Australia is part of a Black region, it should recognise Kanaky ambition in New Caledonia | Hamish McDonald

Australia's un-nuanced support for French dominion is unhelpful in a region where decolonisation is unfinished business

Kicking the can down the road is a time-honoured solution to deadlocks over statehood and identity: hoping time, consultation and money can end up in agreement.

But in New Caledonia, the French territory of 290,000 people in the Melanesian island chain to Australia's north-east, the road is running out after more than two decades of can-kicking.