New Caledonia’s newly-elected three provincial assemblies — Northern, Southern and the Loyalty Islands — have elected their respective presidents following the elections held on June 28 in the French Pacific territory.

The make-up of the three provinces and their respective majorities were already known since the poll on Sunday.

The election of the three presidents was therefore supposed to reflect what came out of the ballots.

• READ MORE: Official results confirmed for New Caledonia’s provincial elections
• Pro-French, pro-independence blocs remain in New Caledonia election
• Other Kanaky New Caledonia reports

In New Caledonia’s affluent and most populated Southern province, a united front of pro-France parties (Loyalistes-Rassemblement) has already secured an overwhelming majority of 28 of the 40 seats.

On the province’s inaugural sitting and the election of a chair, group leader Sonia Backès, who is also the incumbent President of the province, thus received 28 of the 40 votes.

There was no other candidate.

Following the Speaker’s election, bureau members such as the Vice-President (Gil Brial) and second and third Vice-President (Brieuc Frogier and Loïc Basset-Creugnet) came from the same “Strong and United” front.

But in the Northern Province, things were more complicated: the showdown was between incumbent President and UNI (Union Nationale pour l’Indépendance) leader and founder of the PALIKA party (Kanak Liberation Party) Paul Néaoutyine who was challenged by Pascal Sawa (from Union Calédonienne-FLNKS).

In the newly-elected assembly seat quota, they were neck-to-neck with 10 seats for Sawa and nine for Néaoutyine.

Néaoutyine, 74, has been President of the Northern province since 1999 and is also the Mayor of the small town of Poindimié.

Protest walk-out
Even though Sawa had a narrow advantage of one seat, it was Néaoutyine who received the most votes for a new presidential mandate (12 votes), thanks to the last minute support from other parties represented in the Assembly (including “Let’s Act Together for the North”, and Loyalistes-Rassemblement’s pro-France group headed by Vanessa Wacapo).

At the results’ announcement, Sawa’s UC-FLNKS group walked out of the sitting, leaving the matter of electing bureau members to later — on Tuesday, July 7.

Sawa said he was “indignant” and he condemned what he called a de facto “new alliance between UNI and the Loyalist pro-France” which, he said, was a show of “disrespect for the ballot results”.

Néaoutyine denied he had struck any alliance with any party.

In the smallest of the three provinces, the Loyalty Islands, the UC-FLNKS component of the pro-independence camp, the two leaders of last Sunday’s elections results, Mickaël Forrest and his sister, Omayra Naisseline (Indigenous Nation, affiliated to UC-FLNKS), were running for the Speaker’s chair.

All women vice-presidents
Forrest was elected President (with eight of the nine votes) and Naisseline has been elected first Vice-President.

The other positions of vice-presidents were all allocated to women (Wali Wahetra [Palika îles], Marguerite Piaa [UC-FLNKS]).

For all of New Caledonia’s three provincial assemblies, the total of newly-elected members is 76.

They will sit in the provincial assemblies for the next five years.

And a portion of those will also sit in the territorial Congress.

But the Presidential process does not end there.

On Friday, July 10, the territorial Congress of New Caledonia (54 seats) will also hold its inaugural sitting to elect its Speaker.

Heavy horse-trading underway ahead of Congress sitting
As a result of the provincial elections, the Congress now and once again hosts only relative majorities and heavy horse-trading is already underway between all parties represented.

The pro-France Strong and United alliance can count on 24 of the 54 seats — not enough to rule on their own.

The same goes for the pro-independence bloc, which has won 26 seats, still not enough for an absolute majority.

The pro-independence bloc consists of UC-FLNKS (10 seats), FLNKS (6 seats), UNI (6 seats), Dynamique autochtone (Indigenous Dynamics, 3 seats) and Palika (1 seat).

But the pro-independence bloc is not entirely united.

Within this group, it remains to be seen how UNI-PALIKA will position itself vis-à-vis UC-FLNKS and its affiliates.

This comes especially after the support provided by pro-France members of the Northern province regarding the Friday election of Paul Néaoutyine.

The two groups have long experienced differences, especially on the sensitive subject of how to approach New Caledonia’s sovereignty.

While UC-FLNKS favours a speedy full independence and accession to full sovereignty, UNI-PALIKA is prefers a status of independence in gradual association with France.

The issue crystallised even more during and after the May 2024 civil unrest and riots (which caused 14 dead and over 2.2 billion euros (NZ$4.4 billion) in material damage) with UNI PALIKA condemning any violent action.

‘Kingmaker’ Eveil Océanien ‘ready to talk with everyone’
Centre party Eveil Océanien (EO) now has four seats which once again places it in the position of “kingmaker”.

Over the past mandate (2019-2026), Eveil Océanien has struck alliances first with FLNKS, then later (2024) with the pro-France bloc, allowing it to tke the seat of Congress President.

EO leader Milakulo Tukumuli told local media as part of the negotiation process with other parties, he was “ready to talk with everyone”.

He said instead of the term “kingmaker”, he preferred to regard his party as a “majorities builder”.

After the election of a new Congress President (to replace incumbent Veylma Falaeo from Eveil Océanien) and the election of bureau executives, the local parliament has two weeks (before July 25 at the latest) to determine the number of cabinet members (which could be between 5 and 11) and then (before July 31) to allocate portfolios of the new “collegial” (proportionally representative) government of New Caledonia.

They would also choose the President and Vice-President of the government of New Caledonia.

In view of the tight schedule during the next few weeks, the option once expressed by French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to reconvene New Caledonia’s politicians for talks on the French territory’s future straight after the provincial election has become elusive.

Instead, Rassemblement leader Virginie Ruffenach told public radio NC La Première on Friday, that it was more realistic such talks would be more likely to happen at the end of August or in September.

Later than that, French national politics would be largely constrained and dominated by the Presidential campaign in France.

Meanwhile, it was confirmed earlier this week that the French Presidential elections will take place on April 16 (first round) and 2 May 2027 (second round).

Fears of yet another escalation in military conflict in Indonesia’s Papua region have risen after an American pilot flying a small aircraft into a remote airstrip in Highland Papua province was killed by West Papuan militants.

The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) has claimed responsibility for killing Nicholas F Gosselin after he landed a small aircraft in remote Sobaham District, Yahukimo Regency, on Thursday.

Gosselin had just flown seven passengers to Yahukimo from Wamena, Highland Papua’s major town, in an aircraft which belonged to a small Indonesian airline, PT AMA. The militants also burned the plane.

• READ MORE: Indonesian military says it has recovered body of American pilot killed by rebels in Papua
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The TPNPB has repeatedly warned foreigners not to fly into the region if they were working with Indonesia’s military, which they are fighting for independence.

Eneko Bahabol, a human rights defender with the Papua Council of Churches who works in this remote region, said the other people on board were local Papuan villagers. He said they were understood to have escaped without injury.

He said it was widely known that Indonesia’s military relied on small airlines to fly into remote airstrips in Papua’s interior, where its larger aircraft could not land.

“We have seen the call from the TPNPB not to transport military personnel. We have followed this in every one of their releases, but we see that the companies and the pilots do not listen to it, and this applies to all pilots transporting military personnel,” Bahabol said.

However, this is not the first case of the TPNPB burning planes which have flown into the Highlands region, nor of targeting pilots.

In February 2023, the TPNPB kidnapped a New Zealand pilot, Phillip Mehrtens, after he landed a small plane belonging to commercial airline Susi Air in Nduga Regency of Highland Papua. They freed him 19 months later.

The Indonesian military has reportedly denied that the AMA plane attacked on Thursday was used to carry troops.

Fears of more violence
Bahabol said civilians in Sobaham’s Balinggama village have fled to neighbouring districts because they were afraid there would be a military operation in response to the attack.

Jakarta has been increasing its troop deployments to the Papua region and now has at least six times more military per capita in Papua than any other region in Indonesia.

This comes amid an upsurge in violent incidents in recent months in Highland Papua related to the long running conflict between Indonesia’s security forces and the TPNPB which have left many civilians dead or injured, and displaced thousands.

Bahabol said on behalf of the Papua Council of Churches, he urged both Indonesia’s military and the West Papuan militants to step back from violent conflict.

“Stop the military operations because they do not solve the problem. I ask both parties to stop the conflict and pursue a dignified dialogue through international mechanisms,” he said.

Bahabol also urged a pause in “the use of civilian aircraft for military purposes”.

Meanwhile, he said it was expected that the pilot’s body could be evacuated on Friday, depending on the weather, and the ability of Indonesian military and police to access the airstrip area.

Killing ‘a message to US’
A spokesperson for the TPNPB, Sebby Sambom, said the killing was a message to the United States which brokered the 1962 New York Agreement which paved the way for the former Dutch New Guinea to fall under Indonesian control in the 1960s, without genuine consultation with Papuans.

“We also convey to the United States of American government, through its embassy in Indonesia and to UN member states, that the shooting of the American pilot is pay for a mistake by the Indonesian, United States of America, Dutch government,” Sambom said.

He said the message was also directed at the United Nations “for failing to address the root causes of the conflict in Papua between the Indonesian military and the West Papua National Liberation Army, which has been ongoing for 64 years”.

A spokesperson for the US State Department told RNZ Pacific they were aware that Indonesian authorities were investigating the reported death.

The spokesperson said they were in touch with the authorities and the man’s family, and were closely tracking developments, but had no further comment.

After an American man, Rick Spier, was violently killed in Papua in 2002 in a shooting attack that was investigated by the FBI, the US suspended some military assistance to Indonesia.

Global aid forecasts have small island developing states “among the hardest hit individually” as aid spending reaches new lows.

The OECD, which tracks their wealthy member states’ Overseas Development Assistance (ODA), is projecting a 6.9 percent drop this year. Last year, it was 23.3 percent.

In a report, it noted this would make for the lowest global ODA level since 2014, with health spending down to pre-pandemic levels.

• READ MORE: Pacific at risk as global aid falls to lowest level in a decade – report
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“Most reductions come from a small number of the largest providers,” the report noted, referring to European countries, and the United States.

“Many highly aid-dependent countries rely on a small number of providers, increasing vulnerability to shocks.”

It was also noted that five of the fifteen recipient countries with the largest cuts are small island developing states. Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) will have lost 36.6 percent of aid between 2024 and 2026; Asian and Pacific states will have lost 33.4 percent.

“A single provider accounts for most ODA in several LDCs and small island developing states (SIDS), such as the United States in Marshall Islands and Micronesia, or Australia and New Zealand in Tonga and Tuvalu,” it read.

“In these countries especially, a shift in aid could therefore spill over quickly into broader macroeconomic and societal stress.”

Globally, health spending is projected to fall by between 29 and 46 percent in that two-year timeframe, with aid for public health and the control of communicable diseases the hardest hit.

Aid targeting malaria falls by 59.6 percent, tuberculosis by 57.2 percent, other infectious-disease control by 40.4 percent.

Delivery models need to change – ChildFund NZ
Humanitarian aid is projected to fall by 40.3 percent, while government and civil society falls by 39.8 percent. Aid from multilateral institutions falls by 31 percent.

For Josie Pagani, CEO of ChildFund NZ, these are the most dangerous trends from a Pacific perspective.

“That’s for when you’re in a crisis, like we’ve just seen in Venezuela, or in the Middle East,” she said.

