In brief: Relief slow to get to remote islands

Relief work in remote Papua New Guinea islands is set to take weeks after damage caused by Cyclone Ita.

Relief slow to get to remote islands

PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Relief work in remote Papua New Guinea islands is set to take weeks after damage caused by Cyclone Ita. Revised reports say 1159 houses are destroyed in places as far as Sudest and Rossel islands, and 5390 food gardens were wiped out. The co-ordinator of the Milne Bay provincial disaster office, Eric Balaria, says he estimates about 5000 people are displaced, and there needs to be an emergency medical evacuation from Misima Island. The islands are hundreds of kilometres away from Milne Bay. Balaria says an Australian Defence Force Iroquois helicopter should arrive in Alotau tomorrow, and it will survey damage and relief needs over the next few days, but people won’t get help until next week. A local MP, Gordon Wesley, says the region had earlier been calling for drought assistance and the latest disaster has worsened the lives of villagers. He is making a public appeal for more help.

Disappointed more women not elected

NIUE – A former MP in Niue says it’s disappointing the general elections saw no increase in the number of elected women to government. The top two pollers in the common roll, Stanley Kalauni, and Toke Talagi, the premier since 2008, are continuing to lobby for support to determine who will become the next premier. Former MP Esther Pavihi, who also unsuccessfully contested this years elections, says in 2008 there were four women representatives, and that dropped to three in the last assembly. “Let’s just say that there was actually some hope that there will be support for women candidates, particularly on the common role, but that didn’t eventuate. And now you have only two members who are women in the house.”

Tongans frustrated by bus strike

TONGA – Public transport users in Tonga are frustrated by a bus strike which has disrupted their lives. The president of Tonga’s bus association says its members refuse to return to work if the government continues to deny their request for lower diesel prices. Samipeni Finau says it’s unfair that bus owners have to pay US$1.61 per litre when fishing vessels and interisland ferries only have to pay US$1.21. The Friendly Island Bus Association began their strike yesterday involving 52 bus owners who operate 83 buses around the island. James Manu says he has not been able to go to work because can’t get from his home to his work place in town which is normally a thirty minute bus ride. He says many people have been forced to walk or hitch a ride into town because there is no public transport system available.

Media body needs to prove neutrality

FIJI– A media NGO in Fiji says the public needs more reasons to be able to trust the processes in place with regime decrees. The regime’s Media Industry Development Authority issued a public warning against Fiji TV for airing a speech by Tailevu chief Ratu Timoci Vesikula, saying it was ‘hate speech’. The chairman of the authority, Ashwin Raj, has been criticised for judging the actions of the media organisation before the tribunal considers the matter. The Executive Director of Fiji Media Watch, Agatha Ferei, says there needs to be more clarity on the role of the authority, as opposed to the media tribunal, and the public need to be able to trust a robust process.

Two-headed baby rumour ‘not true’

SAMOA – Health officials in Samoa have denied media reports about a baby with two heads, born last month at the national hospital. Senior Nurse at the National Health Service, Asenati Tuilaepa, told the Samoa Observer the baby has one head but she was born with a birth bump. “She had only one head with a part of her skull having a bump that fell to the back of her head and that looks like another head, but it wasn’t,” she said. “It is nothing new and can happen in every country so the two-headed baby that was mentioned on newspapers and other media is not true.” Tuilaepa said that the baby was discharged from the hospital last week. “And hopefully the baby will get her operation as soon as possible.”