Geraldine Coutts

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Geraldine Coutts
OccupationJournalist, radio and television presenter
NationalityAustralian

Geraldine Coutts is an Australian journalist and radio journalist.

Contents

Career

For many years, Geraldine Coutts was a host and presenter of Pacific Beat on Radio Australia, a position which allowed her to interview national leaders, sports stars and village people. She left the program in August 2014. [1]

Interviewees

Among the people she has interviewed throughout her career with the ABC are Greenpeace New Zealand Oceans Campaigner Karli Thomas, [2] director of Pacific Media Centre David Robie, [3] Marshall Islands correspondent Giff Johnson, [4] Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith, [5] New Zealand MP William Sio, [6] attorney for the Bougainville land owners Steve Berman [7] and Australia's Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs, Richard Marles. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Papua New Guinea Defence Force</span> Military of Papua New Guinea

The Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of Papua New Guinea. It originated from the Australian Army land forces of the territory of Papua New Guinea before independence, coming into being in January 1973 and having its antecedents in the Pacific Islands Regiment. The PNGDF is a small force, numbering around 3,600 personnel, and consists of a Land Element, an Air Element and a Maritime Element. It is a joint force tasked with defending Papua New Guinea and its territories against external attack, as well as having secondary functions including national-building and internal security tasks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Autonomous Region of Bougainville</span> Autonomous region of Papua New Guinea

Bougainville, officially the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, is an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea. The largest island is Bougainville Island, while the region also includes Buka Island and a number of outlying islands and atolls. The current capital is Buka, situated on Buka Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solomon Islands</span> Country in the south-western Pacific

Solomon Islands is a country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, to the northeast of Australia. It is directly adjacent to Papua New Guinea to the northwest, Australia to the southwest, New Caledonia and Vanuatu to the southeast, Fiji, Wallis and Futuna and Tuvalu to the east, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia to the north. It has a total area of 29,000 square kilometres, and a population of approximately 700,000. Its capital, Honiara, is located on the largest island, Guadalcanal. The country takes its name from the wider area of the Solomon Islands (archipelago), which is a collection of Melanesian islands that also includes the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, but excludes the Santa Cruz Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Islands Forum</span> Intergovernmental organization of island nations in the Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) is an inter-governmental organization that aims to enhance cooperation between countries and territories of Oceania, including formation of a trade bloc and regional peacekeeping operations. It was founded in 1971 as the South Pacific Forum (SPF), and changed its name in 1999 to "Pacific Islands Forum", so as to be more inclusive of the Forum's Oceania-spanning membership of both north and south Pacific island countries, including Australia. It is a United Nations General Assembly observer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Bougainville</span> Bougainville, region in Papua New Guinea

Bougainville, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea (PNG), has been inhabited by humans for at least 29,000 years, according to artefacts found in Kilu Cave on Buka Island. The region is named after Bougainville Island, the largest island of the Solomon Islands archipelago, but also contains a number of smaller islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maatia Toafa</span> Tuvaluan politician

Maatia Toafa OBE is a Tuvaluan politician, representing Nanumea, who served two non-consecutive terms as Prime Minister of Tuvalu. He first served as Prime Minister from 2004 to 2006, from the resignation of his predecessor, Saufatu Sopoanga, until the defeat of his Cabinet in the 2006 general election. He was re-elected to parliament in the 2010 general election; and regained the premiership on 29 September 2010; however he lost the support of the parliament following a motion of confidence on 21 December of the same year. On 5 August 2013 Toafa became the Minister of Finance and Economic Development in the government of Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga. He was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister following the 2015 Tuvaluan general election. He was not re-elected in the 2019 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands</span> Response to request for help from the Solomon Islands

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Joseph Canisius Kabui was a secessionist leader and the first President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, off the coast of Papua New Guinea, from 2005 to 2008. He was also the leader of the Bougainville People's Congress.

Francis Ona was a Bougainville secessionist leader who led an uprising against the Government of Papua New Guinea as part of the Bougainville Civil War. He and his followers were concerned about the environmental and social effects of the operation of the Panguna mine by Bougainville Copper, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto Group. On 17 May 1990, Ona declared the independence of the Republic of Me'ekamui. It was not recognised internationally. In May 2004 Ona proclaimed himself "King of Me'ekamui." While resisting the peace process and 2005 elections, Ona mostly stayed in a safe haven, where his BRA forces controlled territory. He died of malaria in his village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Liberation Movement for West Papua</span> West Papua independence umbrella organization

The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) unites the three main political independence movements seeking independence for Western New Guinea from Indonesia under a single umbrella organisation. The ULMWP was formed on 7 December 2014 in Vanuatu uniting the Federal Republic of West Papua (NRFPB), the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation (WPNCL) and the National Parliament of West Papua (NPWP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RNZ Pacific</span> International division of Radio New Zealand

