Pacific Beat

On the program: The Marshall Islands is fast-tracking isolation centres in anticipation covid-19 will spread to its shores but its Health Secretary admits they're still "woefully unprepared", and at least a hundred Pacific school students are expected to come to Australia to study this year, as the first recipients of a new, multi-million dollar scholarship program.

New laws will limit the boats that can take people out to the humpbacks' breeding waters, in a move celebrated by marine researchers.

On the program: Growing concern about the flow of illegal drugs across Pacific Island borders and a new report says weak postal systems may be partly to blame, and could Fiji kava capsules be the answer for anxious Australians? A new deal means they're set to start appearing on supermarket shelves later this year.

Could Fiji kava capsules be the answer for anxious Australians? A new deal means they're set to start appearing on supermarket shelves later this year.

Australia's tough immigration policies are increasingly straining relations with New Zealand, as the deportation of long-term Australian residents to New Zealand becomes an election issue there. But will she raise climate change, as Pacific neighbours want her to?

There is growing concern about the flow of illegal drugs across Pacific Island borders, with fears some of these drugs are being sent via the post.

The Solomon Islands government breaks its silence on the controversial $US100 billion loan proposal — an amount of money almost 77 times the Pacific nation's GDP — but it still hasn't said specifically that the loan has been rejected.

On the program: The Solomon Islands government breaks its silence on the controversial 100 billion dollar loan proposal, but still doesn't say specifically it's been rejected and Timor-Leste enters a new chapter of political uncertainty with the resignation of the country's Prime Minister.

On the program: Questions are being asked of the PNG government after another mass jailbreak, in which eight prisoners were shot dead and dozens more remain on the run, and Vanuatu's caretaker Prime Minister and other senior politicians face a tricky election campaign period, after a magistrate ordered they can't return to their islands the next few weeks.

Vanuatu's caretaker Prime Minister, Charlot Salwai, and several of his caretaker ministers will find it very difficult to campaign in the weeks leading up to next month's the election. A magistrate has imposed strict bail conditions on the group, preventing them from travelling to their home constituencies.