“That is going to have a very direct impact on the ability for countries to respond, or charities like ChildFund to respond directly to a crisis.”

Pagani said it created both a need and an incentive to make the way that aid was delivered more efficient, and more effective.

This, she said, would address a core issue around public perception — where aid was viewed as useless or unnecessary, and so it was deprioritised.

“Across the Pacific, there are sorts of dinosaur aid projects scattered around… water tanks with logos on them… [but] there are five million people in the Pacific who still don’t have access to running clean drinking water.”

“You can’t solve that by a tank here and a tank there, you’ve got to look at it systemically.”

Unchanged aid budgets
She also noted that unchanged aid budgets from Australia and New Zealand could insulate the Pacific from wider multilateral grant cutbacks.

Australia and New Zealand, in their respective budgets from May, kept their aid allocations roughly the same. New Zealand brought over NZ$160 million forward to this year from unspent cash in the previous two years.

Meanwhile, the Trump Administration is lobbying United Nations member states for its “Trade Over Aid” policy, which would prioritise aid spending for “free market reforms” in poor countries.

Explosive activity has picked up in recent days at Bougainville’s Mt Bagana volcano.

Papua New Guinea’s Rabaul Volcanological Observatory declared a Stage 1 Alert for Bagana amid its most notable upsurge in activity for two years.

The observatory’s principal geodetic surveyor, Steve Saunders, said activity at the volcano had been ongoing for several years, but last week the activity increased.

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“There was a large eruption, it was basically the dome collapsing down the east flank. It was very spectacular but it was in uninhabited areas so didn’t really cause much of a problem.

Noting continuous lava activity at the summit, Saunders said there was “a red glow and rocks rolling down the side every few weeks”.

“There was some dust downwind etc, but it looked worse than it was.”

Social media comments about the volcano indicated dust issues impacting crops to the south in Torokina, on Bougainville’s east coast.

PNG’s National Information Centre said the Department of Community Government and District Affairs Disaster Office were in touch with Torokina and other areas impacted, and monitoring the situation.

Pumice issue
Meanwhile, in another part of PNG’s Islands region, Manus Province, Saunders said big rafts of pumice from an active submarine volcano in the Bismarck Sea had started to disperse.

Since May, pumice created by the so-called Titan Ridge volcano had been carried by tides and currents into Manus Island’s south coast, impacting sea life and marine traffic.

However, Saunders said there was little pumice being produced by the volcano now as its activity has abated in the past week or two, and that pumice rafts around Manus Island had now mostly washed away with currents and winds.

But locals in Manus have told RNZ Pacific that pumice is still a problem, and that pumice has also increasingly the province’s smaller, outer islands.

The widow of a deceased Fijian farmer is claiming that her husband was beaten by police during a raid — and told to lie about it.

Ane Vakararawa’s husband, Iveri Tuimasi, died two weeks ago — yet another in a string of deaths this year where law enforcement is alleged to have played a role.

Police have acknowledged that there was a raid on the couple’s property on Beqa Island, and in a statement last week, said they would interview the officers involved.

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Vakararawa has alleged that Tuimasi was severely beaten during the raid, suffering a blow to the head, and a liver rupture that required surgery. It is also alleged the officers — including a soldier — coerced Tuimasi into saying that he had sustained his injuries from a fall.

Sharing her story with RNZ Pacific, Vakararawa said that her husband asked her to get the word out before he died.

“One week prior, he somehow knew it, and he was telling me that if anything happens, I need to be strong,” Vakararawa said.

“He kept telling me, I need to post it, I need to post the things that the officers did to him.”

Another death
Three weeks ago, RNZ Pacific reported on the death of another Fijian, Sakiasi Ose Radravu, who had been raided in uptown Suva.

Radravu’s family said he had been beaten, tortured and sodomised by officers, which Amnesty International described as typical of Fijian authorities.

Less than a week before Radravu’s raid, Jone Vakarisi, widely reported by local media as a known drug peddler, was found dead in a military prison.

Tuimasi and Radravu both have sepsis listed as their primary cause of death. Both of their death certificates listed a variety of other factors, but both families insist that their loved ones were totally fine before their encounters with the police.

Tuimasi’s certificate noted that a liver abscess had caused the sepsis, as well as a cerebral edema, a dangerous buildup of fluid in the brain. It also noted a “history of abdominal severe blunt force trauma”.

Both the police and military have been asked for a response.

‘I knew my husband didn’t jump’
Vakararawa could not recall how many police officers were there — but she insisted that there was also at least one military officer.

She said they came to their home on March 27 at around 6am local time, on a tip that Tuimasi was growing marijuana on their farm, which was 30 minutes away.

“They didn’t show me any search warrant, they went inside, they started raiding our property from the living room, right to the kitchen, in our rooms and our compound. One of the officers said that he found some marijuana seedlings on our shelves.”

She said they left and boated around parts of the island were the family would grow cassava. They returned three hours later.

“My husband didn’t come back with them. One police officer asked me ‘did you know where your husband left earlier that night’ and I told him ‘no, why?’, and he said because he ran away.

“When they were talking, I heard one police officer say ‘when we catch him, we have to punish him.”

By 2pm, police officers had left and returned again, with Tuimasi in custody, clearly injured. Vakararawa was told Tuimasi had thrown a stone at one of them, and as they pursued him, he stumbled and fell off of a nearby cliff.

The officers took him to Navua Hospital, and Vakararawa visited the following morning.

‘He was in pain’
“When I went to the hospital… he wasn’t able to sit properly, we could see how much pain he was in,” Vakararawa told RNZ Pacific.

With the officers still there, Vakararawa asked her husband quietly whether the story was true.

“He looked, and I asked him: ‘did you jump’, not loudly, I just signalled to him … and he shook his head.”

“I knew that my husband didn’t jump, because we used to farm up the hill, but now we don’t farm anymore there.”

She said he had a boot mark on his chest, a dark bruise on the back of his head, and cuts on his hand.

‘He wouldn’t be able to tell the truth’
Tuimasi was transferred to CWM Hospital in Suva shortly after his arrival at Navua, where he had surgery.

“He slept for about a week, they put him on sleeping medications … so, when he was sleeping, I went and filed a report against the officers [on] March 30.

“He got discharged on May 10, and he was telling me to tell the officer in charge that he’s okay, he’s ready to for his statement to be taken. But the officer in charge, she just called once … she said that she was busy with other cases.”

Over the next month, Tuimasi rapidly lost weight and became weaker by the day. His death certificate would later note that he had “severe protein calorie malnutritions”.

He was in and out of hospital, with “multiple surgical interventions” and a “recent history of hospitalisation for septic shock due to septicaemia.” As he deteriorated, Vakararawa described him as “traumatised”.

“He was eating, he was drinking, but somehow he kept dropping his weight, he was shrinking.”

Two days before he died, Vakararawa made a long Facebook post sharing their story, at Tuimasi’s insistence. She noted that despite his best efforts to talk to the police, they never returned his calls. Tuimasi died on June 19, in the afternoon — it would be the following morning that Vakararawa heard from them.

‘Fell from a cliff’
“An officer called … she told me that in Navua, [Tuimasi] admitted that he fell from a cliff before they transferred him to CWM [in Suva].”

“I told her, ‘ma’am, you have to understand that when they brought my husband to the hospital, he was coming with the very people that assaulted him. They could have threatened him along the way to tell the doctor that he really fell.’ He wouldn’t be able to tell the truth.”

The Fiji Police Force said on June 23 that Tuimasi’s autopsy had been completed, and that Vakararawa’s complaints were with the CID.

“The next course of action is to interview all those involved in Mr Tuimasi’s arrest following a drug raid in Dakuni in Beqa.”

“Following the interview process, all statements, evidentiary documents and reports will be submitted to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) for independent legal review.”

The official results of New Caledonia’s provincial elections held on Sunday were proclaimed last evening.

In a comprehensive document, the French High Commission in New Caledonia has published the key election figures, which confirm the tendencies observed immediately after the vote on Sunday.

This includes the final makeup of New Caledonia’s Territorial Congress, which results from the proportional representation in the French Pacific territory’s three provinces (Northern, Southern and the Loyalty Islands).

• READ MORE: Pro-French, pro-independence blocs remain in New Caledonia election
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In the Southern province, which is New Caledonia’s most populated and affluent region, the results confirm a clear victory for the “Strong and United” list made up of pro-France parties Les Loyalistes and Le Rassemblement.

Under outgoing provincial President Sonia Backès, they have reached 28 of the 40 seats and collected 50.4 percent of the suffrage.

The pro-independence list for FLNKS, headed by Johanito Wamytan, will get seven seats (15.59 percent of the vote).

Eveil Océanien’s list (Another World is possible), headed by Milakulo Tukumuli, has five seats (10.2 percent).

In the Northern province, pro-independence UC-FLNKS (headed by Pascal Sawa) and Union Nationale pour l’Indépendance (UNI) headed by Paul Néaoutyine are neck-and-neck, with 10 and nine seats.

The remaining three seats go to the small list “Let’s Act together for the North”.

In the smallest province, the Loyalty Islands, seats are divided between pro-independence lists “Nation Autochtone” (Indigenous Nation) and UC-FLNKS, respectively headed by Omaira Naisseline and Mickaël Forrest.

Another pro-independence party, the PALIKA (Kanak Liberation Party) now holds the two remaining seats.

Congress and three provincial assemblies to elect their presidents
The three provincial assemblies are now scheduled to hold their inaugural sitting on Friday.

They will elect their respective presidents.

At the territorial level, the Congress is scheduled to hold its inaugural sitting on July 10 with the election of its President and its bureau.

At New Caledonia’s Congress, Loyalists-Rassemblement will have 24 of the 54 seats.

Eveil Océanien reaffirms itself as the main central block in New Caledonian’s political chessboard: it has gained more seats (4) compared to three in the previous legislature (2019-2026).

This brings the Wallisian-based party, created in 2019, to position itself once again as the “kingmaker” as no single party in New Caledonia’s Congress is in a position to rule on its own.

The pro-independence block can now rely on 16 seats from UC-FLNKS (the pro-independence movement’s hard-line component), 7 from UNI-PALIKA and 3 from Dynamique Autochtone (Indigenous Dynamic).

Talks have started, behind the scenes, between parties, in order to form alliances ahead of the vote.

After the Congress President’s election, a “collegial” government will be formed, consisting of the allocation of ministerial portfolios on the basis of proportional representation.

Talks with Paris
Also based on the election of the new Congress, the French government is planning to resume talks with New Caledonia’s politicians in order to finalise a consensual document that would serve as a blueprint for New Caledonia’s political future.

Such talks, over the past five years, have failed to produce a result.

The most recent attempt, which materialised into a document called the Bougival Agreement (in July 2025, followed by more negotiations under the name of Matignon-Oudinot in January 2026) was rejected by the French Parliament on April 2.

New Caledonia’s main parties have already indicated their intentions, if they were to be convened for new talks by French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu.

Whereas UC-FLNKS seems to favour a short-term process for New Caledonia’s independence, UNI also promotes independence for New Caledonia, but in some kind of association with France.

UNI had pledged to support the Bougival process, which is now defunct.

The Bougival process was one of the main fracturing factors within the pro-independence movement, especially between UC-FLNKS and UNI.

