The Pacific step-up turns four

Australia’s much vaunted South Pacific ‘step-up’ has reached its fourth birthday and it remains an ambitious work in progress.

COVID-19 and Australian aid in the Pacific

Above and beyond the COVID crisis, if Australia really wants to help the Pacific, it needs to be a global citizen. Australia can afford to increase its aid budget as aid currently represents less than one per cent of federal spending.

This is not the time for Australia to reduce its aid to PNG and the South Pacific

Australia needs to assure the people in our region that we are not neglecting them despite our own massive fiscal and economic challenges due to COVID-19.

Tough choices on COVID-19 in the Pacific

Many Pacific island countries are COVID-19-free thanks to the swift and decisive actions of governments in closing borders early and keeping them firmly shut but the danger is not over yet so there is no room for complacency.

Australian soaps to the Pacific

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has launched an initiative to send commercial Australian television programs to local stations in the South Pacific.

Helping fast-growing Pacific towns battle COVID-19

Pacific islands face unique challenges in combating COVID-19, and will need unique solutions to come out of the crisis unscathed.

Australia can play a leading role in the post-COVID Pacific

When the impact of Covid-19 is fully felt in the Pacific, Australia’s step-up strategy will need to be revised and upgraded to support our neighbours and repel the spectre of unwanted Chinese intrusion.

Helping the Pacific survive COVID-19

The small, developing nations of the Pacific are facing incredible health and economic challenges from the Covid-19 threat, and while Australia battles its own outbreak, it can also take effective measures to help its neighbours.

Six inquiries on Australia’s South Pacific step-up

Australia is doing a lot of thinking about what steps to take in the South Pacific, but how high does the ‘Pacific step-up’ have to go?

A rising tide swamps the currents of change

The past year has been a time of considerable change for the Pacific Islands, with new leadership, new partnerships and even the potential for new nations all coming into being.

2020 in the Asia Pacific

Pundits across the region have different views about the new year’s prospects for the Asia-Pacific, but all agree that great changes are afoot, with growing dangers to the established international order.

Solar powered freezers for Fiji

UNSW students and engineers are using human-centred engineering to help provide electricity to off-grid rural communities in Fiji.