Oceania

toc

About Oceania Oceania is comprised of Australia, New Zealand, and most of the islands that are in the Pacific Ocean.

**Colonization **
Australia was colonized by the British starting in the 1770s, originally as a penal colony. Before colonization, Australia was inhabited by numerous indigenous nations of Aborigines. Throughout colonization, the indigenous population was suppressed in ways that sometimes parallel North American colonization. Two years, the Prime Minister of Australia issued an official national apology for past injustices against Aborigines. The Pacific Islands were systematically populated by Polynesian people, starting in the West. Polynesians began on islands off the coast of New Guinea, and slowly explored further islands, populating those and then expanding further and further east (Collapse).

Resources
[|Australia's Aboriginal children still at risk says PM]

=Migration = Australia has a growing population. Many people travel to Australia, hoping to settle there eventually. Often, this has been done through education, with foreign students enrolling in Australian universities and simply staying after graduation. However, Australia has recently announced new immigration rules, in hopes of changing the types of people they attract (have complained about too many hairdressers). Samoa, on the other hand, finds that many of its citizens leave. Their main export-- people.

Resources
[|Australia tightens migration rules to favor English-language skills and professionals] [|There’s all kinds of knowledge (Sunday Samoan)]

=International Law/Politics/Organizations = [|Australia] has a permanent mission to the United Nations, as do [|the Marshall Islands], [|New Zealand], [|Nauru], [|Palau], Papua New Guinea, [|Samoa], [|the Solomon Islands], [|Tuvalu], [|Tonga], Timor-Leste, [|Vanuatu]. Kiribati also has a presence, though no permanent mission as of yet. These are just a few of the member states of the UN. (UN has 192 Member States) New Zealand is currently serving on the UN Security Council, and as such has been able to contribute to the regional interests. Especially with the [|situation in Timor-Leste] (presidential assassination attempts), New Zealand has been a regional influence in handling conflicts with international organizations such as the UN. For many of the islands of Oceania, their main concern in dealing with international organizations and other countries in general is climate change. One striking example is from the Copenhagen summit, when Tuvalu, along with other island nations, [|called] [|for] [|new], [|stringent] [|environmental] [|targets], to safeguard against their very existence.

Countries like Australia, believe that the world deserves to have solutions as a global community.It was one of the founding members of the UN and it helped create the [|United Nations Charter Articles].

=Energy and Environment = The environment is a huge issue for many countries in Oceania. Many of these countries are island nations, situated just above sea level. With the projected climate change estimates, these countries will cease to exist as water levels rise above their reefs and atolls. [|Tuvalu in particular has been speaking out against climate change and calling for stricter emissions practices for over ten years]. Most recently, at the Copenhagen summit, they proposed a Copenhagen Accord with strict targets. However, larger countries blocked their proposal.

Resources
[|Tuvalu may be lost to the sea due to climate change]

It is interesting how many different islands exist in one area. In Oceania there are small islands that are barely above sea-level. There are also other island nations that are much bigger. Those islands include Australia and New Zealand. New Zealand is changing its way of using energy. New Zealand has several [|agencies] that are working together to help the world with the climate problem. New Zealand has an association that deals with renewable ENERGY! [|The New Zealand Wind Energy Association] deals with wind energy. This is one of the few ways New Zealand is trying to create renewable energy.

=**Science and Technology **= Reading this article, I learned that right now starting in Australia, there is this iPhone worm going around infecting iPhones that have been activated by a source other than AT&T I believe. It has been said that they are getting corrupted and messing with peoples phones. Sucks for them I guess. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8349905.stm In NSW coastal communities of Minnamurra and Kiama Downs south of Wollongong and a few other communities in Australia will be part of a [|Super-charged Broadband test] because of how vast the land is in Australia there are not a lot of ways to get internet connections that are fast enough to do things like upload photos or use different websites.

The three dams Wivenhoe, Somerset, and North Pine dams had finally reached over 80% full. The dams are becoming over filled with water and now can produce more hydro-energy. Within the last three years, the dams were 80% empty. This is a big step forward because Australia isn't in a drouth anymore.

=**Economy **=

People have been underestimating the [|Australian Economy]. Everything they rely on has gone up including the cost of the dollar by 23 cents. Employers have added 194,600 jobs in the five months through January, the biggest increase in more than three years, driving the unemployment rate to an 11-month low of 5.3 percent, which is almost half the level in the U.S. and Europe. So things are only going up for now and don't see a chance of declining.