On the pro-France side, they consider that concessions had already been made as part of the Bougival talks and that there were red lines they were not ready to cross.

Three referendums
They also insist that New Caledonia has held three referendums on New Caledonia’s independence between 2018 and 2021 and that these resulted in three rejections (however, the last referendum was boycotted by the pro-independence groups due to the covid pandemic).

Pro-France MP in the French National Assembly Nicolas Metzdorf said at the weekend that if they were called to sit at the negotiating table again, they would take part. Buy they would not budge from their anti-independence posture.

Another scenario was for New Caledonia’s parties — especially pro-France — to refrain from entering any political agreement until the French presidential elections are held in April 2027.

“We’ll wait for the presidential elections… to make sure New Caledonia remains French,” he told public broadcaster NC la Première yesterday.

Ahead of the Congress President’s elections next month, Metzdorf also confirmed that talks with other parties would start “this week”.

“It will be either with Eveil Océanien or with UNI, but we won’t talk to UC-FLNKS.”

Fiji’s military has hit out against budget cuts it copped last Friday.

In a social media post, the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF), which has gained influence in law enforcement over the last year, issued an apparent warning to detractors to recognise the role they play in Fijian society.

“The RFMF… genuinely respects the concerns raised in public commentary… that military spending should be reduced on the grounds that Fiji is not engaged in conventional warfare,” said RFMF commander Major-General Ro Jone Kalouniwai.

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“But we ask those who hold this view to look again.”

In the 2026-2027 Budget, the RFMF lost around FJ$14.8 million (NZ$11.5 million) — a 9 percent cut — and is projected to lose another $1.1 million next year.

Fiji Sun reported that, for Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, the rationale behind the cut was Fiji’s decision to scale back overseas peacekeeping commitments.

But the three-part post, titled “What the RFMF means to Fiji – Beyond the Budget and into the grey zone”, outlined the military’s view of itself as essential in efforts against the drug trade and corruption — and its social value.

“The RFMF has never asked for recognition. But perhaps it is time we offer it anyway,” it read.

Govt revenue falling
“And in doing so, ask ourselves honestly what it would cost us not to have it.”

While announcing the budget, Finance Minister Esrom Immanuel revealed that government revenue was falling while expenditure was climbing.

The country’s budget deficit is more than FJ$200 million higher than last year, due in part to a lower tax take.

Immanuel said the government was shifting cash towards infrastructure projects and private sector development.

The one-round provincial election held in New Caledonia yesterday has produced a few surprises, but essentially maintained the existing blocs between pro-independence and pro-France parties.

In the Southern Province (New Caledonia’s most affluent and populated, including the capital Nouméa), provisional results show half the votes went to the “Strong and United” pro-France camp.

This brought together the Rassemblement, Les Loyalistes parties, headed by incumbent Southern Province President Sonia Backès.

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Her list has obtained the support of 50.4 percent of the votes in the province, according to provisional results last night, which should give it 28 seats in the Southern Province and 24 of the 54 seats in New Caledonia’s Territorial Congress.

Support for the Strong and United pro-France list was not only strong in the capital Nouméa, but also in its three surrounding towns of Mont-Dore, Dumbéa and Païta.

Speaking to a crowd of supporters last night, Backès, 50, hailed the results and her party’s score, saying this was a way for voters to recognise what had been done during the past seven years, marked by several crises — including the covid pandemic and the May 2024 riots.

“The non-independence voters have supported our list at a large majority and I think our choice for unity was important,” she said.

“Also because we were carrying a clear message of support for a New Caledonia within France, as well as a society model we believe in, based on respect for democracy, of merit and equality for everyone.”

Pro-independence Johanito Wamytan (Union Caledonienne-FLNKS) and his list have secured 15.5 percent of the votes, translating into seven seats, one more than during the previous mandate (2019-2026).

He is followed by Wallisian-based centre party Eveil Océanien’s list (“Another World is Possible”), headed by Milakulo Tukumuli (10.3 percent).

In the Southern province, Eveil Océanien gained five seats — two more than during the previous provincial legislature.

This will again make Eveil Océanien as a force to be reckoned with in both the Southern Province assembly and the Territorial Congress, where the party, set up in 2019, has gained the nickname of “king maker”.

Eveil Océanien leader Milakulo Tukumuli said with four expected seats at the Congress, he was pleased to see that his party has “confirmed its place in New Caledonia’s political landscape”.

Northern and Loyalty Islands provinces
Provisional results in the Northern Province showed an almost equal score by the two pro-independence parties — UC-FLNKS and UNI (Union Nationale pour l’Indépendance).

The two parties’ list heads, Pascal Sawa (UC-FLNKS) and incumbent UNI-PALIKA Paul Néaoutyine (who has been leading the Northern Province for the past 27 years) have won 10 and nine seats respectively, with the remaining three seats being held by pro-France Vanessa Wacapo (Les Loyalistes-Rassemblement).

In the Loyalty Islands province, two lists headed by pro-independence Mickaël Forrest (UC-FLNKS) and Omayra Naisseline won six seats each in the small provincial assembly.

The provincial elections results need to be officially proclaimed by the French High Commission this week.

The next step, as part of the “trickle down” effect of the poll, is for New Caledonia’s new Congress to convene this Friday, July 3, with the first item on its inaugural agenda being the election the Speaker (President).

Parties represented in the new Congress are expected to enter into negotiations in order to form alliances.

This would be followed by a process of appointment of a “collegial” cabinet which is also supposed to reflect the make-up of the local Parliament.

Low turnout rate
One of the main features of Sunday’s provincial election was also the relatively low turnout rate (an estimated 58 percent of the 192,584 registered voters). This is eight percent less than the previous poll in 2019.

Geopolitical analyst Pierre-Christophe Pantz told public broadcaster NC la Première during election night that “this was to be expected and this raises questions about the meaning of democracy”.

Other experts also started to see in this low turnout a profound disinterest from voters.

University of New Caledonia law professor Mathias Chauchat said the trend was worrying, especially when combined with the “sudden death” five-percent threshold that automatically eliminates smaller lists.

“We end up with a rule that at the end of the day crystallises the forces in presence, to produce a rather conservative and polarised result,” Pantz said.

UC-FLNKS politician Alosio Sako said on Sunday night during a TV live debate: “I hope [the poll results] will enable for a fresh start, to find a new agreement because [New] Caledonians are tired of having to go through this kind of situation”.

Should the rules be changed?
Another compounding factor is that any list that does not collect at least five percent of registered voters is automatically eliminated during this single-round poll.

“This five-percent threshold rule was designed precisely to favour big blocs, to give them time to manage New Caledonia in the long term,” Professor Chauchat said.

He said that instead of discarding all these disqualified votes, it could be an idea to retain some of the ideas brought up during the campaign in favour of younger representatives, based on the principle of participative democracy.

“If you look at it more closely, there are a lot of new ideas from all these emerging small lists.

“It’s a shame that they only appear during election time and then disappear again — like shooting stars.”

Former journalist and TV personality Wallès Kotra, who headed one of the small lists, said he was concerned that the May 2024 riots and unrest should not repeat themselves.

“This has left many traces and fear within the population. And I hope it doesn’t herald more crises,” he said.

“We have to live together. And the two antagonist blocks, for them, it’s time to find an agreement. We must take care of our country.”

Polling stations have now closed in New Caledonia, as electoral officials begin tallying votes in today’s provincial elections.

The Sunday elections are the first to be held in the French territory for 7 years after the 2024 elections were abandoned following riots that left 14 dead, and about 2.2 billion euros (NZ$4.4 billion) in economic damage.

A special election night broadcast is underway, with preliminary results expected between 10.30pm and 11pm local time.

• READ MORE:  New Caledonia polls close in French Pacific territory’s first provincial elections since 2019
• Heavy security deployed as New Caledonia’s crucial elections begin
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• Alcohol sales banned in New Caledonia as provincial election approaches
• Other Kanaky New Caledonia reports

192,584 people were registered to vote in these elections.

RNZ Pacific’s French Pacific correspondent Patrick Decloitre said there had been no reports of any incidents during polling today.

In the Southern province and even more in rural Northern province and Loyalty Islands, voters and their families seemed to have chosen to cast their votes either after Sunday mass or just before polling stations closing time, so they could stay on and watch the counting process.

Security was heavy with some 2500 law enforcement officers, mostly policemen and gendarmes, as well as additional officers from the French anti-crime squad and judiciary police.

The heavy set-up was designed to remain “visible” by the population. It mainly focused on security and monitoring of polling stations and the immediate surroundings.

Heavy security has been deployed in New Caledonia as crucial provincial elections are being held in the French Pacific territory today.

Polling stations are open from 8am local time (9am NZ time) until 6pm tonight.

This comes as heavy security has been deployed. It involves a total of some 2500 law enforcement officers, mostly policemen and gendarmes (the equivalent of 16 squadrons, as opposed to 12 in normal circumstances).

• READ MORE: New Caledonia’s political parties make final pitch to voters before campaigning ends
• Alcohol sales banned in New Caledonia as provincial election approaches
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Additional officers from the French anti-crime squad and judiciary police are deployed.

The reinforcements are to remain posted at least until early July 2026 or longer, depending on what develops.

The heavy set-up mainly focuses on security and monitoring of polling stations and their immediate surroundings.

Drones and additional armoured vehicles are also deployed on the ground, including the Centaurs — armoured vehicles that were previously used during and after the riots that broke out in New Caledonia in May 2024, causing 14 dead and material damage of about 2.2 billion euros (NZ$.4.4 billion).

The whole security operation is meant to “reassure” the population, as well as show the presence of security forces on the ground and their capacity to intervene quickly if needed.

The French High Commission in New Caledonia said at the weekend the general climate was relatively calm ahead of the vote.

Since last week, a total ban on the sale of alcohol has been in force and will remain until after election day.

This, the High Commission said, was because New Caledonia was still undergoing a “sensitive” period on social and economic grounds.

Latest incident on the Isle of Pines
However, on Friday evening, in the small island town of Vao, on the Isle of Pines (south off the capital Nouméa), police and gendarmes were called about midnight to intervene following a fire on a building near the Town Hall municipal council meeting room, which was to be used as a polling station for today’s elections.

The polling station was relocated to a school canteen in the village of Vao.

Gendarmes later arrested one teenager — part of a group of five — and they were targeted by stone-throwing.

One of the gendarmes had to be medivaced to Nouméa.

Witnesses also said in the small building, which also hosts the local power company Enercal, safes containing cash has been forced open and cash stolen.

Two flags were also stolen.

Public Prosecutor Yves Dupas told local media an investigation was ongoing, but initial findings indicated that the main target of the group was the electrical company’s office and that subsequent damage to the nearby designated polling station could be regarded as collateral.

The perpetrators were also found to be “severely inebriated”.

The latest incident has triggered swift and angry reactions from the Great Chief of the Isle of Pines, as well as from Mayor Régis Vendegou and the government of New Caledonia, which said “nothing can justify” those actions.

No cyber threat so far
Potential attempts of local or foreign cyber interference is also being closely monitored with the assistance of French digital watchdog agency Viginum.

So far no significant threat has been reported of attempts to “discredit the electoral process, jeopardise the confidence of the public in the media or trying to influence the public in favour or against a specific party or candidate”.

Provisional results should start to emerge after polling booths close at 6pm with progressive counting during the evening.

