At this year’s May graduation ceremony, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University’s Luamanuvao Dame Winnie Laban, was awarded an honorary doctorate in recognition for her contribution to education.

Although she has now stepped down from the role, Luamanuvao served as the university’s Assistant Vice-Chancellor, Pasifika, for 14 years. In that time has worked tirelessly to raise Pasifika students’ achievement.

“It’s really important that they [Pasifika students] make the most of the opportunities that education has to offer,” she said.

“Secondly, education teaches you how to write, to research, to critique, but more importantly, become an informed voice and considering what’s happening in society now with AI and also technology and social media, it’s really important that we can tell our stories and share our values, and we counter that by receiving a good education and applying ourselves to do well.”

When asked about the importance of service, Luamanuvao explained “there’s a saying in Samoan, ‘o le ala i le pule o le tautua’ so the road to authority and leadership is through service”.

“And we’ve always been taught how important it is not to indulge in our own individual success, but to always become a voice and support our brothers and sisters, and our families and in our communities who are especially struggling.”

As she accepted her honorary doctorate, she spoke about the importance of women taking on leadership roles.

‘Our powerful women’
“Yes, many Pacific people will know how powerful our women are, especially our mothers, our grandmothers, and great grandmothers. We actually come from cultures of very powerful and very strong women . . .  it’s not centered in the individual women. It’s centered on the well-being of our families, and our communities. And that’s what women leadership is all about in the Pacific.”

She did not expect the honourary doctorate from Te Herenga Waka Victoria University because “I’ve always been aspirational for others. And we Pacific people have been brought up that we are the people of the ‘we’ and not the me.”

The number of Pasifika students enrolled at the University, during Luamanuvao’s time as Assistant Vice-Chancellor, increased from 4.70 percent in 2010 to 6.64 pecent in 2024. She said she “would have loved to have doubled that number” so that it was more in line with the number of Pasifika people living in New Zealand.

Two of the initiatives she started, during her time at the University, was the Pasifika Roadshow taking information about university life out to the wider community and the Improving Pasifika Legal Education Project.

Helping Pasifika Law students succeed was very important to her. While Pasifika make up make up only 3 percent of Lawyers, they are overrepresented in the legal system, comprising 12 percent of the prison population.

Another passion of hers was encouraging Pasifika to enter academia. “I think we’ve had an increase in Pacific academics in some areas. For example, with the Faculty of Law, we’ve got two senior Pacific women in lecturer positions . . . We’ve also got four associate professors, and now I’ve finished, there’s also a vacancy for another.”

Prior to her work in education Luamanuvao was the first Pasifika woman to enter New Zealand politics, in 1999.

First Pacific woman MP
“I was fortunate that when I ran for Parliament, I ran first as a list MP, and as you know, within the parties, they have selection process that are quite robust, and so I became the first Pacific woman MP.”

“What motivated me was the car parts factory that closed in Wainuiomata, and most of the workers were men, but they were also Pacific, Māori and palagi, who basically arrived at work one morning and were told the factory was closing.”

“But what really hit me, and hurt me, that these were not the values of Aotearoa. They’re not the values of our Pacific region. These are human beings, and for many men, particularly, to have a job, it’s about providing for your family. It’s about status.

“So, if factories were going to close down, where was the planning to upskill them so they could continue in employment? None of them wanted to go for the unemployment benefit.

“They wanted to continue in paid work. So it’s those milestones that I make it worthwhile. It’s just a pity, because election cycles are three years, and as you know, people will vote how they want to vote, and if there’s a change, all the hard work you’ve put in gets reversed and but fundamentally, I believe that New Zealand and Pacific people have wonderful values that all of us try to live by, and that will continue to feed the light and ensure that people have a choice.”

Although she first entered Parliament as a list MP, she subsequently won the Mana electorate seat. She retained the seat ,for the Labour party, from 2002 until she stepped away from politics in 2010.

During that time she was Minister of Pacific Peoples, 2007-2008, and even though Labour was defeated in the 2008 election, she continued to hold the Mana seat by a comfortable margin.

Mentoring many MPs
Although she has left political life, Luamanuvao has also been involved in mentoring many Pasifika Members of Parliament, and helping them cope with the challenges and opportunities that go with the role.

One of the primary motivators in her life has been the struggles of her parents, who left Samoa in 1954 to build a better future for their children, in New Zealand. She acknowledged that all of her successes can be attributed to her parents and the sacrifices they made.

“Yes, well, I think everybody can look at a genealogy of history of families leaving their homeland to come to Aotearoa, why, to build a better life and opportunities, including education for their children.

“And I often remind our generation of young people now that your parents left their home, for you. And I’ve often reflected because my parents have passed away on the pain of leaving their parents, but there was always this loving generosity in that both my parents were the eldest of huge families.

“They left everything for them, and actually arrived in New Zealand with very little. But there was this determination to succeed.

“Secondly, they are a minority in a country where they’re not the majority, or they are the indigenous people of their country. So also, overcoming those barriers, their hard work, their dreams, but more importantly, the huge love for our communities and fairness and justice was installed in Ken and I my brother, from a very young age, about serving and about giving and about reciprocity.”

Although she has left her role in tertiary education Luamanuvao vows to continue working to support the next generation of Pasifika leaders, in New Zealand and around the Pacific region.

Her lifelong commitment to service, continues as she’s a founding member of The Fale Malae Trust, a group whose vision is to build an internationally significant, landmark Fale Malae on the Wellington waterfront.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa has survived a vote of no confidence after weeks of political turmoil.

In a vote today, she defeated the motion by 34 votes in favour and 15 against.

The motion was prompted by a split in the ruling FAST Party, which saw Fiame leading a minority government.

But in a shock move today, FAST members voted alongside Fiame’s faction to register a resounding defeat against Opposition Leader Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi’s motion.

The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Papalii Lio Masipua, had granted the opposition’s formal request for a vote of no confidence against Fiame on Friday.

Tuilaepa, who is also the head of the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP), confirmed that the Speaker approved the motion in writing and allowed five members from the opposition bench to speak on it.

According to Samoa’s constitutional requirements, the MP who commands the majority of MPs should be elected as Prime Minister or continue as Prime Minister.

‘Another desperate attempt’
However, the Samoan government stated Tuilaepa’s move was “another desperate attempt to stir political drama” ahead of the no-confidence vote.

Political upheaval hit Samoa just three days into 2025 when the chair of the ruling FAST party and Samoa’s Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries La’auli Leuatea Schmidt confirmed he was facing criminal charges.

On January 10, Mata’afa removed La’auli’s ministerial portfolio and subsequently removed three of her Cabinet ministers.

But La’auli remained chair of the FAST Party, and went on to announce the removal of the prime minister and five Cabinet ministers from the ruling party.

This decision was reportedly challenged by the removed members.

Fiame then removed 13 of her associate ministers.

Laauli acknowledged the challenge of holding a vote of no confidence, but refrained from disclosing the party’s position, stating they would wait until Tuesday.

First female prime minister
Fiame is Samoa’s first female prime minister. She had heritage — her father, Fiame Mata’afa Faumuina Mulinu’u, was the country’s first prime minister.

She took office following the April 2021 election, but that devolved into political crisis.

The caretaker HRPP government locked the doors to Parliament in an attempt to stop the then prime minister-elect from being sworn into office following her FAST Party’s one-seat election win.

Two governments claimed a mandate to rule, and the United Nations urged the party leaders to find a solution through discussion.

The Court of Appeal ruled that the country had a new government after it judged the impromptu swearing-in by the newcomer FAST party on May 24 was legitimate under the doctrine of necessity.

It took until July for the incumbent, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, to concede.

Fiame went to school and university in Wellington, New Zealand, but her studies were interrupted in 1977 when she returned to Samoa to help with court cases around the succession of her father’s titles following his death in 1975.

In 1985, she was elected as MP for Lotofaga, the same seat held by her father and then her mother after his death.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark maintains that Cook Islands, a realm of New Zealand, should have consulted Wellington before signing a “partnership” deal with China.

“[Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown] seems to have signed behind the backs of his own people as well as of New Zealand,” Clark told RNZ Pacific.

Brown said the deal with China complements, not replaces, the relationship with New Zealand.

The contents of the deal have not yet been made public.

“The Cook Islands public need to see the agreement — does it open the way to Chinese entry to deep sea mining in pristine Cook Islands waters with huge potential for environmental damage?” Clark asked.

“Does it open the way to unsustainable borrowing? What are the governance safeguards? Why has the prime minister damaged the relationship with New Zealand by acting in this clandestine way?”

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Clark went into detail about the declaration she signed with Cook Islands Prime Minister Terepai Maoate in 2001.

“There is no doubt in my mind that under the terms of the Joint Centenary Declaration of 2001 that Cook Islands should have been upfront with New Zealand on the agreement it was considering signing with China,” Clark said.

“Cook Islands has opted in the past for a status which is not independent of New Zealand, as signified by its people carrying New Zealand passports. Cook Islands is free to change that status, but has not.”

Missing the mark
A Pacific law expert said there was a clear misunderstanding on what the 2001 agreement legally required New Zealand and Cook Islands to consult on.

Brown has argued that New Zealand does not need to be consulted with to the level they want, something Foreign Minister Winston Peters disagrees with.

AUT senior law lecturer and former Pacific Islands Forum policy advisor Sione Tekiteki told RNZ Pacific the word “consultation” had become somewhat of a sticking point:

“From a legal perspective, there’s an ambiguity of what the word consultation means. Does it mean you have to share the agreement before it’s signed, or does it mean that you broadly just consult with New Zealand regarding what are some of the things that, broadly speaking, are some of the things that are in the agreement?

“That’s one avenue where there’s a bit of misunderstanding and an interpretation issue that’s different between Cook Islands as well as New Zealand.”

Unlike a treaty, the 2001 declaration is not “legally binding” per se but serves more to express the intentions, principles and commitments of the parties to work together in “recognition of the close traditional, cultural and social ties that have existed between the two countries for many hundreds of years”, he added.

Tekiteki said that the declaration made it explicitly clear that Cook Islands had full conduct of its foreign affairs, capacity to enter treaties and international agreements in its own right and full competence of its defence and security.

There was, however, a commitment of the parties to “consult regularly”, he said.

For Clark, the one who signed the all-important agreement all those years ago, this is where Brown had misstepped.

Pacific nations played off against each other
Tekiteki said it was not just the Joint Centenary Declaration causing contention. The “China threat” narrative and the “intensifying geopolitics” playing out in the Pacific was another intergrated issue.

