Native Affairs offers first NZ TV crew report for 50 years

Māori Television's Native Affairs has gone inside the Jakarta-ruled Pacific region of West Papua, first New Zealand television crew to do so in 50 years.

For decades the Indonesian twin provinces of Papua and West Papua have been a no-go zone amid claims of genocide and extreme violence. 

Native Affairs sent a team to the region - the first such NZ crew granted access to the troubled area of Melanesia in a half century.

Reporter Adrian Stevanon has filed an in-depth report on Papua New Guinea's neighbour.

Pacific Media Centre postgraduate researcher on West Papuan affairs Karen Abplanalp, a photojournalist, was also part of the crew.

Stevanon's report will be broadcast by Māori Television's Native Affairs on Monday night, September 28, at 8.30pm.

Also screening is a story about a small community battling a 480 high density housing development in South Auckland.