Independent Analysis and Reportage
Asia Pacific Report
COMMENTARY: By David Robie, editor of Asia Pacific Report Some years ago when I headed the Pacific Media Centre that I founded at Auckland University of Technology, we ran a postgraduate internship programme at the China Daily in Beijing. It was part of a professional development exposure platform that also included Jakarta in Indonesia and
The Israel lobby wrote itself a dictionary. Governments adopted it, regulators enforced it and police made arrests under it. Then it met a judge who required evidence, and it collapsed in an afternoon. Andrew Brown on Australia’s Fagan judgment for Michael West Media. COMMENTARY: By Andrew Brown Justice Desmond Fagan’s Supreme Court decision in the
Pacific Media Watch Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned and highlighted recent attacks and obstructions committed by the Israeli military against Palestinian journalists reporting from the occupied West Bank. In a statement, RSF says this targeted violence is aimed at preventing media professionals from doing their jobs. It also condemned the documented violence by extremist
By Kaya Selby of RNZ Pacific A whale-watching boat carrying several New Zealand Anglican Church delegates capsized and sank in Tonga on Saturday. RNZ Pacific understands several passengers were briefly hospitalised, but there were no serious injuries. Paramedics from New South Wales, who were in the country for a Rotary International training event, led the
The CSG is not legally police. Yet NSW Premier Chris Minns wants its armed guards patrolling public events despite senior police warning of favouritism and social fracture. One question exposes it all: would he ever permit an armed Muslim security force? Andrew Brown reports for Michael West Media. COMMENTARY: By Andrew Brown NSW Police examined
Democracy Now! ANJALI KAMAT: This is Democracy Now!, I’m Anjali Kamat. We turn to the occupied West Bank, where Israeli settlers are continuing to lay siege on homes in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus. The siege has attracted international attention, in part because one of the homes is owned by a Palestinian American.
The “insidious fallout” of Australia’s Bondi Royal Commission is upon us. Before the Commission has even reported, the “slippery slope to eroding our freedoms has begun”, writes Jeffrey Loewenstein for Michael West Media. COMMENTARY: By Jeffrey Loewenstein As Australia’s Royal Commission into Antisemitism grinds through its 9th and final “Hearing Block”, one is now able
By Rashneel Kumar, editor of the Cook Islands News The 2026 general election was a vote for stability, says political analyst William Numanga, as preliminary results placed the governing Cook Islands Party (CIP) on track to secure a fifth consecutive term. The Mark Brown-led CIP has secured 12 seats following the preliminary count, while independent
COMMENTARY: By Brett Wilkins Still drawing international censure for his genocidal call to kill dozens of Gazans daily, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has faced fresh condemnation after visiting the construction site of a gallows where Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis are set to be hanged to death, with select Israelis gathering as spectators.
RNZ Pacific reporters Fiji is now in a generalised HIV epidemic, which means the virus is firmly established and spreading within the general population. The number of people living with HIV in Fiji has risen sharply over the past decade. Fiji’s Health Minister Dr Ratu Atonio Lalabalavu declared an HIV outbreak in January 2025. READ
Asia Pacific Report Palestinian Christian theologian Reverend Munther Isaac, the director of the Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice, has questioned the Israeli military’s announcement that it will investigate the killing of Hind Rajab and other Palestinians in the Gaza genocide. After two years of denial, Israel has officially admitted firing on the 5-year-old’s car
By Johnny Blades of RNZ Pacific Papua New Guinea’s Foreign Minister says he expects the issue of West Papua will be discussed at the upcoming Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders meeting in Palau. This comes as the issue of human rights abuses and conflict in Indonesian-ruled Papua region, often known internationally as West Papua, appeared