New Zealand

Ioane Teitiota was picked up by immigration officers early on Tuesday morning - the culmination of a case that began in 2011 when he overstayed his visa.

Mr Teitiota has been fighting deportation since then, arguing that he, his wife, and their three New Zealand-born children will face rising sea levels, extreme weather and crop destruction as a result of global warming if they are forced back to Kiribati.

There are about 1700 lawyers in the Pacific, excluding Australia and New Zealand, and about 100 of them are expected at the two-day conference being run by the South Pacific Lawyers Association.

Its chairman, Ross Ray QC, says the meeting will include sessions on issues such as document drafting, case analysis, commercial law and legal aid.

He says the conference is a good opportunity to promote ties between the different law societies across the region.

The leaders of Tuvalu, Papua New Guinea and Fiji have expressed hope that Mr Turnbull, who was this week sworn in as prime minister after ousting Tony Abbott as Liberal Party leader, could be a champion for Pacific countries battling rising sea levels and intensifying weather systems.

The change in Canberra came a week after the Pacific Islands Forum meeting highlighted a growing chasm between the Pacific countries and Australia and New Zealand on the issue of climate change.

“Australia and New Zealand have shown themselves to be the worst of neighbours with their self-serving approach to climate change. They will be remembered for their callousness in the face of the grave threats facing Pacific islands, as people are forced to leave their land and lose their livelihoods through climate change,” said Ritter.

“Australia and New Zealand have inadequate national targets are, they are frustrating global talks, they are beholden to big polluters - and now they are blocking a united Pacific voice.”

Henry Puna says the move to provide up to eight hours a day of free-to-air New Zealand content, including top rugby action, would be beneficial not only for sports fans.

Mr Puna says he is looking forward to the cultural exchanges that will occur via broadcasting.

"We're looking forward to seeing all of these programmes. There will be some educational programmes that will be good for the kids, and for us adults Tagata Pasifika and the Māori programmes will be very, very welcome."

Murray McCully's comments come after the Forum Chair and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said Jakarta had been accommodating recently.

Mr McCully has met with the Indonesian vice-minister for foreign affairs and a fact-finding mission into human rights was brought up.

"Well I did raise that with the vice-minister that we would certainly hope that if the idea was put forward that they would respond to it positively, but I have to say that I didn't get a very reassuring response to that."

Leaders of small island states maintained their position of temperature target of 1.5 degrees and loss and damage while Australia and New Zealand refused to budge from the 2 degrees target.

Tuvalu’s Prime Minister, Enele Sopoaga, one of the most vocal leader from the Smaller Island States told PACNEWS despite the Forum position, his country will push for the 1.5 degree target, loss and damage and an ambitious and legally binding target in Paris.

Dr Aqorau was responding to a New Zealand-led push at the Pacific Islands Forum to help shift the region away from daily catches via the Vessel Day Scheme.

The scheme has brought rising incomes to PNA countries but New Zealand says advances in technology and bigger fishing boats are resulting in larger catches which could render the scheme unsustainable.

Dr Aqorau says the only areas in which unsustainable catches are occurring are those outside the control of its Vessel Day Scheme.

The service wharf for vessels ploughing between the territory's islands was built in the 1950s and was beginning to collapse after years of wear and tear.

The US$8.4 million upgrade is funded by the federal government.

The ministry has suspended the Pacific Christian School's registration from the start of next term, the first time it has ever done so to a private school.

The school came under scrutiny last year, when an 11 year old stabbed another child with a pair of scissors.

Su'a has been dealing with the school, and says the move has come as a shock.

He says the sad outcome is the loss of the school's special character, as it is the only one which provides Tongan bilingual teaching.