In December I was asked by The Guardian to investigate Papua New Guinea’s frighteningly low vaccination rate – among the lowest in the world. As with everything in PNG, it’s complicated. And difficult to get across from my home office in Melbourne. But with the help of a collection of experts in health and society, … Continue reading
I was supposed to be researching matters of climate justice in the Pacific. Instead over the long Melbourne lockdown in the pandemic winter of 2020, I was in my home nursing a bad case of Black Summer grief. This essay captures my attempts to wrangle that into something useful, going back to scientific experts who … Continue reading
About 10 years ago, when I started writing about PNG and women, I got an encouraging email out of the blue from one Elizabeth Reid. I confess, I had to google her – only one of the most mighty (and modest) feminist wayfinders of the ’70s and beyond. She was Gough’s “supergirl” but has been … Continue reading
This week on ABC Radio National I have a story up on the documentary program Earshot that I’ve long wanted to tell. It’s about how Maria von Trapp – yes, as in How-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-Maria/The Sound of Music – washed up on a PNG island with several of her singing tribe; how her stepdaughter (she was called … Continue reading
It was a privilege and great fun to be asked to edit this 6th edition of NewSouth Books’ highly successful ‘Best Australian Science Writing‘ series. It’s been a long haul, but you can find it now at all good bookshops – just in time for Christmas! Long list of big names included in this edition, … Continue reading
I’m thrilled to be the Editor of the next edition of NewSouth’s Best Australian Science Writing 2016 – the annual compendium of ripping reads from the scientific frontier. Find details here – and deadline for submissions is 31 March. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate and cultivate fine science storytelling, so show us your best, scribes. Continue reading
After 10 days on the island and months of research, my longform report on life on Manus, and how Australia’s detention centre has changed it – for good and for ill. Reporting of this series made possible by an independently awarded grant from GetUps Shipping News project. By Jo Chandler/ Pics Vlad Sokhin. Link here. … Continue reading
The first of several reports from Manus Island, PNG, examining the effects of Australia’s asylum seeker policy on the people and island of Manus. Reporting of this series made possible by an independently awarded grant from GetUps Shipping News project. By Jo Chandler/ Pics Vlad Sokhin. Link here. Continue reading
Chewing betel nut is a sociable, buzzy distraction from the day’s burdens for rich and poor alike in Papua New Guinea. Its trade is also an economic lifeline. So why is an ambitious politician risking his career by chewing over prohibition? By Jo Chandler https://web.archive.org/web/20150318111223/http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/off-their-nut-in-png/711/index.html Continue reading
Notebook & Narrative by Jo Chandler 