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Thank you!

Hear! Hear!

Many are missing the anthropological aspect In Mauritius, the list of the 500 best candidates at the A-levels are published every year Despite representing 28% of the population, Creole Mauritians of African descent barely represent 9% of the list Chinese Mauritians at 3% of the general population represent around 8% of the 500 best candidates Indo-Mauritians at 66% of the general population represent 83% of the list White Mauritians who represent 2% of the population don't study within the public education system so they don't appear in the list In Fiji, ethnic fijians are conspicuously less successful at school than Indo-Fijians but discrimination and oppression against the latter have forced them to migrate leaving Fiji with less qualified professionals Lastly, Mauritius is the only Hindu majority country in Africa and its only real democracy according to the UN Coincidences don't exist The Hindu majority brought stability with its "live and let live" attitude, a Muslim or Christian majority would not have adopted the same non oppressive attitude

It's a shame these books aren't properly copy-edited, and the Bislama checked by someone who knows it.

Hi, My name is Enneth Fred. I held a position in the political leadership among men, also a ward and community where women have smaller chances to run in an election. I am fully aware that your findings in the research undertaken, should empower us women to enter into political leadership and become a decision making participation in all levels. I am hoping so much and looking forward to any given field empowerment opportunity may assist to change the course of direction to Vanuatu women in Political leadership.🙏🇻🇺

Thanks Maho. Setting the experiment aside, the big shift in the control group in 2025 is, as you say, between too much and about right. That said, while it's not as clearly visible in the chart there has been a statistically significant increase in the share of people who say "not enough" over the years that we have run our survey.

Good article, interesting findings. This is not a criticism, but focusing on the first chart alone, it appears that some of those who, historically, thought Australia gave too much, shifted to thinking Australia gave about right. Seems a small shift in thinking, all things considered.

Thank you so much, Niuone! These two important points, which I agree with and have tried to factor in above as best as the current pubic information lets us. My sincere apologies if that did not come through clearly enough. I was not game to do my own estimates (on that part nor projections) and relied on others reportedly official stats. Home Affairs should be able to say how many unique applicants there are, and how many appear twice, but I suspect the official number reported is simpler (e.g. applicant + dependents summed across every application, even if duplicates). Your New Zealand clarification is also helpful. The figure I used to revised the public 2/3 down to about half and include those abroad further down is UN DESA data from 2009, which had 1,515 Tuvalu born "migrant stock" in NZ in 2019, but the 2018 census had 1,855 and 2023 census 2,244, and I've seen reports of around 6,500 resident Tuvaluans in NZ as you say too, but am not sure of the breakdown or source. Either way, it makes the share of current resident applicants lower as you say. By how much, we'd need to see how much info is collected from Home Affairs on applicants. Thanks again for the clarification and bringing these points up, Ryan

This is a great blog, Ryan. However, there are a few important aspects missing and particularly regarding the number of applications. Many families submit multiple entries to increase their chances of success. For example, both the husband and wife may apply separately, while still including the same dependents. As a result, although the overall number of applications appears high, a large portion of it is made up of these duplicate submissions. Additionally, there is significant interest prior to the opening of the scheme from the Tuvaluan diaspora in New Zealand and even in Australia. And I know some of whom already hold New Zealand residency or permanent residency applied. With an estimated 6,000–7,000 Tuvaluans living in New Zealand, I think the actual number of applications coming directly from Tuvalu itself may be smaller than the reported 8,750.

This is a beautiful account of Agnes Titus, whom I looked up to as one of my role model, a pioneer Bougainville woman leader who was fearless and outspoken, a true servant, women activist and leader. Her Story deserves an autobiography to shape the next generation of girls and women leaders. I am part of a team of PNG women currently working towards hosting 50th Anniversary nationwide event to commemorate pioneer women trailblazers who have helped build a nation. The end result is to capture their stories with the intention to produce a publication. The late Agnes Titus is one of those women that these program is looking at honoring.

Thanks for your question Barry. I believe they will request for evidence confirming you have entered some sort of payment plan to repay that debt as part of your visa application is you are randomly selected. But best to direct your question to the Department of Home Affairs. You can check out the link below and submit an inquiry https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/help-support/contact-us. Regards, Natasha

Hi Nelly, Migration is no easy feat. We spoke with a lucky PEV winner who is now living and working in Australia and shared her experiences and encouragement https://devpolicytalks.simplecast.com/episodes/the-pacific-engagement-visa-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-2025-ballot The Australian government announced in July that over 1,000 visas have granted since October. It's not 100% but it's a slow start and we share our insights in our recent article https://devpolicy.org/the-2025-pacific-engagement-visa-is-open-how-did-it-go-in-2024-20250818/ Knowing the challenges and opportunities in making a fully informed decision is key to navigating the migration process and it remains an individual's choice to pursue it or not depending on their personal circumstances. But the PEV is working, it's just slow.