RNZ Pacific or Radio New Zealand Pacific, sometimes abbreviated to RNZP, is a division of Radio New Zealand and the official international broadcasting station of New Zealand. It broadcasts a variety of news, current affairs and sports programmes in English, and news in seven Pacific languages. The station's mission statement requires it to promote and reflect New Zealand in the Pacific, and better relations between New Zealand and Pacific countries. It was called Radio New Zealand International or RNZ International (RNZI) until May 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sino-Pacific relations</span> Bilateral relations

Oceania is, to the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China, a stage for continuous diplomatic competition. The PRC dictates that no state can have diplomatic relations with both the PRC and the ROC. As of 2019, ten states in Oceania have diplomatic relations with the PRC, and four have diplomatic relations with the ROC. These numbers fluctuate as Pacific Island nations re-evaluate their foreign policies, and occasionally shift diplomatic recognition between Beijing and Taipei. The issue of which "Chinese" government to recognize has become a central theme in the elections of numerous Pacific Island nations, and has led to several votes of no-confidence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Tanis</span> Papua New Guinean politician

James Tanis is a politician in Papua New Guinea who was elected President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville in 2008 following the death of Joseph Kabui while in office, serving the remainder of the term from 2009 to 2010. He was previously the Vice President of the Bougainville People's Congress.

Belden Namah is a Papua New Guinean politician. Namah is a member of the National Parliament for the Papua New Guinea Party, and has represented Vanimo-Green River District since 2007. He served in the Cabinet from 2007 to 2010, and as Deputy Prime Minister from 2011 to 2012. In 2012, Namah became a member of the opposition. After retaining his seat in the 2022 election, he said that he would not rejoin the opposition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bougainville conflict</span> 1988–1998 armed conflict in Papua New Guinea

The Bougainville conflict, also known as the Bougainville Civil War, was a multi-layered armed conflict fought from 1988 to 1998 in the North Solomons Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG) between PNG and the secessionist forces of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA), and between the BRA and other armed groups on Bougainville. The conflict was described by Bougainvillean President John Momis as the largest conflict in Oceania since the end of World War II in 1945, with an estimated 15,000–20,000 Bougainvilleans dead, although lower estimates place the toll at around 1,000–2,000.

A by-election was held in the Nui constituency in Tuvalu on 10 September 2013. It was triggered by the resignation of the incumbent, MP Taom Tanukale, the Minister for Health, in the government of Willy Telavi.

Darlene Keju, also known as Darlene Keju-Johnson, was a Marshallese activist. She was born on Ebeye Island in the Marshall Islands group in 1951. The Northern Islands where she grew up were downwind from Bikini and Enewetak atolls where the United States tested 67 nuclear weapons. She witnessed the evacuation of Regelap and Utirik Atolls after they were contaminated by radioactive fallout. Keju is credited for bringing to the attention of the world the suffering of the Marshall Islanders as a result of the nuclear testing and that many more people were affected than acknowledged by the U.S. government.

Giff Johnson is a Marshall Islands based editor and journalist. He is also the author of the self-published book Don't Ever Whisper which tells of his late wife Darlene Keju's fight to share the Marshall Islanders plight with the rest of the world wasn't being told of the events. In 2013, he was interviewed by ABC Radio presenter Geraldine Coutts in relation to the book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Dorney</span>

Sean Christopher Dorney AO MBE CSM FAIIA is an Australian journalist, foreign correspondent, and writer with an extensive career covering the Pacific with a particular focus on Papua New Guinea. He was the Pacific and PNG Correspondent of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on and off from 1975 to 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commander of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force</span>

The Commander of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force is the highest-ranking military officer of in the Papua New Guinea Defence Force, who is responsible for maintaining the operational command of the military. The current commander is Brigadier general Gilbert Toropo.

References

  1. "Pacific Beat says goodbye to Geraldine Coutts". ABC Radio Australia. 15 August 2014. Archived from the original on 6 April 2015.
  2. "Worrying new data on bigeye tuna stock". ABC Radio Australia. 6 August 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  3. REGION: 'Peace journalism' in conflict resolution in the Pacific, Pacific Media Centre, 18 April 2012, archived from the original on 4 March 2016
  4. "Marshall Islanders worried about hypersonic jet debris". DMZ Hawaii. 17 August 2011. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014.
  5. Minister for Defence – Interview with Geraldine Coutts, Radio Australia Pacific Beat, Australian Government, 26 April 2012, archived from the original on 4 March 2016
  6. "Samoan community mourn well-known church leader". ABC Radio Australia. 10 June 2013. Archived from the original on 5 July 2015.
  7. US Appeal Court Revives Bougainville Challenge Against Rio Tinto, The Spring Hill Voice, 27 October 2011, archived from the original on 3 March 2016
  8. Subjects: Australia's engagement with Pacific Communities, Australian Government, 10 March 2011, archived from the original on 3 March 2016