Dateline Pacific for Monday 2 December 2019

As polling for an historic independence referendum continues, the former head of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army is calling for foreign partnership to help in the construction of a new nation, adding that mining will play a key role; a by-election for the seat left vacant by the death of Tongan Prime Minister 'Akilisi Pohiva has been won by his son; a Cook Islands select committee reviewing proposed amendments to the country's crimes act says the majority of public submissions call for male homosexuality to remain illegal in the country; Ahead of next year's general election on Niue, there is a call to encourage young people to run, and; an 11-year-old Australian boy of Cook Island Maori descent has been left in tears after he was pointed out as "the big kid" and called to get off the field in the middle of a junior rugby tournament in Sydney this month.