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Ben Bohane

Ben Bohane

Ben Bohane is Vanuatu-based journalist and policy analyst who has reported the Pacific for nearly 30 years.

The fight between France and Vanuatu over two uninhabitable islands in the Pacific could have global implications.

A David v Goliath battle to decide the fate of islands of the ‘resting God’

A diplomatic stoush between Vanuatu and France over two uninhabitable islands could have global implications.

  • Ben Bohane

Latest

Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moscow has defended its military ties with Jakarta but has not denied claims that it sought access to an air base in West Papua, Indonesia.

Did we back the wrong war in the ’60s? Now Putin’s Russia is knocking on the door

Instead of backing West Papuan nationhood 60 years ago, Australia joined the US in suppressing Vietnam’s. Are national security chickens coming home to roost?

  • Ben Bohane
Papuan separatist rebels pose with New Zealander pilot Phillip Mark Mehrtens who they took hostage in early February, at an undisclosed location in Papua province, Indonesia.

Kidnapped pilot a frightening reminder of forgotten war on Australia’s doorstep

Some see West Papua as “the Ukraine of the Pacific”. So it’s ironic that Australia is helping faraway Ukraine, but not the one next door to us.

  • Ben Bohane
Tim Page in front of one of his images.

Tim Page, legendary Vietnam War photographer, dies at 78

Tim Page was a humanist first and foremost, always alive to the power of photography.

  • Ben Bohane
Foreign Minister Penny Wong and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi face-off in the Pacific.

Pacific’s delicate dance with China is fraught with danger. Australia must reclaim the floor

China has shown its hand with its latest offering to 10 Pacific nations. We must be ready to defend Melanesian interests as our own.

  • Ben Bohane
A Papuan student attends a pro-independence rally in Jakarta in August.

From the ocean to the east, it looks like Australia's Pacific policy is all at sea

Tension on the Pacific's only land border with Asia poses strategic challenges for Australia, but there's a simple path to good relations in the region.

  • Ben Bohane
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"The Run", 1994.

Bougainville: the journey to the 2019 independence vote in pictures

Ben Bohane draws on his archive of photos spanning 25 years of Bougainville's history in times of war and peace and more recently, their vote for nationhood.

  • Ben Bohane
Young men in their Upe initiation hats, the symbol of Bougainville, line up to vote in the country's independence referendum last week.

Bougainville votes overwhelmingly for independence from PNG

The final say will now go to lawmakers in the Papua New Guinea Parliament.

  • Ben Bohane
Marilyn and Moses Havini met at an Australian university church conference in 1967.

Australian love story at the heart of Bougainville's push for independence

Marilyn met her husband Moses in 1967. From that moment her fate was fixed to Bougainville's fight for freedom.

  • Ben Bohane
China’s already active diplomacy and investment in the region could extend to assisting an independent Bougainville. 

'Where is Australia?' China makes a bold play for the south Pacific's 'Treasure Islands'

China is on the front foot across the south Pacific, as allegations of bribery emerge in the Solomon Islands and a leader on Bougainville reveals a Chinese “masterplan”.

  • Ben Bohane