Australia on the rocks in the Pacific

Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd argues that Australia’s inactivity on climate change is damaging our ability to ‘Step Up’ regional engagement in the Pacific and counter the growing influence of China.

Bainimarama visit highlights Pacific “family ties”

Scott Morrison has emphasised Australia’s ‘family relationship’ with Pacific nations, and we’ll get a good idea of the state of relations when Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama visits Canberra this week.

Climate, coal and kinship in Australia-Pacific relations

Australia’s efforts at developing a positive relationship with the Pacific Islands appear to be shadowed by Australia’s continued reliance on coal, which has greatly angered Pacific leaders.

Aid must cover more than infrastructure

Improving Pacific infrastructure will help the region’s development, but a wider range of aid is required to help Pacific islands make the most of their potential.

The ‘Samoan model’ offers hope to female politicians in the Pacific

While elections in the Cook Islands, Fiji, Guam and Solomon Islands have brought in record numbers of women MPs, the Pacific region as a whole is still at the bottom of global league tables on women’s representation.

Morrison’s moment of truth in the Pacific

Can Australia’s prime minister convince the leaders of Pacific Island countries that he is serious about regional engagement when they are sceptical of Australia’s record on climate change?

Family and foreign policy in the South Pacific

Australia’s pivot to the South Pacific talks up both personal connections and foreign policy interests. but these different elements can repel as well as attract.

Between two worlds: The forgotten voices of Oceania

Australian documentary maker Kalolaine Fainu talks about her new work – a tribute to her ancestors and a seldom witnessed exchange between Pacific and Australian cultures.

Sowing the seeds of a new debt crisis in the developing world

The World Bank has sounded a warning about China’s lending to low-income countries. The gains for participants in the BRI are in danger of being undone by unsustainable debts.

Building disaster resilience in the Pacific: The Yasawa case study

In the wake of tropical cyclone Evan in 2012, a Fijian organisation – Live & Learn Environmental Education – helped a local charity to implement a food bank scheme in the Yasawa community. The project showed its real strengths four years later, when cyclone Winston devastated the islands again.

Vanuatu agro-forestry boosts food security

When Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu in 2015, sweeping away gardens, trees and houses, a network of local organisations set about ending food insecurity in some of the country’s worst affected communities.

From construction to confrontation in the “Indo-Pacific”

‘Indo-Pacific’ has shifted from a geographic construct to an arena for mounting contest—and the label for a US strategy.