Michael FieldMichael Field

Veteran journalist Michael Field has spent much of his career in the South Pacific. His books have included Speight of Violence (Fiji's 2000 coup) and Swimming with Sharks, a collection of tales of the Pacific. His most recent book, The Catch, was on the scandal of the global and New Zealand fishing fleets. He was born in Wellington on the day Hillary reached Mt Everest's peak.

The barefoot men of Niue sent to die in the trenches of World War I

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Michael Field reviews a new study of Niue’s role in World War I, when Sir Māui Pōmare despatched 150 Niueans to fight in a mysterious war. Millions of dollars have been spent in adoration of New Zealand’s mythology which says sending 18,000 men to die in the Great War made us a really great nation. Gallipoli, … Read more

A masterpiece of Pacific story-telling: Part 2 of the strange story of Tonga’s lost island of ‘Ata

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All week this week the Spinoff Review of Books looks at Scott Hamilton’s brilliant new book, The Stolen Island, his investigation into the people-snatching raid on the Tongan island of ‘Ata. Today: Michael Field reviews a masterclass in combining Pacific history with story-telling. Back in 1981, a reformed and repentant British colonial administrator, Henry Maude, had … Read more

Summer reissue: To catch a blackbird: Michael Field responds to the whitewashing of a Pacific “pirate”

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In late August we ran a piece by Joan Druett on her new biography of 19th century sea captain William “Bully” Hayes, who roamed the Pacific and New Zealand. Michael Field was among those who were concerned that it failed to properly address Hayes’s involvement in “blackbirding”; we asked him to write an essay in response to the … Read more

To catch a blackbird: Michael Field on the whitewashing of a Pacific ‘pirate’

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Last Monday we ran a piece by Joan Druett on her new biography of 19th century sea captain William ‘Bully’ Hayes, who roamed the Pacific and New Zealand. Michael Field was among those who were concerned that it failed to properly address Hayes’s involvement in ‘blackbirding’; we asked him to write an essay in response … Read more

Blacklisted in coup coup land: why one journalist won’t be accompanying the PM to Fiji

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When John Key flies out to Fiji today, one journalist who won’t be joining the delegation is old Pacific hand Michael Field, who is banned from entering the country. He explains how he got added to Bainimarama’s blacklist. I’ve a long history of being banned in the Pacific. The reason why I’m unable to join … Read more

Revealed: New Zealand’s enormous 60-year, 25 million tonne illegal fishing lie

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Michael Field, whose book The Catch helped expose the labour and human rights abuses in New Zealand’s fishing industry, says a report out today reveals a decades-long abuse of our much-vaunted quota system, with more than twice as many fish caught as declared. New Zealanders know the power of national utterances; we live by “clean and green” … Read more

Tony Veitch’s decade in denial

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Michael Field covered Tony Veitch’s original trial and reported on the release of his police file. He writes that the broadcaster’s column yesterday was just another instance of his abdicating responsibility for his actions. A long time ago I sat in a court as a judge pulled a black handkerchief over his white wig and passed a sentence … Read more

Me and Jürgen Mossack: Michael Field on chasing the Panama Papers through the South Pacific in the ’00s

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Outside the arcane world of tax havens few had noticed Mossack Fonseca creeping into the South Pacific, but New Zealand journalist Michael Field was one. He recalls how he confronted the co-founder of the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers data leak. Jürgen Mossack came to Auckland to shut me up. For … Read more

How China’s illegal fishing armada is plundering the South Pacific

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Illegal fishing, much of it by China, is costing some of the world’s smallest and poorest nations hundreds of millions of dollars. Why isn’t New Zealand doing more about the blatant theft in its backyard, asks Michael Field. It would have been a tense moment or two for Captain Wang Chang Fu when, in the … Read more