Zealand.
In early March TVNZ launched Kiwimeter, promoting it as the “biggest survey of national identity ever undertaken in New Zealand” – see: Take the Kiwimeter test: The biggest ever survey of NZ’s identity. You can go directly to the survey here: Kiwimeter: What kind of Kiwi are you?
“We’re all Kiwis, but we don’t all think the same” runs the promo. TVNZ says the online Q&A is designed to gather opinions on a range of issues, including the environment, religion, gender, race relations, immigration, poverty and sport. Respondents are then placed in one of six groups – patriot, globalist, egalitarian, loyalist, traditionalist or sceptic.
At the time of the launch John Gillespie, TVNZ’s Head of News and Current Affairs, said his hope was that “Kiwimeter will spur a lively debate among New Zealanders about our identity, in the same way Vote Compass engaged Kiwis in political conversations.”
In fact, Kiwimeter was produced by the same team as TVNZ’s election-year Vote Compass, comprised of Canadian firm Vox Pop Labs – “an independent and non-partisan team of political scientists” – with input from highly respected academics from Victoria University (Jack Vowles and Kaapua Smith) and the University of Auckland (Jennifer Lees-Marshment and Danny Osborne).
Racism allegations
In one question, respondents are asked to agree or disagree with the statement “Maori should not receive any special treatment”, and to indicate the strength of their belief.
This question is at the root of most of the controversy over the survey, with Labour’s Te Tai Tokerau MP and Maori Affairs spokesperson Kelvin Davis stating the question is “out and out racism” and needs to be removed from the survey – see Stuff’s Maori MPs claim TVNZ KiwiMeter survey incites racial intolerance.
Davis is reported as saying: “It just evokes images of Don Brash 2004: implying that Maori have special treatment, I’d like to know what special treatment they’re talking about. Is it our health statistics, the fact that we’re dying 10 years earlier than non-Maori, our poor education statistics? What exactly are they meaning by special treatment? I just find it offensive.”
Labour leader Andrew Little echoed Davis’ concerns describing the question as “dubious”, “ham-fisted and cack-handed” and saying it “smacks more of prejudice” as it “begs the question that there is special treatment anyway.”
Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei described the survey questions relating to Maori as “fundamentally misleading and racist and a disgraceful approach to serious issues facing Maori in Aotearoa. Are they asking people about having Treaty rights recognised and reparation for land stolen by the Crown, are they talking about the special treatment of not getting access to housing or our parents being kicked out of bars for being Maori?” – see Mihingarangi Forbes’ PM defends ‘racist’ TVNZ survey.
Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox said she wanted to know more on how the survey came about and questioned why TVNZ had engaged a Canadian firm “to find out what New Zealanders think about New Zealanders.” She also took issue with some of the questions around religion and immigration telling RNZ’s Guyon Espiner “it seems like this survey is attacking minority groups” – you can listen to her five-minute interview here: TVNZ’s ‘special treatment’ question widely criticised.
The Human Rights Commission has also voiced concern over the survey – see RNZ’s TVNZ quiz ‘biased’ on Maori question – HRC. The Commission alleges the question on special treatment for Maori demonstrates “a biased belief by the KiwiMeter authors. The commission believed the authors had decided in advance that Maori received special treatment already.”
Outrage and offence
“’Special treatment’ is a euphemism for Maori privilege, a belief that somehow Maori receive something that other NZers can’t attain,” alleges Martyn Bradbury in his blog post, TVNZ play the race game – again.
He says TVNZ’s response that there must be questions that reflect all parts of society is akin to promoting “victim blaming for sexual assault, climate denial and homophobia because some sections of society also believe those things.” Bradbury says “We look to a public broadcaster to question bigotry, not foster it.”
“According to this noxious survey, you’re less of a patriot for being proud of Maori culture” argues Madeleine Chapman in The ‘Kiwimeter’ is nasty, divisive rubbish. Do you disagree, slightly agree, or strongly agree?
Stephanie Rodgers attempts to shed some light on Where those Kiwimeter questions came from. Rodgers took part in the local pilot study of 11,000 respondents that led to the development of the Kiwimeter survey and was recruited after her participation in the earlier Vote Compass project.
Rodgers kept a copy of the pilot questions and offers them up saying “So there we go. If you were wondering how the Kiwimeter sausage was made, there’s the Vote Compass survey horse. What does any of this mean? Buggered if I know, but I figured someone will be able to draw interesting conclusions.”