According to these two articles, the New Zealand dollar is going up. Te first article is explaining how it is a good thing for the Kiwi to have their dollars go up and that they haven't been for some time. Theres not much that was said really, but the price of a, Kiwi I believe is the name of New Zealandish currency, has gone up and that it is good for them. The second link doesn't say much because I can't read the whole thing. I am not a member of the wall street journal and there is no free membership.
 * http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100309-718304.html?mod=WSJ_World_MIDDLEHeadlinesAsia**
 * http://newstrust.net/stories/986889/toolbar?ref=mp**

=**Trade **= Trade with China and Australia has [|resumed as usual] because now Australia suggests that "Beijing could behave as a 'responsible stakeholder' in global harmony as its power grew." There were problems last year after the arrest of an Australian passport holder in China they finally decided to agree to disagree on different subjects and set their differences aside.

=**Development **=

A new developer has arrived in Oceania in 2008. His name is David Matthews of the AFL, and he has made announcements on how he'll address his development.

**Security and Terrorism **
Oceania is does not have any security concerns. Due to their remoteness terrorism does not affect Australia or New Zealand as it affects other first world countries. Smaller island nations are more concerned about the environment and economic stability then security. Currently President Obama is trying to convince Australia to join a [|nuclear safety agreem]to help promote it to other countries.

**<span style="color: #074b07; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Education **
Well, Australia is donating three million dollars to the Solomon Islands schools so that 145,000 children can receive a fee-free education. The Australian government is working closely with the Solomon Islands together to try and improve the lives of Salomon residents. But looking at the CIA World Factbook, and comparing the major countries...


 * **Country:** || **Definition of Literacy** || **Literacy-Total Population** || **Literacy-Males** || **Literacy-Females** || **School Life Expectancy Average** || **School Life Expectancy-Males** || **School Life Expectancy-Females** || **Percent GDP Spent on Education** || **Country Comparison in the World** ||
 * **Australia** || <span class="category_data" style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: top;">age 15 and over can read and write || 99% || 99% || 99% || 20 years || 20 years || 21 years || 4.5% || 85 ||
 * **New Zealand** || <span class="category_data" style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: top;">age 15 and over can read and write || 99% || 99% || 99% || 19 years || 20 years || 20 years || 6.2% || 38 ||
 * **Fiji** || <span class="category_data" style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: top;">age 15 and over can read and write || <span class="category_data" style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: top;">93.7% || <span class="category_data" style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: top;">95.5% || <span class="category_data" style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: top;">91.9% || 13 years || 13 years || 13 years || 6.5% || 30 ||
 * **Papua New Guinea** || <span class="category_data" style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: top;">age 15 and over can read and write || <span class="category_data" style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: top;">57.3% || <span class="category_data" style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: top;">63.4% || 50.9% || N/A || N/A || N/A || N/A || N/A ||
 * **Solomon Islands** || N/A || N/A || N/A || N/A || 8 years || 9 years || 8 year || 3.3% || 135 ||

Here is an interesting link filled with a statistics about education in New Zealand. New Zealand is known to the world as one of the leaders in education. They have a three tear system of Kindergarten, Primary School and Secondary school which is very close to the model used in Australia and the UK. Some schools break it down even further to take a year off Primary and Secondary school to make an Intermediate school. Here is the link for the Ministry of Education. It is a good sight that gives info about term lengths, curriculum, and what to expect during each phase of education.
 * New Zealand**

This graph is showing how much income there is person and how much is spent on each student for their secondary education over the course of a few years. New Zealand spends a larger percentage of their income in schooling than the United States does.

This graph shows the relationship between how much a person makes and the ratio of girls to boys in school. New Zealand has more people in school than the United States does even thought they make less money.

Same graph but looking at population total instead of income. New Zealand has a higher presentage like the other graph represented. New Zealand has a much smaller population though making it easier to get more people in school if they make even close to the same amount of money.