An analysis in mid-2024 found that there were more than 60 security, defence and policing agreements and initiatives with the 10 largest Pacific countries.

Australia was the dominant partner, followed by New Zealand, the US and China.

A host of other agreements and “big money” announcements have followed, including the regional Pacific Policing Initiative and Australia’s arrangements with Nauru and PNG.

“It would be advantageous if Pacific nations were able to engage on security related matters as a bloc rather than at the bilateral level,” Tekiteki said.

“Not only will this give them greater political agency and leverage, but it would allow them to better coordinate and integrate support as well as avoid duplications. Entering these arrangements at the bilateral level opens Pacific nations to being played off against each other.

“This is the most worrying aspect of what I am currently seeing.

“This matter has greater implications for Cook Islands and New Zealand diplomatic relations moving forward.”

But he did point out the difference between “sovereignty — the rhetoric” that we hear all the time, and “real sovereignty”.

“For example, sovereignty is commonly used as a rebuttal to other countries to mind their own business and not to meddle in the affairs of another country.

“At the regional level is tied to the projection of collective Pacific agency, and the ‘Blue Pacific’ narrative.

“However, real sovereignty is more nuanced. In the context of New Zealand and Cook Islands, both countries retain their sovereignty, but they have both made commitments to “consult” and “cooperate”.

Now, they can always decide to break that, but that in itself would have implications on their respective sovereignty moving forward.

“In an era of intensifying geopolitics, militarisation, and power posturing — this becomes very concerning for vulnerable but large Ocean Pacific nations without the defence capabilities to protect their sovereignty.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda.

As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he left off. Peters sought to align New Zealand more closely with the United States under his ‘Pacific Reset’ policy that he launched while serving as foreign minister under Jacinda Ardern’s Labour-New Zealand First coalition government from 2017-2020.

Peters is wasting no time in getting back on the foreign affairs horse.

Just three days after being sworn in as a minster, he gave his first speech on foreign policy at the US Business Summit in Auckland last week.

Peters was lavish in his praise for the US in his address, arguing that Washington had been ‘instrumental in the Pacific’s success’. But he noted that ‘there is more to do and not a moment to lose. We will not achieve our shared ambitions if we allow time to drift.’ Adding that ‘speed and intensity’ would be needed, Peters said ‘the good news is that New Zealand stands ready to play its part.’

The early timing of the speech itself is a sign that New Zealand’s new, yet very familiar foreign affairs minister is unlikely to wait around when it comes to taking major decisions.

It was an important, agenda-setting address.

There were strong hints that New Zealand’s new Government wants to move swiftly when it comes to Wellington’s potential involvement in in ‘Pillar II’ of the AUKUS defence pact that currently involves Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Peters’ disclosed in the Q&A to the speech that he had already talked to Judith Collins, the new defence minister, about New Zealand’s AUKUS stance.

The previous Labour government’s position was that AUKUS remained a hypothetical question while no formal offer existed for New Zealand to join ‘Pillar II’ of the high-level defence pact that currently involves Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

But while playing for time in an election year, the then Prime Minister Chris Hipkins signalled in July that New Zealand was at least ‘open to conversations’ about joining the pact in some form. And Labour’s expedited release of three major defence strategy documents in August, just prior to the election campaign, laid the groundwork for at least formal consideration of involvement in AUKUS.

The reports also paved the way for New Zealand to spend vastly more on its military and to take a more security-focused approach to the Pacific – recommendations that Peters will probably be keen to implement.

Wellington and Washington have been becoming closer since at least November 2010, when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited New Zealand’s capital to sign the ‘Wellington Declaration’. The relatively short agreement served to clear the air after decades of chequered bilateral relations stemming from the Fourth Labour Government’s introduction of a nuclear-free policy in the 1980s.

Going nuclear-free (which prevented visits from US warships) saw New Zealand cast out as a US ally. Washington formally suspended its obligations to Wellington under the ANZUS defence treaty in 1986. But nearly 40 years on, US-NZ relations are rapidly deepening, a trend that has been accelerated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Western concerns over China’s rise in the Indo-Pacific.

Since February 2022, New Zealand has imposed sanctions on Russia, joined US-led groupings such as Partners in the Blue Pacific (PBP) and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) and sent its Prime Ministers to successive NATO summits. And in May 2022, Jacinda Ardern visited Joe Biden at the White House, where a 3000-word joint statement called for ‘new resolve and closer cooperation’.

Meanwhile, a string of senior US officials have visited New Zealand just this year, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Kritenbrink and the White House’s Indo-Pacific coordinator, Kurt Campbell (who Joe Biden recently nominated to become his new Deputy Secretary of State).

If New Zealand does join AUKUS, it could spell the effective end of the country’s ‘independent foreign policy’. The ANZUS break-up of the late 1980s, the end of the Cold War and the acceleration of globalisation had allowed New Zealand to free itself from blocs. Wellington talked to anyone and everyone, building solid, trade-focused relations with China and others in the Global South – while not neglecting Western partners, including the United States.

Peters may think the current geopolitical environment justifies a new approach.

If he does, he should prepare for significant pushback. Helen Clark, who was Prime Minister during Winston Peters’ first term as foreign minister from 2005-8, posted on Friday that New Zealand was now ‘veering towards signing up’ to AUKUS despite bipartisan support over decades for the independent foreign policy stance.

This added to criticism from Clark earlier in the year, including in August, when she argued the new defence blueprint showed New Zealand was ‘abandoning its capacity to think for itself & instead is cutting & pasting from 5 Eyes’ partners’.

It should also be remembered that Winston Peters, while undoubtedly powerful and highly experienced, is only one Government minister. The views of Judith Collins – the defence minister – remain unknown in any detail, while the foreign policy positions of Christopher Luxon seem more centrist than radical.

Moreover, with the US now firmly focused on the war between Hamas and Israel – and its own presidential election year fast approaching – it is far from guaranteed that the hypothetical AUKUS question will turn into a concrete one for New Zealand anytime soon.

Moreover, Peters’ initial ministerial comments on New Zealand’s own position towards the Middle East suggest there is plenty of room for nuance. Calling the death toll in Gaza ‘horrific’, Peters welcomed a short-lived extension to the ceasefire on Friday, but called for all parties to ‘work urgently towards a long-term ceasefire’.

And in a radio interview earlier last week, Peters said ‘the ceasefire is not good enough, we’re going to have find a way forward through this and a peaceful solution – that’s what New Zealand and the Western world has got to put its focus on’.  Peters added ‘internationally we need to be talking to people across the political divide who are making sense on this matter’.

Talking to all sides and playing a small role in facilitating a sustainable political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would very much be in keeping with New Zealand’s independent foreign policy approach – and Winston Peters is already speaking out strongly about the war.

With Christopher Luxon passing up on the opportunity to attend COP28 in Dubai at the weekend, Winston Peters will have the chance to make the Government’s first ministerial trip to the Middle East to begin this dialogue. The Gulf states would be a natural starting point for these discussions.

Meanwhile, on Ukraine – the war that helped to speed up New Zealand’s alignment with the US in 2022 – Peters was open to the idea of New Zealand upgrading its military support to Ukraine by sending Kyiv light armoured vehicles (LAVs). While noting that the decision was not up to him alone, he added ‘if we can help we should be doing the best we can’.

Labour had denied a request from Ukraine to provide the LAVs in 2022 and of late had preferred to make financial contributions to Kyiv’s war effort – the most recent being a $NZ4.7 million package announced by Chris Hipkins in July at the NATO leaders’ summit in Lithuania.

It all adds up to a complex picture.

Winston Peters has no shortage of global issues to address.

And there could be some major changes ahead for New Zealand foreign policy.

*******

Geoffrey Miller is the Democracy Project’s geopolitical analyst and writes on current New Zealand foreign policy and related geopolitical issues. He has lived in Germany and the Middle East and is a learner of Arabic and Russian. He is currently working on a PhD at the University of Otago on New Zealand’s relations with the Gulf states.

The Pacific year started with a ferocious eruption and global tsunami in Tonga, but by the year’s end several political upheavals had also shaken the region with a vengeance.

A razor’s edge election in Fiji blew away a long entrenched authoritarian regime with a breath of fresh air for the Pacific, two bitterly fought polls in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu left their mark, and growing geopolitical rivalry with the US and Australia contesting China’s security encroachment in the Solomon Islands continues to spark convulsions for years to come.

It was ironical that the two major political players in Fiji were both former coup leaders and ex-military chiefs — the 1987 double culprit Sitiveni Rabuka, a retired major-general who is credited with introducing the “coup culture” to Fiji, and Voreqe Bainimarama, a former rear admiral who staged the “coup to end all coups” in 2006.

It had been clear for some time that the 68-year-old Bainimarama’s star was waning in spite of repressive and punitive measures that had been gradually tightened to shore up control since an unconvincing return to democracy in 2014.

And pundits had been predicting that the 74-year-old Rabuka, a former prime minister in the 1990s, and his People’s Alliance-led coalition would win. However, after a week-long stand-off and uncertainty, Rabuka’s three-party coalition emerged victorious and Rabuka was elected PM by a single vote majority.

In Samoa the previous year, the change had been possibly even more dramatic when a former deputy prime minister in the ruling Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP), Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa, led her newly formed Fa’atuatua I le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party to power to become the country’s first woman prime minister.

Overcoming a hung Parliament, Mata’afa ousted the incumbent Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi, who had been prime minister for 23 years and his party had been in power for four decades. But he refused to leave office, creating a constitutional crisis.

At one stage this desperate and humiliating cling to power by the incumbent looked set to be repeated in Fiji.

Yet this remarkable changing of the guard in Fiji got little press in New Zealand newspapers. The New Zealand Herald, for example, buried what could could have been an ominous news agency report on the military callout in Fiji in the middle-of the-paper world news section.

Fiji
Although Bainimarama at first refused to concede defeat after being in power for 16 years, half of them as a military dictator, the kingmaker opposition party Sodelpa sided — twice — with the People’s Alliance (21 seats) and National Federation Party (5 seats) coalition.

Sodelpa’s critical three seats gave the 29-seat coalition a slender cushion over the 26 seats of Bainimarama’s FijiFirst party which had failed to win a majority for the first time since 2014 in the expanded 55-seat Parliament.

But in the secret ballot, one reneged giving Rabuka a razor’s edge single vote majority.