Regardless of the survey’s intentions, Kiwimeter has caused harm and offence, says blogger Tze Ming Mok – see: ‘Kiwimeter’ is a methodological car crash and I still can’t look away. She says accusations of racism are justified, because if “the overall effect of ‘Kiwimeter’ is one of causing emotional distress and feelings of marginalisation for Maori, even if due to incompetence, then it’s ultimately a racist effect.”
She argues that the academics involved should have made greater efforts in testing to ensure the survey would not cause harm to respondents. Some similar points are made by Giovanni Tiso in What colour is your nationalism? He says the involvement of “the state broadcaster” and universities should be of great concern.
One political scientist has also spoken out strongly against Kiwimeter. The head of the political science department at the University of Canterbury, Bronwyn Hayward (@BMHayward) has been making the case on Twitter that there is bias in the survey, and says “Think #Kiwimeter critics are too PC, easily offended & avoiding tough debate? Imagine YOUR human rights got challenged by TV, for fun”.
So is the Kiwimeter survey worth participating in? In his Herald column today Raybon Kan says: Kiwimeter survey? Don’t bother.
In defence of Kiwimeter
Professional pollster Andrew Robertson, of Colmar Brunton, defends TVNZ’s project in his blog post Is it racist to measure racism? Robertson’s key points are: “1. The only way we can know if racism is a problem in New Zealand is to measure it scientifically, and to see if it is getting better or worse over time. 2. The measurement of racism is complex. It is typically done by asking people if they agree or disagree with a series of scientifically selected attitude statements. There is a deep logic behind how we select these statements. 3. Sometimes these attitude statements can seem offensive, but it’s important to include them because some parts of our society endorse them. If we exclude these statements, we can’t measure prejudice.”
His arguments are expanded by the research team from the University of Auckland’s New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study – a 20-year longitudinal study of social attitudes, personality and health outcomes – who yesterday released the following statement on Why and how we measure racism, sexism, and other forms of prejudice (PDF).
Critics appear to have completely missed that the TVNZ survey is designed to measure public attitudes, not the rights or wrongs of those attitudes, says Newstalk ZB’s Barry Soper: “They all seem to have missed the point that this is an attitudinal survey, it’s not about the past, it’s trying and find out where we all fit in the great big melting pot” – see: Maori MPs miss the point of TVNZ’s survey.
RNZ’s media commentator Gavin Ellis also spoke favourably about the survey in his seven-minute discussion with Kathryn Ryan on media, saying he thought it was “a very, very well-constructed survey”.
TVNZ and survey team response
TVNZ’s John Gillespie said he would not apologise for the question and it would remain in the survey: “We think that in the survey it is important to be robust and to have questions in it that reflect all parts of society so we won’t be taking out questions where we thought long and hard about why they’re in there” – see Claire Trevett’s TVNZ survey question about Maori branded racist and offensive.
The company contracted to help TVNZ with the survey, Vox Pop Labs, has responded to Kelvin Davis’ claims, labeling them “categorically false” – see Mihingarangi Forbes’ PM defends ‘racist’ TVNZ survey. CEO, Clifton van der Linden, said his company was reflecting views that already existed and defended the wording of the question, saying it “doesn’t imply Maori received special treatment. If I were asking the question ‘John shouldn’t paint his house yellow’, it doesn’t imply John is painting his house yellow.” He argues “We can learn more about the mechanisms through which racism and prejudices operate and find ways to combat these prejudices. If you don’t ask the question, how do you hope to find the answer?”
Forbes reports that Danny Osborne of Auckland University, one of the academics involved in creating the survey, said he and his colleagues recognised “the issues were sensitive, and accepted that when a question was drawn out in isolation it could appear to be biased. However, the questions used in KiwiMeter are mutually dependent, and so removing one question would destroy its balance.” He is referring to questions “A history of discrimination has created conditions that make it difficult for Maori to be successful” and “Maori culture is something that all New Zealanders can take pride in, no matter their background.”
Threats to media and academic freedom
One of the academics involved in Kiwimeter, Jennifer Lees-Marshment (@jleesmarshment) has tweeted: “Sad to see the Labour Party and other politicians interfering with academic freedom and telling us how to design public opinion surveys”.
