A ban on entering Tonga has been lifted for the New Zealand journalist Mike Field, the Tonga Government decided today in its weekly Cabinet meeting.

Tonga's Minister for Immigration, Hon Tu'a Taumoepeau Tupou, told Matangi Tonga Online that the government decision was based on a consensus to move forward, "a case of being damned if we do it, and damned if we don...’t do it". He recalled that the ban on Mike Field went back a number of years to the Principal Immigration Officer, Hon. 'Akau'ola.

The news was welcomed by the Media Council Inc. of Tonga, the host of the 2005 bi-annual Pacific Islands News Association Convention to be held in Tonga later this year, to be attended by hundreds of journalists and observers from around the world. Pesi Fonua, the chairman, said the Media Council Inc. had raised the issue with government and requested that all journalists, including Mike Field should be allowed to visit Tonga for the Convention. The latest request was a letter to the Acting Prime Minister Dr Feleti Sevele in April.

"The lifting of the ban opens a new chapter for Tonga's media relations with the overseas press," said Pesi, "Tonga was given a bad name because of the ban on some foreign journalists.

"I want to thank the Tongan government for their favourable consideration of our request, and more specifically I would like to thank the Prime Minister, Prince 'Ulukalala Lavaka Ata, the Minister of Labour Commerce and Industries, Dr Feleti Sevele, and the Minister for Immigration, Hon. Sonatane Tu'a Taumoepeau Tupou."