The vote involving some 192,584 registered voters (according to the latest official figures), in 298 polling stations, will determine the 76 members of New Caledonia’s three provinces (22 for the Northern, 40 for the Southern, and 14 for the Loyalty Islands).

On a proportional basis, the three provinces will then be represented and make up the Congress of New Caledonia, consisting of 54 members.

From the new Congress, a new local “collegial” government and its President would then automatically emerge.

New Caledonia’s diaspora votes by proxy
There are 127,474 registered voters in the Southern Province (where the capital Nouméa is located), 43,016 in the Northern province and 22,094 in the Loyalty Islands province.

An estimated 5000 voters (who will be either absent from New Caledonia on polling day or who live in mainland France, Australia, New Zealand or Vanuatu) will also vote by proxy.

Campaigning in New Caledonia officially closed yesterday at midnight local time — two days ahead of election day tomorrow, June 28.

The poll will renew the members of New Caledonia’s three provincial assemblies (Northern, Southern and the Loyalty Islands).

In the following days and well into July, the poll will then determine, on a proportional representation basis, the makeup of New Caledonia’s Territorial Congress and the makeup of New Caledonia future “collegial” government and its President.

• READ MORE: Alcohol sales banned in New Caledonia as provincial election approaches
• Other Kanaky New Caledonia reports

Over the past two weeks, campaigning has been intense from running political party lists — a total of 23 — both on social networks and during political rallies.

The two main blocks in New Caledonia, the pro-independence and those who want New Caledonia to remain a part of France, have been particularly active.

They are reafirming their respective positions:

• The pro-independence UC-FLNKS will continue to support the French Pacific territory’s quick access to full sovereignty; and
• For the pro-France group (consisting of a coalition of Rassemblement, Les Loyalistes) it is to continue advocating for a “French” New Caledonia, based on the three referendums held between 2018 and 2021, all rejecting independence.

Postponed three times
But this year, as New Caledonia’s provincial elections were postponed three times since 2024 (the year they should have been held in normal circumstances, along the lines of a normal five-year term), the debate was also significantly marked by the dire economic and social situation following the May 2024 civil unrest and riots.

The political future of New Caledonia remains unresolved after five years of unsuccessful attempts through negotiations between pro-France, pro-independence groups and the French government.

And the population is mostly worried by bread and butter issues:

• unemployment (after hundred of businesses were destroyed as a result of the riots);
• the cost of living; and
• the resulting situation, especially in terms of health, public service, education and transportation (air and sea connections between the main island, Grande Terre (and its capital Nouméa) and the rest of the archipelago (especially the Loyalty Islands group).

Between the two political blocks, this election has seen an unprecedented number of candidates running under a non-partisan label, whether they choose to call themselves non-partisan or just representatives of the civil society.

This week, major parties have also held their final rallies.

Regarding the Southern province, which concentrates a large majority of New Caledonia’s population and wealth, a two-hour television debate took place on national broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie La Première featuring five of the major contender lists.

Presenting party views
It was an opportunity for list leaders to present their respective views on how to address the major issues at stake: economic recovery, assistance to affected businesses and the general population (especially in terms of health care), the sensitive issue of nickel mining and smelting (two of the three nickel smelters are currently inoperational) and the quest for further French assistance.

List leader Sonia Backès (who is the incumbent President of the Southern province) and her co-list Nicolas Metzdorf (who is one of the two representatives of New Caledonia at the French National Assembly) said their major objective — based on their united approach — was to achieve an absolute majority in the Southern Province.

Pro-independence UC-FLNKS sees this election as a way of bringing New Caledonia closer to its “Kanaky” fast independence process.

But this year, another list called “UNI” (Union Nationale pour l’Indépendance) is running separately after its two major components, PALIKA [Parti de Libération Kanak] and UPM [Union Progressiste en Mélanésie] split away from the FLNKS, citing profound differences on the approach to independence after the May 2024 unrest.

192,584 registered voters
For the whole of New Caledonia, the latest count shows a total of 192,584 voters registered on the “special” restricted electoral roll designed for those provincial elections, the French High Commission said.

In the Southern province alone, the total is 127,474.

The largest number of voters is located in Nouméa (53,671 voters for 57 polling stations).

The capital’s suburban cities of Dumbéa and Mont-Dore, are also significant (with respectively close to 30,000 and 19,293 registered voters).

In the other two provinces of New Caledonia (North and Loyalty Islands), there are respectively 43,016 and 22,094 registered voters under the same “special” list.

‘Sudden death’ clause
But based on the number of registered voters, election day for some parties will also determine whether or not they pass the required threshold to sit in one of the provincial assemblies and at the Congress.

In the Southern province, the threshold is a minimum of 6374 votes.

In the Northern province, the threshold is 2151 votes.

In the Loyalty Islands province, the threshold is 1105 votes.

If any of the running lists fails to reach the required threshold, it will not be considered and automatically discarded.

With a backdrop of defiance and mistrust towards political parties, another major question mark will be on the participation rate of voters.

After the vote: more negotiations in France?
New Caledonia’s elections, which will significantly redefine the French Pacific territory’s political chessboard at several levels, are also perceived as the starting point of yet another round of political negotiations with France.

Earlier this year, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, after talks with local political parties on the continuation of discussions about New Caledonia’s future, said he had obtained commitment from all parties that they would re-engage in talks with the French government, possibly in July, to finalise New Caledonia’s future status project.

The previous version (which was proposing to create a “State of New Caledonia” within the French realm) was rejected by the French Parliament.

But the pro-France camp has once again reiterated that just as this was one of the main themes of their campaign, they would not budge from their current stance, that is to defend and uphold the results of the three recent referendums against independence.

However, they said they were willing to take part in the proposed talks with France, even though they had serious doubts as to whether they could produce a conclusive and consensual agreement before the French presidential elections in April 2027.

The only tangible result — a compromise — was endorsed by the French Parliament a few weeks ago: an agreement to partially “unfreeze” the restricted list of voters for the provincial elections.

This consisted in allowing people (more than 10,000) who were born in New Caledonia since November 1998, and who had reached voting age, to cast their votes at these crucial local elections.

The Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) has formally outlined its final position on its political future, proposing a three-stage pathway towards self-government and eventual independence.

President Ishmael Toroama presented its position to the independent facilitator who is overseeing the joint technical consultations between the ABG and the Papua New Guinea government.

Bougainville would continue preparations for self-government until 1 September 2027, focusing on strengthening institutions, governance systems, peace and security, and economic readiness.

• READ MORE: PNG’s ruling party supports 15-year transition period for Bougainville
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From that date, Bougainville would enter a period of self-government, “exercising the fullest practical and constitutional authority available under the existing legal framework, including additional powers provided under Section 289 of the Constitution”.

“The proposal further envisages Bougainville attaining independence in 2030, as defined during the referendum process as an independent nation-state recognised under international law and separate from the State of Papua New Guinea.”

Toroama said the pathway provides certainty, preserves peace, and honours the democratic choice expressed by the people.

In 2019, a referendum was 97.7 percent in favour of independence, but the final decision rests with PNG’s national Parliament, as provided for under the Bougainville Peace Agreement.

Consistently honoured
Toroama said Bougainville has consistently honoured both the letter and spirit of the Peace Agreement.

“This position is not founded on emotion or convenience. It is founded on the Bougainville Peace Agreement, on Part XIV of the Constitution of Papua New Guinea, and on the solemn commitments and agreements that have guided our journey and preserved peace to date,” he said in an ABG statement.

“Our objective has never been confrontation. Our objective has always been reconciliation, partnership and a peaceful transition founded on law and mutual respect.”

According to Toroama, the 2019 referendum delivered a clear mandate from the people of Bougainville in favour of independence and that subsequent consultations between the ABG and the national government had produced several important agreements, including the Joint Communique of 11 January 2021, the Kokopo Joint Statement, Wabag Joint Statement, APEC Joint Statement, Era Kone Covenant and the Melanesian Agreement.

A cost-of-services report has also been filed, with acting president and Minister for Treasury and Finance, Albert Punghau, saying the 97.7 percent vote for independence must be matched by “fiscal readiness”.

“A sovereign people must be served by a government that can sustain itself,” he said.

“The report we launch today, ‘From Here To There’, speaks directly to both governments — the National Government of PNG and the Autonomous Bougainville Government — on the financial stewardship of our people’s resources, and the political responsibility of building Bougainville into nationhood.”

15-year process
Earlier this week, PNG’s ruling PANGU Party said it would support a 15-year transition process for Bougainville, regardless of whether Parliament votes for or against independence.

Prime Minister James Marape outlined the proposal in a statement defending PNG’s constitutional process for deciding Bougainville’s political future.

He said the process would be conditional on Bougainville demonstrating financial self-sufficiency, maintaining peace and stability, and eliminating armed violence and factionalism.

The Prime Minister said Bougainville would need to generate enough internal revenue to fund at least 70 percent of its annual budget over a five-year period.

Marape repeatedly stressed that Bougainville’s future could only be decided through constitutional processes established under the 2001 Bougainville Peace Agreement and incorporated into Papua New Guinea’s constitution.

During the fuel crisis, Pacific Island countries have scrambled to secure their own fuel supply, forcing them to lean on their wealthy neighbours and multilateral donors.

This triggered a region-wide economic slowdown and driven a managed, yet sharp, increase in fuel and electricity costs throughout the Pacific.

According to fuel price schedules released by Pacific governments regularly from February to June, Fiji has doubled the maximum price for diesel in urban centres in the main island, Viti Levu, such as Suva and Nadi.

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Samoa has lifted its diesel ceiling by more than two thirds during that time, Tonga by more than 60 percent in Tongatapu.

And quite apart from asking for budgetary support, Pacific leaders, whenever they had the chance, appealed for help to build solar panels and other forms of renewable energy, in hopes of sidestepping a future calamity.

February
The war begins.

February 28
Iran begins its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz after taking heavy fire from US and Israeli forces. In the coming days, several Pacific-flagged tankers are trapped, abandoned or damaged, and their crews injured or killed. The Palau-flagged Skylight is abandoned with two crew dead on March 1. The Marshalls-flagged MKD Vyom is abandoned with one death on the same day, and the Safesea Vishnu is set ablaze 10 days later, killing another.

March
It doesn’t take long before the public grows nervous over fuel and electricity price hikes. Pacific governments issue certain reassurances, but panic buying occurs in sporadic cases.

For Pacific Island countries, which are far away from the established oil refineries in Singapore and South Korea, it makes better economic sense to buy from bulk, rather than to have constant shipments. This means they have forward orders already secured.

So most retail prices are kept relatively stable as countries burn through their existing stocks. The import prices are going to go up, but the lag means they can bide their time.

Behind the scenes, governments are scrambling to secure supply from new sources — and to keep the public calm. It isn’t a question of if, but when.

March 15
Christopher Luxon touches down in Samoa. They discuss energy, but New Zealand isn’t committing to anything yet. They have their own crisis brewing. He’ll go to Tonga and say mostly the same thing.

March 23
The American Pacific and the free association states don’t have price ceilings, so their consumers are paying the market rate, plus the elevated travel costs. At a Mobil gas station in Saipan, petrol is US$6.619 per gallon, and diesel $8.789. In Tinian, diesel is $10.