So should we be concerned that politicians, state bodies and activists are attempting to control research carried out by media and academics? Absolutely, says David Farrar: “What is especially worrying about this, is they are trying to censor and control research. They’re saying that because they have a view that there is no special treatment, you shouldn’t even be allowed to ask if people have that view. It is profoundly dangerous” – see: Now the left are trying to censor research.
Farrar says he would have chosen a different wording himself but ultimately believes no question should be off limits – “For how else can you find out how people have that view?”
He commends TVNZ for refusing to bend to pressure and challenges Kelvin Davis’ claim he doesn’t know what “special treatment” Maori receive with a blunt response: “He’s an MP for an electorate where eligibility is dependent on your blood ancestry”.
On Public Address, academic researcher Peter Davis makes an interesting comment at the end of Tze Ming Mok’s blog post, ‘Kiwimeter’ is a methodological car crash and I still can’t look away. Davis writes that he is not aware of Kiwimeter and therefore is not necessarily defending its methodology but, nonetheless, “There is a problem if ethics committees start saying that you cannot ask questions about controversial and/or sensitive issues. You immediately get a whole lot of subjects taken off the agenda”. He gives an international example showing knowledge and understanding of prejudice can be enhanced by asking questions that are, on the face of it, racist.
And are TVNZ’s media rivals playing a part in stirring up anger over the survey? RNZ and Stuff have both published reports claiming the TVNZ survey is designed to find out “how Kiwi” we are – a phrase that does not actually appear in TVNZ’s own discussion or promotion of the survey and is qualitatively different to the Kiwimeter tagline “What kind of Kiwi are you?”
Kiwimeter data
TVNZ has been broadcasting the results from the survey, which has been taken so far by over 140,000 people – see the following reports by Daniel Faitaua: Kiwimeter: First results are in as survey on national identity climbs to 80,000, Kiwimeter reveals we’re proud of our anti-nuclear stance and lifestyle, Kiwimeter: Nationalism, sport the top Kiwi values and Kiwimeter: Turns out Aucklanders aren’t too different from the rest of NZ.
These reports are illuminating and useful contributions to public debate about politics and society. But the fact they have become the subject of such controversy also reveals how sensitive New Zealand has become to issues of ethnicity and, in particular, perceived racism.
Finally, Kiwimeter isn’t the first attempt to categorise New Zealanders into different social groupings representing our values and lifestyles. A few years ago, Jill Caldwell and Christopher Brown attempted to create a “snapshot of New Zealand that explores our unspoken class system and the hidden social boundaries that separate us from each other” with their book “8 Tribes”, which broke us into the groups represented by the geographical areas of: North Shore, Balclutha, Otara, Cuba St, Grey Lynn, Remuera, Raglan, and Papatoetoe. You can find which of the eight tribes you belong to here: 8 Tribes.
]]>Across the Ditch: With Australian radio FiveAA.com.au’s Peter Godfrey and EveningReport.nz’s Selwyn Manning. This week Peter and Selwyn discuss the rise and controversy surrounding Uber V Taxis + Dairy Exports & New Zealand’s current account deficit blowout + New Zealand’s Blackcaps beat India in the World Twenty-20 match and face Australia tomorrow (Friday). UBER: Yes Uber is operating in Auckland and Wellington. It has caused, in part, Auckland Airport (both domestic and international terminals) to lock-down its taxi pick up areas to taxi companies that successfully won a tender. A few weeks ago Auckland Airport Ltd also initiated a new tender bid and it is making a lot of noise that the company that wins the tender will be recognised as providing a safe, efficient and trustworthy service for travellers. It seems the move is in part designed to clear the taxi ranks of budget operators and also most likely Uber. There is no way the Airport company can stop people arranging a ride with Uber to the airport. But a quick look on the Uber site shows a fare from central Auckland out to the International terminal will cost around NZ$41.56. The budget taxi operators can do this for around $30.00 but sometimes their vehicles do not carry eftpos or credit card transaction equipment. Sometimes too the vehicles have passed their best. A ride from the Auckland CBD to the international terminal in a Auckland Co-Op Taxi will cost over $60.00, and Corporate Cabs are well above this. NZ’S ECONOMY UNDER STRAIN: New Zealand’s current account deficit ballooned out by $221 million in the December quarter to a total of $1.9 billion dollars. The deterioration of the current account deficit was caused in part by the value of exported goods falling by $554 million from September 1 to December 31. The drop was led by plummeting dairy sector returns, due significantly to the continuing collapse of global milk powder prices. The whole milk powder price dropped this week by 0.8 percent to US$1971 per tonne. Kiwi farmers need the price to be US$3000 per tonne to break even. On top of the collapse of milk powder prices, butter dropped by 2.8 percent and cheddar cheese was down 5.6 percent. With the