The ousted Attorney-General and Justice Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum – popularly branded as the “Minister of Everything” with portfolios and extraordinary power in the hands of one man – is arguably the most hated person in Fiji.

Sayed-Khaiyum’s cynical “divisive” misrepresentation of Rabuka and the alliance in his last desperate attempt to cling to power led to a complaint being filed with Fiji police, accusing him of “inciting communal antagonism”.

He reportedly left Fiji for Australia on Boxing Day and the police issued a border alert for him while the Home Affairs Minister, Pio Tikoduadua, asked Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho, a former military brigadier-general to resign over allegations of bias and lack of confidence. He refused so the new government will have to use the formal legal steps to remove him.

Just days earlier, Fiji lawyer Imrana Jalal, a human rights activist and a former Human Rights Commission member, had warned the people of Fiji in a social media post not to be tempted into “victimisation or targeted prosecutions” without genuine evidence as a result of independent investigations.

“If we do otherwise, then we are no better than the corrupt regime [that has been] in power for the last 16 years,” she added.

“We need to start off the right way or we are tainted from the beginning.”

However, the change of government unleashed demonstrations of support for the new leadership and fuelled hope for more people-responsive policies, democracy and transparency.

Writing in The Sydney Morning Herald, academic Dr Sanjay Ramesh commented in an incisive analysis of Fiji politics: “With … Rabuka back at the helm, there is hope that the indigenous iTaukei population’s concerns on land and resources, including rampant poverty and unemployment, in their community will be finally addressed.”

He was also critical of the failure of the Mission Observer Group (MoG) under the co-chair of Australia to “see fundamental problems” with the electoral system and process which came close to derailing the alliance success.

“While the MoG was enjoying Fijian hospitality, opposition candidates were being threatened, intimidated, and harassed by FFP [FijiFirst Party] thugs. The counting of the votes was marred by a ‘glitch’ on 14 December 2022 . . . leaving many opposition parties questioning the integrity of the vote counting process.”

Rabuka promised a “better and united Fiji” in his inaugural address to the nation via government social media platforms.

“Our country is experiencing a great and joyful awakening,” he said. “It gladdens my heart to be a part of it. And I am reminded of the heavy responsibilities I now bear.”

The coalition wasted no time in embarking on its initial 100-day programme and signalled the fresh new ‘open” approach by announcing that Professor Pal Ahluwalia, the Samoa-based vice-chancellor of the regional University of the South Pacific — deported unjustifiably by the Bainimarama government — and the widow of banned late leading Fiji academic Dr Brij Lal were both free to return.

Paul Barker, director of the Institute of National Affairs, discussing why the 2022 PNG elections were so bad. Video: ABC News

Papua New Guinea
Earlier in the year, in August, Prime Minister James Marape was reelected as the country’s leader after what has been branded by many critics as the “worst ever” general election — it was marred by greater than ever violence, corruption and fraud.

As the incumbent, Marape gained the vote of 97 MPs — mostly from his ruling Pangu Pati that achieved the second-best election result ever of a PNG political party — in the expanded 118-seat Parliament. With an emasculated opposition, nobody voted against him and his predecessor, Peter O’Neill, walked out of the assembly in disgust

Papua New Guinea has a remarkable number of parties elected to Parliament — 23, not the most the assembly has had — and 17 of them backed Pangu’s Marape to continue as prime minister. Only two women were elected, including Governor Rufina Peter of Central Province.

In an analysis after the dust had settled from the election, a team of commentators at the Australian National University’s Development Policy Centre concluded that the “electoral role was clearly out of date, there were bouts of violence, ballot boxes were stolen, and more than one key deadline was missed”.

However, while acknowledging the shortcomings, the analysts said that the actual results should not be “neglected”. Stressing how the PNG electoral system favours incumbents — the last four prime ministers have been reelected — they argued for change to the “incumbency bias”.

“If you can’t remove a PM through the electoral system, MPs will try all the harder to do so through a mid-term vote of no confidence,” they wrote.

“How to change this isn’t clear (Marape in his inaugural speech mooted a change to a presidential system), but something needs to be done — as it does about the meagre political representation of women.”

Vanuatu
In Vanuatu in November, a surprise snap election ended the Vanua’aku Pati’s Bob Loughman prime ministership. Parliament was dissolved on the eve of a no-confidence vote called by opposition leader Ralph Regenvanu.

With no clear majority from any of the contesting parties, Loughman’s former deputy, lawyer and an ex-Attorney-General, Ishmael Kalsakau, leader of the Union of Moderate Parties, emerged as the compromise leader and was elected unopposed by the 52-seat Parliament.

A feature was the voting for Gloria Julia King, the first woman MP to be elected to Vanuatu’s Parliament in a decade. She received a “rapturous applause” when she stepped up to take the first oath of office.

RNZ Pacific staff journalist Lydia Lewis and Port Vila correspondent Hilaire Bule highlighted the huge challenges faced by polling officials and support staff in remote parts of Vanuatu, including the exploits of soldier Samuel Bani who “risked his life” wading through chest-high water carrying ballot boxes.

Tongan volcano-tsunami disaster
Tonga’s violent Hunga Ha’apai-Hunga Tonga volcano eruption on January 15 was the largest recorded globally since the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883. It triggered tsunami waves of up to 15m, blanketed ash over 5 sq km — killing at least six people and injuring 19 — and sparked a massive multinational aid relief programme.

The crisis was complicated because much of the communication with island residents was crippled for a long time.

As Dale Dominey-Howes stressed in The Conversation, “in our modern, highly-connected world, more than 95 percent of global data transfer occurs along fibre-optic cables that criss-cross through the world’s oceans.

“Breakage or interruption to this critical infrastructure can have catastrophic local, regional and even global consequences.”

“This is exactly what has happened in Tonga following the volcano-tsunami disaster. But this isn’t the first time a natural disaster has cut off critical submarine cables, and it won’t be the last.”

Covid-19 in Pacific
While the impact of the global covid-19 pandemic receded in the Pacific during the year, new research from the University of the South Pacific provided insight into the impact on women working from home. While some women found the challenge enjoyable, others “felt isolated, had overwhelming mental challenges and some experienced domestic violence”.

Rosalie Fatiaki, chair of USP’s staff union women’s wing, commented on the 14-nation research findings.

“Women with young children had a lot to juggle, and those who rely on the internet for work had particular frustrations — some had to wait until after midnight to get a strong enough signal,” she said.

Around 30 percent of respondents reported having developed covid-19 during the Work From Home periods, and 57 percent had lost a family member or close friend to covid-19 as well as co-morbidities.

She also noted the impact of the “shadow pandemic” of domestic abuse. Only two USP’s 14 campuses in 12 Pacific countries avoided any covid-19 closures between 2020 and 2022.

COP27 climate progress
The results for the Pacific at the COP27 climate action deliberations at the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh were disappointing to say the least.

For more than three decades since Vanuatu had suggested the idea, developing nations have fought to establish an international fund to pay for the “loss and damage” they suffer as a result of climate change. Thanks partly to Pacific persistence, a breakthrough finally came — after the conference was abruptly extended by a day to thrash things out.

However, although this was clearly a historic moment, much of the critical details have yet to be finalised.

Professor Steven Ratuva, director of Canterbury University’s Macmillan Brown Pacific Studies Centre, says the increased frequency of natural disasters and land erosion, and rising ocean temperatures, means referring to “climate change” is outdated. It should be called “climate crisis”.

“Of course climate changes, it’s naturally induced seen through weather, but the situation now shows it’s not just changing, but we’re reaching a level of a crisis — the increasing number of category five cyclones, the droughts, the erosion, heating of the ocean, the coral reefs dying in the Pacific, and the impact on people’s lives,” he said.

“All these things are happening at a very fast pace.”

Geopolitical rivalry and West Papua
The year saw intensifying rivalry between China and the US over the Pacific with ongoing regional fears about perceived ambitions of a possible Chinese base in the Solomon Islands — denied by Honiara — but the competition has fuelled a stronger interest from Washington in the Pacific.

The Biden administration released its Indo-Pacific Strategy in February, which broadly outlines policy priorities based on a “free and open” Pacific region. It cites China, covid-19 and climate change — “crisis”, rather — as core challenges for Washington.

Infrastructure is expected to be a key area of rivalry in future. Contrasting strongly with China, US policy is likely to support “soft areas” in the Pacific, such as women’s empowerment, anti-corruption, promotion of media freedom, civil society engagement and development.

The political and media scaremongering about China has prompted independent analysts such as the Development Policy Centre’s Terence Wood and Transform Aqorau to call for a “rethink” about Solomon Islands and Pacific security. Aqorau said Honiara’s leaked security agreement with China had “exacerbated existing unease” about China”.

The Pacific Catalyst founding director also noted that the “increasing engagement” with China had been defended by Honiara as an attempt by the government to diversify its engagement on security, adding that “ it is unlikely that China will build a naval base in Solomon Islands”.

However, the elephant in the room in geopolitical terms is really Indonesia and its brutal intransigency over its colonised Melanesian provinces — now expanded from two to three in a blatant militarist divide and rule ploy — and its refusal to constructively engage with Papuans or the Pacific over self-determination.

“2022 was a difficult year for West Papua. We lost great fighters and leaders like Filep Karma, Jonah Wenda, and Jacob Prai. Sixty-one years since the fraudulent Act of No Choice, our people continue to suffer under Indonesian’s colonial occupation,” reflected exiled West Papuan leader Benny Wenda in a Christmas message.

“Indonesia continues to kill West Papuans with impunity, as shown by the recent acquittal of the only suspect tried for the “Bloody Paniai’” massacre of 2014.

“Every corner of our country is now scarred by Indonesian militarisation . . . We continue to demand that Indonesia withdraw their military from West Papua in order to allow civilians to peacefully return to their homes.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Political Roundup: Are we spending too little – or too much – on the military?

New Zealand has once again been ranked the second-most peaceful nation in the world. When it comes to the Asia-Pacific region and the Southern Hemisphere, New Zealand is at the top of the peace rankings. This is according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, which recently released its annual Global Peace Index.

Iceland beat us for the top spot once again. In contrast, Australia came in at number 27, the UK 34, France 65, and the United States at 129. Afghanistan is at the bottom with a rank of 163.

In recent years the institute has downgraded New Zealand’s peacefulness due to the Government’s increased military spending. And that looks set to occur again, with some strong signs that defence is about to receive a big boost from the Labour Government.

