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  • 31 Oct 2023
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Australian Development Assistance
    • Australian Foreign Aid
    • Debt
    • Pacific Islands
    • China and the Pacific

    Infrastructure for influence: Pacific Islands building spree

    Meg Keen
    Even with stabilising debt and higher revenues, the region’s needs still outpace funding. Partnerships are key.
  • 31 Oct 2023
    • Aid & Development
    • Australia
    • Australia and the Pacific

    Pacific aid enters a new era

    Alexandre Dayant
    The latest Lowy Institute Pacific Aid Map demonstrates that there is no going back to the way things were.
  • 17 Oct 2023
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Technology
    • Pacific Islands
    • Sex and Gender

    Empowering women in the Pacific: A collaborative effort to confront online abuse

    Julie Inman Grant
    A regional symposium was an important step in tackling technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
  • 29 Sep 2023
    • Japan
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Pacific Islands
    • China and the Pacific
    • Fiji
    • Nauru
    • New Zealand
    • Papua New Guinea
    • Solomon Islands
    • Tonga
    • Vanuatu

    Japan risks its reputation in Oceania with Fukushima discharge

    Derek Grossman
    A rollcall of Pacific Island nations have very different views on the release of treated radioactive wastewater.
  • 14 Aug 2023
    • Aid & Development
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Pacific Islands

    What does the new International Development Policy mean for the Pacific?

    Jessica Collins , Meg Keen
    Australia has outlined its case for being the preferred regional partner, but the Pacific needs less talk and more action.
  • 18 Jul 2023
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • China and the Pacific
    • Solomon Islands

    A Pacific power play could prove the Quad’s relevance

    Edward Cavanough
    Off-grid households across the region are desperate for electricity that doesn’t come with (China's) strings attached.
  • 23 Jun 2023
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Pacific Islands

    Bracing for 3000 Pacific Engagement Visas

    Natasha Turia-Moka , Akka Rimon , Michael Kabuni , Jope Tarai
    Australia’s new permanent resident scheme must prioritise the people of the Blue Pacific who will be most impacted.
  • 8 Jun 2023
    • China
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Papua New Guinea

    PNG’s trade ties with China are set to strengthen

    Maholopa Laveil
    Canberra has committed to bolstering agriculture assistance, but free trade agreements may leave Australia in second place.
  • 7 Mar 2023
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • China and the Pacific
    • Papua New Guinea

    PNG voices: regional partnerships must be based on respect

    Andrea Connor , Maholopa Laveil , Leonie Baptiste , Londari Yamarak , Hannah Sarvasy
    Righting perceptions of an asymmetric relationship between PNG and Australia comes down to listening.
  • 27 Feb 2023
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Pacific Islands
    • Papua New Guinea

    Answers needed on the Pacific Engagement Visa

    Akka Rimon , Michael Kabuni , Jope Tarai , Natasha Turia-Moka
    Beyond practicalities, it’s unclear whether this is a genuine “Pacific family” partnership or geopolitical convenience?
  • 24 Feb 2023
    • Australia
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Australia's Defence Challenges
    • Australia-United States Relations
    • Australian Defence Force
    • Australian Navy
    • Australia–New Zealand
    • China-Australia Relations
    • New Zealand

    The Australia-New Zealand alliance in a war with China

    Robert Ayson
    The potential for conflict in the region should have Canberra and Wellington thinking about shared strategic risks.
  • 25 Jan 2023
    • Aid & Development
    • China – Belt and Road Initiative
    • Development Assistance
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Australian Foreign Aid
    • Pacific Islands
    • Papua New Guinea
    • Solomon Islands

    Chinese aid to the Pacific: decreasing, but not disappearing

    Alexandre Dayant , Meg Keen , Roland Rajah
    With fewer Chinese finances available and less demand from Pacific countries, geopolitical competition is opening up.
  • 19 Jan 2023
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Pacific Islands
    • China and the Pacific
    • Solomon Islands

    Weaving webs of statecraft in the Pacific Islands

    Joanne Wallis , Henrietta McNeill , Alan C. Tidwell , Czeslaw Tubilewicz
    Gaining influence in the region is about tools and techniques, not just the actors.
  • 28 Nov 2022
    • Australia in the World
    • Australia
    • Australia and Asia
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Australian Diplomacy
    • Diplomacy
    • Foreign Policy

    Confident, competent, inconsistent: Australia’s strategic personality

    Ian Hall
    Canberra’s report card receives a solid “pleasing result” on Southeast Asia, but a “could do better” on the Pacific.
  • 11 Oct 2022
    • Aid & Development
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Australian Development Assistance
    • Pacific Islands
    • Papua New Guinea
    • United States

    The Global Fragility Act in PNG: can the US succeed?

