{"id":7111,"date":"2020-04-08T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/?p=7111"},"modified":"2023-08-06T19:47:42","modified_gmt":"2023-08-06T09:47:42","slug":"weekly-pacific-bulletin-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/weekly-pacific-bulletin-16\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Pacific Bulletin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/tag\/tess-newton-cain\/\">TESS NEWTON CAIN<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tropical Cyclone Harold in the region<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On top of dealing with the impacts of\nCovid-19, the arrival of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/pacific\/413549\/cyclone-harold-updates-storm-makes-landfall-on-vanuatu-s-santo\">Tropical\nCyclone Harold<\/a> has caused more disruption and destruction. There was\nconsiderable damage in Solomon Islands. Tragically, more than 20 people are\nfeared lost after they were apparently swept from a boat that was travelling to\nMalaita from the capital, Honiara. The boat had been chartered to transport\nthem back their home villages in line with government directives to prevent\nspread of the Covid-19 virus. The cyclone intensified and was a Category 5 by\nthe time it affected <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/radio\/adelaide\/programs\/am\/cyclone-harold-hits-vanuatu-amid-preparations-for-covid-19\/12128006\">Vanuatu<\/a>.\nThe north of the country appears to have been the most severely affected with\nsignificant damage, flooding, and loss of power and communications in and\naround Luganville. People in the most northern province of TORBA shared images\nof themselves taking shelter in caves that have been used as cyclone shelters\nfor generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Meeting of Forum Foreign Ministers to address Covid-19<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forumsec.org\/pacific-islands-forum-foreign-ministers-to-consider-regional-response-to-covid-19-pandemic\/\">Foreign\nMinisters of the Pacific Islands Forum<\/a> will meet on April 7. The meeting\nwill be held online and follows previous virtual meetings of Forum officials.\nThe purpose of the meeting is to discuss a regional response to the impacts of\nCovid-19 in the Pacific. Ministers will discuss how Forum members can work\ntogether under the Biketawa declaration to activate a regional response. This\ncomes ahead of an expected announcement by the Pacific Islands Forum of a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/islandsbusiness.com\/breaking-news\/item\/2760-a-humanitarian-corridor-for-the-pacific.html\">humanitarian\ncorridor<\/a>\u201d to provide assistance to countries in the region. Dame Meg Taylor\nhas expressed the importance of the Forum members and their partners working\ntogether to meet the challenges ahead. However, a number of countries have\nalready initiated national responses which may prove a hurdle to achieving\nregional cohesion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Governments instigate economic stimulus measures<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even in countries with no reported cases of\nCOVID-19, the <a href=\"https:\/\/devpolicy.org\/a-re-shaping-of-development-assistance-to-avert-a-pacific-collapse-20200407\/\">economic\nimpacts<\/a> of the global shutdown have already been felt. A number of\ngovernments have announced or are working on economic stimulus packages. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/international\/pacific-news\/413128\/vanuatu-s-salwai-announces-covid-19-stimulus-package\">Vanuatu<\/a>\na number of taxes and fees are to be waived for 2020 as are the payment of any\nschool fees. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fijitimes.com\/covid-19-budget-pay-cut-for-pm-and-mps\/\">Fiji<\/a>,\nMPs and ministers will take a 20% pay cut as announced in a supplementary\nbudget handed down recently by the government. In <a href=\"https:\/\/matangitonga.to\/2020\/04\/03\/concerned-doctors-believe-60m-unwisely-allocated\">Tonga<\/a>,\nthere has been criticism from the medical community that the government has\nplaced too much emphasis on the economy and not enough on accessing essential\nhealthcare equipment. In a number of countries, including PNG, those who have\nlost jobs in the formal sector have been told they can access part of their\nsuperannuation funds, either as a withdrawal or a loan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Australia announces measures to support seasonal workers<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The government of Australia has announced\nmeasures to support seasonal workers. A number of Pacific workers are effectively\nstuck in Australia given that there are no flights to their home countries\nafter borders were closed. In most cases they were only scheduled to be working\nin Australia for a maximum of nine months. There was a lot of concern growing\nabout what would happen when their visas expired. The Morrison government has\nnow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foreignminister.gov.au\/minister\/marise-payne\/media-release\/australia-supporting-pacific-workers\">announced<\/a>\nthat Pacific workers can have their visas automatically extended for up to 12\nmonths. Work is ongoing to look at how they can move from one location to\nanother to continue working if their current employer does not require them at\nthis time. Whilst in Australia they have access to medical care and are insured.\nVanuatu is a major contributor to the Seasonal Worker Program and the Pacific\nlabour Scheme but has suspended its participation as a result of the Covid-19\ncrisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Official results of Vanuatu\u2019s elections are released<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Vanuatu the <a href=\"https:\/\/infogram.com\/live-update-2020-general-election-1hke60g15jge25r\">official\nresults<\/a> of last month\u2019s general elections have been released. There had\nbeen a. number of delays during the counting process. The results were\npublished as the country was preparing to face the impact of Tropical Cyclone\nHarold. The largest number of seats was won by the Graon Mo Jastis party (GJP).\nThe party\u2019s leader is outgoing Foreign Minister, Ralph Regenvanu. Negotiations\nand lobbying have been ongoing for some time as to which parties and\nindividuals will form part of the next governing coalition. This is expected to\nintensify in the lead up to Parliament sitting at which time a Prime Minister\nwill be elected. There is a period of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/international\/pacific-news\/413610\/graon-mo-jastis-wins-most-seats-in-final-results-from-vanuatu-election\">21\ndays<\/a> in which petitions to challenge the results can be lodged with the\nSupreme Court. Once again, no women were elected into the Parliament. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"author label wp-block-paragraph\">AUTHOR<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tess Newton Cain<\/strong>&nbsp;is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.griffith.edu.au\/asia-institute\">Griffith Asia Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TESS NEWTON CAIN\u00a0 |\u00a0 \u00a0 Tropical Cyclone Harold in the region On top of dealing with the impacts of Covid-19, the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Harold has caused more disruption and destruction. There was considerable damage in Solomon Islands. Tragically, more than 20 people are feared lost after they were apparently swept from a boat [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":6664,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1105,1021,248,1055,1056,1057],"tags":[1052,1087,323,969,1050,935,1275,1027,1099,961],"class_list":["post-7111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coronavirus-in-the-pacific","category-pacific-outlook","category-png-and-the-pacific","category-economies-and-development","category-politics","category-security","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-fiji","tag-pacific-islands","tag-pacific-outlook","tag-papua-new-guinea","tag-tess-newton-cain","tag-tonga","tag-tropical-cyclone-harold","tag-vanuatu"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"Jill 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