Pacific

The fees for transfers to Fiji, Solomon Islands, Cook Islands and Kiribati have been lowered by 60 percent, from 18 NZ dollars to seven dollars.

The ANZ's Paul Goodwin said the bank now knows how important the transfers are to local communities.

The bank said the change comes after its "successful trial" of the lowered fees to send money to Samoa, Vanuatu and Tonga which began in May last year, which it says will continue.

In June ANZ lowered the fees from Australia to Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu, Kiribati and Tonga.

Damon Salesa, an associate professor of Pacific Studies at Auckland University, said rugby should have more Pacific people involved in its decision-making.

Fifty years ago there were 56,000 people described as Pacific living in New Zealand but by 2013 that figure had increased to almost 300,000.

In Auckland, more than one in four babies is Pasifika.

During the recent Rugby League World Cup, two Pacific nations, Tonga and Fiji, made the semi-finals, while the Kiwis missed out.

The Campaign, a coalition of NGOs, organised the nuclear weapons ban treaty adopted in July by 122 states, including six pacific countries, in the UN General Assembly.

Dr Griffen, a long-time anti-nuclear advocate, says it'd be significant if all 12 Pacific island states ratified the treaty.

The comments come as the annual meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, or Tuna Commission, takes place in Pasay City in the Philippines.

The FFA's director-general, James Movick, said it was too early to tell how much fish could be caught on the high seas and action needed to be taken to ensure the rest of the world held off on overfishing.

A launch was staged at Auckland’s Fale Pasifika on Tuesday, where the final report on Private Sector Investment in the Pacific was presented by Professor Simon Milne AUT Associate Head of School, Research and Development and Director, NZ Tourism Research Institute on behalf of his team Carolyn Deuchar, Tracy Berno, Semisi Taumoepeau, Michael Pusinelli and Jaimee Raymond.

He is critical of what he said was the inaction of the Western and Central Pacific Fishing Commission in controlling overfishing in the high seas and the low catches within regional fisheries zones.

Mr Koroilavesau told the annual meeting of the Tuna Commission in Pasay City in the Philippines that Fiji does not want to see this continue as the country's fishery may collapse under the pressure.

The Tuna Commission makes its decision by consensus and easily deadlocked by recalcitrant fishing nations.

In the late 1970s, radioactive material from atomic weapons tests done 30 years prior was dumped into a 100-metre wide bomb crater and then covered with concrete.

It was the site of the largest nuclear clean-up in United States history.

The Marshall Island's Red Cross Secretary-General Jack Niedenthal said the site is still highly radioactive and locals want the waste gone.

"No one would ever tolerate this in their back yard. There's a very serious situation up there, but we just can't seem to get anyone to pay attention to it."

Pacific nations are being brought together in January for what is called a two day TechCamp, which is funded by the US Embassy in New Zealand and organized by Otago University.

Faumuina Associate Professor Faafetai Sopoaga from the university's Health Sciences division said mosquito-borne diseases such as zika and dengue posed a major threat.

She said through the workshop they hoped to improve the island countries ability to cope.

Faumuina also said with the Pacific being a series of islands this could be a key factor.

Pacific Community Director General Dr. Colin Tukuitonga says climate change is beyond economic survival and it is now a moral issue world leaders must take a stand on.

He says Pope Francis reassured Pacific leaders of his support when they met him in Rome before the COP 23 talks in Bonn.

"Mostly people now are saying that clearly climate change is not a scientific discussion anymore it's actually a moral ethical one."

Mr Shaw and Pacific Peoples Minister Aupito William Sio are representing New Zealand at climate talks in Germany, and on the way there had an audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican.

The COP23 conference in Bonn is being convened under the presidency of Fiji, giving the international meeting a decidedly Pacific feel and focus.