Fiji's former central bank governor believes as many as 400,000 people in the country live below the poverty line. Photo: RNZI/Sally Round
Vanuatu - blacklisted
The number of Ni-Vanuatu workers blacklisted overseas has risen to 174, including those on seasonal contracts in Australia and New Zealand, according to the Vanuatu Daily Post.
Senior labour mobility officer Minnie Bani told the newspaper that in most cases blacklisting occurs as a result of alcohol abuse.
Australia's Department of Pacific Affairs said the reasons blacklisting happens can vary, and serves as a punitive measure against workers who violate program rules or exhibit inappropriate behaviour.
Pacific - mercury
Pacific nations are calling for a mercury-free world.
It follows the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury that ran last week in Geneva, Switzerland.
The convention aims to eradicate the severe impacts of mercury on human health and the environment.
Tonga's deputy director of environment Mafile'o Masi said the use of mercury in skin lightening products threatens individual health, was rooted in colourism, and a threat especially to pregnant women.
Tonga - wharf
Tonga's government has signed a US$30 million grant with the Asian Development Bank to expand the Kingdom's main wharf in Nuku'alofa.
Finance Minister Tiofilusi Tiueti said it is part of the Nuku'alofa Port Project - a massive upgrade that is expected to be completed by 2026.
Launched in 2021, the project is primarily funded by Australia.
The Queen Salote Wharf receives more than 98 percent of Tonga's imports.
Fiji - poverty
The former governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji believes as many as 400,000 people in the country live below the poverty line.
Savenaca Narube told The Fiji Times that last year's Household Income and Expenditure Survey or H-I-E-S may not reflect the true picture on the ground.
Narube has called on the government to conduct another H-I-E-S as soon as possible to determine the true state of poverty in Fiji.
Narube said he had no confidence in the statistics of the previous government because they have been heard and seen to doctor those kinds of statistics.
Fiji - wage
Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says the nations minimum wage will be reviewed.
The Fiji Times reports that Rabuka made the comments to members of the Ba business community last week.
Rabuka told attendees the economy continued to grow at a good rate and many jobs were created in the last nine months.
He told community members the sugar industry was important for Fiji's economy and highlighted cane prices were the highest they had ever been.
Samoa - airline
Samoa's new finance minister Lautimu'ia Uelese Va'ai says it is possible that Samoa Airways will have an aircraft further down the line.
Lautimu'ia told EFKS-TV2 that the government was considering bringing in an aircraft but it would not be any time soon.
He believes Samoa should learn from Fiji and have the right model and people to run and operate an airline.
He said the government needed to make sure it was done at the right time, and the right aircraft as well as choosing the right routes to service.
Lautimu'ia said government has now taken up the responsibility of paying off the airline's debt from the previous administration, and that it has been reduced, and that it can be paid off.
Pacific - elections
A UN office in the Pacific says electoral processes that are well-managed are an essential element in supporting electoral safety, democracy, and peacebuilding.
The UNDP office in Suva has launched a new project supporting election management bodies across the region to help ensure that all Pacific peoples can fully exercise their political and voting rights.
The program, supported by New Zealand, will provide focused, efficient, and sustained electoral support to Pacific countries over the next five years.
While all Pacific Island countries organise and hold regular elections, tensions before, during, and after elections can potentially impact stability.
The program will run through to March 2028.
Tahiti - petition
An online petition is calling for the construction of an aluminium judging tower for the 2024 Olympic Games surfing competition to not go ahead.
Teahupo'o, in Tahiti is the venue for the surfing event.
The petition has close to 150,000 signatures.
Local residents and pro-surfers have been protesting the construction of the tower that will go on top of the reef, saying that it will damage the environment and could change the quality of the world-class wave.
Marshall Islands - office
The Asian Development Bank's Marshall Islands Pacific country office has officilly opened in the capital, Majuro.
The office has been operational since 2019, but the opening of a dedicated office space was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Marshall Islands Finance, Banking, and Postal Services Minister Casten Nemra said the office deepens its partnership with the ADB, and allows the Marshall Islands to be more responsive to the development needs of the Marshall Islands people.
The Marshall Islands has been working with ADB since 1990.