There are considerable pressures on New Zealand to lift its spending. Partly this is due to global conflicts and tensions heating up in general, but it particularly relates to the Asia-Pacific region, where conflict between the US-led West and China is ramping up. And with New Zealand recently shifting more into line with the US-led security alliances, there is pressure from allies to “play our part” and “pull our weight”. This translates to greater spending on weaponry and the military in general.

With the focus on the Pacific at the moment, and especially with the Pacific Islands Forum occurring this week, we might soon expect to see a greater New Zealand military presence and activity announced for the region.

For example, last week Defence Minister Peeni Henare said that investment in military hardware had to continue: “What I know is New Zealanders are concerned for our security in these particular times. We’ve already seen what’s happening in the Pacific, so we’re hugely in support of these exercises and will continue to support them and so will this government”.

Labour has already increased military spending massively

Labour has come under attack from opponents for not spending enough on defence. For example, in April the Act Party called for spending to be increased by $7.5bn over four years, and challenged the Government to commit itself to spending a full 2 per cent of GDP on defence. At the time the National Party also said it was in favour of much higher spending.

However, the Labour Government can rightfully claim to have already dramatically increased New Zealand’s spending on defence, and has already committed to spending an additional $20bn over the next decade.

As a percentage of GDP – which is the favoured method of international comparison – Labour has increased spending on the military from 1.15 per cent to 1.59, which is an incredibly steep rise. The Defence Minister in the last parliamentary term, Ron Mark, claimed it was the “biggest increase in spending in 60 years”. And it’s projected to go much higher, with more spending commitments on the horizon.

In contrast, the last National Government spent much less. At its lowest point, National was only spending 1.11 per cent of GDP in 2011.

The current spend on Defence is about $2.5 billion a year. And in the latest Budget in May, the Defence vote gained a $525 million boost in operational spending over the next five years.

In the last year, Labour has reconfirmed that the massive increases in defence spending agreed to during the last term of government are largely to be retained. This has surprised some who expected that with New Zealand First gone from government, Labour would be less gung-ho on defence.

The new Defence Minister has stated that although some changes are being made to the details and timing of planned expenditure, it was going to be largely business as usual under the new Labour administration.

However, there are obviously going to be some changes made to the spending on military hardware, and the budgets are likely to be increased. With New Zealand moving closer in its partnership with NATO, and generally becoming more integrated with US-led security alliances, there is an expectation that these relationships will produce pressure on the Government here to lift its military spending.

NATO has an official target for its member countries to spend a full 2 per cent of their GDP on defence. When Ardern has been asked about whether she would agree to any request from NATO that New Zealand also adopts this spend, she’s been non-committal on whether she would accept or reject that.

The Government has, however, announced last week that it has asked the Defence Force to produce a new defence policy and strategy statement, to be delivered in October. This can be seen as a necessary exercise in order for the Government to be able to justify additional spending on military hardware. In announcing the review, Henare has cited the “intensifying great power competition” in the world today, but also given some more liberal justifications around the need for the military to play an increased role in terms of climate change and natural disasters.

There has also been a recent focus on the air force’s 757 aircraft, which is often used for flying VIPs and politicians around, especially internationally. The ageing state of these planes is being used by a number of commentators as an argument for why the Government needs to lift military spending.

Although New Zealand prime ministers and other government figures could use commercial flights, the age and condition of the 757s have become a symbol that New Zealand may not have a credible military. For example, political journalist Richard Harman argued last week that the state of the 757s and other infrastructure “raises real questions about the credibility of New Zealand’s claim to have a viable Defence presence in the Pacific in the event of any conflict.”

Is Labour’s military spend-up enough?

In a normal year, New Zealand now spends about $2.5bn on the military. This is the Government’s fourth-biggest spending area – behind health, transport and education.

And some commentators have calculated that to bring New Zealand up to the international benchmark of spending 2 per cent of GDP would mean adding another billion dollars.

A rapidly escalating militarisation of the Pacific – especially with the recent announcement of AUKUS, in which nuclear submarines will be built by the UK and US for Australia – means that there will be greater pressure for New Zealand to also buy more aircraft and naval vessels.

The increased presence of China in the region also gives greater justification for a spend-up. And it’s making a number of liberal voices increasingly pro-military spending. For example, Bernard Hickey writes this week: “In my view, a truly independent foreign policy needs some high and low flying steel to back it up, particularly when it comes to policing our enormous maritime zone and offering protection to our partners in the Pacific. China’s fishing fleet comes to mind.”

What’s more, New Zealand is now undertaking many more international military training exercises with other countries. And working with the US military is now finally a more possible occurrence. Therefore, if New Zealand is going to have interoperability with its allies, then it stands to reason that similar planes and aircraft are going to have to be purchased.

Is Labour’s military spend-up too much?

The Labour Government has been selling its economic approach as one focused on “wellbeing”. But it’s hard to see how its dramatic increase in spending on war-making infrastructure fits into such a principle. And money spent on defence is at the expense of housing, welfare, education, climate change initiatives and so forth. As some critics have suggested, more spending by Labour would be a case of prioritising “tanks over teachers”.

It also should be pointed out that even though NATO pushes a 2 per cent of GDP target for its members, not all countries actually achieve this. Herald journalist Thomas Coughlan has pointed out that “Canada spends 1.42 per cent of its GDP on defence, the Netherlands and Denmark spend 1.44 per cent and Sweden, which is not in Nato, spends 1.22 per cent.”

Jacinda Ardern has recently made much of the changing international security dynamic. In many respects, her speeches portend a much greater defence budget for the future. And yet she has also given speeches arguing for less militarisation, and calling “disarmament” and “diplomacy” instead.

Regardless, it is clear that as New Zealand becomes more closely aligned with increasingly active US-led military alliances, it seems that New Zealand is going to have to pay the price of membership to those clubs.

There is not a lot of public debate on these massive expenditures. But there should be. After all, the signs are that taxpayers are about to fork out much more for war.

Further reading on Defence

Thomas Manch (Stuff): Government to review defence policy amid Covid-19, geopolitical competition, climate change
Giles Dexter (RNZ): Govt aiming to settle ‘big questions’ with defence policy review – expert
Mohammad Alafeshat (RNZ): Navy frigate returns to New Zealand after major upgrade in Canada
1News: Call for fault-prone Air Force 757s to be replaced earlier
1News: Kiwis among world’s largest naval exercise in Hawaii

Other items of interest and importance today

HEALTH
Rachel Smalley (Today FM): Labour is allergic to our health system
Ian Powell: Health system now “beyond a crisis”
John MacDonald (Herald): Yes Minister, there is a health crisis
Matthew Hooton (Herald): Health NZ reform – why it could mean hospital closures (paywalled)
RNZ: Andrew Little: Govt responding to ‘chronic staffing shortage’ in healthcare
Dewi Preece (1News): ‘How many people have to die?’ – Paramedics at breaking point
Oliver Lewis (BusinessDesk): Charity hospitals, philanthropists covering health system gaps
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): Time is not on the Government’s side with health reforms
Rachel Moore (Stuff): Pharmacies under pressure, picking up overflow from booked out GPs
RNZ: New director of public health appointed
Tracy Watkins (Stuff): A lottery of death: Why are so many people dying without first-world care?
Cate Macintosh (Stuff): Surgical waiting list soars as patients languishing in pain say they feel like the ‘living dead’
Geoff Cunningham (Stuff): Health reforms are missing the problems at the coalface
Bryan Betty (Stuff): We’ll all suffer if pressures on GPs aren’t addressed
Rachel Smalley (NBR): Counting the human cost of terrible health system leadership (paywalled)
Kate Hawkesby (Newstalk): I’d have thought, at this time of year we’d be doing more to help the health system
Otago Daily Times: Southern hospitals struggling to treat patients at full capacity
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Long waits for frail Kiwis to access aged care will ‘collapse the health system’
Steven Cowan: Dark side of the moon
Lloyd Burr (Today FM): It’s time adult dental care was subsidised by the Government
1News: Midwifery sector in ‘crisis’ – Wellington community midwife
Nikki Macdonald (Stuff): Shame, suffering and strawberry sundaes – the underfunded, invisible ‘mess’ of palliative care
Waatea News: Bureaucracy kept in check at Māori Health Authority
Stephen Forbes (Local Democracy Reporting): Pharmac ‘procrastinating’ over funding glucose monitors, Diabetes NZ says
Waatea News: Culture lessons in way of Māori health change
Ben Gray (Stuff): Medsafe’s accountability to us is a reason we trust it over the FDA
Simon Wallace (Stuff): After years of neglect, aged care sector is under threat

COVID
Keith Lynch (Stuff): Why the government is doing (almost) nothing about Covid
Trenton Doyle (Herald): Fresh surge in cases has experts urging public to embrace masks, social distancing
Morgan Godfery (Guardian): New Zealand stands on the brink of the Covid precipice. Why aren’t we moving to red?
ODT: Editorial – Not the time for being over Covid
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Greens call for return of ‘clarity’ to Government’s ‘muddled’ messaging as cases spike, stop short of calling for ‘red’
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Christopher Luxon calls for clarity over Covid rules as cases jump higher
Herald: National’s Christopher Luxon calls for simple mask rules in Orange revamp, wants traffic lights scrapped
Verity Johnson (Stuff): As second Omicron wave hits, many appear indifferent to health advice
Rachel Maher (Herald): Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: ‘We have become too complacent’, expert warns as hospitalisations spike
RNZ: Rest of the world has moved on from Covid-19, Christoper Luxon says
Herald: Editorial: Covid 19 Omicron subvariants challenge immunity (paywalled)
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Covid minister warns of ‘tough few weeks’ ahead, as experts call for urgent reset
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s ‘simple request’ to Kiwis as cases surge, addresses concerns over ‘red’
RNZ: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says New Zealand’s Covid settings reviewed constantly
Grant Bradley (Herald): Covid-19 on the job: Warning to bosses over sick staff (paywalled)
Jamie Morton (Herald): Why this wave will cause more to go to hospital and more deaths
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Ministry urged to update mask and isolation advice
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): New variants play a part as thousands contract Covid-19 twice
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): Officially, just 1% have caught Covid twice. Why that’s an undercount – and set to surge
Herald: Editorial: School holidays a much-needed Omicron circuit-breaker (paywalled)
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern maintains current Covid restrictions have ‘greatest impact’, no advice red would make ‘marked difference’
Kirsty Johnston (Stuff): The Māori health providers battling mistrust over childhood vaccines
Gary Payinda (Herald): ‘Frightening’ vaccination rates in NZ children will lead to preventable deaths (paywalled)
1News: Whānau Ora chair: We can’t rely on Govt for Covid solutions

