Vanuatu
Digital dominoes: Australia’s strategic play in the Pacific
Pacific Island countries, with their sprawling geography, have been caught in a digital divide. Lack of critical, digitally enabling infrastructure slows down development progress…
Measuring the climate cost to Pacific development
Tropical cyclone Lola slammed into Vanuatu's northern islands last week, the third high intensity storm to hit the island nation in seven months. Lola was also the earliest…
Japan risks its reputation in Oceania with Fukushima discharge
Japan’s decision last month to begin discharging treated radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean from its destroyed Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is fairly unpopular…
The US–Pacific Islands Partnership, one year on
Last September, the United States made some big promises to Pacific Island Countries (PICs) at its first ever Pacific Leaders’ Summit. The brief follow-up summit scheduled to take…
Vanuatu: No confidence, but in whom?
Just two-and-a-half weeks ago, Vanuatu celebrated its 43rd Independence anniversary. Bands marched around Independence Park in Port Vila, watched by the assembled groups of…
Riots serve an unexpected lesson in the Pacific
“Do you think there will be riots today?” is a common question I get in my message box each time there are political controversies in Solomon Islands.
A number of colleagues…
Strengthening disaster resilience in the Pacific
Climate change is compounding disaster risk around the world. Recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) make clear that the growing effects of…
Why Indonesia’s engagement with Pacific countries matters
Last week, Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi wrapped up a brief official visit to Fiji and Solomon Islands. On her agenda, apart from the usual high-level bilateral…
From Port Vila to the Peace Palace
An ambitious plan to bring one of the world’s most pressing issues to the world’s highest court – which began as an idea that was kicked around by a few law students at the…
Pacific labour mobility and the existential threat of climate change
The consolidation of Australia’s identity as an Asia-Pacific nation is a work in progress. It is as a consistently attentive and engaged Asia-Pacific nation – rather than as a US…