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Published daily by the Lowy Institute

  • 15 May 2025
    • Aid & Development
    • Pacific Islands

    Pacific health systems: Breaking the aid dependency cycle

    Pala Leka
    Donor dependency is not a path to health sovereignty in the region.
  • 2 May 2025
    • Pacific Islands
    • Solomon Islands

    Bursting the Solomon Islands stability bubble

    Jon Fraenkel
    A mass cabinet exodus sets up another leadership change amid shifting Chinese influence in the Pacific nation.
  • 1 May 2025
    • Aid & Development
    • Australia
    • Pacific Islands

    What the Pacific sees at stake in the Australian election

    Isabelle Zhu-Maguire
    Climate policy, aid and regional respect hang in the balance.
  • 14 Mar 2025
    • Maritime Security
    • Trade
    • International law
    • Sustainability
    • Pacific Islands

    Sunk costs: Pacific shipwrecks and the urgent call for the Nairobi Convention

    Sheridan Ward
    An international accord to clean up shipwrecks and other waste from commerce on the high seas already exists. The region should get on board.
  • 12 Mar 2025
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • Pacific Islands
    • Papua New Guinea

    Papua New Guinea: Shhhhh … don’t use the word “Alliance”

    Oliver Nobetau
    PNG’s sovereignty need not come at the cost of the safety and well-being of its own people.
  • 3 Mar 2025
    • Pacific Islands
    • New Caledonia

    New Caledonia: A small step forward

    Denise Fisher
    The first comprehensive talks in four years at least sees the parties together in the restive territory.
  • 3 Mar 2025
    • Aid & Development
    • Pacific Islands
    • Development Assistance
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Australian Development Assistance
    • China and the Pacific

    Is this the end of aid as we know it?

    Soli Middleby
    The task for Western aid is not to rebuild what existed before, but to reduce dependency altogether.
  • 24 Feb 2025
    • France
    • Pacific Islands
    • New Caledonia

    New Caledonia: A troubled France seeks agreement about the future

    Denise Fisher
    With local elections overdue against the backdrop of recent strife comes the latest pitch for peace.
  • 17 Feb 2025
    • Climate change
    • United Nations
    • Pacific Islands
    • United States

    What the Pacific has said about Trump’s Paris pull-out

    Isabelle Zhu-Maguire
    Listen to the region and the message is clear – wrong way, go back.
  • 12 Feb 2025
    • Pacific Islands
    • Papua New Guinea

    A “National Interest Analysis” would strengthen PNG’s foreign policymaking

    Patrick Kaiku , Molly Kola
    Robust domestic procedures are crucial, not least to improve public understanding of government actions.
  • 6 Feb 2025
    • Climate change
    • United Nations
    • Pacific Islands
    • China and the Pacific
    • Fiji
    • Papua New Guinea
    • Samoa
    • Solomon Islands

    The global contest for the Pacific

    Michael Wesley
    Geopolitical fears of growing Chinese influence in Oceania are not the only interest Australia has in the region.
  • 5 Feb 2025
    • Pacific Islands
    • Papua New Guinea

    Sir Julius Chan: PNG’s “last man standing”

    Ian Kemish
    Reflecting on a political life championing local development and courting international controversy.
  • 3 Feb 2025
    • Pacific Islands
    • Fiji

    Strong leader preferred – Fiji’s coup legacy

    Mosmi Bhim
    Complete democratisation will remain a challenge for Fiji while former military officers continue to dominate politics.
  • 3 Feb 2025
    • India
    • Australia
    • Digital Disruption
    • Technology
    • Pacific Islands

    The deadly consequences of disinformation in the Pacific

    Lisa Singh , Tushar Joshi
    International partners, including Australia and India, are well placed to counter the scourge.
  • 17 Jan 2025
    • Climate change
    • Pacific Islands
    • United States

    Trump’s climate retreat will cost America influence in the Pacific

    Oliver Sinclair
    So much for the solemn declarations of “family”. 
  • 16 Jan 2025
    • Transnational Challenges
    • Pacific Islands

    A looming police shortage in the Pacific: Drug use can cripple a male workforce

    Melissa Jardine
    The labour and public health consequences from expanding drugs surge in the region must be acted upon.
  • 13 Jan 2025
    • Pacific Islands
    • Solomon Islands

