Inside Story

International Tip of the spear Nic Maclellan 4 August 2025 Eighty years on, America is intensifying its military presence in the Pacific International Flag fall Nic Maclellan 28 May 2025 From Australia to New Caledonia, symbols of Indigenous sovereignty are proving divisive in both predictable and unpredictable ways International You can’t negotiate on an empty stomach Nic Maclellan 6 December 2024 A government collapses in Paris, and the shockwaves extend as far as Nouméa International “Better a bad deal than a good civil war.” Nic Maclellan 15 November 2024 France has delayed elections in New Caledonia to enable negotiations on a new political statute. But what happens if a deal can’t be struck?

International Death of a newspaper Nic Maclellan 8 May 2023 The closing of New Caledonia’s only daily comes at a delicate point in the debate over the French territory’s future International Water, water everywhere Nic Maclellan 20 December 2022 Scientists and Pacific governments are worried by Japan’s plan to dump radioactive wastewater from Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean International Crash through or crash Nic Maclellan 8 December 2021 By forcing the pace of New Caledonia’s self-determination process, France’s overseas minister risks an illegitimate vote this weekend International On the shoulders of giants Nic Maclellan 9 November 2021 Pacific voices, young and old, have been calling for action at COP26

Essays & reportage “Before Noumea, there was only London, Washington and Ottawa” Nic Maclellan 18 September 2020 Eighty years after helping defend New Caledonia against Japan, Australia is mobilising to counter another rising Asian power International New Caledonia’s bleu-blanc-rouge vote Nic Maclellan 11 September 2020 As the Pacific nation heads for a fresh independence referendum in October, many loyalists are clinging to the flag of the French Republic International “We would like the French state to apologise” Nic Maclellan 27 July 2020 As the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings approaches, the legacy of cold war–era French nuclear testing is still in dispute International Smart harvest Nic Maclellan 11 June 2020 Pacific islanders are responding to disruptions to food security with cultural solidarity and new technology