budget

Tonga's Parliament to sit today

The sitting will include the four MPs and three cabinet ministers, who have lost their seats after being found to have bribed voters.

Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni has told Tonga the ousted MPs can remain because they have requested a stay on the judgments, as they are appealing the decisions.

By law, the Parliament is supposed to "unseat the members" whose elections have been declared void by the Supreme Court.

NZ govt commits to Pacific broadcasting in the region

RNZ Pacific broadcasts into the wider Pacific on shortwave 24 hours a day, collaborating with 22 broadcasting partners across the region.

Its current primary transmitter is nearing end of life, and its other transmitter has in effect already been retired.

The announcement was made as part of New Zealand's Broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi's plans for the new public media entity which is set to operate next year.

Australia's aid budget cuts are a win for the Pacific

The government delivered its annual budget on Tuesday, announcing that the country's foreign aid budget had been cut again.

The Australian National University's Stephen Howes said programmes in places like Pakistan, Nepal, Cambodia and Indonesia have been slashed by as much as half.

But he said the Pacific has been spared.

"The government's caught between these two conflicting objectives. On the one hand, it doesn't want to increase overall aid," he said.