2 days ago
Why location matters for the Pacific Pre-COP
A contest between Fiji and Palau should not distract from the main aim to ensure regional priorities are met.
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13 Feb 2026
Pacific Islands must act now on Fiji’s HIV lessons
Fiji now has the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemic. Public education campaigns could stop it spreading across the region. -
11 Feb 2026
Pacific women in policing: Seen but still not heard
The patriarchal power that has dominated the region’s law enforcement remains alive and well, albeit in a new guise. -
5 Feb 2026
Carney's guide to Australia’s middle power dilemma in the Pacific
Australia’s paradox between climate policy and alliance loyalty will test a vision of flexible multilateralism. -
29 Jan 2026
Pacific Islands: The hidden mental health costs of climate change
The region bears the psychological toll of the climate crisis but without the healthcare force to address it. -
27 Jan 2026
The last nautical mile: Pacific Islands’ path to energy resilience
Remote Pacific communities are pioneering renewable power solutions that prioritise local partnerships. -
27 Jan 2026
Fiji’s cocaine seizure shows the Pacific is learning to fight back
Pacific traditional leaders and communities are force multipliers against transnational organised crime. -
12 Dec 2025
Pacific Islands: “Friends to all” is no longer pragmatic
A changing geopolitical climate means the region must work together first before looking outside for help. -
11 Dec 2025
Support for Bougival Accord waning in New Caledonia
Noumea’s vote on the next step towards greater autonomy under the Accord reveals that divisions are deepening. -
10 Dec 2025
Postcard from Solomon Islands: The legacy of RAMSI
More than two decades on, what are the lasting effects of a mission to save a failing state? -
8 Dec 2025
The Marshall Islands’ experiment with a universal basic income
The scheme tests whether microstates can sustain widespread cash transfers, with the Pacific watching on. -
3 Dec 2025
Rethinking the Indo-Pacific as a single ocean system
The waters that connect the region matter more than the distances between its shores, and 2026 will test that principle. -
28 Nov 2025
Can the Pacific still shape COP31 after Australia’s compromise?
Even without a co-hosting arrangement, Canberra can still push outcomes that matter for the region. -
26 Nov 2025
Stablecoins for a universal basic income: The Pacific Islands model
Digital payment systems are emerging as a substitute for inadequate regional banking infrastructure. -
21 Nov 2025
India and the Blue Pacific: A partnership for climate security
Pacific Island countries demand respect for sovereignty and self-determination. Can India help build that vision? -
20 Nov 2025
What happens in Micronesia doesn’t stay in Micronesia
What dispersed basing reveals about US strategic priorities. -
19 Nov 2025
Papua New Guinea’s workers abroad are an untapped resource
A diaspora syndicate fund could bridge the financing gap that leaves small enterprises starved of capital. -
17 Nov 2025
Nauru’s latest deportee deal with Australia repeats old mistakes
As a mono-economy shifts from phosphate to people, the pattern of boom and bust continues unchanged. -
10 Nov 2025
Pacific Islands: Without literacy, climate resilience is nigh on impossible
Strategic competition has left gaping holes in regional health and education goals. The parameters need to be reset. -
3 Nov 2025
The Pacific Olympics legacy Australia needs to build for Brisbane 2032
From medal moments to tourism corridors, a Pacific-focused sports diplomacy strategy could transform regional ties. -
31 Oct 2025
Solomon Islands can have a military, but it shouldn’t need one
If Pacific security initiatives are done right, the region’s non-conventional threats can be better addressed. -
30 Oct 2025
Sunken ships, rising risks: Pacific shipwrecks and maritime security
Securing the region goes well beyond military bases and undersea surveillance. -
27 Oct 2025
Pacific development: The essential local ingredient for sustainability
Donor agencies are discovering what should have been obvious: Pacific islanders are best placed to solve Pacific problems. -
27 Oct 2025
Bougainville’s independence deadline exposes peace agreement gaps
With 2027 looming, unfulfilled provisions and post-referendum delays risk undermining 30 years of peace. -
20 Oct 2025
The Pukpuk Treaty is a defence deal PNG’s youth can prosper from
Structured opportunity for PNG’s population matters more than geopolitical debates about this partnership. -
9 Oct 2025
PNG should ratify the Pukpuk Treaty and move beyond a self-limiting mantra of “friends to all”
“The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.” Proverbs 12:26 -
7 Oct 2025
The Pukpuk Treaty is about keeping China at bay, not military strength
The pact with PNG aims to preserve Australia’s regional standing by making Chinese military access harder. -
2 Oct 2025
Delays on the Pukpuk treaty with PNG were Australian missteps, not failures
The Papua New Guinea agreement represents a landmark not just for its signatories but the region as a whole. -
2 Oct 2025
Applying a national security lens to the International Court’s climate change opinion
When islands sink, do nations disappear? The Court says no. -
19 Sep 2025
Global health at risk: Why Australia’s leadership matters
Washington’s aid freeze threatens decades of progress against infectious diseases across Australia’s neighbourhood. -
17 Sep 2025
Australia-PNG: When mutual defence becomes mutual embarrassment
It was always going to be a hurdle for PNG to change its non-aligned foreign policy. -
17 Sep 2025
Is the Green Climate Fund starting to deliver for the Pacific?