Kiwi dollar treading water at around 66 to 67 US cents, many farmers are facing insolvency. Consequently the narrative has shifted from how to trade out of the mess, to how much is the farm worth on the open market. The collapse of the ‘white gold’ market is estimated to have driven between 20-30 percent of farmers against the wall. Politicians of the New Zealand First and Labour parties have been urging the Government to intervene. Yesterday, Fonterra, the global dairy export giant, announced the “permanent closure” of its South Island Kaikoura site . Mark Leslie, Fonterra’s Director of New Zealand Manufacturing, said: “While it is difficult for the people involved, we have a responsibility to our farmer shareholders and unit holders, and our customers to be as efficient as possible across our business, especially given the low milk price.” Beyond Milk. Import values also declined, softening a potential big hit from poor export returns. The lower than normal import total was attributed largely to lower prices paid for imported crude and petrol. Statistics New Zealand reported yesterday (Wednesday) that the annual current account balance was a deficit of $7.7 billion (3.1 percent of GDP). New Zealand has struggled with its current account deficit since the majority of the country’s banks became foreign-owned. Also, outsourcing to overseas owned providers of state-subsidised healthcare and continuing care for the elderly, has also ratcheted up the level of indebtedness the country’s public and private entities, and citizens, owe to overseas interests. A poor current account means Kiwis will continue to pay higher interest rates for foreign-sourced capital. CRICKET: NZ’S BLACK CAPS BEAT INDIA IN WORLD TWENTY-20. New Zealand clobbered India in the Cricket on Wednesday winning the 20 over match by 47 runs – NZ was 126 for 7. India was all out for 79 runs. The Blackcaps took India’s batters apart with a spin-bowling attack. After the win, NZ Cricket said the team would be rising early at 6am to travel North to the edge of the Himalayas to the hillside city of Darashalla. There they will find snow, the Dalai Lama, and our old rival Australia. It should be a great game between the Trans Tasman rivals tomorrow (Friday) at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association. As Peter always says, let the best team win!
Across the Ditch was Recorded Live on 17/03/16. It broadcasts live each week on Australia’s radio FiveAA.com.au and webcasts on EveningReport.nz, LiveNews.co.nz, and ForeignAffairs.co.nz.
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Today’s edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 3 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Wednesday 16th of March. It is best viewed on a desktop screen.
NEWSROOM_MONITOR
Noteworthy stories in the current news cycle include: the timber industry saying it’s losing money from the country’s free trade agreement with China; banks being criticised for keeping credit card interest rates at nearly 20% – when interest rates generally are at their lowest in decades; and that a special 50% reduction in climate change obligations for New Zealand citizens and companies will be scrapped.
POLITICS PULSE
Government: Majority of transactions with government now digital; Wraparound service proving a ‘lifesaver’; Citrus industry joins GIA biosecurity agreement; PM announces appointment of GCSB director; Land Transfer Bill passes first reading;Wide parliamentary support for Kermadec Sanctuary; Major reforms to improve local government services for ratepayers; Taking the LEAD on disability employment; TPP reduces non-tariff trade barriers;Three Treaty settlement bills pass first reading; Substance Addiction (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Bill passes First Reading; Modern buses for the regions
Labour: Gun inquiry welcome but must be robust;Stress test shows banks have room to support farmers; Tertiary education “whitestreaming” must stop
Māori Party: First reading of Te Ātiawa Claims Settlement Bill
New Zealand First: ForestWood 2016 Conference Speech;Global Dairy Trade Down; Italy And Hungary Break Ranks Over Russia; We’ve Been Taken For Mugs By China As Wood Industry Proves;Key Runs From His Government’s Claims On TPPA Gains;Sale Of 10 Northland Farms Shows Foreign Buyers Not Needed
LINKS OF THE DAY
BANKING ROBUST: The banking system is robust to a severe dairy stress test, according to a Bulletin article ‘Summary of the dairy portfolio stress testing exercise’ published today by the Reserve Bank. Click here for more:http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/research-and-publications/reserve-bank-bulletin/2016/rbb2016-79-05
BALANCE OF PAYMENTS: New Zealand’s seasonally adjusted current account balance widened by $221 million in the December 2015 quarter, to a deficit of $1.9 billion, according to New Zealand.m More details at:http://bit.ly/1nMRmEz
INTENSIVE WRAPAROUND SERVICE: A review of a new service for students with the highest needs which has found it is improving behaviour and educational outcomes. Introduced in 2012, Intensive Wraparound Service is an intensive, personalised service that supports children and young people with high and complex behavioural and learning needs. Read more: http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/patterns-of-student-progress-in-the-intensive-wraparound-service
And that’s our sampling of “news you can use” for Wednesday 16th March.
