Dateline Pacific morning edition for 28 January 2019

The member of parliament for Madang in Papua New Guinea is seeking to end a four year ban on liquor outlets imposed by the provincial executive council; from Wednesday this week Samoa is to enforce a ban on one use plastic bags from the country's supermarkets and food stores; the chairperson of the Pacific Youth Council says lumping the Pacific with Asia in international forums causes the region's needs to be diluted and lost; work has commenced in Papua New Guinea on the nearly $US900 million repair job for the Highlands main highway; efforts are intensifying to stop the spread of the invasive coconut rhinoceros beetle in Solomon Islands. A New Zealand scientist says damage to palms in the Solomons from a new variant of the beetle is far worse than expected; rugby league is growing in the islands and legend Petero Civoniceva says the decision by Australia to include Fiji in its Pacific Sports Partnership (PSP) programme is a great vote of confidence for the game's future in the region.