New Zealand

Henry Puna says the move to provide up to eight hours a day of free-to-air New Zealand content, including top rugby action, would be beneficial not only for sports fans.

Mr Puna says he is looking forward to the cultural exchanges that will occur via broadcasting.

"We're looking forward to seeing all of these programmes. There will be some educational programmes that will be good for the kids, and for us adults Tagata Pasifika and the Māori programmes will be very, very welcome."

Murray McCully's comments come after the Forum Chair and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said Jakarta had been accommodating recently.

Mr McCully has met with the Indonesian vice-minister for foreign affairs and a fact-finding mission into human rights was brought up.

"Well I did raise that with the vice-minister that we would certainly hope that if the idea was put forward that they would respond to it positively, but I have to say that I didn't get a very reassuring response to that."

Leaders of small island states maintained their position of temperature target of 1.5 degrees and loss and damage while Australia and New Zealand refused to budge from the 2 degrees target.

Tuvalu’s Prime Minister, Enele Sopoaga, one of the most vocal leader from the Smaller Island States told PACNEWS despite the Forum position, his country will push for the 1.5 degree target, loss and damage and an ambitious and legally binding target in Paris.

Dr Aqorau was responding to a New Zealand-led push at the Pacific Islands Forum to help shift the region away from daily catches via the Vessel Day Scheme.

The scheme has brought rising incomes to PNA countries but New Zealand says advances in technology and bigger fishing boats are resulting in larger catches which could render the scheme unsustainable.

Dr Aqorau says the only areas in which unsustainable catches are occurring are those outside the control of its Vessel Day Scheme.

The service wharf for vessels ploughing between the territory's islands was built in the 1950s and was beginning to collapse after years of wear and tear.

The US$8.4 million upgrade is funded by the federal government.

The 15-year-old came into the race having beaten compatriot Gabrielle Fa’amausili in the 100m backstroke and produced another superb performance to take 200m gold with a time of 2min 10.87sec.

She touched the wall over three seconds in front of nearest challenger Nathania van Niekerk of South Africa, while Australian Elyse Woods did enough for bronze.

Representatives from the 16 forum member countries have gathered in Port Moresby to address issues concerning the region, but there are a number of conflicting positions, particularly when it comes to Australia and New Zealand and climate change.

Small island states have called for a global moratorium on new coal mines, which may struggle to get the backing of the wider forum, and enough of a reduction in emissions so that global temperature increases do not exceed 1.5°C over pre-industrial levels.

John Key is attending the Forum leaders meeting in Port Moresby.

The meeting was preceded by declarations by Small Islands States, NGOs and Fiji's Pacific Islands Development Forum calling for greater action including no more than a 1.5 degree rise in global temperature above pre-industrial levels.

Developed nations have traditionally looked at two degrees as a more realistic target.

Key says he is happy with the work New Zealand has done to fight climate change.

The Prime Minister John Key says this will take the total aid commitment to the region over the three years to nearly a billion New Zealand dollars.

He made the announcement at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders summit in Port Moresby.

He says New Zealand is a Pacific nation and it is committed to working with its closest neighbours to develop their economies and build a prosperous and stable region.

Meanwhile, John Key has announced a new broadcasting initiative that will see more New Zealand television content provided to the Pacific, free-of-charge.

Murray McCully is part of the New Zealand delegation attending the Forum leaders meeting in Port Moresby this week.

The situation in West Papua is one of the five big issues on the Forum agenda and there have been calls from both NGOs and West Papuans for a mission to look into allegations of human rights abuses in the Indonesian province.

However Mr McCully says he does not back the calls.