July 2006 in Oceania

• New Zealand silver coins are changed to become smaller and lighter.
• John Howard announces that he intends to stay on as Prime Minister of Australia until the 2007 election which he plans to contest as Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. (CNN)

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• Papua New Guinea's coffee growing industry is under threat from the coffee borer beetle (hypothenemus hampei), which destroys the coffee berries. (The National)

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• The Cook Islands announces a fresh election will be held on September 26 2006, after both the government and the opposition claimed to be the legitimate administration. (Radio Australia)

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• Kim Beazley advocates abolishing Labor's 'no new mines' policy to allow for further uranium mines.
• Over 4,000 Lebanese-Australians have been evacuated from Lebanon.
• The Overlander rail passenger service will be withdrawn at the end of September, thus ending the last passenger service operating between Auckland and Wellington. (NZ Herald)

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• New Zealand police arrest a man for the [...] of a Tokoroa school teacher eight days earlier.
• The Victoria Cross posthumously awarded to Captain Alfred Shout at the Battle of Lone Pine is bought at auction by Kerry Stokes for AU$1 million. (The Age)

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• Australian and New Zealand foreign ministers meet in Adelaide to discuss regional affairs including RAMSI and instability in East Timor.

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• A funeral service for Prince Tu'ipelehake and Princess Kaimana of Tonga is held following their deaths in a car accident in California.

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• Teina Bishop resigns from the Cook Islands Cabinet but promises to continue supporting the Prime Minister Jim Marurai. (Tahiti Presse)
• The opposition Cook Islands Party wins a byelection in Matavera, leaving the Government without a majority. Prime Minister Jim Marurai is not conceding defeat. (Radio NZ)

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• Former New Zealand Cabinet Minister Taito Phillip Field is cleared of any conflict of interest by an inquiry into allegations he had used his position for material gain, but his judgement was criticised. (NZ Herald)
• Tim Selwyn is sentenced to 2 months imprisonment for sedition in Auckland. He is also sentenced to a further 15 months for other offenses. (NZ Herald)

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• 1400 people are evacuated from three villages near Bialla, New Britain, Papua New Guinea due to fears that a volcano is AbOUT to erupt. Earthquakes are being felt every 40-60 minutes in the area. (Radio NZ)

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• Te Atairangi Kaahu, the Māori Queen, is taken to Waikato Hospital's intensive care unit after a possible heart attack and kidney failure. (NZ Herald)

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• New Zealand Labour Party List MP Jim Sutton announces he is leaving politics on 1 August 2006. He will be replaced by the next member of the Labour Party list, Charles Chauvel. (NZ Herald)

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• After weeks of political unrest, José Ramos Horta is appointed as the Prime Minister of East Timor by President Xanana Gusmão.
• The visit of Princess Anne to Fiji is marred by two lapses of security. In one, a drunk man was found wandering around the compound in which she was staying, in the other, a former psychiatric patient threw a heavy object at her vehicle. (Fiji Times)

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• Tongan Prince ʻUluvalu Takeivūlai Tukuʻaho and Princess Kaimana Aleamotuʻa die in a car crash in San Francisco (NZ Herald)

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• Australian PM John Howard calls for Big Brother to be cancelled amid a [...] assault controversy.
• New Zealand Police Minister Annette King and Police Commissioner Howard Broad both deny that the police have quotas for speeding tickets after a memo about such quotas is leaked. (NZ Herald)
• Joseph Kabui, the president of Bougainville, says a plan to assassinate him has failed, with some former successionists admitting their plot. Bougainville police are surprised that they have not been asked to investigate the matter. (Radio NZ) (Radio NZ)

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• The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand has turned down an application by Ngāti Toa to trademark Ka Mate, the haka used by The All Blacks. (NZ Herald)

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• A man is arrested after crashing a car into the gates of the Tongan King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV's residence in Auckland. (NZ Herald)

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