Pacific Report
pp. 42-43 · Read in the full issue
□ Win A Trip To Png
SCHOOL children in New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT have a chance to win a free trip to Papua New Guinea in a competition organised by the PNG Con sulate in Sydney. In the junior division (up to 11 years of age), first prize for a pic ture showing life in a PNG village and a description of the things children enjoy about village life is SAIOO and a book.
The middle division, for children 12 to 15 years of age, asks entrants to draw a map that shows a tour parly itinerary visiting four to six places and to provide a descrip tion of each location; the prize in this cat egory is $2OO and a book. The senior division, for students 16 years of age and over, involves a 1500-word essay on the importance of PNG’s role in the region, and first prize is SA3OO and a book.
Best overall entry will be awarded a free package tour to PNG with an adult com panion: entries close August 31 and should be addressed to the Papua New Guinea Consulate-General, GPO Box 4201, Syd ney NSW 2001.
□ Laperouse Revisited In
Tasmania
RUSSELL Shelton’s recently published book, From Hudson Bay to Botany Bay: The Lost Frigates Of Laperouse (re viewed by Darrell Tryon in Pacific Is lands Monthly, May) is available to Australian and New Zealand booksellers from the Blubber Head Press, PO Box 475, Sandy Bay, Tasmania 7005 (telephone 002 23 8644).
□ Cyclone Conference
REPRESENTATIVES of 16 South Pacific countries held a week-long meeting in Brisbane in June to discuss co-operative action on tropical cyclone warning sys tems and disaster preparedness.
The conference the second session of the Tropical Cyclone Committee of the South Pacific was conducted under the auspices of the World Meteorological Or ganisation and hosted by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. It was opened by Australia’s Minister for Administrative Services, Stewart West, who is responsible for meteorological services in Australia.
The meeting concentrated on planning the sharing of resources and knowledge, par ticularly in the fields of observations, communications, technical expertise, disaster preparedness, public education, research and training.
Countries represented included Fiji, Kiribati, Tonga, Tuvalu, the Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Indonesia, Niue, Tokelau, Western Samoa, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, the United Kingdon and Aus tralia. Representatives of international and Australian organisations also attended.
□ Ptc ’B9 Program Set
PTC ’B9 will be held in Honolulu from Sunday January 15 to January 18, 1989 and will be followed by two days of workshops and tutorials.
The theme of PTC ’B9 is Pacific Tele communications Connectivity: Users, Networks and Information Services. The emphasis is on how things fit together and work, with special attention to the telecom user perspective. The key term in the title is connectivity.
PTC ’B9 continues the customary con ference pattern of Sunday afternoon key note addresses, then a plenary session each morning followed by concurrent paper sessions or other parallel activities such as the working groups.
Further information can be obtained from PTC ’B9, 1110 University Ave, Suite 308, Honolulu, Hawaii 96826 USA.
□ Consortium Moa Signed
MONTHS of hard work by representa tives of the American Samoa Community College, the National University of West ern Samoa, the Tongan Education De partment and the Pacific-International Centre for High Technology and Research (PICHTR) in Honolulu resulted recently in the signing of a memorandum of un derstanding for the establishment of the South Pacific Education Consortium
(Sppec).
Tongan Education Minister Langi Hu’akavameiliku, NUWS President Tuau’ili’ili Meredith and Chariman of the American Samoa Board of Higher Edu cation Abe Malae signed the memoran dum, which was witnessed by Governor A P Lutali. The MOU expresses the desire of the three institutions to establish an ed ucation consortium with American Sa moa, Western Samoa and Tonga as founding members.
The signing of the document will ena ble PICHTR, of the University of Hawaii, to proceed with the search for funding and to organise the administrative body that will manage the newly formed education consortium. “SPPEC will provide a new concept in regional education,” said Gov ernor Lutali after the signing of the MOU.
“It will introduce a system that is benefi cial for small countries that cannot afford to provide an adequate university educa tion in specialised areas for their people.”
Under the present arrangement, the consortium will provide high technology training at ASCC, agriculture, science and maths at NUWS and marine technology at an institution of higher education to be selected in Tonga.
□ Air Niugini Fraud
AIR Niugini General Manager Dieter Seefeld confirmed late in June that a ma
jor fraud had been uncovered within the airline. And the man suspected of taking the money identified only as a senior purchasing officer had been sacked.
