Pacific Beat

On the program: A clearing of the decks: why PNG's Prime Minister has dumped the Treasurer and opted to replace him with an opposition MP, and requested his predecessor to move to the Opposition benches, and protests continue in the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua, and they appear to be building momentum, with Indonesians also throwing their support behind the calls for self-determination.

A rift is forming in PNG politics after the Prime Minister, James Marape asked his predecessor, Peter O'Neill, to leave his government, on the same day he made a sudden and significant change at the top of his government, appointing an opposition MP, Ian-Ling Stuckey to the role of treasurer.

Thousands of people are continuing to demonstrate across Indonesia's most eastern provinces of West Papua and Papua, in what has become the largest protests in the restive region in years.

It's been more than three years since Cyclone Winston devastated Fiji, but there are renewed concerns that rebuilding efforts remain unfinished. Reports have come out that some schools on Fiji's northern Koro island are still in disrepair, with students forced to take classes in temporary community halls.

On the program: Australia tells PNG it will consider options on the financial assistance it provides but won't be redirecting its aid money to the PNG budget for now, and a vote recount ordered in Nauru after six ballot papers were found in the parliamentary chamber. How did they get there — was it a plot to change the results or a simple mistake?

Vanuatu's extended its State of Emergency declaration as it grapples to deal with with an outbreak of the coconut rhinoceros beetle, with fears it could not only decimate the country's valuable coconut industry, but also threaten local food security.

Samoa might become the first country to punish journalists for misreporting the weather, as its met service defends plans to fine journalists for broadcasting news that does not align with their own information.

On the program: Australia send its biggest delegation of ministers in more than a decade to PNG — a clear sign it's trying to step up its diplomatic and defence ties with its northern neighbour, And, there's a changing of the guard in Nauru after the weekend's election, so who will be the small country's new President when the new MPs meet to vote on that tomorrow?

Nauru is set to have a new President after Baron Waqa, who's led the small island nation for the past six years, lost his seat in the weekend's national election.

On the program: A Pacific Islander community leader in Australia doesn't think an apology from the Deputy Prime Minister's over recent controversial comments regarding the Pacific is genuine, and the Federated States of Micronesia President says his country is prepared for what comes with being of high geostrategic value, as the tussle between the US and China in the Pacific heats up.