Australia & Pacifics

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Visitors to New Zealand can be fined 5,000 New Zealand dollars ($3,243) for refusing to provide passwords to unlock electronic devices and allow customs officials to examine them under a new law that a civil liberties group on Thursday condemned as a grave invasion of privacy.

The law came into effect on Oct. 1 as part of an update of 22-year-old customs legislation. It also gives customs officials authority to copy data found on searched devices.

Australia's scandal-plagued banks were accused of putting profits before people and of failing to meet "basic standards of honesty" on Friday, as an official inquiry offered a damning assessment of the sector.

The nearly 1,000 page Royal Commission interim report painted a picture of a sector defined by greed, forgiving of misconduct and frequently flirting with illegality.

28 Sep 2018; AFP: Passengers were forced to swim for their lives Friday when an airliner ditched into a lagoon after missing the runway on a remote Pacific island and began sinking.

The Air Niugini Boeing 737-800 was attempting to land at Weno airport in Micronesia but ended up half submerged in Chuuk lagoon after the accident on Friday morning.

Within minutes, locals scrambled a flotilla of small boats to pluck the 35 passengers and 12 crew from the water.

CANBERRA, 28 Sep 2018; Australia (AP) — The chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Corp. resigned on Thursday over allegations that he pressured the independent national broadcaster to fire two political journalists because the ruling conservative government disliked them.

The scandal has damaged the credibility of both the governing coalition and the ABC, which is government-funded but is required by law to operate independently of party politics. The ABC is many Australians’ most trusted news source.

WELLINGTON, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand government on Monday introduced a bill to give effect to its decision to halt the offering of new offshore oil and gas exploration permits, and has kept its commitment to protect existing permits.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in April announced that the government would not be granting any new offshore oil and gas exploration permits, but that the government would be protecting existing permits and the rights associated with them.

CANBERRA, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Two of Australia's big four banks have been accused of criminal offences over their treatment of superannuation customers.

In a submission to the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, Michael Hodge, senior counsel assisting the commission, recommended that the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and National Australia Bank (NAB) face criminal charges.

The CBA is Australia's largest bank while NAB is the second largest.

by Charles Happell

CANBERRA, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Scott Morrison rode a wave of late momentum to become Australia's 30th prime minister on Friday, as his colleagues in the ruling Liberal Party deciding that the Sydney member of parliament (MP) represented a greater chance of electoral success than his main challenger, Peter Dutton.

At the end of a dramatic week in Canberra, Morrison defeated Peter Dutton, 45 votes to 40, for the Liberal Party leadership, with the third challenger, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, eliminated in the first round of voting.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called on his government to unite behind him after he survived an internal leadership challenge Tuesday. But several ministers who backed the failed challenger offered their resignations in a move that widens the rift in government ranks.

Melbourne, Aug 20 (PTI) Mehreen Faruqi, a Pakistani-origin woman today became the first Muslim female Senator to be sworn-in to Australia's Parliament.

Greens senator Faruqi was sworn-in less than a week after crossbench senator Fraser Anning called for curbs to Muslim migration and a "final solution" on immigration policy, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

"I'm here to shake up the status quo," the 55-year-old Faruqi told reporters in Canberra.

15 Aug 2018; DW: In an attempt to curb growing house prices, New Zealand has banned most foreigners from buying certain properties. Statistics show China and Australia are the biggest buyers, but Australia won't be subject to the ban.

New Zealand's parliament on Wednesday passed a law banning many non-resident foreigners from buying existing homes in the country.

The bill aims to stop New Zealanders being outbid by wealthy foreign buyers.