Blog

The growing ubiquity of social media in Pacific Island states has created opportunities and risks, Eliorah Malifa writes for the Pacific Wayfinder series.

The Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting has delivered strong calls for climate action despite ongoing membership challenges, whilst Papua New Guinea’s election is seeing violence spike around the country. Pacific Island leaders gathered in Suva last week for the 51st Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Meeting, with the summit’s opening marked by a handful of empty seats…

The recently announced Pacific Engagement Visa offers a framework to help support Pacific Island countries struggling with internal climate-related displacement, Michael Kabuni and Akka Rimon write. Australia’s new Labor Government has made improving relations with Pacific Island countries a focus of its foreign policy. In addition to frequent visits to the region by Foreign Minister…

A former leader has pointed to the length of prime ministerial terms as an indicator of stability in Papua New Guinea, but this does not tell the whole story, Henry Ivarature writes. “There must be political stability to bring development”, argued Paias Wingti, Governor of Western Highlands Province and former prime minister of Papua New Guinea, in…

The Mota Lava Treaty between Solomon Islands and Vanuatu shows how traditional Oceanic diplomacy can be incorporated into current practice, Anna Naupa writes. On 7 October 2016, neighbouring countries Vanuatu and Solomon Islands signed a historic maritime boundary agreement after 33 years of negotiations. This significant occasion marked the end of more than a century of the…

The security stories shaping the region. It’s election season in the Pacific! Campaigning has begun in earnest in Fiji and Papua New Guinea, whilst results have been announced in the French Overseas Territories. The build-up to Fiji and Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) national elections has begun, with both countries potentially heading to polls in the…