Australia and the Pacific

Pacific Island links: AFP in PNG, female MPs, Vanuatu election, remittances and more
A former AFP officer posted in PNG has made a number of allegations about the conduct of local police and the AFP presence in PNG, claiming the AFP's actions are constrained by…
The rebuild Fiji democracy project: set back by threat to police independence
Fiji's 2013 constitution calls for a separation of powers between military and police (Photo: Getty) Fiji’s Police Commissioner Ben Groenewald ended his contract this week. The…
Trouble in New Caledonia over links with China
Nickel mine at Thio, Southern Province, New Caledonia Photo: DeAgostini/Getty Images In August the economy of the nickel-rich French territory of New Caledonia ground to a halt…
Turnbull's new cabinet is great news for the Pacific
On Monday, Prime Minister Turnbull unveiled a new cabinet with sweeping changes to the front bench. The most important point for the Pacific is that Julie Bishop retains her…
Could PNG teach Australia a thing or two about political stability?
Australian officials used to fret about the so-called 'arc of instability' of Melanesian nations in our neighbourhood, with particular concern about regular votes of no confidence…
Australia–Papua New Guinea relations: Could do better
By Jenny Hayward-Jones, Director of the Lowy Institute's Melanesia Program, and Jonathan Pryke, Research Fellow. While it's managing its response to serious economic challenges…
Papua New Guinea: Keep calm and muddle through?
By Jenny Hayward-Jones, Director of the Lowy Institute's Melanesia Program, and Jonathan Pryke, Research Fellow. Papua New Guinea has been in the international spotlight a lot in…
Australia's PNG solution: The seeds of sectarianism?
As part of the 'Sectarianism and Religiously Motivated Violence' Masters course run by the Lowy Institute's Rodger Shanahan at ANU's National Security College, students are asked…
For Papua's independence activists, the struggle is about more than human rights
This is part 6 of former Fairfax Media Indonesia correspondent Michael Bachelard's series on Papua. Here is the introduction, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5. On a…
In Papua's health centres, a glimpse of dysfunction and corruption
This is part 4 of former Fairfax Media Indonesia correspondent Michael Bachelard's series on Papua. The introduction to the series is here and here are part 1, part 2 and part 3. …