As a man who has lived his life for Timor-Leste I, like all of my compatriots, am no stranger to seemingly overwhelming challenges. Perhaps more than if I had led an easier life, I am aware of both the resilience my people can show, and the importance of leadership that is able to act with...
The need for government to give attention to the situation of seasonal workers has been highlighted in two earlier Devpolicy blogs here and here. This blog focuses on the problems Approved Employers in the Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP) are facing in coping with the current extraordinary situation...
Just a few weeks ago, Timor-Leste was one of the very few countries which had not registered any cases of COVID-19. However, on 21 March this changed with a positive diagnosis of an unknown member of the public. The news sent people, especially in Dili, into panic mode. Some people started to flock...
Soon after the announcement of Fiji’s first confirmed case of COVID-19 on Thursday 19 March, Lautoka (the ‘Sugar City’), Fiji’s second-largest city and home to that first case, was placed under lockdown. The two main access roads into the city – from Nadi International Airport, and leading to Ba...
In ordinary times, which these are not, Australians tend not to think very much about the Seasonal...
What will COVID-19 mean for the Pacific? Right now, the effects of the virus are poised on the edge...
Tuesday, 24 March was the first day of lockdown throughout Papua New Guinea (PNG) in response to...
Papua New Guinea (PNG) became the first country in the Pacific to declare a state of emergency...
I am the first born in my family of seven children. I come from a poor background in a remote part...
On 19 March 2020, the prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand both took the unprecedented move...