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By Vannessa Hearman and Jose da Costa
In 1995, 18 East Timorese youths sailed illegally to Australia in a small fishing boat. After five nights at sea they reached Australian waters. They were picked up by Australian Customs and brought to Darwin.
As young members of the clandestine movement opposed to Indonesian rule, many of the youths risked being captured, tortured or even killed in East Timor. Their voyage created a diplomatic nightmare for both countries.
Jose da Costa was 18 when he embarked on the journey. “Sometimes people asked me, why did you want to risk your life traveling on a small fishing boat to cross the ocean? The answer is, we didn’t want to but we had no choice.”
Da Costa was born six months after Indonesia’s December 1975 invasion. “I was born in the jungle near Uaimori, Viqueque district. My family had fled from Baucau to seek sanctuary after the invasion.”
After about two years, Indonesian encirclement and aerial bombardment made living conditions almost impossible for the fugitives. “Five of my siblings died from starvation. My uncle and his family were killed during the heavy bombardment by the Indonesian armed forces.”
The Indonesian military captured Da Costa’s family and transported them back to their village in Baucau, where their freedom of movement was curtailed.
When he was just eight years old, his father Bie Ono was lynched by the Indonesian military as he had been helping the anti-Indonesian forces. They made out Bie Ono had committed suicide and the villagers were brought to see his lifeless body.
Clandestine movement
In his teenage years, Da Costa joined the clandestine movement. He was badly tortured after participating in a protest march to the Santa Cruz cemetery in the capital, Dili, on 12 November 1991.
The march preceded a funeral procession for a Timorese activist who had been murdered by Indonesian troops. The Indonesian military opened fire on the protesters, killing 271 of them, in what became known as the Dili Massacre.
Young people who survived were rounded up and interrogated. Some never made it back out of the detention centres they were taken to.
Da Costa was one who did make it out of detention. Following his release, he began working as a courier, passing on goods and messages between the towns and the Timorese guerrillas in the mountains.
The boat voyage to Australia took some planning. Several young people had thought about travelling to Australia and seeking asylum, including other members of the clandestine network, such as Florentino Das Neves and Alfredo Reinado.
Reinado had lived and worked in Indonesia. As a young boy, he was forced to be a military assistant, carrying equipment and weaponry for the military. He joined the clandestine movement upon his return from Indonesia.
Da Costa, Das Neves and Reinado experimented with sailing a boat from Dili, but the canoe they bought only made it as far as Laga, 142 kilometres away.
On 12 November 1994, a group of Timorese youth jumped the fences of the United States Embassy in Jakarta and received asylum in Portugal. This renewed the Dili youths’ interest in the boat voyage. In consultation with Timorese pro-independence leaders, they resumed planning to sail to Australia, this time with a boat called Tasi Diak [Good Sea].
Father Domingos Maubere is a Catholic priest who played an active role in supporting the independence movement. As the 15 men, two women and one baby assembled on the beach at Tibar, 18 km west of Dili, to prepare for their departure, Father Domingos married Reinado to Maria Alves and baptised the couple’s six month-old baby, Billy Ray.
He then handed each person a small crucifix to hang around their neck “as a symbol of suffering and hope”.
Father Domingos told them, “My children, if I have not heard any news about you in seven days, I will bring candles and flowers to the sea to remember you as heroes of your country.”
His words suddenly brought the poignant realisation that they might not make it to Australia.
Hid behind mangroves
Da Costa recounted, “Father Domingos hid behind the mangroves and watched us sail away. From the boat, we saw his car lights slowly disappear behind the hill. We were then all alone. Just us and the sea.”
