The only female Member of Parliament to emerge from Vanuatu's national election last month wasted no time in announcing her presence on the national stage.
Only days after electoral officials confirmed Marie Louise Milne's election win — dispelling initial fears of a return to an all-male parliament — she called publicly for a ministry in its next government.
"A woman too has her place [at] the table at the national level," she told the ABC.
Ms Milne was one of 52 MPs sitting on Tuesday morning for the first time since the .
Parliamentarians voted Leaders Party MP Jotham Napat, a former foreign minister whose party won the most seats at the election, unopposed to become Vanuatu's new prime minister.
Mr Napat, a 52-year-old former Meteorology Department director who once worked as a weather forecaster, will soon appoint ministers for the nation's next government.
Ms Milne said last week she had a strong case to be one of them.
"It'd be good if we could recognise the voice of women and give a ministry to the only woman member of parliament, so that there's also balance in the executive of the national government," she said.
It was a call backed by the country's human rights and gender equality advocates, who hope the new parliament will adopt measures encouraging more women to enter politics.
"It requires men within those political parties to be able to say it's about time we give opportunities to our mothers, our sisters, our wives and our daughters to be able to participate," Wilson Toa, country director of Balance of Power, a group advocating for women's representation in politics, said.
Vanuatu is also watching closely to see whether the new parliament will grow more stable after reforms aiming to end the nation's cycle of short-lived governments, as it begins a long post-disaster reconstruction effort.
Nearly two months after a deadly magnitude-7.3 earthquake struck and killed 14 people, Port Vila's CBD remains closed, forcing businesses to temporarily relocate and shed jobs.
In his first speech as prime minister, Mr Napat said the road ahead would not be easy, and that he would announce the new government's priorities later on Tuesday.
"Today we see a new thing, a bipartisan approach," he said.
"I want to make an appeal to this house and all the citizens of Vanuatu, it's time to come together to build our country."
Mr Toa is one of many people hoping for less political game-playing from Vanuatu's parliament.
"Voters have done their part in casting their vote," Mr Toa said.
"It's time now for political parties to show leadership."
'Don't give up'
In a quiet parliamentary chamber, Ms Milne on Tuesday morning announced her presence loudly and clearly during the roll call of MPs.
Minutes later, she was the first MP to be sworn in, becoming only the seventh woman to sit in Vanuatu's parliament in nearly 45 years.
"It's an exceptional result to be elected as a woman in Vanuatu," Australian National University researcher on women in Pacific politics, Kerryn Baker, said.
Ms Milne, the former deputy mayor of Port Vila City Council, was one of only seven women among 217 candidates running in January's election, a low figure even compared to recent polls.
"One of the saddest things is that not many women contested," human rights advocate Anne Pakoa said.
"It's showing that women did not have the financial capability and the domestic support to be able to step out and contest the elections."
For women who are elected as MPs, the position comes with expectations not experienced by male parliamentarians, observers say.
"You're not elected to represent all women, but that is often what people expect you to do," Dr Baker said.
"It's not impossible to manage, but it is an extra responsibility.
"That is a little bit unfair because there's no man in the Vanuatu parliament who's expected to represent all men."
Observers also say the parliament can feel a lonely place for its women MPs — something Ms Milne says she's anticipating.
"The fact of being the only female member of parliament in a predominantly male environment can lead to feelings of isolation," she told the ABC.
She said her experience as an elected official at Port Vila City Council, and her previous involvement in politics, had prepared her.
"It will not be a big deal for me being the only female in the parliament," she said.
While Ms Milne also credits her husband, former Vanuatu prime minister Moana Carcasses Kalosil, with helping in her political career, observers say she has been a political force in her own right.
"Her getting through is a demonstration of her affiliation with the people," Ms Pakoa said.
As the only MP to be elected from Vanuatu's Green Confederation party, Ms Milne faces barriers to becoming a minister — a role few women have held since Vanuatu gained independence in 1980.
She must align formally with another party in the new parliament under new laws aiming to prevent floor crossing and political instability.
Ms Milne is also competing with MPs from coalition parties jostling for senior roles.
"It's a really hotly contested space. You have a huge number of parties represented … and there's only a certain number of ministries to go around," Dr Baker said.
"It's difficult for someone who's not [in] one of the key parties that are making up the government coalition to break in."
Observers and advocates say political parties can build on a round of political reforms last year to reduce political instability, by adopting measures encouraging more women to run for parliament.
Balance of Power's Mr Toa hopes new laws requiring political parties to have at least one woman in their executive could also help more women become MPs and ministers.
[YouTube Pacific women in power]Ms Milne said as the next parliament gets to work, she'll remain vocal about the challenges faced by Vanuatu's women.
"We are one of the most vulnerable countries in the world, we face natural disasters," she said.
"We women face a lot of challenges in terms of recovery. So it's sad that in the parliament we have only one woman.
"I encourage all women to please don't give up, [so at the] 2029 election, we can have more ladies in parliament."
An end to instability?
It was a fresh round of political instability that brought on the election and threw Vanuatu's government into caretaker mode only weeks before the earthquake struck on December 17.
The new government will be Vanuatu's fourth in nearly two years, after a series of motions of no confidence roiled the last parliament.
Voters are watching to see whether reforms they backed in a referendum last year, and coming into effect with this parliament, will finally stabilise the nation's politics.
[YouTube instability]One reform allows parties to expel MPs — meaning they would also lose their seat — if they cross the floor.
Another requires independent MPs to affiliate with a political party, or have their seats vacated.
Tess Newton Cain, an adjunct associate professor at the Griffith Asia Institute, said it remained to be seen how much they'll contribute to stability.
"What we would expect to see is fewer attempts to change government than we have seen previously," she said.
But the reforms don't stop an entire party from leaving a government coalition, she said.
"That could still be enough to effect a change of government."
As polling day approached last month, voters expressed frustrations with the nation's parliament, calling for MPs to stop shifting allegiances and bringing down governments.
"Certainly the people, the communities and the businesses of Port Vila don't want this continual distraction of political game playing and rounds of elections," Dr Newton Cain said.
"They want to be able to focus on these huge recovery and reconstruction efforts."
Vanuatu's new government faces a post-earthquake recovery task estimated to cost at least 29 billion vatu ($374 million) — an enormous sum for the developing nation.
One of the parliament's first tasks will be to pass a national budget.
The earthquake struck just as the nation was recovering from three severe cyclones that devastated its islands in 2023, the collapse of its national airline, and the economic impact of COVID.
A Vanuatu Chamber of Commerce survey shows the prolonged closure of the CBD, where the earthquake damaged multiple buildings, is devastating the economy and has led to 900 job losses.
Mr Toa said the quake had most impacted Vanuatu's women, leaving handicraft market vendors and food stall operators unable to operate in the CBD.
"Any person who says he can fix the problems of this country tomorrow probably is a dreamer or is a liar because this is the first time we've gone through this situation," he said.
He said the nation needed leadership from its MPs through the recovery effort ahead.
"If not, then it will be a challenging journey for us."