    The case to keep guns out of police hands in Solomon Islands

    Sheridan Ward
    In a country where trust in the police is already fragile, bringing in more weapons won’t help.
  • 6 Jan 2025
    • Aid & Development
    • Technology
    • Pacific Islands
    • Vanuatu

    Vanuatu’s digital vulnerability

    Cynthia Mehboob
    Who will fund Vanuatu's second cable? 
  • 20 Dec 2024
    • Defence & Security
    • Climate change
    • Pacific Islands
    • United States

    Trump’s relations with the Blue Pacific

    Tarcisius Kabutaulaka
    The second Trump administration will find a region different from when last in office.
  • 19 Dec 2024
    • Aid & Development
    • Pacific Islands
    • Vanuatu

    Vanuatu: The challenge to build back

    Meg Keen , Riley Duke
    A crippling earthquake will test Vanuatu’s already fragile political and economic system.
  • 18 Dec 2024
    • Pacific Islands

    Votes of no confidence at a time of permanent contest: A Pacific Islands year in review

    Jessica Collins
    With so much global attention on the region, little shifts can have big ramifications.
  • 11 Dec 2024
    • China
    • Australia
    • Pacific Islands
    • Nauru
    • Tuvalu

    Australia’s new chequebook diplomacy in the Pacific

    Daniel Flitton
    The potential for a bidding war should be acknowledged.
  • 11 Dec 2024
    • China
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • Pacific Islands
    • Nauru

    An ounce of prevention: Nauru deal puts defence spending in a different light

    Sam Roggeveen
    Australia’s Nauru deal is a victory for preventive diplomacy, closing off any possibility of a Chinese security presence.
  • 10 Dec 2024
    • Australia
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Pacific Islands
    • Nauru

    New treaty ties Nauru to Australia via banks, security and telecommunications

    Jessica Collins
    But the “permanent state of contest” in the Pacific appears set to continue.
  • 4 Dec 2024
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • Transnational Challenges
    • Pacific Islands

    “Narco-subs” in the Pacific demonstrates need for effective maritime security cooperation

    Henrietta McNeill , Genevieve Quirk
    Criminals are always looking for an edge. Listening to what the Pacific needs and coordinating maritime security responses will help blunt the threat.
  • 29 Nov 2024
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Global Economy
    • Pacific Islands

    Australia’s banking on the Pacific

    Jessica Collins
    Making money in the region is not easy. But links to international finance are essential.
  • 27 Nov 2024
    • Climate change
    • Technology
    • United Nations
    • Pacific Islands
    • Fiji
    • Nauru
    • Papua New Guinea
    • Samoa
    • Solomon Islands
    • Tonga
    • Tuvalu

    The Pacific disinformation playbook

    Meg Tapia
    A surge in connectivity has exacerbated the region’s challenges, undermining trust in science and government.
  • 7 Nov 2024
    • Pacific Islands
    • Solomon Islands

    Fake kidnaps and real dangers of disinformation in Pacific Islands

    Anouk Ride
    Islanders have long joked about “coconut wireless” storytelling – but more understanding of these networks is needed in the digital age.
  • 1 Nov 2024
    • Pacific Islands
    • New Caledonia
    • Sex and Gender

    An all-male Pacific peace mission to New Caledonia excludes women’s voices in the crisis

    Nicole George
    Women are being made invisible, yet their actions are consequential.
  • 30 Oct 2024
    • Pacific Islands
    • Review

    The Translator: What is "strategic infrastructure"?

    Laura Salt
    Building lines of influence in the Pacific.
  • 29 Oct 2024
    • Transnational Challenges
    • Pacific Islands

    Pacific Islands need stronger corrections systems to address transnational and organised crime

    Danielle Watson
    Rehabilitation is too often a forgotten arena in regional efforts.
  • 28 Oct 2024
    • China
    • Pacific Islands
    • Papua New Guinea

    China’s language diplomacy in Papua New Guinea

    Bernard Yegiora
    Local Mandarin programs are gaining momentum as a tool to foster closer relations.
  • 23 Oct 2024
    • Aid & Development
    • Pacific Islands

    Biases within the capital flows to the Pacific

    Jinita Prasad
    A pervasive power imbalance stops the small steps needed for better aid outcomes in the region.
  • 23 Oct 2024
    • Australia
    • Pacific Islands

    The Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme is helping some workers but harming others – it needs to be reformed

    Matt Withers
    Lopsided economic benefits are intimately linked to prevailing conditions of employment.
  • 21 Oct 2024
    • Australia
    • Pacific Islands
    • Papua New Guinea

    PNG’s NRL bid: Making the most of the high-stakes game

    Oliver Nobetau
    Accountability is not just a question for donors but for the recipient country, too.
  • 18 Oct 2024
    • Aid & Development
    • Australia
    • Australian Foreign Aid
    • Pacific Islands

    Can Australia’s new Humanitarian Policy deliver?