The journey took five nights and six days. Overloaded, the boat soon leaked and the passengers had to bail out water continuously. Luckily the sea remained placid until the second day of the voyage. Da Costa who, like most of the other passengers, was unable to swim recalled:
The waves were very rough, it was dark. We could not see anything we could only hear the sound of the waves hitting the boat and people vomiting. The only light that we had was a battery-powered torch to light the compass so we could see where to go. We could hear the sea water coming in and in the dark we were struggling to bail out the water. We were vomiting on each other, because we could not see in the dark. All night we struggled with the rough waves and tried to save the boat from sinking and there were no life jackets.
Tracking southeast, they didn’t tell the boat’s skipper Julio that Australia was their destination until the second day of the journey. They were confined to eating raw noodles and Indonesian military tinned rations, as a storm made it impossible to cook the sack of rice they brought. Eventually the storm cleared.
In the morning I was at the back of the boat pumping out the sea water. I saw a big group of dolphins jumping around and I remembered my father telling me that if you were at sea and you saw a dolphin you were very safe.
Da Costa recalled their arrival in Australian waters on the morning of 29 May 1995:
An Australian Customs boat sailed alongside our boat and we cut the boat’s engine, thinking they would bring us onto their boat. Instead two Customs officers jumped into our boat and restarted the engine. They asked us in English if we were Indonesian. Alfredo replied in his limited English, that we were Timorese. They put a light reflector on our boat and we followed them. When it was close to Darwin the officer tied a rope to our boat and towed us to Larakeyah naval centre. We arrived there around 2am Australian time [on 30 May 1995].
From the Naval Centre, they were brought to Darwin Airport, where they were to be accommodated. The following day, the group was rushed to the isolated Curtin RAAF Base in Western Australia, which had just been converted into a detention centre. This was partly to prevent the group, dubbed the Quail Group, from becoming a public rallying point for Timorese independence supporters in Darwin.
The Timorese community in Darwin had been alerted to the departure of the group from Dili and had been waiting anxiously for the boat’s arrival. Embarrassingly for the Indonesian government, the group’s arrival coincided with Indonesian Research and Technology Minister Baharuddin Jusuf Habibie’s visit to Australia. The Australian press quizzed him on the “boat people”.
Members of the “Quail group” were the only asylum seekers to arrive by boat from Indonesian-occupied East Timor. When they were released from Curtin detention centre, all 18 were issued bridging visas, allowing them to stay in Australia while their refugee claims were being assessed. They went to live with Timorese families in Melbourne, Sydney and Darwin.
Torture survivors
Da Costa, who like the other members of the group had been interviewed by the department of immigration, lawyers and counsellors, including those who specialised in working with torture survivors, said, “My group did not understand the visa process and we did not understand what the bridging visa meant. We only understood that we could not leave the country nor work or study in Australia.”
Foreign Minister Ali Alatas was livid at the issuing of the bridging visas. He argued that they were not genuine refugees, ridiculing their claims of torture. Despite then Foreign Minister Gareth Evans defending the issuing of the bridging visas, other Australian public officials bent over backwards to appease the Indonesian government.
Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Allan Taylor assured them that a bridging visa did not mean the East Timorese had been granted refugee status. Then Prime Minister Paul Keating put forward contradictory positions when he told The Guardian newspaper in October 1995: “Though the government has taken the view that East Timor . . . is a province of Indonesia, those people still have Portuguese citizenship and status.”
Australia was the only country to provide de jure recognition of Indonesian rule over East Timor (1975–99). But in this instance, Keating seemed prepared to junk that policy, at least momentarily for the sake of claiming that “these people have dual citizenship; therefore they cannot argue they are refugees”.
A second boat voyage was attempted when 35 people sailed from Dili in November 1995, but their boat was stranded on the coast due to bad weather and the passengers were arrested by Indonesian police.
In August 1999, the East Timorese people voted in a United Nations supervised referendum to reject Indonesian rule. Indonesian forces withdrew the following month, but only after destroying some 70 per cent of the territory’s buildings.
After Da Costa’s arrival, Australian governments, both Labor and Liberal, tried to repatriate over 1500 Timorese asylum seekers on the grounds that they had Portuguese citizenship and, after Indonesian rule ended, that East Timor was safe. After successive bridging visas, Da Costa received a special humanitarian visa (rather than refugee status) under Liberal Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone in 2003, eight years after his arrival in Australia.
Vannessa Hearman is lecturer in Indonesian Studies at the University of Sydney. Jose Da Costa is a teacher, filmmaker and actor. He is completing a Master in Educational Studies at the University of New South Wales.
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