Laban Luamanuvao Winnie: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Laban Luamanuvao Winnie: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:611;Page:8119] 
11.  
LUAMANUVAO WINNIE LABAN (NZ Labour—Mana) 
 to the  
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade 
: What were the major issues under discussion at the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Auckland last week and what outcomes are expected from those discussions? 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade) 
: 
 Pacific leaders focused their discussions on regional security environmental concerns trade travel health and good governance. They also elected a new forum secretary-general and agreed to a review of the secretariat. Among the key initiatives to emerge was a scoping study on aviation and shipping and a regional policing initiative to strengthen police training competency standards and cooperation across the region. 
Luamanuvao Winnie Laban 
: How will the police training initiative impact on promoting stability in the region and what steps were taken to deal with problems of insecurity in the region? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: The police training initiative aims to improve police skills and competency raise standards and ethics and facilitate cooperation between police forces across the region. It will involve the training of up to 900 police officers a year and will be funded by Australia and New Zealand. Other security initiatives included the full endorsement of the regional assistance mission in the Solomons and further encouragement to countries to enact and implement counter-terrorism and law enforcement legislation. 
Keith Locke 
: What initiatives will the Minister be encouraging the forum secretariat to take on West Papua in the light of the concern expressed in the final communiqué of the forum that the special autonomy for West Papua is not being fully implemented and there is continuing human rights abuse and continuing violence unfortunately illustrated in this morning’s  
Dominion Post 
 
which reported the killing of three West Papuans? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: The forum did a number of things on West Papua. It reiterated the support for special autonomy as the most realistic way of getting a peaceful resolution of the situation there. The forum urged Indonesia to promulgate the necessary regulations for that to happen and to take other steps. Members expressed concern about the continuing violence and abuse of human rights and called Indonesia to bring to justice the perpetrators of those human rights abuses. That message was translated directly by me in the post-forum dialogue to Hassan Wirajuda the Indonesian foreign Minister who attended the post-forum dialogue talks. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: In view of reports emanating from the forum that a number of the proposals advanced by the Australians were not well received by forum members can the Minister indicate whether that lack of good reception was due to the fact that the proposals were being advanced by Australia or due to the proposals themselves; if it was the latter can he indicate what steps New Zealand might be prepared to take in picking up that cause? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: I think the Prime Minister indicated that New Zealand played a very important role as a bridge between the aspiration of the Australians and the smaller Pacific Island countries. I think in the end the initiatives taken by Australia were welcomed. The police training initiative the HIV/AIDS initiative and the aviation and shipping scoping studies are amongst those issues. The currency issue was not raised in fact at the forum; it was raised by the Senate committee in Australia and I could say that that proposal had no currency at the forum at all.