Early signs of progress are emerging, but a drive for scale risks sidelining the region. -
16 Sep 2025
Reality bites: Why the global dengue epidemic matters to Australia
The mosquito-borne disease is more than a health emergency – it symbolises the injustice of climate change. -
8 Sep 2025
The Pacific’s diplomatic retreat from great power competition
Regional leaders are excluding outside powers as they seek consensus on a way to safeguard both unity and diversity. -
4 Sep 2025
A test of unity: Can the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ meeting keep the family together
Pacific leaders will gather in Honiara for big declarations on security and climate, but regional fragmentation poses a pressing challenge. -
2 Sep 2025
Indonesia’s move to welcome PNG into ASEAN is a win-win
Expanding the Southeast Asian bloc is good for the region, and will ensure Jakarta’s leadership position. -
14 Aug 2025
New Caledonia peace plan stumbles at the first hurdle
The main pro-independence coalition has rejected an accord struck in Paris. -
14 Aug 2025
At 50, Papua New Guinea deserves a more complete story
One of ancient roots, contemporary challenges and enduring spirit. -
13 Aug 2025
Australia pays premium price for Pacific partnership
Vanuatu has just shown how small states can rewrite the rules – and the cheques – on their own terms. -
12 Aug 2025
Tok Pisin: Speaking PNG’s main language is more than cultural courtesy
From NRL teams to university exchanges, shared language holds the key to Australia's Pacific relationship success. -
8 Aug 2025
Australia and New Zealand’s Pacific approach diverges
A test of regional unity is shaping – potentially to the benefit of all. -
4 Aug 2025
Multicultural but monolingual: Australia’s Pacific disconnect
If Australia wants to truly join the Pacific family, speaking the languages would help. -
29 Jul 2025
New Caledonia has more guns than almost anywhere else on Earth. What does that mean for self-governance dreams?
Political unrest and weak registration systems have created a firearms problem that may undermine the territory’s political future. -
16 Jul 2025
New Caledonia’s Bougival Accord offers path beyond independence deadlock
Voters in the French territory must now decide at a 2026 referendum whether to accept dual citizenship and statehood within France. -
9 Jul 2025
Visa free Pacific-Australia travel is the next logical step in the relationship
And is even more important as Trump dials down American engagement in the region. -
7 Jul 2025
League versus union: Australia’s rugby diplomacy needs a game plan
Does Australia really want to fund rival codes against each other in Pacific competition with Beijing? -
25 Jun 2025
China’s South Pacific foothold and how to prevent it
A wargame scenario imagines a United States hemmed in and exposed during a regional conflict. It’s all too real. -
23 Jun 2025
Lost at sea: How Tuvalu’s plight holds lessons for the future
The archipelagic Pacific nation has called for an international sea level rise treaty, and here's what that looks like. -
17 Jun 2025
Australia overtakes China in the Pacific as America vacates the lane
Public perceptions of influence measured in the latest Lowy Institute Poll see Australia surge ahead as the “permanent contest” unfolds. -
12 Jun 2025
Australia-PNG relations at 50: Pride, politics and the price of partnership
What if more locals decide that Australia is rewarding bad behaviour at the top of PNG’s politics?