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: PACIFIC AND CHINA
Katharine Murphy (Guardian): Going its own way in a messy world, New Zealand offers an alternate parable on China
Michael Neilson (Herald): Jacinda Ardern announces climate funding for Fiji
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Kiribati’s exit from Pacific Forum not a sign of wider disunity – Jacinda Ardern
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Ardern won’t speculate on Kiribati withdrawal from PIF
Shane Jones (Herald): Pacific Island Forum – PM Jacinda Ardern needs to put something in kava bowl (paywalled)
Tom Peters (World socialist website): New Zealand PM attempts to cover up alignment with US against China
William Hewett (Newshub): New Zealand’s long-standing relationship, cultural ties with the Pacific strong enough to fend off China, says Associate Foreign Minister Aupito William Sio
1News: Ardern attending Pacific Islands Forum in region’s ‘crucial time’
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): A warning about China, the ‘fragile superpower’
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Chinese state media react to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s major foreign policy speech
Christine Rovoi (Stuff): Ardern targets Pacific priorities on eve of leaders’ summit
Barbara Dreaver (1News): Pacific Islands Forum crisis as Kiribati withdraws
Dita De Boni (NBR): NZ should diversify its exports sooner: China expert (paywalled)

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: GENERAL
Don Brash: In defence of an independent foreign policy
Jon Johansson (Stuff): The uncomfortable truths about America, and our newest Free Trade Agreement
John Roughan (Herald): Independence is limited when you need help (paywalled)
Jack Tame (Herald): Three leaders, three countries, one big week in politics
Paul Buchanan: Countering coercive politics
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reacts to Boris Johnson’s resignation

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: AUSTRALIA
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Stars align as hollow words for New Zealanders in Australia shift to concrete action
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Jacinda Ardern in Australia: Bilateral kicks off with banter over Flying Nun Records and Midnight Oil
Cathy Odgers: New Zealand about to be “Each Way” Albo’d
Tess McClure and Paul Karp (Guardian): Anthony Albanese offers New Zealanders fresh approach on voting rights in Australia and deportation policy
Richard Harman: There are still clouds over the Tasman (paywalled)
Kethaki Masilamani (Newshub): Australia’s review of temporary residency rules is welcome news to New Zealanders across Tasman
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Ardern scores big win from Albanese in Australia trip
Jenee Tibshraeny (Herald): Ardern, Albanese on 501s, citizenship – is ‘reset’ bearing fruit? (paywalled)
Andrew Macfarlane (1News): Ardern scores a win in 501 discussions with Albanese
Jenée Tibshraeny and Michael Neilson (Herald): Jacinda Ardern in Australia: Anthony Albanese on 501s – Countries to show ‘common sense’ and work ‘as friends’
RNZ: Rights of New Zealanders living in Australia to be reviewed – Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
Richard Harman: Ardern avoids Aussie questions (paywalled)

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: EUROPE
Sharon Brettkelly (Newsroom): Getting the EU trade deal across the line
Gordon Campbell: On the trade deal with the Europeans

LABOUR SHORTAGES AND MIGRATION
Tina Morrison (Stuff): ‘Every sector is screaming out for more workers’
Paul Spoonley (Stuff): There’s a labour shortage, but where will we get our workers from?
Michael Wood (Herald): What the Government is doing about the labour shortage
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): New Zealand lost 11,000 people in a year, Stats NZ says
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): Govt’s immigration reset is keeping NZ poor (paywalled)
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): On a quest for the missing element – workers (paywalled)
RNZ: Aged care sector: Provider pleads for change to immigration setting for nurses
Bernard Hickey (Interest): The unintended consequences of treating kiwis fairer in Australia
Brianna Mcilraith (Stuff): Cost of living and salaries drive more workers to eye move offshore
Paula Bennett (Herald): Jacinda Ardern needs solutions for hospitality and tourism not catchy slogans (paywalled)
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Nursing solution to health worker shortage shot down by government
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): PM Jacinda Ardern suggests migrant nurses put off by needing to stay in role for two years ‘perhaps don’t want to be a nurse in NZ’
Niva Chittock (RNZ): Businesses under pressure as school holidays influx hits amid staffing pressures
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Hospo’s acute recruitment hassles hit headlines again
Nicholas Boyack (Stuff): Few takers for a job with a starting salary of $51,633
Herald: Editorial: Staffing crisis has nuances – but need for action is real (paywalled)
William Hewett (Newshub): Labour shortage: Greens co-leader Marama Davidson call for better pay and conditions for critical workers, residency pathways for low-wage migrants
Mike Hosking (Newstalk): Low wages won’t solve our labour crisis
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Why allowing bosses more migrant labour could start unemployment explosion in NZ
Maria Slade (NBR): Uni cancels training course in face of ‘chronic’ worker shortage

In a watershed moment, Pacific Islands Forum leaders have agreed on terms to prevent Micronesian countries from breaking up the leading regional body.

The row, which came to a head in February last year, centred around the selection of a candidate for the top job at the Forum, with Micronesia feeling snubbed when its candidate Gerald Zackios was overlooked for the former Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna.

The high level political dialogue was held in-person in the Fiji capital Suva yesterday.

It was hosted by Fiji’s Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, the current chair of the Forum and attended by the leaders of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, Samoa and the Cook Islands.

To outsiders looking in, the Forum row over an executive position might have looked a bit silly.

But it was about more than just a job title.

As the president of Palau Surangel Whipps Jr explains it, it was a feeling on the Micronesians part of being excluded from the day to day business of the Forum and by extension the region as a whole.

‘Let us look long term’
“Micronesia said the SG (Secretary-General) is supposed to be Micronesian. But what is more important is, let us look long term.”

And it is that long term vision that clinched the deal for the Micronesians in Suva.

They came in wanting Puna out and were offered to have the rotation of the top job by sub-region put into writing and become a permanent fixture of the Forum going forward.

“By the Forum agreeing that now we are going to put it in writing. It is going to be rotational we are going to be more inclusive at the head office, have deputies that represent the region, and sub-regional offices and the other the oceans commissioner all those add to being inclusive.”

Samoa’s Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa is new at the helm and was not part of the events that led up to the rift. But she said she was pleased to be part of the solution.

“We need to go through the process of all the members signing up, but those of us who are here, six of us, I think are representative of the three sub-regions and hopefully we will be able to implement what has been proposed and agreed to,” she said.

Clock still ticking
This is a crucial detail. The clock is still ticking towards when the formal withdrawal processes initiated by the five disgruntled Micronesian states last year becomes official. RNZ Pacific understands the first of them matures at the end of this month.

That being said, it is still a huge break through and one Federated States of Micronesia President David Panuelo said he was grateful for.

“Because just a few days a go it could have been that we will walk away and break up the entire Pacific Family but the common ground that we have reached has kept us together,” he said.

Both Panuelo and Whipps Jr acknowledged the mediation of Pacific Islands Forum chair Voreqe Bainimarama and the Troika plus members and all other leaders involved in the political dialogue leading up to this juncture.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A View from Afar – In this podcast, political scientist Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning analyse how the Pacific region has become the epicentre of foreign policy assertions from the region’s, and the world’s, powers.

This month has seen the United States President Joe Biden forward commit to increasing the USA’s presence in the Pacific. The announcement was pitched during a Whitehouse meeting in Washington DC with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Meanwhile, at the same time, the People’s Republic of China’s foreign minister Wang Yi was on a whistle-stop series of meetings with Pacific regional leaders, seeking mutual agreements on investment, infrastructure development, and security.

And back in China, the PRC took exception to this element of the US-NZ joint statement where Biden and Ardern jointly stated: “… we note with concern the security agreement between the People’s Republic of China and the Solomon Islands. In particular, the United States and New Zealand share a concern that the establishment of a persistent military presence in the Pacific by a state that does not share our values or security interests would fundamentally alter the strategic balance of the region and pose national-security concerns to both our countries.”

That position compelled China’s spokesperson for its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian, to state: “We noted the relevant contents of the joint statement, which distorts and smears China’s normal cooperation with Pacific Island countries, deliberately hypes up the South China Sea issue, makes irresponsible remarks on and grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs including issues related to Taiwan, Xinjiang and Hong Kong. China is firmly opposed to this.”

New Zealand is now positioned squarely on the fault-line between two opposing global powers.

Now add into the foreign policy mix the election of a new Labor Government in Australia where Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was quickly sworn in alongside his cabinet and then whisked off to a QUAD security pact leaders’ summit, and, most recently has met with his Indonesian counterpart, President Joko Widodo, to discuss securing a more cooperative relationship between the two regional powers.

In this episode of A View from Afar Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning deep-dive into these events to determine what this all means and where the shifting sands of Pacific foreign policy is heading.

One this is for sure, the Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ summit this year will be important and interesting.

You can comment on this debate by clicking on one of these social media channels and interacting in the social media’s comment area. Here are the links:

• Facebook.com/selwyn.manning
• Youtube
• Twitter.com/Selwyn_Manning

If you miss the LIVE Episode, you can see it as video-on-demand, and earlier episodes too, by checking out EveningReport.nz or, subscribe to the Evening Report podcast here.

The MIL Network’s podcast A View from Afar was Nominated as a Top  Defence Security Podcast by Threat.Technology – a London-based cyber security news publication.

Threat.Technology placed A View from Afar at 9th in its 20 Best Defence Security Podcasts of 2021 category. You can follow A View from Afar via our affiliate syndicators.

Political Roundup: The problem of “blindly following” the US against China

New Zealand may have finally jumped off its foreign policy tightrope act between China and the US. Last week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern effectively chose sides, leaping into the arms of the US, at the expense of the country’s crucial relationship with China.

That’s the growing consensus amongst observers of New Zealand’s foreign policy, following Ardern’s visit to the White House and her government’s strong stance against China’s increased diplomatic presence in the Pacific region.

Blindly following traditional allies

Observers are now questioning whether Ardern’s obsequence to American power will badly damage New Zealand’s national interests, and there is criticism that the Government is “blindly following” the US against the interests of both New Zealand and the Pacific.

There is no doubt that China believes Ardern is now siding with Washington over Beijing. China’s Ambassador to Wellington, Wan Xiaolong, has written a letter to Ardern accusing the Government of “blindly following others”, and suggesting she is making a big mistake in her attempts to reposition the country as a stronger diplomatic and military ally of the United States.