April
Pacific Island countries begin to raise their fuel price ceilings. Vanuatu raises diesel by 64 percent, but won’t raise it further for the indefinite future. In PNG, the price is 73 percent higher, in Fiji it’s 35 percent, and in Tonga it’s 43.5 percent.

April 15
Tuvalu’s Energy Minister Simon Kofe appears on RNZ’s Morning Report and reveals that their fuel supply is “not assured” beyond June. Just days earlier, Tuvalu had declared a state of emergency, allowing the government to take extraordinary measures to cut back on power usage. They’re experiencing rolling blackouts. The country spends more than a quarter of their GDP on petroleum imports.

April 17
In the Marshall Islands, government departments are shutting down at 3pm. They’re using their universal basic income to help consumers and adding a subsidy to their state-owned power company.

Marshall Islands Finance Minister David Paul later reveals to RNZ Pacific that their singular supplier, ExxonMobil, is using force majure provisions in their supply contracts to balloon import prices.

May
Samoa and Solomon Islands both lift their diesel caps by 46 percent. Fiji and the Cook Islands climb as well. Fuel at the pump in Port Moresby is slashed by 42 percent after the government uses its windfall revenue from LNG exports, which have spiked dramatically in value, to subsidise consumer prices. Tonga cuts their electricity surcharge and reinvests more into welfare payments for pensioners. Pacific leaders are meeting.

May 6
Fiji’s Finance Minister defies an international travel ban for ministers to go to Uzbekistan for an Asian Development Bank AGM. He walks away with a US$200 million loan in his pocket.

Meanwhile, Australia hands Fiji A$30 million. Foreign Minister Penny Wong calls it a “targeted budget support” to support Fiji’s efforts to be a regional fuel hub.

At this point, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Southeast Asia, trying to get Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea to give them preference if they have to make tough decisions over their own stocks. Foreign Minister Penny Wong says they will keep the Pacific in mind, but they have to put themselves first.

New Zealand chips in NZ$8 million.

May 8
Pacific Islands Forum leaders officially invoke the Biketawa Declaration. It’s a framework for a regional crisis response, where leaders are compelled to come together, share their resources and expertise, and arrange some kind of plan together. It was last used during covid pandemic.

Jeremiah Manele jumps the gun and says they would, before any Pacific leaders, including Australia or New Zealand, could even consider it.

May 29
ADB Pacific Lead Emma Veve tells RNZ Pacific that help requests from Pacific Island governments have begun only recently. She calls this a credit to their resilience.

Help requests at this point have come from Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa and Nauru. Veve says they have freed up hundreds of millions in both loans and grants. Support for each country will range from $10 million to $100 million, depending on their size.

June
Peace appears on the horizon at the end of the month, but there’s no indication of it. By now Viti Levu’s diesel price ceiling has more than doubled since February. PNG’s fuel subsidy helps for a little while, but this month’s increase has exceeded last month’s decrease, and then some. Nauru and Niue, with their singular islands and tiny populations, have had to increase theirs, too.

June 5
Samoa triggers an “amber alert”, which indicates they have less than 30 days of fuel stocks left in country. They deny this is the case, and just call it a “precautionary measure.”

June 12
Fuel price caps rise in the Cook Islands — diesel in Rarotonga hits NZ$3.84 per litre, and LPG hits $5.06 per kilo. In Aitutaki: diesel is $6.24 per litre. In New Zealand, diesel prices only ever briefly passes $4 in some rural areas.

The French High Commission in New Caledonia has banned all alcohol sales until next Sunday — June 28, the provincial elections day.

The ban enforcement started on Monday and will last until Sunday at midnight, local time.

The ban concerns the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages.

• READ MORE: Provincial elections: USTKE issues voting instructions a few days before the vote
• Other Kanaky New Caledonia elections reports

The measure is supposed to “prevent public unrest”, among other reasons.

The High Commission said New Caledonia is experiencing a tense economic and social situation, as well as “delinquency” especially in the capital Nouméa and its greater area.

It also said law enforcement agencies, police and gendarmerie, are “regularly targeted by stone-throwing”.

Similar measures were taken during the May 2024 violent unrest.

‘Sensitive’ periods
It was also enforced several times at perceived “sensitive” periods, such as the anniversary of the riots, on May 13, or the symbolic date of September 24 which marks the anniversary of New Caledonia becoming a French colony in 1853.

Political parties in New Caledonia are now in full campaign mode.

Pacific journalist Nic Maclellan told RNZ Pacific Waves the key concerns for voters were the ones that faced every country.

“There’s a lot of concern about the current state of public services, particularly around health and public transport, both of which have suffered since the 2024 crisis,” he said.

“A major concern is frustration among young people about the cost of living, about access to housing, particularly about access to jobs.”

He said the fuel crisis was not as front of mind as in other countries, but still a factor.

“Certainly, the cost of living is pretty stark here, and fuel has gone up. It has affected key industries like tourism.

“Key sectors like nickel — nickel smelting and nickel mining — tourism, and others are affected by global energy costs. But front of mind is, as I say, about the cost of public services, which have been very much disrupted by the crisis in 2024 and in many cases haven’t recovered to the full level.”

The pro-France united list brings together Les Loyalistes, Rassemblement-LR, and Génération NC; while the pro-independence FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front, including Union Calédonienne) is one of the main components of the pro-independence movement.

And this year a UNI (Union Nationale pour l’Indépendance) movement is also running separately after its two main pillars, PALIKA (Kanak Liberation Party) and UPM (Union Progressiste en Mélanésie) broke away from FLNKS in August 2024.

The Greater Nouméa bus network service will be maintained on New Caledonia’s provincial election day, Sunday June 28, bus operator Tanéo/Mixed Syndicate of Urban Transports (SMTU) has confirmed.

The announcement follows complaints by several political parties in the French Pacific territory, with less than two weeks to go before the crucial provincial elections.

The greater Nouméa bus network was severely impacted following the May 2024 violent unrest, which affected Nouméa and its immediate suburbs.

• READ MORE: Campaigning in full swing as New Caledonia heads toward crucial provincial elections
• Other Kanaky New Caledonia elections reports

It has since resumed a limited service only from Mondays to Saturdays — but no longer on Sundays.

The new price of tickets (about US$4.8 for a single one-way fare) and the reduced number of stops has also come under heavy criticism.

Meanwhile, in a recent decision directly related to the provincial elections in the south of New Caledonia’s main island (including Nouméa), it was decided that the former 56 polling stations in the area have now been merged into 9 voting centres.

One of New Caledonia’s prominent pro-independence parties, the Union Calédonienne (UC), has recently challenged the polling stations re-jig in court, arguing that the merger of polling stations effectively penalises Indigenous Kanak and low income families who could not afford taxis or their own private vehicles.

No Sunday services
It also observed that the public bus service no longer operates on Sundays.

The situation forced some voters to walk several kilometres to reach the nearest polling station.

A similar network of merged polling stations was implemented during the municipal elections in March 2026.

However, Nouméa’s administrative tribunal dismissed the case on June 12.

In a media release on Thursday, Tanéo clarified that on an “exceptional” basis, their buses will operate on the Nouméa and Greater Nouméa network from 8am to 6pm at a pace of about one bus per hour on election day.

It said this was a similar service to the one usually practised on Saturdays for Nouméa and its suburban communes of Païta, Mont-Dore and Dumbéa.

The Nouméa and Greater Nouméa Area make up for more than 65 percent of New Caledonia’s total population of 265,000 people.

Advance tickets needed
But Tanéo said that passengers would have to buy their tickets in advance or recharge their bus passes because “no ticket will be sold onboard”.

Passengers who have already subscribed to a valid pass can also use it on election day.

Tanéo/SMTU said its decision to restore a minimum service on election day would be implemented at its own cost, estimated at around US$55,000.

Earlier this month, the company also announced the introduction of new subscriptions (including a monthly pass at US$57.64 or US$145 quarterly).

Reacting to the announcement which is being perceived as a significant gamechanger, Union Calédonienne said on social networks that it was “an important step forward”.

“It brings us closer to two fundamental principles in any democracy: voters’ equality in front of the suffrage and the sincerity of the vote, regardless of voters’ social condition, their commune of residence or their transportation constraints.”

A New Zealand activist detained as part of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla is calling on the government to launch an independent investigation into allegations of mistreatment by Israeli forces, after Australia launched an inquiry into similar claims involving 11 of its citizens.

Hāhona Ormsby, a member of the Global Sumud Aotearoa delegation, said he and other New Zealand participants were assaulted after their vessel was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters in May.

Ormsby (Ngāti Maniapoto) said he was disappointed by what he described as a lack of action from the New Zealand government.

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“I would like our government to actually take this seriously and actually hold Israel accountable for this,” he said.

The comments come after the Australian Federal Police launched an investigation into allegations of rape and torture involving Australian citizens detained during flotilla operations, following a request from Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

Global Sumud Aotearoa has accused the New Zealand government of failing to investigate allegations made by New Zealand citizens.

“Unlike Australia, France, Spain, Malaysia, Türkiye and other countries, New Zealand and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have failed to launch a government investigation into the mistreatment of New Zealand citizens,” the group said.

Government response criticised
Ormsby also criticised the government’s response to the incident.

“Calling in the Israeli ambassador and slapping him with a wet bus ticket over tea and scones doesn’t count as meaningful action,” he said.

The activist was promptly ejected from Parliament this week after he questioned Peters during a scrutiny hearing.

Asked about contact with officials, Ormsby said he received an email from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) on Wednesday seeking further information about what had occurred, despite the fact he had been back in New Zealand for close to a month.

MFAT confirmed it was seeking information from those involved.

“We are concerned by the serious allegations raised by flotilla participants,” a ministry spokesperson said.

“We have sought further information from those involved in the flotilla interceptions in April and May. This information has yet to be received.”

Raised expectations with Israel
The ministry said the government had raised expectations directly with Israeli officials.

“At the time, the New Zealand government said it expected Israel to adhere to its international legal obligations, including in its treatment of New Zealanders participating in the flotilla. This expectation was raised directly with Israel’s Ambassador to New Zealand and with Israeli officials.”

MFAT also noted New Zealand’s long-standing travel advice for Gaza remains “Do Not Travel”, warning of the risks associated with attempting to enter Gaza by sea.

Global Sumud Aotearoa said New Zealand should formally interview returning activists and seek medical and forensic evidence gathered by Turkish authorities after detainees were transferred to Turkey.

Ormsby said he plans to respond to MFAT’s request for information and hoped the government would meet directly with New Zealand participants.

A Hawke’s Bay horticultural labour contractor, who was the first person to be convicted of both human trafficking and slavery in New Zealand, has been granted parole and will be released next month.

Seventy-one-year-old Joseph Matamata, who also goes by Viliamu Samu, was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment for using 13 people as slaves and 10 charges of human trafficking.

Two of the trafficking convictions were nullified by the Court of Appeal, because of a procedural error in the Solicitor-General’s office.

• READ MORE: Hawke’s Bay human trafficker Joseph Matamata loses sentence bid
• Joseph Auga Matamata sentenced to 11 years for human trafficking and slavery
• Other slavery and trafficking reports

Between 1994 and 2019, Matamata brought people from Samoa on three-month holiday visas to work on orchards in Hawke’s Bay. He’d also adopted three young people in 2016.

