Vanuatu
Pacific Engagement Visas: New developments but quotas unknown
Australia is surprisingly low-key about the recent launch of its new subclass 192 Pacific Engagement Visa lottery that aims to welcome 3,000 new permanent migrants …
A “climate defence force” for the Pacific
During the summer political slumber, Australian Defence Personnel Minister Matt Keogh indicated that Canberra was considering permitting recruitment from Pacific Island Countries …
A new China loan threatens Vanuatu’s debt outlook
Several Pacific nations have experienced a spike in public debt in recent years due to Covid-related border closures, trade disruptions, and climate-related disasters. Vanuatu,…
Golden passports and visas: Two sides of the coin
Last week, Australia quietly axed a business visa scheme, which included a controversial Significant Investor category – colloquially known as a “golden visa” that targeted…
Digital dominoes: Australia’s strategic play in the Pacific
Pacific Island countries, with their sprawling geography, have been caught in a digital divide. Lack of critical, digitally enabling infrastructure slows down development progress…
Measuring the climate cost to Pacific development
Tropical cyclone Lola slammed into Vanuatu's northern islands last week, the third high intensity storm to hit the island nation in seven months. Lola was also the earliest…
Japan risks its reputation in Oceania with Fukushima discharge
Japan’s decision last month to begin discharging treated radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean from its destroyed Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is fairly unpopular…
The US–Pacific Islands Partnership, one year on
Last September, the United States made some big promises to Pacific Island Countries (PICs) at its first ever Pacific Leaders’ Summit. The brief follow-up summit scheduled to take…
Vanuatu: No confidence, but in whom?
Just two-and-a-half weeks ago, Vanuatu celebrated its 43rd Independence anniversary. Bands marched around Independence Park in Port Vila, watched by the assembled groups of…
Riots serve an unexpected lesson in the Pacific
“Do you think there will be riots today?” is a common question I get in my message box each time there are political controversies in Solomon Islands.
A number of colleagues…