 * Australia**

**<span style="color: #074b07; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Health **
Insert Article

New Zealand:
The Culture of New Zealand has many distinct parts to it. The first group of settlers to New Zealand was the Māori voyagers. They are known now as the indigenous people of New Zealand and have a culture more closely tied to the Pacific islands. About 200 years after they settled the Europeans (mainly the Brits) came to colonize the island. From having these two different groups of people there are two vastly different Cultures, traditions, and social normalities that go on. There are now many different languages spoken, different holidays, and entertainment. The Euopeans however have had a major impact on the type of sports played and music listened to in New Zealand. The country are big fans of soccer, rugby, and rock music. Here is an article about the growth of soccer lately: Soccer: World Cup gets youngsters moving

**<span style="color: #074b07; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Human Rights **
[|Human Rights Degree] Article 18- Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. In this article I read that in a Catholic Church a Bishop said that it should become fashionable to dismiss all religions particularly Christianity. "Rather than calling for people of faith to remain silent or remove themselves from the realm of public policy and debate, our opinions and contribution should be eagerly sought. The weight of evidence would suggest that from our long and rich tradition of Catholic faith and culture, we might just have more than a little bit of wisdom to contribute to public debate," he said. [|Dismissing All Religions]
 * Schools to Attend to Obtain A Degree in Human Rights**
 * Continent || Country || University || Course Name || Type Of Course || Duration of Course ||
 * Oceania || Australia || University of Sydney || [|Master of Human Rights] || LL.M. || 12 months ||
 * Oceania || Australia || Monash || [|Master of Laws (Human Rights)] || MA || 12 months ||
 * Oceania || Australia || Centre for Human Rights Education, Curtin University || [|Masters of Human Rights Practice] || MA || 18 months ||
 * Oceania || Australia || Centre for Human Rights Education, Curtin University || [|Masters of Human Rights Education] || MA || 18 months ||
 * "Christians in the Western world are being martyred by words in a war of ideology, said the president of the Federation of Catholic Bishops' Conferences of Oceania."

Article 4 - No one shall be subject to slavery or servitude. Slavery and slave trade shall be prohibited in all of their forms.

Pretty straight forward, means I can own slaves or subject anyone to indentured servitude. In Oceania, specifically Australia, they actually had to make their own act about slavery and sexual servitude, the [|Slavery and Sexual Servitude Act of 1999]. The Act details what can and cannot be done within Australia's borders, and provides a list of penalties and punishments for violating these laws. The Act also demonstrates certain loopholes that one can access in order to violate these laws without being prosecuted. However, if you like not being a citizen of Australia or you can actually live in the middle of the Australian desert, these loopholes are pretty much inaccessible.

For the most part, the only time they've really had to call upon the 1999 Slavery and Sexual Servitude Act was in 2009, when a man was prosecuted under the Act for running a sex slavery ring in Australia, the sentence for which is 15 to 19 years in prison.

[|List of Human Rights in New Zealand]

Article 22.

 * Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

This article, to my knowledge, means that the people are aloud to live their lives with whatever opinion and personality however they choose. In Australia the don't necessarily have any problems with it's government/religious group forcing them to be a certain way which is the same for a majority of the other islands as well. For a majority of the world free will is just a given and it's prominent here.

**<span style="color: #074b07; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Gender **
New Zealand has been a leader in [|women's suffrage rights] since the late 1800's. They were one of the first countries that had women fighting for their rights as human beings. There aggresivness came after seeing the females of Britain gain their rights and they need to be independent. from 1878- 1887 there were finally amendments that were created that made it possible for women to vote. Fom then on women sprung up in the workforce and all over the country as well. As you can see from the above chart, New Zealand is one of the top countries currently with a large majority of their government as women. It is interesting to see that not even the United State is close to that percentile.

In Australian Women's Suffrage Society formed in 1889, which basically fought for women to have rights on par with that of male voters.They also fought for equality in marriage and divorce, such as property rights and custody [|children].

"<span style="font-family: comic sans MS,verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: comic sans MS,verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In 1891 a women's suffrage petition with 30,000 signatures was presented to the Victorian Parliament by various Christian and suffrage societies." Basically Australia, next to New Zealand, was one of the first countries willing to accept women voters into their mix of male voters.

lian Women's Suffrage Society formed in 1889, which basically fought for women to have rights on par with that of male voters.T As far as Australia is concerned, the population, as of July 2006, is 20,264,082, with a ratio of 1.05 males to females at birth, which steadily decreases to 1.02 between ages 15 and 64, and then to .79 between ages 65 and above. For the overall population, there is a ratio of [|.99 males to females.]