On Friday, Matamata appeared before the Parole Board for the third time, after serving nearly six years in prison.

He was refused parole twice last year.

Parole Board member Serina Bailey said when considering undue risk of reoffending the board believed it could grant Matamata parole. However, she said it believed Matamata had minimised his offending and did not have a clear understanding of the full impact of his actions.

14 hour days
During his trial in 2020, the court heard that Matamata made his victims work up to 14 hours a day in the fields, seven days a week, restricted their movement, and withheld their wages.

They worked at Matamata’s home late into the evening and were beaten up if they broke rules, including speaking to their families in Samoa or leaving his Hastings home without permission.

Immigration New Zealand “conservatively estimated” that Matamata kept more than $400,000 in wages they had earned.

Matamata’s youngest victim was a 12-year-old boy, and the court heard that he was beaten, and stabbed with a secateur.

Another victim, a 15-year-old girl who thought she would be going to school in New Zealand, told the jury she was made to look after Matamata’s children, cook and clean.

She said she had escaped to Auckland but was later brought back by Matamata, whom she said tied her up in his car on the journey back to Hastings, and put her in a storeroom for the night.

Matamata’s lawyer Regena Sommers told the Parole Board that he was sorry for using the victims and not seeing their needs, and that he was under a lot of pressure at the time. He was sending the fruits of his work and the victims’ labour to pay for various ceremonies and events back in Samoa, which could cost up to $100,000.

‘Humbled’ by ordeal
Sommers said Matamata had been “humbled by this entire ordeal” and that he had addressed his offending through rehabilitation programmes.

When asked by Bailey how he could have treated the victims the way he did, Matamata said through an interpreter, “I am sad after realising that what I did and what happened was wrong, I realise now that living in New Zealand is very different from life in Samoa”.

Bailey asked if he meant that he could treat people like that in Samoa, and he didn’t understand he couldn’t do this in New Zealand.

Matamata replied that in Samoa people worked for themselves on their own plantations and that for him, “we were working with everybody here” in a similar way, “and hence the conviction”, he added.

Asked why he worked his victims so hard, he said it was because he couldn’t afford at the time to provide for everyone who lived with their family.

He also told the Parole Board that he sometimes took loans to bring people over from Samoa and pay for their flights, and that it was agreed that the people needed to repay the loans when they started working — “It was their way of contributing,” he said.

Asked by Bailey why did the assaults on his victims happen, Matamata said a lot of the assaults were things that happened when he was young, and behaved like a youth.

Life changed
He said his life changed after he got married and had children.

Matamata cried at times when he told the Parole Board that after taking the rehabilitation programme, it was clear to him what he put those people through was wrong and that he realised he was guilty.

He was emotional when speaking of his wife and his children, and the difficulty of being away from them.

Parole Board member Materoa Dodd told Matamata that while there was honesty in some parts of his responses, she thought he minimised his offending in other parts, such as talking about his youth when asked about the violence.

“Really the assaults were about assaults that you made on the victims of your current offending, not when you were a youth,” she said.

Asked how he had addressed his anger management, Matamata said a rehabilitation programme he attended had given him new insight, and that the course taught him how to deal with high risk situations.

Asked about high risks for himself and the community if he was released, Matamata used the examples of if his wife was not happy with him, he would walk away, or if someone wanted to fight him, he would think about the repercussions.

Avoid migrant requests
Later he added that if anybody in his extended family wanted to come to New Zealand, that could be a risk “because that situation has led to me being here with conviction”. He said he would avoid those requests.

Parole Board member Alistair Spierling commented that he noticed that the first high risk in Matamata’s safety plan was greed or money, but Matamata had not spoken of either of those.

He also said he had concerns about Matamata’s minimisation of his offending.

Sommers told the Parole Board that a psychologist who reviewed Matamata’s safety plan did not raise any concerns.

She said Matamata not “responding perfectly” to the board was a sign that he was nervous and overwhelmed.

Matamata’s case manager said applications had been submitted for him to be supported by community organisations, where he could reintegrate in a “guided release” and maintain his Pasifika culture.

A prison officer told the Parole Board Matamata had interacted with different cultures during his term, and had mixed well in social gatherings. She said he had maintained compliance.

This story was first published on

Political parties in New Caledonia are now in full campaigning mode for the French Pacific territory’s provincial elections.

The campaign officially opened on Monday and will last until 26 June 2026 at midnight local time.

The crucial poll, involving more than 190,000 voters (as part of a recently revised, but still restricted electoral roll) is scheduled to take place on Sunday, June 28.

• READ MORE: New Caledonia’s political parties finalise line-up for provincial elections
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• Latest Paris court ruling triggers polarised reactions in New Caledonia
• Other Kanaky New Caledonia politics reports

The campaign will be carried out on the ground, at rallies and on posters, but also on the internet and social media.

On the security front, the French High Commission in New Caledonia has been allocated and is maintaining a high level of security forces (both gendarmerie and police).

Among the recently reported incidents, investigations are ongoing regarding the mass theft of some 37 telecommunication poles in the small rural town of Poum (northern tip of the main island Grande Terre) last week.

The equipment belongs to OPT (Office des Postes et Télécommunications), New Caledonia’s telecom operator.

The poles were sawn off at road level on a distance of over 1 Km and taken away.

Poum Mayor Marc Tidjine called on the population to be “responsible”.

“It’s difficult to bring people together with such incidents that go in the wrong direction,” he said.

A number of cash ATMs were also vandalised last week in Nouméa.

French PM warns of potential digital foreign interference threat
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu made a direct reference to New Caledonia’s upcoming provincial elections last week when, during a media conference in Paris, he warned against risks related to “interference” during elections.

Lecornu cited a recent report from the French digital watchdog agency Viginum.

He said French authorities would remain “vigilant” because previous Viginum reports had detected earlier cases of foreign digital interference, especially during the May 2024 riots and related unrest that caused 14 deaths and more than 2 billion euros (NZ$3.9 billion) in material damage.

Regular monitoring is intended in order to react in real time to alert voters and expose any potential digital-based attack or attempt of disinformation.

Lecornu said in the case of New Caledonia, there was a particular vulnerability related to New Caledonia’s “situation in the Pacific” and earlier cases of foreign interference.

“Foreign digital interference is a growing threat to democratic life and debate”, Lecornu told reporters.

He said the risk was especially potent with “heavy threats” anticipated at France’s presidential elections in April 2027.

On television and radio, candidates will also be granted time to broadcast their respective political messages, under the watch of the French media watchdog ARCOM (Audiovisual and Digital Communication Authority) which monitors and supervises speech time count.

Candidates already mobilised
As for the list of political parties and candidates contesting the poll, the two main blocs, for and against independence of New Caledonia, are the pro-France united list that brings together Les Loyalistes, Rassemblement-LR, Génération NC.

The pro-independence FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front, including Union Calédonienne) is one of the main components of the pro-independence movement.

But this year, a UNI (Union Nationale pour l’Indépendance) movement is also running separately after its two main pillars, PALIKA (Kanak Liberation Party) and UPM (Union Progressiste en Mélanésie) broke away from FLNKS in August 2024, citing profound divergences on the approach to New Caledonia’s independence process.

This year’s poll is also seeing the emergence of a record number of “moderate” and “central” lists advocating for a “middle way” and distancing themselves from the confrontational approach from the two main blocks.

But these small lists also run the risk of contributing to a dispersion of votes and not reaching the required threshold of 5 percent of registered voters.

Some of the dominating themes during this campaign are a direct result of the current situation in New Caledonia, two years after the violent unrest that also exacerbated an already difficult economic and social situation, leaving thousands jobless due to the destruction of several hundreds of businesses.

Transport and health
Among the main sectors also affected by the situation are transport and health.

On the transport scene, links have been seriously disrupted especially between Nouméa and the outer Loyalty Island (North-east).

This remains the case for domestic flights operated by local company Air Calédonie, due to a blockade organised by a group of users who want to protest against a recent decision to move its operations from the small and nearby airport of Magenta to the international airport of La Tontouta (located more than 50 Km away from the capital’s downtown district).

The blockade has not yet been fully resolved, but flights to the Isle of Pines (South of Nouméa) and more recently (early June) to Lifou were restored.

This leaves the Loyalty Islands of Maré and Ouvéa still not operational.

On the sea, maritime connections via the ferry Betico have also been largely disrupted by a series of mechanical faults, leaving the connection highly unreliable.

A group of vessel staff has announced it would go on strike during the three days preceding the elections.

This was to protest against delays to speed up a new project to have a new catamaran vessel, Betico 3, built for a total estimated cost of US$33 million.

This was to replace the ageing Betico 2.

But New Caledonia’s Congress and government have yet to approve and endorse the financial dossier which would unlock the required deposit (US$2.7m) with the shipbuilder, Austal.

In the health sector, the situation is also perceived as critical with many rural areas struggling to maintain an acceptable level of service to the population.

In several areas, patients in need of care have to cope with reduced setups, mostly due to the absence of medical staff.

In some areas, the services have had to be reorganised and mutualised, sometimes working on a skeleton mode and resorting more often to telemedicine with remote practitioners.

New Caledonia’s government, over the past two years, has tried to implement strategies to foster the security of medical practitioners and to incite them to stay at their posts.

It has also initiated a campaign to recruit more overseas-based doctors to fill the vacant positions.

Auckland’s mayor has hit out at a New Zealand First election campaign promise to scrap the city’s Independent Māori Statutory Board (IMSB), shrugging it off as “dumb, racist stuff”.

The party has penned and introduced a bill seeking to disestablish the board, stating that the unelected council body “exercised significant influence” over council decision making and set up a “a parallel governance system”.

In a statement to RNZ, Mayor Wayne Brown said he did not know why the government was “picking a fight”.

• READ MORE: New Zealand First to campaign on scrapping Independent Māori Statutory Board
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“It’s just dumb, racist stuff we don’t need at a time when people are struggling to put food on the table and pay bills. What’s the problem they’re trying to solve?” Brown said.

The IMSB was established in 2010 alongside the creation of the Auckland Super City and was set up to make decisions to promote economic, cultural, environmental and social issues that are significant to Māori in the living in the city, as well as making sure Auckland Council meets its obligation to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

It is independent of the council and has nine members elected by a selection group made of mana whenua representatives. It can appoint up to two members to Auckland Council committees making decisions on management and stewardship of natural and physical resources.

Members appointed by the board have voting rights on those committees.

Brown said the council had “several committees and advisory forums that enable robust discussions and the sharing of a range of views”.

“I would’ve thought this contributes rather than takes away from our democracy.

“My suggestion to Wellington is butt out of our business. Auckland is quite capable of making decisions that work best for us,” Brown said.

The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance is welcoming the members bill, with spokesperson Josh Van Veen saying the board wields “considerable power”.

“We have previously called for the government to strip the IMSB of voting rights on council committees. But the time has come to get rid of the IMSB altogether.

“Auckland Council should be governed by representatives who are elected by, and accountable to, Aucklanders. There is no place in local government for a body with special statutory privileges that ratepayers have no ability to vote for or remove.”

Van Veen said local democracy works best when governors are directly answerable to the public.

“The Independent Māori Statutory Board was established as a temporary political compromise during the formation of the Auckland Super City. More than 15 years later, it has become an entrenched layer of bureaucracy that undermines democratic accountability,” he said.

