6 Dec 2019

Tagata o te Moana for 7 December 2019

From Tagata o te Moana, 5:30 pm on 6 December 2019

Samoa's prime minister Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi says around 40,000 jabs had been administered during the two day national shutdown for the government's mass vaccination programme; In New Zealand, leaders from Dunedin's Samoan community have met with management of the local paper to express the hurt and harm caused by a cartoon making light of the Samoa measles epidemic; As Samoa struggles to get on top of its measles outbreak, the threat is rising around the Pacific; Polling has completed in Bougainville's non-binding independence referendum, with the vote count to begin this weekend. What comes next is not all clear, but Bougainvilleans are relishing an opportunity to take ownership of their future after years of turmoil; After a clarion call for climate action from the head of the United Nations and stark warnings from scientists around the world negotiations have begun in earnest at COP 25 climate meeting in Spain; Climate change related sea-level rise could pose a threat to the exclusive economic zones of the world's low-lying nations; About 50 activists flew the Morning Star flag at New Zealand's parliament on Monday to mark the 58th anniversary of the declaration of West Papuan independence; A Cook Islands select committee reviewing proposed amendments to the country's crimes act says the majority of public submissions call for male homosexuality to remain illegal in the country.