Stories about Oceania from December, 2008
Fiji: Offensive ads
Oceanic writes about the debate over the culturally inappropriate ads in Fiji.
Fiji: Dispute over local jobs
A government infrastructure project in Fiji was delayed after local residents demanded that workers in the project should come from the local community.
Fiji and New Zealand engage in ‘Diplomatic Suicide’
Tensions between Fiji and New Zealand boiled over Tuesday when both countries kicked out each other’s chief diplomats. Bloggers and commenters in both New Zealand and Fiji have largely found fault with their governments’ actions.
Shaping the Future of World Indigenous Education
Last week 3000 delegates from around the world shared their experiences at The World Indigenous Peoples' Conference: Education at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. There has been little coverage by the mainstream media and surprisingly little activity in the global blogosphere that I’m aware of.
Fiji and New Zealand Bloggers Debate Diplomatic Row
Bloggers from Fiji and New Zealand are discussing an ongoing diplomatic row between their governments that intensified when New Zealand refused to grant visas to three family members of senior officials in Fiji's government who came to power in a coup in December 2006.
Activist turned informant creates uproar in New Zealand
New Zealand’s blogosphere is a flutter with the possibility that a left-wing activist has been outed as a police informer. The informer was paid $600 a week (plus expenses) for monitoring groups like Greenpeace, Save Happy Valley, Auckland Animal Action, GE-Free New Zealand and Peace Action Wellington.
Australia: Reflections from ‘No Clean Feed’ rallies
Australians in seven cities demonstrated on Saturday against the Rudd government’s plan to require Internet Service Providers to block access to websites publishing child pornography and other unsuitable and illegal content.
Fiji: Democracies’ double standards
A few members of Fiji’s blogosphere have begun to lash out at what they see as double standards from the international organizations and countries preaching democracy to the Pacific Island nation that has been ruled by military leaders for the past two years.
Australia: Too many international students?
Andrew Norton writes about the debate in Australia on whether foreign students are displacing Australians in universities.
Australia rallies to “Stop the Clean Feed”
The Australian blogosphere has largely come together to protest a government internet filtering scheme that will require Internet Service Providers to offer a “Clean-Feed” service to all homes, schools and public access points to the internet.
New Zealand: ‘Talkfest torpedoed’
A few right-of-center New Zealand bloggers have applauded the new Social Development Minister’s push to cancel a February summit planned by the Families Commission that would bring together 150 leaders and decision makers together at Auckland's Waipuna Lodge.
Fiji's military coup: Two years on
Fiji’s military coup hits its two-year anniversary, and bloggers around the region have spent the past few days gathering thoughts and opinions on the country’s past, present and future.
Fiji: How to change the government from within?
As the two-year anniversary of Fiji's military takeover approaches, another international governing body has called the Pacific island nation to hold elections in 2009 as once promised. A discussion has broken out in the blogosphere over how exactly to initiate political change in Fiji.
Pressure for Fiji
A visiting European Union delegation concludes that there is no reason why Fiji should not continue with the elections next year. There is also a need for more domestic pressure to implement political reforms in Fiji.
New Zealand: Pro-choice and Pro-abortion
The Hand Mirror from New Zealand explains why being pro-choice is very different from being pro-abortion.
Fiji bloggers denounce military expenditures
Fiji bloggers have sharply criticized the country’s military government for allowing the armed forces to overspend its allocated funds in the past fiscal year by more than 50 percent.
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