RNZ understands the IMSB is meeting to discuss the proposed bill.

RNZ has asked the IMSB for comment.

A Pacific politics expert and ni-Vanuatu woman has become the first woman to be appointed to lead the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Secretariat.

Anna Naupa, described by the Vanuatu government as “one of the nation’s finest minds”, is the new director-general of the sub-regional bloc, which is headquartered in Port Vila.

The MSG is made up of Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Fiji and the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) of New Caledonia.

• READ MORE: Other MSG reports

In a statement yesterday, Vanuatu’s Office of the Prime Minister said Naupa’s appointment was “a historic moment”.

“Since the MSG was founded in 1986 by the giants of Melanesia — Paias Wingti of Papua New Guinea, Father Walter Lini of Vanuatu, Ezekiel Alebua of Solomon Islands, and our brothers from the FLNKS [Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front] — Vanuatu has waited 40 years to lead this organisation.

“Today, that wait ends,” it said.

It said Naupa’s appointment sends a clear message to every young ni-Vanuatu girl to “aspire for the best, because the highest offices in our region are within your reach”.

Inspiring new generation
Naupa’s leadership will inspire a new generation to dream bigger and serve boldly, it added.

The Vanuatu government said it holds immense confidence in Naupa’s capabilities, leadership, and integrity, and commended the MSG and the selection team for a transparent process “that has delivered the right leader for this moment”.

Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat congratulated Naupa.

“We know the MSG was born from struggle — its heart has always been the political aspirations of the Kanak people and the big issues facing Melanesia,” the Office of the Prime Minister’s statement said.

“Over the years the organisation has grown, expanding its focus to trade, sports, culture, and other areas of common interest that bind our nations. Vanuatu believes the success of the MSG under Dr Naupa’s leadership will depend on never losing sight of that founding spirit — solidarity, justice, and self-determination for our peoples.

“Anna, you carry not just a title, but the hopes of a region. You carry Vanuatu’s pride, Melanesia’s trust, and the spirit of Father Walter Lini’s vision.”

Naupa replaces Papua New Guinea’s Leonard Louma, who was appointed in February 2022 and finished his term in late 2024.

Solomon Islander Ilan Kiloe, who is the political and security affairs programme manager, was acting in the role following Louma’s departure.

The MSG Secretariat has not made any official announcements on Naupa’s appointment.

A human rights activist in Fiji is calling for the joint police-military taskforce on drugs to be disbanded, but the Fijian government says it does not support the call.

It comes as the military revealed more than 60 witnesses have been spoken to in an investigation into the death of Jone Vakarisi, The Fiji Times reported.

Police have classified Vakarisi’s death as murder after the Republic of Fiji Military Forces had initially claimed that the notorious figure known to law enforcement had died of pre-existing conditions.

• READ MORE: Other Fiji police brutality reports

Exactly two months have passed since his death and so far no one has been charged, but the Policing Ministry released a statement over the weekend, saying that the investigation into Vakarisi’s alleged murder was nearing completion.

It is also over a week since another man from a suburb about 15 minutes from the capital Suva, Sakiasi Ose Radravu, passed away following what his family says was a raid.

The raid resulted in an alleged severe beating and torture by police and military officers, which the family alleges led to Radravu’s death weeks later, though police claim a post-mortem links the death to a pre-existing condition.

This raid took place around the same time as Vakarisi’s alleged murder in a military cell. The official Fiji police post-mortem report released on June 6 stated that Radravu’s death was linked to a pre-existing medical condition.

Investigation nearly complete
“The independent investigation into the death of Mr Jone Vakarisi is nearing completion, while investigations into the death of Mr Sakiasi Radravu remain ongoing. These investigations must be allowed to proceed thoroughly, independently, and without prejudice,” Fiji’s Ministry of Policing and Communications said in a statement on Saturday, June 13.

The ministry said the joint police-military operations were making a real difference in disrupting illicit drug networks.

“Government does not support calls to terminate the Joint Police-Military Operations. However, operational success can never excuse human rights violations. Joint operations must continue lawfully, professionally, and with full accountability.”

Four police officers have been placed on leave while eight others are being investigated.

Police also confirmed over the weekend the Radravu family’s allegation that a military officer had instigated the raid.

Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) chief executive Shamima Ali claims that the security forces may be responsible — this year alone — for two deaths and countless more injuries.

“This [is] a historic pattern that is being repeated, whether it’s the police [or] the military,” she told RNZ Pacific.

“We need to know who are the people doing the investigations — we actually call for an independent investigation,” Ali said.

‘Not hard to find out’
“Two people have died, and where and what seems to be quite clear, so it’s not that hard to find out who [the perpetrators] are.”

Last week, Amnesty International also called for the suspension of implicated officers and the dismantling of the joint taskforce.

Ali said as a result of increased military involvement, and a diminishing degree of police transparency, it has become harder to advocate and protect the most vulnerable.

“Even with us at the Crisis Centre, we are having so many difficulties in bringing to light cases of rape, wife assault … [due to] the lack of knowledge, the lack of transparency, and so on.

“If Fiji had a robust, well-trained police force — that is what they are there for — we would not need the military to interfere.”

But unlike in the past, Ali noted the role of social media, where both the Vakarisi and Radravu cases emerged in the public consciousness.

“People are talking a lot more, and people are becoming a lot more aware of when a young, particularly Fijian, is being taken into custody.”

Change is a constant in the tough world of digital-age news media these days and many old ways have fallen by the wayside.

But the appointment of Matthew Hooton, someone outside journalism — and also one of this country’s bluntest critics of it — to edit a major media outlet, The Post, is a first for New Zealand.

Likewise, handing the editorial reins to a former professional lobbyist.

• READ MORE: Matthew Hooton, former National and ACT advisor, appointed editor of Wellington newspaper The Post
• Other NZ media reports

The New Zealand Herald’s Media Insider reported the same response from two unnamed separate unnamed sources: “What the f***?”

The response may have been similar at The Herald, for whom Hooton currently writes a weekly column.

The Post says Hooton will give up his strategic consulting but his past work at his Exceltium company — on behalf of clients mostly unknown to the public — will inevitably raise suspicions of conflict of interest.

So will his past ties to the political right.

The Post today notes: “Hooton’s CV includes being a Young Nat, a press secretary in the Bolger Government, a strategist for National during the Don Brash years … an adviser for ACT, a strategic consultant for iwi, banks, most corporate sectors, government departments, and the ultra rich — and a short-lived stint as [Auckland mayor] Wayne Brown’s adviser.”

Prominent pundit
Hooton was also prominent pundit in various media, including RNZ — until he withdrew from commentary after controversially backing a doomed National Party leadership bid in 2018 without declaring his own involvement in it.

That too will cause some to question whether his loyalties and editorial judgment could compromise The Post’s coverage.

At the time, Hooton told RNZ Mediawatch he was “possibly one of the few political commentators” who clearly and proactively disclosed conflicts to editors.

“Commentary from people with historic involvement in politics and friends currently in politics . . . leads to a better informed public,” he insisted in 2018.

It’s an argument Stuff’s top brass now endorses.

“Few people understand power in New Zealand as well as Matthew does,” Stuff’s owner and CEO Sinead Boucher said in a statement which also made it clear she shoulder-tapped Hooton for the role.

It’s also a move that only makes sense in the context of Boucher’s recent re-invention of The Post as a newspaper and a “masthead” website for subscribers that zeroes in on national issues and politics.

The Post’s current business, economics and political editor — Luke Malpass — will become Hooton’s associate editor.

What are the risks? And rewards?
Claims of “left-leaning bias” directed at the media today may flip to claims of influence from the right at The Post, given Hooton’s past associations and opinions.

Hooton lauded Post journalists as “some of the most disciplined, fair and focused journalists in the country” in a statement today. Sinead Boucher also insisted he has “a clear understanding of the critical role independent journalism plays.”

But Post staff will need to be convinced.

In 2017, Hooton told RNZ the media “had decided to change the government” and called coverage of the 2017 election campaign “inaccurate”.

“New Zealand media is very dominated now by people who live in Auckland central and Wellington central. We’ve seen a very urban, liberal, under-40, probably female perspective of the election,” he told RNZ Nine to Noon.

And while Matthew Hooton understands “Wellington” in terms of power and politics, he isn’t a local.

The Post is a Wellington paper, printed in Christchurch and edited in Auckland. It’s not known whether Hooton will stay based in Auckland.

Forcefully-expressed opinions
The Post still has many rusted-on long-term customers who still expect the “paper” they’ve bought for decades to report local news and issues as well as national politics.

Hooton made a media name for himself with forcefully-expressed opinions, but surveys of trust in news routinely report that the public think there’s too much opinion in our media — and that it is blended with facts too often.

Stuff boss Sinead Boucher insisted Hooton knows the role of an editor is very different from a columnist — and he will abide by its code of ethics.

On the possibility of connections with power making it harder to hold power to account, Boucher told The Post: “There may be some discussion about that, but the proof will be in the pudding.”

She will also be aware some will be suspicious of her bold change to the recipe.

New Caledonia’s political parties are now in marching order to contest the upcoming local provincial elections scheduled to be held in just over a fortnight.

The French High Commission has published an initial list of 24 political groupings are running for a seat in New Caledonia’s three provincial assemblies (North, South and the outer Loyalty Islands).

The list is subject to final verification before the upcoming polls on June 28.

• READ MORE: Latest Paris court ruling triggers polarised reactions in New Caledonia
• Other Kanaky New Caledonia political reports

In New Caledonia’s Southern province, there are 40 seats to be filled.

After the provincial level poll, 32 will be entitled to sit at New Caledonia’s Congress.

The Southern province’s candidates, which is traditionally a pro-France stronghold, will include a “Strong and United” list headed by incumbent Provincial president and pro-France leader, Sonia Backès.

The list includes leaders from several of the main components of the pro-France camp: Backès’s Les Loyalistes, Virginie Ruffenach’s Le Rassemblement-LR and New Caledonia’s MP in the French National Assembly, Nicolas Metzdorf’s Génération NC.

Economy minister and mayors
It also includes current local government Economy Minister Christopher Gygès, as well as pro-France mayors of Greater Nouméa cities of Dumbéa and Mont-Dore (Cynthia Jan and Nina Julié).

24 party lists presented for the Kanaky New Caledonia provincial elections on June 28. Video: Caledonia TV

On the pro-independence side, one of its main components, the FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front) is presenting a “Kanaky for Everyone” (Kanaky Pour Tous or KPT) list headed by a young politician, Johanito Wamytan.

The list also includes Union Calédonienne secretary general Dominique Fochi.

Other pro-independence parties are the Labour Party, the Rassemblement Démocratique Océanien or the Mouvement des Océaniens Indépendantistes.

In the pro-independence movement, but separate from the FLNKS, another list “Unis pour le Pays” (United for the Country) is headed by Louis Mapou, a former New Caledonian government president.

The list is presented by the “UNI” (Union Nationale pour l’ Indépendance) political group, which mainly consists of pro-independence PALIKA and UPM (Union Progressiste en Mélanésie).

Both PALIKA and UPM broke away from the FLNKS group in August 2024, citing diverging views regarding New Caledonia’s independence process.

Rise of ‘non-partisan’ parties
But in the Southern Province, as well as in the two others, this year’s provincial elections are marked by a perceived strong emergence from parties which identify themselves neither in the main pro-France nor pro-independence blocks.

