Pacific Report

Hawke, Lange Summit

AUSTRALIAN PRIME Minister Bob Hawke is to make an official visit to New Zealand in November. Mr Hawke said to day he’d be having talks with New Zea land Prime Minister Lange, focussing on bilateral economic relations.

Australia Vanuatu Shake Hands

THE AUSTRALIAN Government welcomed the resumption of defence con tacts with Vanuatu. The resumption of the relationship was signalled by the visit in August to Port Vila by the Australian pa trol boat, HMAS Wollongong. The Wol longong arrived after escorting the new Vanuatuan patrol boat, the Tukoro, on its delivery voyage from Western Australia.

Australia gave the Tukoro to Vanuatu un der the defence co-operation program be tween the two countries. Vanuatu had placed a ban on visits by Australian mil itary ships and planes in May after Aus tralia criticised Vanuatu’s alleged relations with Libya.

Journalism Graduates Employed

SEVEN OF of the 12 graduates of Auckland’s Pacific islands journalism course have walked straight into jobs. Six started with newspapers, two with met ropolitan journals, and one in radio. Last year’s graduates fared even better most were guaranteed jobs before they left the course. And that’s the way it should be in a country with 120,000 residents from the Pacific islands, according to NZ Pacific Island Affairs Minister, Richard Prebble.

He told graduates in August that the course at Manukau Polytechnic had more than doubled the number of professional Pa cific island journalists in New Zealand since it started in 1986. “If we are going to have a media that serves the nation, it should reflect the nation,” he told the journalists. The graduates from the six month 1987 course come from the Cook Islands, Tonga, Rotuma island, Niue and Samoa. The course is a joint venture by the

Pacific Islands Employment Develop ment Board, Manukau Polytechnic and the New Zealand Journalist Training Board.

Shuttle Strip On Easter Island

TFIE US and Chile opened an emer gency landing strip on Easter Island for US space shuttles. The SUSB million runway, built by the US space agency NASA, is a 400 metre extension to an existing airstrip on the island. Answering criticism from local politicians and environmentalists, US and Chilean authorities denied any risk to the island’s famous statues.

Death For Png Rapists

THE NATIONAL Council of Women in Papua New Guinea supported a pro posed private member’s bill to introduce capital punishment for rape and murder in the country. The bill is being prepared by the regional member for West Sepik, Mr Karl Stack. The president of the Council of Women, Miss Angela Soso, appealed to the churches to support the bill and launch a major campaign among young people to teach them respect for women. She says the campaign should concentrate on squatter settlements and villages.

Meanwhile, churches in PNG sup ported the government’s policy to encour age Christian standards of living and family life. The support was outlined in a joint statement from the heads of the Ro man Catholic, Anglican, United, Western Highlands Baptist and Lutheran churches, as well as the Salvation Army. In its pol icy, the Government plans to involve the community and churches in dealing with social problems, including AIDS, in the country, which, it feels, can be traced back to a breakdown in families and cultures.

Dogs Vs Drugs

THERE’S a new detective on the beat in Papua New Guinea. Sam, a blue heeler, was presented to the PNG Bureau of Cus toms by Australian Customs to sniff out cannabis, heroin and cocaine. Sam will patrol the waterfronts, airports and post offices.

Waigini Arts Seminar

PREPARATIONS began in Papua New Guinea for the staging of the 18th Waigini seminar at the University of Papua New Guinea next year. The seminar will have as its discussion theme “The State of the Arts in the Pacific”. The seminar will fo cus on cultural heritage, all aspects of arts, literature, and tourism promotion.

Drinkable Seawater

DISTRICT and town officers and vil lage elders from most of the inhabited is lands in Tonga’s Ha’apai group flocked to see a solar-powered unit running a freezer and 10 lights when it was demonstrated in Pangai. The unit also distills seawater into drinkable water, which is of particular in terest to the islanders who have to rely on infrequent rainfalls to fill catchment tanks.

The demonstration unit was one of a pair donated by the French Government to the King of Tonga.

Heroes Honoured

VANUATU is to issue 10 categories of medals to honour outstanding service to the country. Among the first recipients will be members of the Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu Defence Forces who served in Vanuatu before independence. The PNG troops were sent to Vanuatu in 1980 to help put down the rebellion on Santo, led by Jimmy Stephens.