Mr Seefeld said that internal audit checks had shown the crime had been committed over four years, with amounts of between K 100,000 and K 150,000 being syphoned off every year.
“The fraud was discovered by the in ternal audit department as part of routine checks: indications are that the company could have lost between K 100,000 and K 150,000 a year and the fraud may have involved five non-recognised by Air Niu gini Tenders Committee- suppliers,” Mr Seefeld said.
The man believed responsible for the crime had been found to be a director of one of the companies. Air Niugini will be trying to recover the lost money under its “fidelity” insurance policy, while Na tional Fraud Squad police have been going through the accounts of the five suppliers suspected of being involved.
□ Aust Influence Declining
AUSTRALIAN influence in the South Pacific is on the wane, Fedor Mediansky, political science professor at the Univer sity of New South Wales, said in June at the Smithsonian Institution’s Wilson Center in Washington DC. The shift, which Mediansky terms “if not actual then at least perceptively”, can be attributed to a number of factors, including Japan re placing Australia as the area’s largest aid donor. Regional changes among the South Pacific nations are also factors: the break down of regional homogeneity, the gen erational change to a more independently minded, assertive elite and the assymetry of outlook between Australia and its Pa cific neighbors contribute to its waning influence.
For the past 20 years, Mediansky maintains, Australia has had difficulty balancing its interests with the Western al liance and regional players. Canberra con siders itself part of the Western strategic community (with all the access to intelli gence and technology this entails), but the nation has moved increasingly closer to its regional environment. Asian immigration is on the rise, as is trade and investment with her Pacific neighbours.
While Australian influence has de clined, the US continues to maintain a low profile in the area. This Mediansky atri butes to the lack of a large Pacific constit uency in the US and Washington’s perception of the region as being “strate gically marginal”.
□ Fsm Congress “Stumped”
THE Federated States of Micronesia con gress adjourned in June following a 30-day session that the Speaker declared “one of
the most trying ever faced”. Unity speeches dominated the closing session in the wake of an outburst by a Trukese sen ator that led to a two-week boycott by three Pohnpeian legislators. There is frustration over Truk’s dominance in the Congress by senators from the smaller states.
Truk holds nearly half the seats, but Trukese complain that Pohnpeians dom inate in executive branch jobs.
□ Marshalls Get Sl3 Million
THE Government of the Marshall Islands has approved two joint ventures with US businesses, using a SUSIO million devel opment fund and $3.5 million from the Marshall Islands Development Authority for the purchase of a purse seiner and es tablishment of a foreign ship registry.
□ Palau Compact Update
THE United Nations Trusteeship Council has voted 3-1 (US, UK, France vs USSR) to adopt a report recommending approval of the Compact and leaving it to the US and Palau to resolve disputes over the pact’s interpretation. The US Department of the Interior will re-allocate $3.5 million in funds from money set aside for Trust Territory debt retirement to avoid a repeat of the deficit that forced the government to lay off hundreds of workers last year.
□ Maori Land Regained
THE New Zealand Government is to re turn an area in Auckland to a Maori tribe, following a land dispute that began last century and came to a head in 1978, in a clash between police and protestors in which 222 people were arrested when po lice moved in to clear land rights demon strators who had occupied the site for 506 days. The 70 hectares of prime harbour side land at Bastion Point, near the afflu ent Auckland suburb of Mission Bay, is to be returned to the Ngati Whatua tribe.
The Government rejected a recom mendation from the Waitangi Tribunal that additional compensation of SNZ3 million be paid to the tribe but will make available a housing and develop ment grant of the same amount. The Wai tangi Tribunal was set up by the present Labour Government to rule on claims lodged under the 1840 treaty under which Maori chiefs accepted British rule.
Bastion Point remains one of the major turning points in Maori land issues and claims that now cover nearly three-quar ters of the country. However, the Govern ment’s landmark decision will not be welcomed by a growing number of pake has made nervous by a rising tide of Maori nationalism.
□ Honiara Celebrates 10 Years
THE Solomon islands celebrated the tenth anniversary of its independence from Britain early in July. The Government of Prime Minister Alebua allocated about SUSSOO,OOO for the week-long celebra tions, which began in the capital, Hon
iara, on July 4: activities included an agriculture and trade fair, choir festivals, sports competitions and a cultural show.
