Independent Analysis and Reportage
A View from Afar – In this podcast, political scientist Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning will analyse how the Pacific region has become the epicentre of foreign policy assertions from the region's and the world's powers.
By David Robie Migrants and overseas Filipinos in Aotearoa New Zealand today called on the governments of both Australia and New Zealand to halt all military and security aid to the Philippines in protest over last month’s “fraudulent” general election. At simultaneous meetings in Auckland and Wellington, a new broad coalition of social justice and ... <a title="Filipino migrants call on NZ to halt military aid to Philippines over Marcos election" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/06/07/filipino-migrants-call-on-nz-to-halt-military-aid-to-philippines-over-marcos-election/" aria-label="Read more about Filipino migrants call on NZ to halt military aid to Philippines over Marcos election">Read more</a>
RNZ Pacific An indigenous legal challenge in a bid to annul the result of last December’s referendum on New Caledonia’s independence from France has failed. The highest administrative court in Paris has rejected a claim by the Kanak customary Senate that the impact of the covid-19 pandemic was such that the referendum outcome was illegitimate. ... <a title="French court rejects Kanak Senate bid to annul New Caledonia referendum outcome" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/06/06/french-court-rejects-kanak-senate-bid-to-annul-new-caledonia-referendum-outcome/" aria-label="Read more about French court rejects Kanak Senate bid to annul New Caledonia referendum outcome">Read more</a>
COMMENTARY: By Yamin Kogoya A flurry of peaceful rallies and protests erupted in West Papua and Indonesia on Friday, June 3. Papuan People’s Petition (PRP), the National Committee for West Papua (Komite Nasional Papua Barat-KNPB) and civil society groups and youth from West Papua marched in protest of Jakarta’s plan to create more provinces. Thousands ... <a title="Yamin Kogoya: Fatal disconnect between Jakarta and West Papua worsens settler-colonial occupation" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/06/06/yamin-kogoya-fatal-disconnect-between-jakarta-and-west-papua-worsens-settler-colonial-occupation/" aria-label="Read more about Yamin Kogoya: Fatal disconnect between Jakarta and West Papua worsens settler-colonial occupation">Read more</a>
COMMENTARY: By David Robie Timor-Leste, the youngest independent nation and the most fledgling press in the Asia-Pacific, has finally shown how it’s done — with a big lesson for Pacific island neighbours. Tackle the Chinese media gatekeepers and creeping authoritarianism threatening journalism in the region at the top. In Dili on the final day of ... <a title="Ramos-Horta challenges Pacific’s biggest threat to media freedom – China’s gatekeepers" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/06/05/ramos-horta-challenges-pacifics-biggest-threat-to-media-freedom-chinas-gatekeepers/" aria-label="Read more about Ramos-Horta challenges Pacific’s biggest threat to media freedom – China’s gatekeepers">Read more</a>
Asia Pacific Report newsdesk Indonesian police have been accused of beating two Papuan students with rattan sticks – severely injuring them — while 20 other students have been injured and the Morning Star flag seized in a crackdown on separate protests yesterday across the two Melanesian provinces of Papua and West Papua. The protesters were ... <a title="Police beat Papuan protesters with rattan sticks – 20 injured, flag seized" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/06/04/police-beat-papuan-protesters-with-rattan-sticks-20-injured-flag-seized/" aria-label="Read more about Police beat Papuan protesters with rattan sticks – 20 injured, flag seized">Read more</a>
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned a media blackout imposed on events during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s 10-day tour of Pacific island countries. Wang is today in Papua New Guinea at the end of an eight-country tour that began on May 26, but a “Chinese state media reporter is so ... <a title="RSF condemns Chinese curb on reporters during Pacific island tour" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/06/03/rsf-condemns-chinese-curb-on-reporters-during-pacific-island-tour/" aria-label="Read more about RSF condemns Chinese curb on reporters during Pacific island tour">Read more</a>
By Gita Irawan in Jakarta Indonesia’s Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has criticised the appointment of Central Sulawesi State Intelligence Agency (BIN) regional chief (Kabinda) Brigadier-General Andi Chandra As’aduddin as the acting (Pj) regent of Seram Bagian Barat in Maluku province. The appointment of As’aduddin was based on Home Affairs Ministry ... <a title="Kontras criticises military officers being made regional heads as ‘return to New Order’" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/06/03/kontras-criticises-military-officers-being-made-regional-heads-as-return-to-new-order/" aria-label="Read more about Kontras criticises military officers being made regional heads as ‘return to New Order’">Read more</a>
By Kaupapa Māori reporter Matai O’Connor of The Gisborne Herald Tairāwhiti tā moko artists Maia Gibbs and Henare Brooking designed the jersey the Warriors wore in their Indigenous Round National Rugby League match against Newcastle Knights last Saturday. The jersey, called Te Amokura, is a powerful expression of connection, unity and identity developed in partnership ... <a title="Te Amokura – Tairāwhiti artists behind Warriors indigenous jersey" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/06/03/te-amokura-tairawhiti-artists-behind-warriors-indigenous-jersey/" aria-label="Read more about Te Amokura – Tairāwhiti artists behind Warriors indigenous jersey">Read more</a>
By Giles Dexter, RNZ News political reporter New Zealand’s Te Pāti Māori has handed over its petition — with 70,000 signatures — calling for the country to officially be named Aotearoa. It is on our passports, on our money, and in our national anthem. But Aotearoa is not our official name, yet. The petition was ... <a title="Petition to officially name country Aotearoa delivered to Parliament" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/06/03/petition-to-officially-name-country-aotearoa-delivered-to-parliament/" aria-label="Read more about Petition to officially name country Aotearoa delivered to Parliament">Read more</a>
PNG Post-Courier Opposition People’s National Congress leader Peter O’Neill is urging Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape and the government to refrain from signing any agreements with China when their foreign minister visits Port Moresby today. “Now is not the right time,” the former prime minister said of the visit by Chinese Foreign Minister ... <a title="O’Neill warns Marape over ‘improper’ eleventh hour China meeting" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/06/02/oneill-warns-marape-over-improper-eleventh-hour-china-meeting/" aria-label="Read more about O’Neill warns Marape over ‘improper’ eleventh hour China meeting">Read more</a>
ANALYSIS: By Tony Walker, La Trobe University Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s decision to embark on a diplomatic offensive to outflank China in the Pacific within days of being sworn in has yielded what appears to have been an early success. Whether Wong’s intervention gave Pacific leaders pause about a wide-ranging economic and security pact with ... <a title="As Wong makes her mark in the Pacific, the Albanese government should look to history on mending ties with China" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/06/02/as-wong-makes-her-mark-in-the-pacific-the-albanese-government-should-look-to-history-on-mending-ties-with-china/" aria-label="Read more about As Wong makes her mark in the Pacific, the Albanese government should look to history on mending ties with China">Read more</a>