Australia lures islands' professionals; Taiwan SPTO bid;


Australia lures islands' professionals

Australia's immigration policy of luring professionals and skilled workers from poorer countries is damaging the countries they leave behind, depriving them of desperately needed doctors, nurses, nation-builders and reformers.

A report released by the World Bank finds that more than 75 percent of all graduates from Tonga and Samoa, and 62 percent of all graduates from Fiji have emigrated. Most are now in Australia and New Zealand.

The situation is worse in the Caribbean, where as many as 89 percent of all graduates have emigrated, mostly to the West, where their skills earn them much higher incomes.


Taiwan SPTO bid

Taiwan's bid to become a member of the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) has been denied following a meeting in Port Moresby. SPTO says the decision is line with the One-China policy. SPTO accepted China as a member last year. The SPTO received aid funds from Taiwan prior to aid from China. China now objects to Taiwan's application for SPTO membership, which is at government level. The Solomon Islands is one of three SPTO countries that recognise Taiwan.


Qarase to amend bill

Fiji Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase has undertaken to amend a draft Reconciliation, Tolerance and Unity bill in response to domestic and international objections that it would interfere with the independence of the judiciary, police and prosecutor's office. Critics claim a section of the bill would encourage more coups by giving convicted and jailed supporters of a 2000 coup and suspects still under investigation an opportunity to obtain amnesty. While Qarase has undertaken to amend sections said to be in conflict with judicial independence, he has avoided giving specific assurances concerning the amnesty proposition which critics say is intended to placate his government's nationalist supporters of the coup.


FLP coalition move

The Fiji Labour Party, ousted as the government by the 2000 coup, and which could be returned to power by an election due in 2006, has accepted the minority United People's Party (UPP) as a partner for forming a coalition government. It is expected to enter into a deal with the newly formed National Alliance Party (NAP). UPP support is primarily from non-Fijian, non-Indian voters while the NAP is projecting itself as a multiracial grouping of general appeal. UPP and NAP could give FLP a margin of seats needed to lead the next government.


Tokelau referendum

Some of the thousands of Tokelauans who live in New Zealand are warning that their relations with their three small atolls near Samoa will be stressed if they are not allowed to vote in a referendum in November on whether Tokelau should have self-rule in association with New Zealand, the present ruling power. The referendum is being confined to about a thousand resident people aged at least 18 under a United Nations principle that restricts the vote to those who show by their presence that they have a commitment to the territory.


Court fines Lafleur

A New Caledonia court has imposed a fine of more than US$20,000 on Jacques Lafleur, the anti-independence past president of the territorial government, for threatening the publisher of a satirical newspaper with violence.

Etienne Dutailly got an anonymous telephone call warning him that he might be beaten up. He had been beaten up before the call and was told he might be attacked again. Sound experts identified the caller as Lafleur.


PNG helps refugees

In a decision praised by the United Nations Refugees Agency in October, Papua New Guinea issued residency permits to 185 refugees from Indonesian-ruled West Papua, where there are reports of Indonesian army attacks on indigenous supporters of independence.
The Papuans crossed the border to PNG in 2000. Residence permits are renewable after three years and holders can apply for PNG citizenship after eight years.


Implement reforms now, Tonga told

Tonga's government has been warned that violence will be the consequence of its failure to quickly accept constitutional reforms for the replacement of rule by the monarchy by rule by a fully elected parliament and cabinet.

The warning came in October from Laka Niu, a former parliamentarian and president of the Tongan Law Society, who burst into a cabinet meeting to present a proposal for a new constitution.

He said despite his surprise appearance he was given a dignified reception and was told that ultimately it was for King Taufa'ahau Tupou to decide how to respond to a petition for reforms for a fully democratic government sent to him during a five-week public service strike that forced the government to accept pay increase demands it warned would cause severe economic difficulties.


Funding for Micronesian Games

Northern Mariana Islands' (CNMI) Department of Community and Cultural Affairs is looking at three funding sources for the 6th Micronesian Games scheduled to be held on island in June of next year.