Mead Row Flares

A FILM on the Margaret Mead-Dr De rek Freeman controversy will be shot in Samoa in November. The film will fea ture Dr Freeman, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the Australian National University and founding Professor of An thropology at the University of Samoa.

The controversy was sparked some years ago when Dr Freeman published a book Margaret Mead: The Making and Un making of an Anthropological Myth which refuted the findings of Mead’s classic Coming of Age in Samoa.

PM Hawke

PM Lange

Margaret Mead

Islands Samaritans

TWO EYE surgeons and an optician spent two weeks in the PNG province of East Sepik, examining 1050 patients, op erating on 120 blind or partially-blind people and issuing spectacles for S5O people. The visit was organised by See In ternational, a charity organisation speci alising in eye treatment for needy people.

The team was financed by the Lions Clubs of Australia and Lae.

Meanwhile, a plastic surgery team from Australia went to Tonga to give free treat ment and corrective surgery. The Inter plast Australia team was sponsored by the Victorian State Rotary District 980 and the Royal Australian College of Physicians.

Swing Against Vanua’Aku Paki

IN VANUATU, the main Opposition Union of Moderate Parties, UMP, won the local election for the Santo and Malo Is lands’ local government council. The Union of Moderate Parties has 12 seats in the 20 member council, while the ruling

Vanua’aku Pati, VP, has eight members on the council. The local election resulted in a major swing to the Opposition Party.

Two recent local council elections saw the ruling Vanua’aku Pati returned with re duced majorities. The three local elec tions are seen as crucial indicators in the lead-up to the forthcoming general elec tions in November.

Private Tv For Nz

NEW ZEALAND’S first privately-run television channel will be headed by a consortium of business interests and broadcasters. After three years of hear ings, New Zealand’s Broadcasting Tri bunal announced the consortium would run the new station, Channel TV3, which will operate four regional stations in a net work reaching 90 per cent of New Zea land’s population. Shareholders in TVS include broadcasters who previously worked for the two state-owned commer cial channels. A spokesman for TVS said the consortium hoped the station would be on-air within 12 months, but could face appeals from defeated applicants.

Tax Evaders

JAPANESE and Taiwanese fishing boats began diverting from American Sa moa to Fiji and Tahiti to avoid a new tax imposed by the American Samoa Govern ment. The new tax is two-and-a-half cents per pound on unprocessed fish landed at Pago Pago by foreign fishermen. While the tax was expected to yield SUS 150,000 an nually in revenue, Pago Pago’s ship re pairers, provisioned, and fuel suppliers said the sum of business lost would be far greater. Ten Taiwanese longline ships have so far diverted to the Pacific Fishing Com pany in Fiji and three are reported to be selling fish to a freezing factory in Tahiti.

Blast-Off For Island Spaceport

KIRIBATI’S Government told its Honorary Consul in Japan to proceed with the promotion of Christmas Island as a site for a spaceport. A Japanese group earlier this year approached Kiribati with a pro posal to exploit Christmas Island’s close proximity to the equator by promoting it as a site from which space launchings could be made far more cheaply than from ex isting launching grounds in higher north ern or southern latitudes.

Tuvalu G-G Stays On

TUVALU amended its Constitution to enable its Governor General, Sir Tupua Leupena, to complete his four-year term of office. Sir Tupua, who was appointed two years ago, was bound by the Consti tution to retire in August when he reached the age of 65. A Bill to exempt him from the age barrier was moved by the Prime Minister, Doctor Tomasi Puapua, and subsequently passed by Tuvalu’s the 12member Parliament.

Ramphal Hits Australian Uni Fees

THE Commonwealth Secretary-Gen eral, Mr Sonny Ramphal, criticised Aus tralia’s policy of high tertiary education fees for students from the Third World. In a speech to New Zealand’s National Press Club he said it was easier for Common wealth scholars to enter French, German, Japanese and Eastern European univers ities than those in Australia, Britain or Canada. The Secretary-General said many of today’s students were the political lead ers of the future and the foreign govern ments offering non-fee paying university places had a golden opportunity to snatch the inside track on a future generation of Commonwealth leaders. □