Tagata o te Moana for 30 October 2017

Authorities in Vanuatu are evacuating the entire island of Ambae - about 11,000 people - as the island's volcano continues to erupt; A petition to the United Nations with the signatures of 1.8 million West Papuans seeking self-determination could be a watershed moment for the independence movement; the Pacific has presented a united front at the UN General Assembly in New York in calling for global action on climate change; the president of Bougainville, John Momis, says the Papua New Guinea prime minister, Peter O'Neill, is ill-informed and misleading in his statements on the region's independence referendum; Pacific people entering under the quota with aspirations for a brighter future can find NZ tough; Vatulele Island landowners want to remove the owner of the island's only but defunct resort removed; a retired Cook Islands accountant says the New Zealand government is out of order requiring Cook Islanders to forfeit their National Superannuation Fund savings if they accept New Zealand Super; the fate of the only Fijian childcare centre in New Zealand is up in the air as the Fijian community try to address the concerns that were found in the 2017 Education Review Office report; calls for a Papua New Guinea team to be included in the NRL boosted by Hunters success