    Meg Keen
    The effort is laudable, and a step in the right direction, with more ambition and local engagement needed.
  • 17 Oct 2024
    • Pacific Islands
    • Samoa

    Samoa: The Switzerland of the Pacific

    Sheridan Ward
    With CHOGM leaders about to touch down in Apia, the nation’s mandate for peace and non-violence will be on show.
  • 4 Oct 2024
    • Pacific Islands

    Paris offers signs of hope for New Caledonia

    Denise Fisher
    Recent government statements represent a major conciliatory effort by France.
  • 2 Oct 2024
    • Pacific Islands
    • The Biden Presidency
    • The Trump Presidency
    • United States
    • US Elections

    Kamala Harris and the Pacific Islands

    Meg Keen
    Pacific Island countries want to hear more from the Democratic nominee about how she will support the region.
  • 20 Sep 2024
    • Pacific Islands
    • Papua New Guinea

    The days lost to PNG’s development and economy over votes of no confidence

    Catherine Wilson
    Diminished parliamentary productivity has ramifications not only for the progress of legislation but the well-being of the nation.
  • 20 Sep 2024
    • Pacific Islands

    Reducing the role of cash in Pacific Island economies

    Jessica Collins , Hilman Palaon
    From QR codes to mobile wallets, innovative tech solutions can help the region transition its financial ecosystem.
  • 12 Sep 2024
    • Australia
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Australia's Economy
    • Pacific Islands

    The real risks of exploitation for Pacific workers in Australia

    Sophia Kagan
    While neither blackbirding nor systemic modern slavery, the PALM scheme has many loopholes that should be addressed.
  • 10 Sep 2024
    • Taiwan
    • Pacific Islands

    Beijing’s "one-China principle" is spreading

    Benjamin Herscovitch
    It is untrue that Taiwan is an "inalienable part" of China, but that's not stopping governments from Kiribati to Honduras from saying it.
  • 6 Sep 2024
    • Pacific Islands
    • Tonga

    Tonga and His Majesty’s Armed Forces: A military made for peace

    Sheridan Ward
    This Pacific country avoided colonisation not by force, but by adopting the trappings of state. A next step awaits.
  • 30 Aug 2024
    • Pacific Islands

    Long-range leaders in Melanesia: Why you need to know about them

    Miranda Forsyth , Sinclair Dinnen
    Carefully mixing metaphors helps to understand a crucial yet underappreciated actor in Pacific politics.
  • 28 Aug 2024
    • Australia
    • Pacific Islands
    • Tuvalu

    The Falepili Union: A Pacific response to the greatest global challenges

    Pat Conroy
    A world-first treaty with Australia ensures Tuvalu’s statehood will continue, even in the face of a climate catastrophe.
  • 26 Aug 2024
    • Transnational Challenges
    • Pacific Islands
    • Tonga

    The down-low on deportations and drugs in Tonga

    Henrietta McNeill
    The practice by Australia of sending criminals back to their home country can pose a risk to regional security without the proper reintegration support.
  • 21 Aug 2024
    • Asia
    • Australia and Asia
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Australian Development Assistance
    • Australian Foreign Aid
    • Foreign Policy
    • Pacific Islands

    Australia takes a big first step to engage civil society in foreign policy

    Heather Wrathall , Jasmine Stephens
    With a new multi-million dollar fund, Canberra underscores the importance of robust and transparent democracy.
  • 21 Aug 2024
    • Climate change
    • United Nations
    • Pacific Islands
    • New Caledonia
    • Tonga

    Polycrisis in the Pacific: How leaders will respond at the PIF Summit in Tonga

    Mihai Sora
    A tiny capital will be host to a huge regional agenda.
  • 13 Aug 2024
    • Australia
    • Diplomacy
    • Climate change
    • Pacific Islands
    • The Americas

    Where to for Australia’s First Nations Foreign Policy?

    'Alopi Latukefu
    The climate is right to make environmental diplomacy a centrepiece of this new approach to the world.
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