Former prime minister Helen Clark has also hit out using similar language, in a subtle yet sharp critique of how the country’s foreign policy is shifting under Ardern. Responding to Ardern’s closer ties with Washington, Clark says: “The key issue in maintaining the substance and perception of NZ foreign policy will be to ensure that NZ is making its own decisions based on its own values and interests and not blindly following others”.

Will Ardern integrate New Zealand into a more global NATO?

Clark’s comments were reported this week by political journalist Richard Harman. He also reports that Ardern is now planning to attend the next NATO summit in Madrid, which would be a strong provocation to China.

At a time when NATO appears to be expanding and is increasing a US-led global alliance against China and Russia, New Zealand’s increased involvement with this military alliance would be a further sign that Ardern has abandoned any vestiges of neutrality in favour of an alliance against China.

In his report Harman suggests that rather than just attending the summit to discuss the issue of Ukraine, Ardern could end up endorsing the expansion of NATO, or some version of it, into the Pacific region, in order to stave off China. As Harman writes, “If Ardern does do that, then New Zealand’s ‘independent’ foreign policy is likely to be tested, as it has not been since 1985.”

Criticisms of NZ siding with the US over China

This week the New Zealand Herald published an editorial that also bemoaned that “Ardern signed up to a joint statement that nailed New Zealand’s colours squarely to the US mast on security and strategic concerns.” The newspaper warned this shift was not necessarily in the interests of New Zealand or stability in the Pacific: “there is still value in the country treading a more careful, independent path on China than Australia does. New Zealand has been able to maintain a good relationship with Beijing and it is best to keep up a constructive dialogue”.

Leftwing political commentator Josie Pagani argued this week that Ardern was obviously heavied by the US into taking a more belligerent stance on China than the Government would normally take. She perceptively points out that, although the joint Ardern-Biden statement was focused on condemning China, when the Beehive put out their own version of the statement in a press release, the anti-China statements were absent.

In terms of how to deal with China, Pagani observes that, although countries like New Zealand and the US are always keen to lecture smaller countries about what they should be doing, in this case we should be the ones listening to the Pacific Islands: “instead of offering advice, we should be humble enough to learn from a region that has been figuring out how to navigate the superpower squeeze for longer than we have.”

Pagani, who has worked for a long time on Pacific and development aid, says we should be aware that the Pacific are actually being offered good deals from China, and so we shouldn’t be so dismissive. If anything, New Zealand should be partnering with Pacific countries in how they orientate to offers of help, instead of just “chest-thumping on China”.

In favour of partnerships in the Pacific

Waikato University’s Alexander Gillespie also says that the current reset in the Pacific comes in the context of New Zealand’s neglect of those countries, especially in terms of aid spending. He points out that this country spends much less than the agreed target of 0.7% of gross national income. In fact, New Zealand falls well short, with only 0.26%, well down on the high point reached of 0.52%. New Zealand needs to “put its money where its mouth is” instead of complaining about China giving assistance.

Gillespie argues in favour of partnerships and cooperation with China in the Pacific. He says: “Chinese influence in the Pacific is not necessarily something that must be ‘countered’. For the good of the region, countries should seek ways to work together, especially given that aid to the Pacific is often fragmented, volatile, unpredictable and opaque.”

If anything, Gillespie says New Zealand should be trying to ensure the “region is not militarised”. But this would mean taking on not just China, but also the US, Australia, and indeed reversing our own escalation of military spending on arms for the region.

It’s not just voices of the political left like Clark, Pagani and Gillespie that are critical of the Labour Government choosing to throw its lot in with the US against China. Former National prime minister John Key is the other high profile figure warning against the path that Ardern is taking New Zealand down.

Key told Newshub this week that Beijing will be present in the Pacific forever and it’s a “waste of time” trying to get them out. He said New Zealand should be “working with them instead.” Similarly, National’s foreign spokesperson Gerry Brownlee said that trade with China should be the “starting point” in navigating the issues in the Pacific.

Other experts with a strong knowledge of China are making pleas for the Government and the more hawkish commentators to calm down. For instance, New Zealander Warrick Cleine, who is the CEO of KPMG in Vietnam and Cambodia, says that it’s strange and disturbing to hear New Zealand commentators “beating the drums of war and the public being primed for conflict”.

Cleine says that his experience in Asia has led him to believe that there’s no need for the “level of alarmism in New Zealand”. He argues that the experience of other Asian countries is that a good relationship can be had with China, and independent foreign policy can be maintained.

Today Māori leader and commentator John Tamihere has also spoken out in favour of New Zealand taking a more independent stance in the US vs China tensions and he stands up for the right of Pacific nations to do deals with China without receiving criticisms. He says, “to beat up on the Chinese for doing business with sovereign nations is just racism”, and argues that the evidence doesn’t stake up for the New Zealand narrative about “the nasty Chinese and the nice Yanks and Aussies”.

Tamihere says that “it is about time we shaped our own foreign policy rather than being dragged along by others”, and by way of warning refers to Australia becoming “the 51st State of the USA”.

Sinophobia and drumbeats of war

There is definitely a rising drumbeat of war amongst many political commentators, as well as academic international relations specialists, who tend to gravitate towards support for the United States. Canterbury University’s Anne-Marie Brady believes China is trying to physically isolate New Zealand by dominating the Pacific Islands, and her view seems to be catching on with many others.

Bernard Hickey wrote this week on his Kaka website that New Zealand should be preparing for war against China: “My personal view is we should get as much US military presence as we possibly can on our shores, and also arm ourselves to the teeth with drones, missiles, maritime surveillance and strike forces to keep the EEZ safe from China’s fishing fleets. China is a truly dangerous, ugly and malign force in our world.”

The idea of New Zealand becoming something of a deputy sheriff to the United States in the Pacific is increasingly asserted in the media.

The need for engagement

New Zealand would be well advised to step up its engagement with countries in the Pacific and Asia. Currently, the Ardern administration appears overly concerned with visiting and communicating with the Anglo and European countries, and that’s a mistake.

Geoffrey Miller of the Democracy Project has called for more engagement with China, as “There is a very Cold War-style feeling at the moment. The only way to avoid that is by talking.” In addition, to reduce such “geo-polarisation” Miller says “I would have liked to see Mahuta invite [Foreign Minister] Wong Yi to New Zealand as part of his Pacific tour.”

Similarly, the Herald’s political editor Claire Trevett has suggested that Ardern now needs to travel to China to repair the damage done. And Today FM’s Rachel Smalley suggests that the PM must go to Beijing before any other cities outside New Zealand.

Smalley has asked why New Zealand is biting the hand that feeds, especially by signing up to the joint statement with the US that attacked China so strongly: “this statement was ill-thought-through by Ardern and her advisors. I think we’ve been played by the Americans. They have a very challenging relationship with China and they have used us, and our relationship with China, to point score. The Americans have nothing to lose from this, but we do, and potentially we have.”

Smalley, like others, suggests we should be very willing to criticise China for any problems that we might have with them, but we don’t do it as part of a pile-on instigated by their increasingly hostile rival superpower the US. She rightly suggests that we are now jeopardising a perfectly good $33bn trade relationship and our independent foreign policy just for some photo opportunities in the Oval Office. Hardly a worthwhile trade-off.

Further reading on NZ’s international relations

John Tamihere (Herald): China has every right to korero with our Pacific brothers and sisters and not be sneered at
Josie Pagani (Stuff): We should learn from how the Pacific has navigated between superpowers
Rachel Smalley (Today FM): It’s time for New Zealand to heal our relationship with China
Matthew Hooton (Herald): Why Nanaia Mahuta should be full-time Foreign Minister (paywalled)
1News: Ardern denies NZ is asleep at wheel as China pushes into Pacific
Herald: Editorial – Even with lean to US, NZ should keep good ties with China (paywalled)
Richard Harman: Helen Clark warns Ardern not to blindly follow others on foreign policy (paywalled)
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Just as Ardern was hoping for a foreign policy win, her Government was found wanting
Claire Trevett (Herald): PM Jacinda Ardern made most of US trip, but is China tipping point close? (paywalled)
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): Is the foreign affairs role too much for Nanaia Mahuta? (paywalled)
Warrick Cleine (Stuff): How New Zealand can make sense of China’s Pacific foray
Kevin Norquay (Stuff): Red flags fly as China charms the Pacific; should New Zealand be worried?
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): China’s Pacific wins and ‘overconfidence’ failure
Janet Wilson (Stuff): Time for New Zealand to up its game in the Pacific
Alexander Gillespie (The Conversation): To meet the Chinese challenge in the Pacific, NZ needs to put its money where its mouth is
Tess McClure (Guardian): ‘We don’t need to be reactive’: New Zealand keeps faith in its foreign policy amid China Pacific push
Jane Patterson (RNZ): New Zealand lining up beside old ‘friend’ after historic White House visit
Newstalk: Nanaia Mahuta, Chinese ambassador differ in meeting accounts
Thomas Manch (Stuff): National Party urges Government to push ahead with defence spending, as Pacific contest heats up
Michael Neilson (Herald): China in the Pacific: Nanaia Mahuta, Chinese ambassador on US statement
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Chinese Ambassador says NZ-US statement raised in Nanaia Mahuta meeting after minister skirts questions
RNZ: Government downplays discussion with China’s ambassador over joint NZ/US statement
Duncan Garner (NBR): Washington to Wellington – has Ardern just saved her job? (paywalled)
Simon O’Connor (Patreon): Explainer: Why China’s move into the Pacific is an issue for NZ (paywalled)
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Henare to push Pacific at defence summit
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ‘frustrated’ by criticism over Nanaia Mahuta’s absence from Pacific
John Weekes (Herald): ‘Secret’ Chinese military base in Cambodia: Ardern says NZ opposes Asia-Pacific militarisation
Amelia Wade (Newshub): China’s Ambassador says relationship with New Zealand ‘going well’, won’t discuss Beijing’s intentions in Pacific
ODT: Editorial – Jacinda goes to Washington
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Rubbing elbows with Albo – what Jacinda Ardern’s Oz trip means for NZ (paywalled)

Other items of interest and importance this week

GOVT
Richard Prebble (Herald): Will Labour be forced into a snap election? (paywalled)
Ben Thomas (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern: From triumph overseas to end-of-empire at home
Lloyd Burr (The Platform): Why Ardern should be worried about Boris’ huge dip in popularity
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Government asks for help to fix Māori electoral law, but it needs support

