Pacific Beat

On today's program: There's been a lukewarm response from Pacific Islanders to the Australian government's new plan to reduce carbon emissions; Torres Strait Islanders take the Australian government to court to prevent the loss of their communities due to climate change; PNG's health department looks to retired health workers and graduate nurses to help with the growing COVID-19 caseload; Pacific workers help save Australia's blueberry crop; and Willie Poching takes the reins at English Super League club Trinity Wakefield, the first Samoan to be appointed head coach to a first grade rugby league side anywhere in the world.

There's been a lukewarm response from some in the Pacific, to the Australian government's new plan to reduce carbon emissions. Prime Minister Scott Morrison formally committed Australia to a target of net zero emissions by 2050, in the lead up to the global climate talks, COP26, in Glasgow that starts Sunday.

Willie Poching, the first Samoan to be appointed head coach of a first grade rugby league club anywhere in the world, hopes his success will encourage others to switch to coaching when they hang up their boots.

The man behind an ambitious plan to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch says a ship is ready to start collecting plastic waste. The patch is estimated to cover an area of 1.6 million square kilometres in the North Pacific Ocean.

On the program today: After months of negotiations Australian telecommunications company Telstra confirms it will purchase Digicel's Pacific mobile network for $2.1 billion; PNG's communications minister welcomes the Telstra-Digicel deal but says the process is still in its early stages; Villagers living near the Mount Yasur volcano in Vanuatu call for help after a large explosion spews ash and sulphur into air; and a much-hyped project to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is finally ready to begin.

PNG government officials have reassured Digicel customers there will be no major shakeups when Telstra takes over the telco giant.

For generations, communities in the Pacific have observed their local environment - the animals, the plants - as part of their own traditional early warning weather systems. Despite modern meteorology services, that traditional knowledge continues to be applied today.

Villagers living near the Mount Yasur volcano on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu are calling for urgent help after a large explosion spews ash and sulphur into air.

On the program today: the leader of the Australian medical assistance team in Papua New Guinea pleads with people to get vaccinated to bring the country's worsening COVID-19 outbreak under control, some Pacific leaders are not happy with China's description of a recent meeting to discuss the upcoming Glasgow climate summit, and Fijian-Australian AFL star Nic Naitanui hopes his new children's book encourages inclusion for kids from different cultural backgrounds.

Born in Sydney to Fijian parents, Nic Naitanui, or NicNat as he is affectionately known, is unmissable playing footy for the AFL team the West Coast Eagles. But the ruckman is also an author of kids' books and he is following up his 2019 book, "Little Nic's Big Day", with a new one called "Little Nic's Big World".