Some of those non-radical groups prefer to describe themselves as belonging to a “non-partisan” or civil society” movement.

Wallisian-based Éveil Océanien, which first emerged at the previous provincial elections in 2019, is presenting a list conducted by its leader Milakulo Tukumuli.

He is leading a list dubbed “Un autre monde est possible!” (Another world is possible).

His second co-list is the New Caledonia’s Congress president Veylma Falaeo.

Several parties and lists are running for the first time: one of those is called “Une province pour tous, un pays solidaire, un avenir partagé” (A province for everyone, a country in solidarity, a shared future).

It is headed by former journalist and media personality Walles Kotra, with the support of incumbent Senator for New Caledonia, Georges Naturel and incumbent environment minister Jérémie Katidjo-Monnier.

A former leading figure of Calédonie Ensemble party, pro-France Philippe Dunoyer is now heading another list called “Nous, Réunis !” (Us, united).

Common pragmatic themes
Some of the common themes to most of these “middle” parties are the notions of pragmatism, away from the polarising arguments, a priority for the restoration of the ailing local post-riots economy and the provide pragmatic assistance to a population still reeling from the social and economic devastation caused by the violent riots that shook New Caledonia in May 2024.

In the Northern Province, its incumbent president and veteran pro-independence politician Paul Néaoutyine has decided to run for another term at the helm of the local assembly, which he has been holding since 1999.

He is the front man of the “UNI” list.

In the same contest, he is running against the FLNKS-Union Calédonienne group headed by Houaïlou city Mayor Pascal Sawa also including FLNKS figures such as Pierre Chanel Tutugoro and territorial government minister Gilbert Tyuienon.

A pro-France list is also headed by Vanessa Wacapo.

Other “middle” lists are based around the theme of “country-building” and controlling public spending while reducing red tape.

New Caledonia’s Congress consists of 54 members:

• Northern Province (22 assembly seats; 15 Congress seats)
• Southern Province (40 assembly seats; 32 Congress seats)
• Loyalty Islands Province (14 assembly seats; 7 Congress seats)

Single round
The provincial elections are held at a single round, under a general rule of proportional representation.

The makeup of the proportionally representative Congress will be known after the 28 June provincial elections.

From the new Congress, a “collegial” government for New Caledonia and its president will then emerge.

A recent ruling by a French court to drop all charges against pro-independence Kanak leader Christian Téin and 13 others in their alleged role in the May 2024 civil unrest in New Caledonia has triggered a barrage of emotional reactions from across the French Pacific territory’s political chessboard.

Last week, a court in Paris said they had based their decision on “insufficient” evidence — amounting to a “no case to answer” — for all of the 14 accused.

The Public Prosecution has since appealed the decision, saying “further investigation” was still required.

• READ MORE: Case dismissed for pro-independence Kanak leader Christian Téin
• Other Kanaky New Caledonia political reports

But on the local scene, the highly-sensitive case remains a tense and polarising subject, as New Caledonia’s electoral campaigning for the local provincial elections is now in full swing, two years after violent political unrest took place, causing 14 deaths and more than 2 billion euros (NZ$3.9 billion) in economic damage, mainly caused by arson and looting.

Pro-independence FLNKS party (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front), one of the main components of the pro-independence movement, is now headed by Téin as president.

Briefly reacting to the Paris ruling, FLNKS said it was “relieved” that “French justice has done its job” and welcomed the decision “with a lot of humility”.

Defence lawyers had earlier pointed to a case that initially had attempted to “muzzle” Téin and his co-accused.

‘Red judges’
But reactions from political groups that want New Caledonia to remain part of France have denounced what they term a “biased” decision.

New Caledonia’s pro-France MP in the French National Assembly, Nicolas Metzdorf, lashed out on social networks at what he calls “the red judges”.

“As long as justice is not delivered, nothing can be totally repaired in New Caledonia. A whole people was harmed and those responsible must be taken to account”, he said, while welcoming the appeal lodged by Public Prosecution.

Another prominent pro-France figure in the local political spectrum, Southern Province President Sonia Backès, also criticised a French judicial system that, she said, “has gone crazy”.

But one of Téin’s lawyers, François Roux, reminded that “investigating judges are independent … they have done a thorough job”.

The ruling came after almost two years of investigation on this case, which followed the grave civil unrest that broke out in New Caledonia mid-May 2024.

At the time, Téin was the leader of a group called CCAT (Field Action Coordinating Cell) which was set up by pro-independence party Union Calédonienne a few months earlier.

‘Destabilising’ New Caledonia
Public prosecutors had alleged at one stage that CCAT was an “organised structure” and that its “order givers” had carried out a plan to “destabilise [New Caledonia’s] economic, administrative and public State services”.

In June 2024, Téin and other CCAT leaders were arrested in Nouméa and flown to mainland France, where they served pre-trial jail terms of up to one year.

Téin was allowed to return to New Caledonia in December 2025.

Warning: This story contains detailed accounts of alleged police and military brutality, including torture and sexual assault.

The Fiji Police Force has acknowledged that 12 officers were present during a raid involving Kinoya resident Sakiasi Ose Radravu, who his family claims was severely beaten, resulting in his death.

His family alleges that on the night of April 23, the 32-year-old was “tortured” in his home by both police and military officers — and beaten within an inch of his life.

He died five days ago, on June 4, with police stating that the autopsy report shows the cause of his demise was “a pre-existing medical condition”.

• READ MORE: 12 officers under investigation for Radravu’s death, linked to pre-existing medical condition
• Autopsy reveals cause of death
• Fiji police confirm murder probe launched into death of man in military custody
• Other Fiji police reports

However, Radravu’s aunt Elizabeth Kabuyawa told RNZ Pacific that they are seeking a second autopsy on the body, due to concerns about a possible cover-up.

RNZ Pacific has seen a copy of the death certificate, which lists the main cause of death as sepsis and complications from pneumonia.

“I think they’re [police] trying to masquerade it. They’re not even considering that there was an underlying issue that he’d had from these beatings,” Kabuyawa claimed.

“My nephew was sodomised, his head was stomped on, he was beaten almost to his death.”

Second recent death
This is the second recent death in Suva linked incidents where police and military are alleged to have played a part. Jone Vakarisi — described by local media as a drug lord involved in criminal networks — died in military custody on April 14.

It comes at a time when military officers are patrolling the streets bearing automatic weapons — ostensibly as part of a joint operation with police to crack down on drugs.

Police are also promoting a dob-in website where citizens can be their community’s “eyes and ears” and inform on others.

Kabuyawa said the family is of one mind in seeking answers from the authorities.

“Fiji is not a big place … we just want that faith and that confidence back into our [police] service. We’re hoping that this could be the last time that this type of brutality happens.”

The night
Radravu’s cousin Buna recalled being woken up at 3am on April 23 by a loud banging outside.

When her uncle opened the door, they found a military officer in uniform demanding to see Radravu, who Kabuyawa said they had accused of stealing a laptop.

But they had gone to the wrong house — Radravu and his girlfriend were a few doors down.

“Straight after, he had informed our uncle that there were some soldiers were already present opposite from where we are staying,” Buna said.

“So straight after they had left, my uncle and our cousin, they also went, they wanted to see what would actually happen. So when they went, they saw that they had already surrounded the place.”

They arrived to see the house surrounded by people banging on windows and walking in and out.

“We could hear that our cousin was actually screaming and yelling for his life, but that didn’t actually change any response from them.”

Buna said that Radravu’s girlfriend, who was in the room as he was being beaten, made out that some were in uniform, and some were not.

“[She] came crying home and came to inform the family of what had happened. After they had beaten him up, they had taken him up to the [police] station at Valelevu [a suburb 20 minutes out from the capital Suva].”

The family alleges that Radravu’s visit to the station had never been logged or recorded, and that police had never issued a warrant for a raid on his house.

While police have rejected the family’s version of events, they have now acknowledged that a raid did take place, and that 12 police officers were present.

A June 7 police statement described the conduct as “failure to adhere to processes and procedures”.

“The Fiji Police Force acknowledges that the lack of compliance to due processes continues to exacerbate complaints against police and service,” it said.

The aftermath
More than a month passed between that night and Radravu’s death. His family said he had suffered all of that time, often unable to sit or lie down without intense pain.

“My sister-in-law asked him, ‘Do you want to [go to the hospital], let’s go, let’s go,’ and he refused,” Kabuyawa said.

She described a small number of eventual hospital visits where X-rays came up with nothing, and Radravu was given Panadol [paracetamol].

“For the past couple of weeks, he had check ups, but also with the issues due to space [at the hospital] he checked himself out.”

On June 4, Radravu walked into Wanibokasi Hospital and collapsed. The hospital is about a 35 minute drive from the CBD in Suva.

Within an hour of his death, two police officers arrived at his mother’s house, trying to coax her into agreeing not to carry out a post-mortem on the body, Kabuyawa alleged.

“She refused. A couple days later … the police then started coming to the house … they came in three appearances in one day.”

Kabuyawa has accused the police of using this as an intimidation tactic.

“Out of the blue, a doctor called and stated there will be a post-mortem. When they appeared [at the hospital], there were five carloads of officers that were already there waiting.

“My family was not allowed entry into the room to be near his body.”

Aside from confirming Radravu’s identity, family members were ushered to a waiting area, watching police officers walk in and out of the examination room.

“Then the doctor, with such an arrogant tone, just advised the family without passing the paperwork that [Radravu] had passed away because he had tuberculosis and AIDS,” she claimed.

“My sister-in-law, who is a nurse, and had taken Sakiasi to the doctors a week and a bit ago, she advised him right then that ‘we did his blood work and that all came back clear’. Then the doctor ended up changing his findings, and said he died from pneumonia.”

From the death certificate seen by RNZ Pacific, it is not clear to the family whether complications from the beatings — which they claim went entirely untreated — were considered at all.

Out of frustration, Kabuyawa emailed Police Commissioner Rusiate Tudravu on Friday, June 5, copying reporters in the communication.

Tudravu replied: “If you want to raise your grievances then address your email to me — I will not action if I’m copied.”

“Please have some respect to the Office of the Police Commissioner.”

‘No official report filed’, police say
Days after Radravu’s death, police said they were conducting an investigation.

“It has been confirmed from the Valelevu Police Station records that Mr Radravu was taken in for questioning on the night of the 23rd of April 2026 in relation to a case of alleged burglary,” a statement noted.

“It has also been confirmed from his family that no official report of an alleged assault was lodged following his arrest.”

Kabuyawa said this was because Radravu feared retribution even to the point where he feared telling a doctor.

The police statement also noted the cause of death had been linked to “a pre-existing medical condition,” which the family has completely rejected.

Meanwhile, the Fiji Sun reported on Tuesday morning that “reliable sources” had told them there was no direct involvement from the joint taskforce operation itself — rather that the 12 police officers were acting alone.

Police Minister Ioane Naivalurua has called for a fair investigation.

“These are abnormal times here in Fiji, and we are addressing the issue head on, no excuses,” he was quoted as saying by local media.

Commissioner Tudravu told RNZ Pacific that they would not answer any questions on the matter until an “internal investigation” had been completed. He offered no timeframe.

The Fiji Military has not responded to RNZ Pacific’s requests for comment.