    Jessica Collins
    A seemingly radical approach that relies on prevention and relinquishing control may be a foreign policy game-changer.
  • 4 Oct 2022
    • Aid & Development
    • Development Assistance
    • Asia
    • Australia and Asia
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Multilateral Development Banks

    Building a better development finance institution: Australia’s opportunity

    Jessica Mackenzie , Alberto Lemma
    Canberra can learn a lot about risk appetite and the culture of financing from those already in the space.
  • 27 Jun 2022
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Melanesia
    • Papua New Guinea
    • Solomon Islands
    • Vanuatu

    Pacific labour mobility and the existential threat of climate change

    Peter Hooton
    Australia needs to walk the walk on emissions, migration targets and resettlements to make itself a good neighbour.
  • 27 May 2022
    • Pacific Islands
    • Australia
    • Australia and the Pacific

    Labor’s Pacific plan: ticking the economic box

    Jessica Collins
    Tightening up on fees charged for remittances will ensure millions of dollars get to households across the region.
  • 26 Apr 2022
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Solomon Islands

    Fixing Australia’s failing Pacific Step-up strategy

    Peter Layton
    Supporting domestic interest groups in the region will bring success, and should be high on Canberra’s “to do” list.
  • 24 Mar 2022
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Climate change

    Climate change in the Pacific – what Australia needs to do

    Peter Hooton
    Canberra’s insipid approach to climate action undermines trust and endangers vital interests close to home.  
  • 17 Feb 2022
    • Australia and the Pacific

    The Pacific Islands become collateral damage on drug superhighway

    Jose Sousa-Santos
    Australia and New Zealand must address the fallout from an appetite for illicit drugs. The Pacific is relying on it.
  • 15 Oct 2021
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • France

    France-Australia: Welcome back, Your Excellency, urgent matters await

    Alexandre Dayant
    AUKUS was a blow to Australia’s French romance but the Pacific region needs the two regional powers to kiss and make up.
  • 7 Oct 2021
    • Melanesia
    • Australian Development Assistance
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Fiji
    • Papua New Guinea
    • Solomon Islands
    • Vanuatu

    Pacific Step-Up needs a Covid-era reboot

    Edward Cavanough
    Australia must bolster its vaccine assistance with practical fixes, starting with energy and cold-storage solutions.
  • 24 Sep 2021
    • Australian Diplomacy
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • France

    AUKUS: France’s strategic outcry

    Eglantine Staunton
    After the drama of recalled ambassadors in the wake of a new Indo-Pacific strategic deal, it’s time for dialogue.
  • 23 Sep 2021
    • Asia and Pacific
    • Australia's Trade
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Australia-United States Relations
    • China

    Economic diplomacy: After AUKUS in trade, aid and technology

    Greg Earl
    Commercial links may be China’s response to the submarine deal.
  • 11 Aug 2021
    • Pacific Islands
    • Australia and the Pacific

    Pacific needs partnership, not just leadership

    James Batley
    Richard Marles on a multidimensional regional challenge, from aid and migration to climate change and strategic denial.
  • 15 Jul 2021
    • WTO
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Migration

    Economic diplomacy: Little Australia spends slowly in the Pacific

    Greg Earl
    Can a step-up speed up? And what of the economic and cultural benefits of migration in Covid times?
  • 2 Jul 2021
    • Diplomacy
    • Australian Development Assistance
    • Australia
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Sex and Gender

    Forgiveness not permission: A feminist foreign policy

    Alice Ridge , Joanna Pradela
    If Australia wants to adopt a values-based approach to the world, the next step is obvious.
  • 21 Jun 2021
    • Defence & Security
    • Pacific Islands
    • Australia and the Pacific

    The risks of escalating strategic competition in the Pacific Islands

    Joanne Wallis
    Becoming tangled in power politics can create divisions between – as well as within – nations across the region.
  • 20 Apr 2021
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Papua New Guinea

    Accountability is the path to better governance in PNG

    Justice Gua
    A more inclusive environment and more responsive public-service initiatives will lessen the citizen-state divide.
  • 26 Mar 2021
    • Pacific Islands
    • Australia
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Technology

    Facebook’s monopoly danger in the Pacific

    Amanda Watson , Jemima Garrett
    The social media giant’s move to “unfriend” Australia highlighted complex threats to information security in the region.
  • 1 Dec 2020
    • Pacific Islands
    • Australian Foreign Aid
    • Australia
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • United Kingdom

    The UK’s unwelcome foreign aid cut

    Philip Citowicki
    Amid a pandemic and shifting geopolitics, the aid budget was a victim of its own size – and domestic pressures.
  • 24 Nov 2020
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Papua New Guinea

