Australia and the Pacific
What’s on offer? Pacific policy and Australia’s election
The Pacific has undergone a foreign policy renaissance of sorts, with politicians and policymakers falling over themselves to proclaim their commitment to the region and its vital…
Ignoring international law in the Blue Pacific
Both the Australian Labor Party and Coalition have expressed support for France to remain as a Pacific power, seeing the French Republic as a stable, democratic, Western ally at a…
Canberra’s Pacific pivot is bereft of vision
A refreshing wave of Pacific-mania is sweeping Canberra.
There’s new postings, a new Office of the Pacific, a high profile visit from the prime minister to the region, and two…
Sovereignty for citizenship might help the Pacific
You cannot fault former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd for a failure of imagination with his recent suggestion of trading sovereignty for citizenship.
You can’t eat…
The curious case of aid concentration in Papua New Guinea
The aid industry is complex. Dozens of bilateral donors, hundreds of multilateral agencies, and thousands of non-governmental organisations litter the development landscape in all…
Australia, BRI backlash should be a warning on loans
Australia created a $500 million loan scheme for Indonesia to support reconstruction following the 2005 Boxing Day tsunami. Australia lent a hand, forging stronger links…
Australia’s new Pacific Czar
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has now established an Office of the Pacific, a measure foreshadowed in 2018 as part of Australia’s Pacific “step up”. Ewen McDonald,…
Morrison and the Pacific: the good, the gaffe, and the omission
The statements about the importance of the Pacific to Australia by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Foreign Minister Marise Payne, backed by the Foreign Policy White Paper last…
Never too late to get the kids off Nauru
Over the past six years, we have witnessed the steady, if not accelerating, deterioration of the mental and physical health of refugee children on Nauru. Their suffering has been…
Turning the dial on international broadcasting
Right when Australia finds itself with serious strategic interests in its neighbourhood, it has managed to turn its once influential international broadcasting…