When you've come to take all that is bad in the world, look at it deeply, and then burst out into agonized laughter, what then of your morals and your faith? Of course, I speak of faith in regard to the recent call for the ban on the burqa, which, opposed by adamant westernized feminists, who twist and coil words to fit meanings that are not the meanings of the word's original owner, like most of blind and constricted view, is rather meaningless and futile if you assume that all of the axioms that one can provide for such a ludicrous claim are just idiotic banter. In this particular [|article], the woman, or man, writing this portrays a confused and mixed up sequence of arguments that seem to link all of the cultures that consist of the "Arabic" countries under one banner of the restriction of the rights of women. Albeit, one of such a heavily westernized thought, probably domesticated in a family consisting of 2 parents, 2 and a half kids, and a golden retriever, could only jump to such a conclusion as this, "We use the word "faceless" to describe a condition of enforced anonymity. That is exactly what the Burqa does. It renders an entire gender anonymous. Faceless. And we also connect facelessness to a lack of personal autonomy. Because autonomy is connected to identity. Someone without a face has no identity." With that kind of logic, mummers, the chinese, V for Vendetta, and burn victims do not have an identity. Regardless, the single-minded, backwards logic is enough to make someone want to vomit up their own intestines. I'm pretty sure this is the type of person who would condemn a homeless person for letting society keep him down, without first inquiring as to the conditions of his homelessness, or even how he/she personally arrived in that situation.

Wait a second, did I just see the unthinkable, "Islamic cultures that mandate the Burqa also assign a woman's legal rights to her male guardian. She may only travel or conduct serious financial transactions through her male guardian. Marriages, divorces and sometimes even driving a car-- requires a male guardian. This however is not the state of affairs just in Saudi Arabia or Pakistan, but also in the heart of Europe and the United States. We simply have not implemented laws enforcing this..."? Did this woman/man really make such a generally overarching statement that it would even confound the mind of the simplest person? As if what applies in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in terms of women's rights apply equally to all of the Arabic world, and even extends its long and insidious arms to the homeland(s) of Europe and the United States. When was this written, in the 1920's? Or is the United States still a country where women are still restricted to the kitchen, meant only to be barefoot, pregnant, and cooking me dinner? I didn't know I lived in Armenia.

Due to a refusal to inflict further brain damage than I already have inflicted upon myself reading this article, I'll jump down a few paragraphs, more like ten paragraphs, to the most lulzy part of this whole article, "Nor does this only affect Muslim women. In parts of France, non-Muslim women have learned to begin wearing the Hijab to avoid being molested. As Jewish women were forced to wear veils during their exile among Muslims. [|Sheikh Hilali], the Grand Mufti of Australia, laid out the stakes quite well during the Sydney rape trials.

'If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats' or the uncovered meat? The uncovered meat is the problem. If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred.'"

OH NO. OOOOHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Now it's typical of someone with a blind conviction to only pinpoint the worst cases of whatever they're analyzing to help fuel their suicidal argument (IRONY!!!!), and this has got to literally take the cake... The author of this article literally couldn't of chose a more perfect quote to insert into his/her article, solely because of the fact that all this time the author has been trying to expand upon the idea that amongst the Arab culture the idea of women being dehumanized is ever-prevalent. Yet, upon further evaluation, this quote takes the words of a man, and twists them from their original meaning. The fact is that the Sheikh meant that women are only dehumanized when they are NOT wearing their burqa, when they are not covering their faces, that a woman can only be valued as a respected individual if they were to wear this "travel purdah".

Due to the obvious terror element of the statement, the author does has a valid, yet cheap, point. But upon the evaluation of the quote, I don't think I have anything else to say after this, except that tears flow with the laughter this lulzy statement produces. Does that mean I have no morals? Or am I simply masking my frustration with the laughter I've adopted as my only form of medicine, to cope with the unspeakable evils of this world?

I cry for the misguided figures of power, who in their ineptitude, sow pain when they could heal, create scarcity when they could provide, bring despair when they could bring faith, cause a divide when they could bring unity, propagate hatred when they could love. And in effect, these tears do not exist. They are never witnessed. Never told. Never even cried. For the tears belong to the laughter that rings from my being.

I think I taste cheese. Can I get extracredit for my MEGAWIKIPOST? - Sam Beccaria