    PNG budget: Pluses and minuses

    Maholopa Laveil , Dek Joe Sum
    A spending surge aims to steer the economy out of crisis, but high debt and heavy interest pose another risk.
  • 5 Aug 2020
    • Pacific Islands
    • The Asia Pacific's Economies
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Coronavirus

    The way to post-Covid recovery in the Indo-Pacific? Act now

    Roland Rajah
    If Australia wants to see future stability in the region, it needs to find ways to help today, not down the track.
  • 10 Jul 2020
    • Defence & Security
    • Australia
    • Australia and the Pacific

    Stoking the fire of Asia-Pacific missile proliferation

    Tanya Ogilvie-White
    Despite the justifications, Australia’s plan to acquire long-range missiles won’t make the country or the region safer.
  • 10 Dec 2019
    • Public Diplomacy And International Broadcasting
    • Australia and the Pacific

    Favourites of 2019: ABC primetime returns to the Pacific

    Jonathan Pryke
    Friction between the panel and audience and Australia’s climate change policies was on display – and plenty more, too.
  • 15 Oct 2019
    • Pacific Islands
    • Australia and Climate Change
    • Australia and the Pacific

    “Accepting the science”, rejecting the action

    Nic Maclellan
    If the Morrison government is on board with reducing emissions, as it seems to claim, it needs to step up its policies.
  • 30 Sep 2019
    • Australia and the Pacific

    With Pacific step up, a chance to step in

    Alan C. Tidwell
    Australia can help strengthen partners’ understanding of the Pacific, as a counter to China’s growing reach.
  • 3 Sep 2019
    • Pacific Islands
    • Australia and the Pacific

    Waking up to Australia’s real Pacific family

    Wadan Narsey
    A simple act of generosity could have recast Australia’s climate-change politics in the region for the better.
  • 13 Aug 2019
    • Chinese Foreign Aid
    • Australia and the Pacific

    Does Chinese aid make Australians more generous?

    Jonathan Pryke , Terence Wood , Christopher Hoy
    A survey finds surprising results when Australians are asked to consider Chinese aid in the Pacific.
  • 12 Aug 2019
    • Maritime Security
    • Australia and the Pacific

    It’s time for a “Quad” of coast guards

    David Brewster
    This modest proposal could help bring stability and security to the Indo-Pacific, without the military fanfare.
  • 5 Jun 2019
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Papua New Guinea
    • Solomon Islands

    Stepping out – and up – in the hot mess of the Pacific

    Mary-Louise O’Callaghan
    <p>Personal connections matter, and Scott Morrison’s ties to the Pacific run deeper than many realise.</p>
  • 16 May 2019
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Australia’s election 2019

    What’s on offer? Pacific policy and Australia’s election

    Euan Moyle
    Far more than previous years, the region is in vogue for both parties with a choice greater than might be assumed.
  • 29 Mar 2019
    • Pacific Islands
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • France

    Ignoring international law in the Blue Pacific

    Nic Maclellan
    Colonised peoples have rights to resources, on land and in the oceans, and this must be recognised.
  • 12 Mar 2019
    • Pacific Islands
    • Australia
    • Australia and the Pacific

    Canberra’s Pacific pivot is bereft of vision

    Edward Cavanough
    The government’s motivations appear sincere but are riddled with anxiety about the risks of investing in the region.
  • 28 Feb 2019
    • Pacific Islands
    • Australia and the Pacific

    Sovereignty for citizenship might help the Pacific

    Bruce Hill
    You can’t eat sovereignty, you can’t drink independence, and you can’t build a house in the middle of the ocean.
  • 14 Feb 2019
    • Australia
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Papua New Guinea

    The curious case of aid concentration in Papua New Guinea

    Jonathan Pryke
    The extreme concentration of aid from Australia to PNG stands out. It may be time for others to get involved.
  • 12 Feb 2019
    • Australia and the Pacific

    Australia, BRI backlash should be a warning on loans

    Tim Watkin
    The rush to loan-financed infrastructure is a geopolitical play, but does not consider the wellbeing of the recipients.
  • 30 Jan 2019
    • Australia
    • Australia and the Pacific

    Australia’s new Pacific Czar

    James Batley
    The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s new Office of the Pacific is a sign of the step up being made real.
  • 23 Nov 2018
    • Public Diplomacy And International Broadcasting
    • Australia and the Pacific

    Morrison and the Pacific: the good, the gaffe, and the omission

    William Fisher
    The rediscovery of the Pacific covers important ground but raising Australia’s broadcast voice is a chance to do better.
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