Few signs of life reported on Tikopia after cyclone
The first plane to fly over cyclone battered Tikopia in the Solomon Islands
reported massive destruction and few signs of life, New Zealand's TV3 has
reported.
The station's cameraman Jeff Mackley flew over the island, struck Saturday
by Cyclone Zoe, from Vanuatu.
"It's the worst damage I have ever seen," he said.
There were few signs of life.
Tikopia, which is believed to have a population of around 2,000, has been
cut off since just before the storm hit.
An Australian Hercules was due to fly over later today and a Solomons
Government patrol vessel was due to sail from the capital Honiara on
Wednesday.
The TV3 pictures showed most of the forest stripped bare on the picturesque
volcanic island.
The few houses that could be seen were also destroyed.
Mr Mackley, who chartered the single engined aircraft, specialises in
filming storms around the world.
http://abc.net.au/news/2003/01/item20030101164609_1.htm
South Pacific Forum
The 1972 Federal Cabinet documents released today show how Canberra tried
to limit the power and functions of the South Pacific Forum.
The records show Australia resisted any proposal to give the forum power
over aid to the island states.
The documents cover the second meeting of the South Pacific Forum in
Canberra in February, 1972, following the forum's creation in Wellington in
1971.
Australia looked for discussion of a free trade area among the Pacific
islands - an idea that was not achieved until the end of the 1990s.
A Foreign Affairs submission said Australia was unenthusiastic about
creating a secretariat for the new forum but deferred to the view of Island
leaders.
Australia wanted the secretariat based in New Zealand, believing a
headquarters in Fiji would provoke regional jealousy.
Suva, though, did win the secretariat.
Australia agreed to help pay for the new Pacific body but the McMahon
Cabinet wanted the function of the Secretariat to be limited and said the
Forum should have no executive power over aid in the Pacific.
ALSO
Terrorism fears feature in 1972 Cabinet papers
The unconventional style of the first Whitlam Government and the McMahon
Government's fears about terrorism feature in 30-year-old Cabinet papers
released today.
The 1972 Cabinet records released by the National Archives cover the last
year of the McMahon Coalition Government and the first weeks of the Whitlam
Labor Government.
The two-week interim Cabinet, made up of only Prime Minister Gough Whitlam
and his deputy, Lance Barnard, made about 40 decisions without any formal
Cabinet meetings.
The decisions include starting work on diplomatic relations with China,
freeing draft resisters, ordering home the last Army advisory team in South
Vietnam, banning the entry of racially-selected sporting teams and
abolishing the sales tax on contraceptives.
To record some of the first actions of the Whitlam Government, public
servants in the Cabinet office had to collect press statements and in some
cases clip stories from newspapers, even though National Archives say these
are not regarded as a formal record.
The McMahon Coalition Government in October that year debated starting a
Royal Commission on terrorism and violence in Australia following two bomb
explosions in Sydney, allegedly linked to the Yugoslav community.
The McMahon Government decided against the inquiry but ordered more
co-ordination with state police on the threat of terrorism and hijacking of
aircraft.
A minister who served in the McMahon Government, Ian Sinclair, says concern
about the impact in South-East Asia was the most significant factor in
Australia holding back from diplomatic recognition of China.
"What was going to happen to the Chinese minorities in the ASEAN
countries?" Mr Sinclair said.
"And particular reference is made to Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.
"And you'll remember there was still tensions out of the break-up of
Singapore and Malaysia a few years before and the essential relationship
between Australia and those ASEAN countries was given far greater
significance than the subsequent recognition of China would suggest."
http://abc.net.au/news/2003/01/item20030101060625_1.htm
