Australia and the Pacific
Interactives
Beyond Fortress Australia
The reality of living in a pandemic has dawned on Australia. Covid cases at the time of writing are high and still climbing. The virus is here to stay. Equally clear is that ring…
Podcasts
Lowy Institute Conversations: Richard Marles on Australia in the Pacific
In this episode of Conversations, Jonathan Pryke speaks with Richard Marles.
Pacific needs partnership, not just leadership
Book review: Richard Marles, Tides That Bind: Australia In The Pacific (Monash University Publishing, 2021)
There’s much to like in Richard Marles’ new essay on Australia…
Commentary
Australia buying Digicel hits two birds with one stone
On top of staving off a China telco monopoly, underwriting the purchase would show the government is putting big money on the table to get ‘blue chip’ companies to invest in the…
Economic diplomacy: Little Australia spends slowly in the Pacific
Baby BRIs
It is now almost three years since Prime Minister Scott Morrison muscled up to China’s infrastructure building Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with $3 billion in varied…
Forgiveness not permission: A feminist foreign policy
China’s increasing attention to the Pacific region has created an uncomfortable bind for Australian foreign policy: should Canberra try to compete on economic grounds, knowing…
The risks of escalating strategic competition in the Pacific Islands
When US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Pacific Island leaders about the dangers of “economic coercion” and “retribution” in an address on 2 June, he echoed a familiar…
Accountability is the path to better governance in PNG
When we look at progress in decentralisation in Papua New Guinea over the last 20 years – the sole continuous and overriding policy priority of successive governments – many…
Facebook’s monopoly danger in the Pacific
The recent stoush between the Australian government and social media giant Facebook, with its eight-day-long ban of local news from its platform, had results that were not…
Policy Briefs
Avoiding a Pacific Lost Decade: Financing the Pacific's COVID-19 Recovery
The Pacific's post-pandemic economic revival will rely on an international
multi-year recovery package of grants and loans led by Australia