Pacific Beat

Solomon Islands has joined Beijing's list of 'approved destinations', opening the door for Chinese packaged tours and a huge increase in tourists — but why are experts and operators cautious?

The pesticide ban is being celebrated by organic farmers and health workers alike. That's because one of the banned substances, paraquat, has been linked to a number of suicides in the country.

On the program: The Pacific's kava industry rejoice at news Australia will ease kava import limits as part of its Pacific diplomacy push, and Pacific fashion is having its moment on the catwalk, with many seeing the industry as way to particularly help women earn a living, including aid donors like Australia. So why is there a concern that approach might harm the industry?

Only one out of every 20 MPs in the Pacific is a woman, while worldwide the figure is one in five. There have been various approaches taken to try improve those statistics, and most common is the use of gender quotas. So what makes them successful?

Members of the Pacific's kava industry are ecstatic after the Australian government announced a trial of the commercial importation of kava will start by the end of next year.

New research has revealed the trend for Pacific fashion stems, in part, from international donors throwing money at the industry, as a way to spur economic development, particularly for women.

On the program: There's the possibility of legal action to be taken against a Chinese-owned mining company in PNG, responsible for a recent spill of toxic slurry -- as it's accused of polluting the local environment for years, and can rugby league be the bridge between Australia and the Pacific? The Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison heads to Fiji today to prove it can be.

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison will be visiting Fiji today, and holding talks with his counterpart Frank Bainimarama for the second time in just a month.

But it won't be just long meetings and political discussions there'll be tackles and tries as well, as Mr Morrison brings with him two rugby league teams to play Fiji's national women's and men's sides.

The Pacific islanders have appeared in eight out of nine different World Cups since 1987 - and while they boast immense talent - they are far from reaching the heights of the elite rugby playing nations. So, what will it take for their fortunes to change?

On the program: How will PNG's new treasurer propose to address what he calls the "very deep economic hole", as he prepares to today hand down a supplementary budget, and Solomon Islands reaffirms its new relationship with China and signs up to the country's massive infrastructure project the Belt and Road Initiative, while the PM's been in Beijing.