By Harriet Smith, an intern with the Lowy Institute's Melanesia Program.
- The deal struck between the Australian government and the Obama administration to take refugees being held on Manus Island and Nauru to the United States that appeared to be on track earlier this week is now looking shaky.
- The Trump administration’s executive order on refugees has prompted distress in Australia’s offshore processing centres, according to this SBS report.
- The Trump administration’s executive order to ban funding to international NGOs that provide abortion services will have consequences for Pacific women.
- The ABC has officially ceased its shortwave transmission service, despite an outcry from listeners. Pacific Policy analyst Tess Newton Cain describes the move as a 'diplomatic misstep' while the Lowy Institute’s Annmaree O’Keeffe contrasts the attitude of the Australian and British governments towards international broadcasting as a soft power tool: Radio Australia is dying from neglect while its founding sibling, the BBC World Service, is expanding.
- Senator Nick Xenophon has said he will introduce legislation to Parliament to force the ABC to reinstate the shortwave radio service.
- The IMF released its Article IV consultation report on Papua New Guinea over the weekend after the PNG government delayed it for two months. While the report confirms what most analysts expected about the worrying state of the PNG economy, the findings do not seem to justify the PNG government’s delay.
- Australia will pay for at least a third of the costs of the 2018 APEC summit in Papua New Guinea, according to the ABC.
- The governments of Papua New Guinea and Bougainville have begun preparations for the referendum on the autonomous region’s independence with the creation of a Bougainville Referendum Commission to oversee the vote.
- As cyclone season approaches the Pacific region, UN Women is placing women at the forefront of disaster planning and response.
- It is the 70th anniversary of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, led by Director General Colin Tukuitonga, who brought a significant focus on public health to the SPC.
- Australian Solomon Islander Amie Batalibasi is the 2017 recipient of the Sundance Institute Merata Mita Fellowship for indigenous artists. Batalibasi is a filmmaker currently working on a feature adaption of her award-winning short film, Blackbird. For an example of her work, watch this short film Batalibasi co-produced with Adrial Tahisi.