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Decolonisation in the Pacific - The Struggle of the Kanak People & New Caledonia’s Independence Referendum

13 July 2018
1.00pm – 2.30pm AEST
UNSW Law Building
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Since its founding in 1984, the Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS) in New Caledonia has been campaigning for independence from France. Under the 20-year transition established by the 1998 Noumea Accord, the French dependency is moving towards a referendum on self-determination, to be held on 4 November 2018.

The referendum and future options for the Kanak people will be discussed by Daniel Goa, president of Union Calédonienne (UC), the largest member of the FLNKS independence coalition. At the February 2018 FLNKS Congress, he was appointed as official spokesperson for the FLNKS in the lead up to the looming referendum on self-determination.

Mr. Goa will discuss the FLNKS campaign for the referendum, and how the vote will affect New Caledonia’s relations with Australia and other members of the Pacific Islands Forum. He will also outline the FLNKS proposal for a new republic of Kanaky-New Caledonia and economic options for an independent and sovereign state.

Location: Level 2, Staff Common Room, UNSW Law Building (F8) Map location

Speakers
Daniel Goa

Daniel Goa

Daniel Goa is a New Caledonian politician. He was elected to New Caledonia’s Northern Provincial Assembly in 2002 and to the Congress of New Caledonia in 2009. In 2012, he was elected as President of Union Calédonienne (UC), the political party founded in 1953 that is the largest member of the independence coalition Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS). At the February 2018 FLNKS Congress, he was appointed as official spokesperson for the independence coalition.