Overseas dignitaries including the leaders of Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands were invited, but despite the festivities, vandals and drunken youths created disturbances.
In Sydney, the Solomons’ Honorary Consul, Mr Henry Cumines, hosted a re ception on July 8 that was attended by diplomats, members of the business com munity and friends of the Solomon Islands.
Mr Cumines thanked guests for their support for the 10-year-old nation and called on Australian and international media to abandon the sensationalism with which they approached news from the Sol omons. Commenting that larger nations cover up internal difficulties, he said great progress had been made throughout the South Pacific in combining progress, de velopment and a uniquely Melanesian ap proach to problem-solving, and that the difficulties inherent in such a process would be resolved in time.
□ Nz A New Las Vegas?
A PUBLIC committee of inquiry in New Zealand is to examine the idea of allowing casinos similar to those operating in some Australian States. The Minister for Tour ism, Mr Goff, said he believed casinos should be allowed in New Zealand pro vided there were appropriate safeguards.
Casinos would help brighten nightlife and would create significant employment.
But because they were a controversial is sue, parliamentarians would vote accord ing to their own views rather than along party lines.
□ France Tests 99Th Device
FRANCE tested another nuclear device at Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia in June the fourth this year and the 99th since the underground tests began more than 10 years ago.
New Zealand’s Department of Scien tific and Industrial Research said the test, detected by instruments in the Cook Is lands, had a yield of 30 kilotonnes. Dis armament and Arms Control Minister Russell Marshall noted that the latest test was the second at Mururoa in a week, and said that “in the final days of the third United Nations special session on disar mament, when most of the countries of the world are striving to achieve progress on disarmament and arms control, the French are setting off nuclear explosions one after the other. It is necessary to wonder about the logic of such behaviour.”
□ New Guide To Western Samoa
WESTERN Samoa has emerged as a growing destination, but little has been published on this beautiful island. Re tired school teacher Barbara McGovern has remedied the situation with the pub lication of Talofa Means Welcome. But
what began as a simple pamphlet with tips for tourists developed into a reference guide including information on accom modation, shopping, tours and local cus toms, history, local legends, recipes, personalities and rituals. Talofa Means Welcome was published with the assist ance of the South Pacific Trade Commis sion for the Western Samoan Visitor’s Bureau, and is available from the SPIC at 255 Clarence Street, Sydney, NSW 2000.
□ Palau Fights Alcohol Abuse
AUTHORITIES in Palau have asked the World Health Organisation’s regional of fice for the Western Pacific to collaborate in drawing up measures to reduce alcohol consumption. WHO consultants have vis ited Palau and offered suggestions for the development of an effective national pro gram for the prevention and control of al cohol and drug abuse.
Problems associated with increased consumption of alcohol seem to be affect ing the whole society: alcohol abuse may have become the leading health and social problem in the country and stress associ ated with sweeping social and political changes seems to be a significant factor behind the problem.
Palau’s alcohol imports increased more than 10 times between 1979 and 1983, and the MacDonald Memorial Hospital re ported that during a one-month period from July 28 to August 27 1985, 72 per cent of patients treated for injuries had con sumed alcohol.
Of patients aged 20 to 29 years, 95 per cent were under the influence of alcohol at the time of injury.
Figures also show that in 1985, a total of 135 persons were arrested for being drunk and disorderly. This had risen to 196, representing an increase of 45 percent, by 1986. (Palau has a population of about 14,000 spread over 200 islands.) WHO suggests the most lasting way to solve alcohol-related problems is to re duce per capita consumption through ed ucation activities aimed at raising consumer awareness. Measures to limit availability of alcohol are also needed.
Recommendations include increasing the price of alcoholic beverages, more stringent rules on the selling of liquor, and strict implementation of these measures as well as enforcement of laws governing the drinking age.
Campaigns to promote healthy life styles must be pursued vigorously: efforts should be made to reach the young, spe cifically school children, with positive health messages. □
□ New Kon Tiki Sets Sail
A GROUP of five Spaniards left Peru on a reed boat at the end of June, hoping to demonstrate that the ancient Incas could have travelled to New Zealand. The vessel left the port of Callao and is expected to take 50 days to complete the voyage. □