NATIONAL PARTY
Guyon Espiner (RNZ): How Christopher Luxon is rebranding the National Party
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): Why National is winning
Peter Dunne: Smugness a Risk for Luxon
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Luxon settling in for his long job interview
Newshub: Christopher Luxon denies he considered standing for Labour
Brigitte Morten (NBR): Where is National’s alternative budget? (paywalled)

PARLIAMENT SPEAKER TREVOR MALLARD
1News: Poll: Is Trevor Mallard doing a good job as Speaker?
Craig McCulloch and Russell Palmer (RNZ): Speaker Trevor Mallard criticised over silence on trespass notices fiasco
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Speaker Trevor Mallard barges through media, refuses to take questions over protest handling
Maiki Sherman (1News): Trevor Mallard fronts over Parliament protest trespass notices

PARLIAMENT AND PARTIES
David Farrar: Ipsos Issues Monitor May 2022
Luke Oldfield (Stuff): Are fringe groups set to break through at next year’s election?
Lloyd Burr (Today FM): James Shaw’s constant battle that’s hampering Greens
Audrey Young (Herald): What really happened in Labour’s bitter Manurewa selection (paywalled)
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Inside Louisa Wall’s diplomatic sinecure
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): John Tamihere replaces Che Wilson as Māori Party president
Tess McClure (Guardian): NZ Māori party rules out right-wing coalition after next election
Tess McClure (Guardian): New Zealand’s next kingmakers: who are the Māori party?
Thomas Manch and Glenn McConnell (Stuff): The key questions that are set to define the 2023 election
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer (Herald): National and Labour falling out of favour and smaller political parties rising
Anissa Ljanta (Spinoff): The way we leave the world: a review of the new Jeanette Fitzsimons biography
ODT: Editorial – How young is too young?
David Farrar: Roy Morgan poll May 2022
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): New poll has Labour one point ahead of National, and suggests the gap could widen
1News: Poll: National still on top, Labour dips again

NANAIA MAHUTA ALLEGATIONS
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Nanaia’s super-narrative
Graham Adams (The Platform): Mahuta imbroglio a quagmire for the Government
Kate MacNamara (Herald): Second Government payment made to Labour minister Nanaia Mahuta’s husband’s firm (paywalled)
Martyn Bradbury (The Platform): MSM’s silence speaks volumes
The Platform: 3 reasons there must be a truly independent review into Three Waters

GOVERNANCE AND INTEGRITY ISSUES
Max Rashbrooke (Stuff): Ardern’s govt has failed to deliver meaningful gains in growing trust
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Ombudsman to crack down on OIA delays
Imogen Wells (Newshub): Government blames COVID-19 for 46 percent increase in communications staff
Cas Carter (Newsroom): When public relations finally crossed the line
Kate MacNamara (Herald): Social media surveillance included Kiwis’ private messages sent to Government (paywalled)

CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Climate Minister James Shaw stays diplomatic on farming emissions plan his party calls ‘lame’
Richard Harman: Ag leaders warn Groundswell — continue protesting and you’ll put us in the ETS (paywalled)
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Politicians cautious over He Waka Eke Noa farm emissions pricing plan
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Nanaia Mahuta face-off over New Zealand’s approach to deep-sea mining
Gerhard Uys (Stuff): Could a nitrogen fertiliser cap mean our national dairy herd will become smaller?

LAW AND POLICING
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Macho chest-beating won’t tame the gangs, but Poto Williams’ “softly, softly” approach just might
Herald: Auckland shootings: Opposition leader Christopher Luxon calls for police minister to be replaced as crime sweeps the city
Herald: Editorial: How to tackle gang crime (paywalled)
Damien Venuto (Herald): Will Australian-style gang laws actually work in New Zealand?
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern still has confidence in Poto Williams, but won’t say if she will remain Police Minister after reshuffle
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Gang law options considered as shootings continue – Police Minister
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (1News): Review suggests police more likely to harm non-Pākehā

THREE WATERS
Mike Chatterley (Spinoff): We need to turn the tide of public sentiment on three waters
Jordan Williams (Taxpayers Union): New poll: 76% Believe water entities should be accountable to voters
Stuff: Councils tell court Three Waters reforms could lead to other asset grabs
Kristie Boland (Stuff): Anti-water reform campaigners call on ministers to rethink ‘attack on democracy’
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Three waters: LGNZ admits poor communications strained council relations
Susan Botting (Local Democracy Reporting): High Court challenge to the Three Waters assets starts
Russell Palmer (RNZ): First of ‘several’ Three Waters bills introduced to Parliament
RNZ: Council votes to reduce fee to LGNZ in protest of Three Waters reforms
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): New Three Waters bill fails to provide final privatisation safeguard
Lloyd Burr (Today FM): What do we do about Three Waters?

HEALTH
Stuff: Editorial – Let’s hope Health NZ’s transparency is less shaky than Hutt Hospital
Ian Powell: The not-‘seize the time’ health budget
Vandhna Bhan (1News): Wellington hospitals using outdated, faulty equipment
Ian Powell: How not to rebuild public hospitals
David Schnauer (Herald): What Pharmac has in common with the Reserve Bank (paywalled)
Zoe Madden-Smith (Re:News): Self-harm hospitalisations have doubled for 10-14-year-olds
Ripu Bhatia (Stuff): Renewed calls to address migrant doctor ‘bottleneck’ as GP shortage worsens
Rachel Smalley (NBR): Where’s the blood in the water after Pharmac review? (paywalled)

ECONOMY, EMPLOYMENT, COST OF LIVING
1News: Two-thirds of Kiwis think beneficiaries should get cost of living payment
Geraden Cann (Stuff): Signs suggest the rich are trying to dodge new tax – here’s what’s being done about it
Shane Te Pou (Herald): Lift wages for a more productive economy (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): The big storm warning we should take seriously (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Government quietly backtracks on tax changes after outcry
Daniel Smith (Stuff): More tax for country’s 14 billionaires ‘inevitable’
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): Proposed modern slavery law goes too far, legal and business experts warn (paywalled)
Craig Renney (Herald): Setting the story straight on Fair Pay Agreements (paywalled)
Jo Moir (Newsroom): The perils of diplomacy in a cost-of-living crisis
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Three reasons the Government will find it hard to fix supermarkets
Lana Hart (Stuff): There are some silver linings on the rising cost cloud
Bruce Cotterill (Herald): Brace yourself — this landing could get bumpy (paywalled)

HOUSING
Anne Gibson (Herald): Sale of the century: 55-60% of Auckland’s large-scale state land to be sold for private ownership
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Is the NZ housing market downturn anything to be worried about?
Anne Gibson (Herald): NZ house prices forecast to drop 18% from $905,000 to $740,000 – Jarden analyst
John Anthony (Stuff): Average cost of building a home in main centres skyrockets 21% in past year, QV CostBuilder says
Herald: Transitional housing costs nearly double in two years, over $330 million spent last year (paywalled)
Ethan Te Ora (Stuff): Worries about landlords’ reaction stymie investigations into thousands of potentially damp or mouldy homes

CHRISTCHURCH CITY COUNCIL
Emile Donovan (RNZ): What’s behind Christchurch City Council’s popularity slump?
Nadine Porter (Stuff): Satisfaction with Christchurch council plummets to 15-year low
John MacDonald (Herald): Christchurch City Council would lose confidence vote
David Williams (Newsroom): Inside a council’s spiral of unpopularity

LOCAL GOVT
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): The next Rotorua? Government likely to pass Ngāi Tahu bill, creating permanent representation on ECan
RNZ: Permanent Ngāi Tahu representation on Environment Canterbury a step closer
Jessica Roden (1News): 15 councils using voting system which ranks candidates
Cherie Sivignon (Stuff): Local government doesn’t need ‘one-size-fits-all model’ from Wellington
Stephen Ward (Stuff): ‘Once in a generation shift’ could need slower reform pace, says LGNZ leader
Keiller MacDuff (Stuff): Lack of diversity lamented as local government elections loom
Susan Botting (Local Democracy Reporting): Having three new mayors in Northland could spell trouble for local democracy – expert

MEDIA
Karl du Fresne: The vacuum at the heart of the democratic process
Duncan Greive (Spinoff): Sky is in advanced talks to buy MediaWorks – what would that mean?
Alison Mau (Stuff): TVNZ’s spectacular own goal – and what should happen next
Mark Jennings (Newsroom): TVNZ’s unholy mess
Brent Edwards (NBR): Double standards on media freedom? (paywalled)

SPEECH
Dane Giraud (Stuff): We need a spirit of tolerance, not a rush to cancel from left or right
Ani O’Brien (Listener/Herald): Free speech: It’s more complicated than you think (paywalled)
Steve Maharey (Stuff): We need to understand there are limits to what speaking freely means
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): ‘Lack of progress’ on hate speech and hate crime reforms
Wilhelmina Shirimpton (Today FM): Cutting to the core of cancel culture

NEW ANTI-EXTREMIST CENTRE
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Why Professor Kidman’s appointment to an Academy of Extremism is so problematic
Steven Cowan: Professor Joanna Kidman: Extremist
Chris Lynch: Co-director appointment for terrorism research centre “disturbing”

BY-ELECTION
Newshub: Most Tauranga locals disagree with Te Pāti Māori claim their city is racist – Newshub Nation-Reid Research poll
Newshub: National Party’s Sam Uffindell cruising to victory in Tauranga by-election, Newshub Nation-Reid Research poll shows

A Pacific journalist believes the Kiribati government has been coerced by Beijing to accommodate China’s foreign minister’s visit.

Kiribati authorities have confirmed that Wang Yi would briefly stopover to meet President Taneti Maamau as part of his Pacific-wide tour.

Journalist Rimon Rimon said the government had been “very secretive” and “people are frustrated and angry” after only learning about the trip via a Facebook post.

Rimon said Kiribati was grappling with a covid-19 outbreak and with the borders closed it was a change in practice by the government to oblige Beijing’s request.

“I think there has been some kind of pressure from Beijing. Only last night I had confirmation from a source from Beijing that before they travelled Kiribati was finally on the list,” he said.

“So, I finally understood that there had been some pressures and our government has submitted to those pressures.”

Rimon said a deal with Kiribati had more significance for China, as Beijing had already demonstrated its willingness to develop Kiribati’s northernmost island, Kanton Island, which has strategic military potential.

