2021 in the Pacific

The Pacific Islands saw dramatic change in 2021 with the threatened exit of Micronesian states from the Pacific Islands Forum, the fall of the region’s longest serving political leader, growing geo-political tensions and the impact of COVID-19.

China muscles into Pacific marine reserve

The Kiribati government is removing protection from a vast marine reserve to rake in fishing revenue from China.

India steps up to support Pacific island resilience

Australia’s support to the India-led IRIS will go further to strengthen Australia-India bilateral ties and help promote a stable prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific.

Improving conditions for Pacific guest workers

Migrant workers are critical to Australia’s farming sector and food security, but poor conditions are leading many to abscond.

AUKUS and Australia’s relations in the Pacific

The new AUKUS defence agreements will boost Australia’s security, but may not reassure Pacific Island nations looking to China for finance and the world for action on climate change.

Rethinking Australia’s Pacific Islander migration policies

Australia’s approach to Pacific migration needs to refocus as climate change worsens. Going forward, Australia should prioritise migrant dignity and mobility.

The future of Australian disaster relief

Faced with increasing environmental and geo-political challenges, Australia can improve its disaster relief capacity in the Pacific and beyond through a series of small but telling changes.

Covid-19’s toll on Papua New Guinea

Covid-19 has triggered cascading impacts in PNG’s health, economic, social, civil and administrative sectors while undermining the government’s capacity to address them.

Australia’s foreign aid is shaped by domestic politics

The Pacific Step-up is billed as one of the “highest foreign policy priorities” of Australia, however, unfavourable domestic political forces have shaped Australia’s foreign aid budget, shrinking its overall size for the past decade.

Building resilience to economic coercion in the Pacific

Economic rather than military might pose the gravest threat to the Indo-Pacific island states as China’s President Xi Jinping is aggressively using China’s growing economic power to achieve secure his strategic aims.

Keeping eyes on Pacific water quality from afar

A Griffith University researcher has overcome a key challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to lead a monitoring program in Vanuatu aiming to improve the water quality of a popular lagoon used for fishing and swimming.

High tension cables

Undersea internet cables connect Pacific islands to the world but growing geopolitical tensions between the United States and China is tugging at the wires.