Kiribati government ‘reluctant’
“And I think China is pursuing that. I think our government is quite reluctant on something military-wise, based on the narrative that the government has been saying throughout the years.

“But I have no doubt this is, this is the number one thing on China’s agenda. How our government will respond to that or accommodate that. I have no idea of that,” he said.

The Kiribati government said the high-level state visit was an important milestone for Kiribati-China relations, as it would strengthen and promote partnership and cooperation between the two countries after the resumption of diplomatic ties in 2019.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Wang Yi is due to visit Vanuatu next Wednesday as part of his tour.

The Chinese Embassy in Port Vila has confirmed the arrival date for bilateral talks with the government of Vanuatu.

The embassy said Wang’s visit in Vanuatu had nothing to do with security issues. Instead, it said, he would discuss five memorandums of understanding as well as other business.

The embassy said the discussion points would be on tangible benefits that China could bring to the people of Vanuatu.

As well as Port Vila, Wang is due to visit Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, and Kiribati. He is currently in Solomon Islands.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A View from Afar – In this podcast, political scientist Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning bring you a programme in three parts.

First, they provide a brief roundup of Russia’s Victory Day on May 9th and what to make of Russia’s president Vladimir Putin’s speech.

PLUS, they evaluate a raft of election results that have occurred around the world including in: Philippines / HongKong / Sinn Fein’s win in Northern Ireland, and Macron’s re-election as president of France.

And then Paul and Selwyn analyse the Solomon Islands China security deal, and consider why this issue continues to raise concerns amongst Australia, New Zealand and the USA, question whether such concerns are hypocritical, and what real impact China’s strategy will have on the Quad and AUKUS security blocs.

Join Paul and Selwyn for this LIVE recording of this podcast while they consider these big issues, and remember any comments you make while live can be included in this programme.

You can comment on this debate by clicking on one of these social media channels and interacting in the social media’s comment area. Here are the links:

• Facebook.com/selwyn.manning
• Youtube
• Twitter.com/Selwyn_Manning

If you miss the LIVE Episode, you can see it as video-on-demand, and earlier episodes too, by checking out EveningReport.nz or, subscribe to the Evening Report podcast here.

The MIL Network’s podcast A View from Afar was Nominated as a Top  Defence Security Podcast by Threat.Technology – a London-based cyber security news publication.

Threat.Technology placed A View from Afar at 9th in its 20 Best Defence Security Podcasts of 2021 category. You can follow A View from Afar via our affiliate syndicators.

A View from Afar – In this podcast, political scientist Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning discuss how numerous countries have committed aid, intelligence expertise, military hardware and weapons to a multilateral effort in support of Ukraine.

What does this 2022-style of military diplomacy mean for the independent foreign policies of countries like New Zealand – with its style of incremental contributions in aid of the defence of Ukraine?

For example, the New Zealand Government this week confirmed the deployment of a C-130 Hercules with 50 personnel to Europe; a further eight logistics specialists based in Germany; $13 million in further support to procure equipment for the Ukraine military.

On announcing the move, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said: “Our support is to assist the Ukraine Army to repel a brutal Russian invasion because peace in the region of Europe is essential for global stability.”

Ardern added: “The global response has seen an unprecedented amount of military support pledged for Ukraine, and more help to transport and distribute it is urgently needed, and so we will do our bit to help.” (ref. ForeignAffairs.co.nz, https://foreignaffairs.co.nz/2022/04/11/mil-osi-new-zealand-new-zealand-sends-c130-hercules-and-50-strong-team-to-europe-to-support-ukraine/ )

So today, we examine how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with its method of total annihilation, has drawn once relatively independent nations into the fold of western security alliances. And we will consider whether such moves will become a permanent configuration?

Also in this episode, we will discuss the South-West Pacific strategic balance. Specifically, why has the People’s Republic of China, and the Solomon Islands bilateral security agreement, upset Australia, New Zealand, and the United States of America?

You can comment on this debate by clicking on one of these social media channels and interacting in the social media’s comment area. Here are the links:

• Facebook.com/selwyn.manning
• Youtube
• Twitter.com/Selwyn_Manning

If you miss the LIVE Episode, you can see it as video-on-demand, and earlier episodes too, by checking out EveningReport.nz or, subscribe to the Evening Report podcast here.

The MIL Network’s podcast A View from Afar was Nominated as a Top  Defence Security Podcast by Threat.Technology – a London-based cyber security news publication.

Threat.Technology placed A View from Afar at 9th in its 20 Best Defence Security Podcasts of 2021 category. You can follow A View from Afar via our affiliate syndicators.

A View from Afar – In this podcast, political scientist Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning analyse how New Zealand and other nations are providing intelligence expertise in the defence of Ukraine.

But are the SIGINT and TECHINT operations a part of the NATO partnership, or, a part of the Five Eyes intelligence network’s operations – where the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand share resources to acquire and coordinate global and targeted intelligence.

Does confirmation from New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern that New Zealand has deployed seven Defence intelligence officers to the United Kingdom and Belgium underscore a direct involvement against Russia and in defence of Ukraine by other independent nations like New Zealand?

• What will the intelligence, including geo-spacial analysis, most likely be used for and how would it be derived and delivered?
• How has western intelligence assisted Ukraine in this war and also in the targeting of Russian generals who were identified and killed during hostilities in Ukraine (ref. Washington Post)?
• How significant has Open Source Intelligence been in the Russia Ukraine war (to date) including the use of citizen acquired video and data and its dissemination to offensive and defensive operations in the conflict?
• And why is SIGINT and TECHINT proving to be more important than ever in this specific conflict?

You can comment on this debate by clicking on one of these social media channels and interacting in the social media’s comment area. Here are the links:

• Facebook.com/selwyn.manning
• Youtube
• Twitter.com/Selwyn_Manning

If you miss the LIVE Episode, you can see it as video-on-demand, and earlier episodes too, by checking out EveningReport.nz or, subscribe to the Evening Report podcast here.

The MIL Network’s podcast A View from Afar was Nominated as a Top  Defence Security Podcast by Threat.Technology – a London-based cyber security news publication.

Threat.Technology placed A View from Afar at 9th in its 20 Best Defence Security Podcasts of 2021 category. You can follow A View from Afar via our affiliate syndicators.

The invasion of Ukraine is likely to have a signficant impact on the Pacific, warns a senior USP academic.

On Thursday, Russia launched a massive invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

More than 100 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians have been killed in the fighting so far, with no figures for the Russians.

The invasion has put a strain on diplomacy around the world, with both Australia and New Zealand imposing sanctions on Russia and protesters picketed the Russian embassy in the capital Wellington on Friday.

Although geographically removed from the conflict the Pacific Nations should be concerned about the negative effect this war will have on multilateralism says Sandra Tarte, an Associate Professor at the University of the South Pacific and the Acting Head of the School for Law and Social Sciences.

“Multilateralism is on its knees, it’s in tatters,” Professor Tarte said. “Particularly for the smaller island countries, we really need multilateralism to protect ourselves.

“We don’t have power as such in the entire system. We rely on multilateralism and institutions like the UN and the rule of law.”

Professor Tarte also said that Pacific countries would feel an economic impact.

“We will see perhaps markets react, we will see confidence plummet,” she explained . “There might be supply chain issues with the oil markets.

“We are all connected. Through this global supply chain, we will see potential effects.”

EU targets Russian economy
The European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to impose new economic sanctions on Russia, joining the United States and Britain in admonishing President Vladimir Putin and his allies for invading Ukraine.

Leaders of the 27-nation bloc lambasted Putin at an emergency summit in Brussels, describing him as “a deluded autocrat creating misery for millions”.

The EU will freeze Russian assets in the bloc and halt its banks’ access to European financial markets.

These moves are part of what EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described as “the harshest package of sanctions we have ever implemented”.

The EU’s Ambassador to the Pacific, Sujiro Seam, echoed the sentiments of world leaders and “condemned the unprovoked and unjustified military actions” of Russia.

This is a gross violation of international law, Seam said, and he stated that the EU Office in Suva would reach out to its partners in the region to condemn Russia’s actions.

Seam hoped that Fiji, which had championed multilateralism in the United Nations, would support sanctions against Russia.

FSM severs diplomatic relations with Russia
The Federated of the Micronesia has severed diplomatic relations with Russia following the brutal invasion of Ukraine.

In a statement, the FSM government said it condemned the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine and the unjustified and brutal assault on its people and territory.

President David Panuelo said the FSM condemned any actions which threatened global peace and stability and the rules-based international order.

He said the FSM would only entertain renewing diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation when the latter demonstrated actionable commitments to peace, friendship, cooperation, and love in common humanity.

Fiji condemns Russia’s actions
Fiji has joined the international community in condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In a Friday social media post, Fiji’s Acting Prime Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said that Fijians were praying for the people of Ukraine.

He called for an end to all the “hostilities and any violations of the international rule of law”.

Sayed-Khaiyum urged the warring parties to return to the diplomatic table, echoing the call for peace from UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

Guterres addressed the UN General Assembly calling for negotiations, to save the people of Ukraine from the scourge of war.

Fiji’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Satyendra Prasad, echoed his government’s support of the UN’s call for a de-escalation of conflict.

On his official Twitter account, Prasad stated that Fiji supported the “UN’s efforts to have a swift return to the path of dialogue between the two warring nations”.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A View from Afar – In this podcast, political scientist Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning will consider and analyse the most significant global issues that define 2021. The topics will include:

– Leadership: Trump, Putin, Xi, Biden,

– Pandemic: Impact of Covid-19 & variants on global security

– Security: Afghanistan, AUKUS, Autonomous Weapons, Cyber-Hackers/Attackers.

Join Paul and Selwyn for this LIVE recording of this podcast while they consider these big issues, and remember any comments you make while live can be included in this programme.

You can comment on this debate by clicking on one of these social media channels and interacting in the social media’s comment area. Here are the links:

• Facebook.com/selwyn.manning
• Youtube
• Twitter.com/Selwyn_Manning

If you miss the LIVE Episode, you can see it as video-on-demand, and earlier episodes too, by checking out EveningReport.nz or, subscribe to the Evening Report podcast here.

The MIL Network’s podcast A View from Afar was Nominated as a Top  Defence Security Podcast by Threat.Technology – a London-based cyber security news publication.

Threat.Technology placed A View from Afar at 9th in its 20 Best Defence Security Podcasts of 2021 category. You can follow A View from Afar via our affiliate syndicators.