A better way to stay connected with the South Pacific

DFAT’s new Office of the Pacific is being established to provide whole-of-government coordination, and is inviting secondments from the nation’s defence and security agencies. Hopefully, it will also reach out more widely to develop a meaningful communication strategy for Pacific engagement.

Juggling competing Pacific narratives

Two narratives dominated geopolitical discussions of the Pacific islands in 2018 – that of the Blue Pacific and the Indo-Pacific – but what does the future hold?

A turbulent year in Pacific politics

After decades of neglect, the Pacific region has been ‘rediscovered’ by strategists in Australia, the United States and elsewhere as the military threat and economic reality of China continues to grow.

The ICDP year in review

The International Centre for Democratic Partnerships runs the Australian Government’s ‘Pacific Connect’ program to build closer relationships with emerging leaders in the Pacific. Its programme coordinator, Tina Briggs, reflects on its first full year of operations.

The SMART way to help Pacific Islands lead climate action

The new SMART tool helps policymakers quickly identify potential co-benefits and trade-offs that need to be considered in planning to mitigate the devastating effects of climate change in the Pacific region.

The new era of great-power competition in the Pacific

The first strategic priority for Australia in the Indo-Pacific is to manage great-power competition. And the central trend of that competition is China’s rapidly growing challenge to US dominance.

The purposes of the Pacific pivot

A ‘Pacific pivot’ that can marry Australia’s strategic needs with the fundamental needs of Pacific peoples will be a policy which benefits all stakeholders and so ensure enduring results.

Businesses can help Australia’s step-up in the Pacific

It’s time to build a more deliberate and far-reaching partnership between government and business to further Australia’s interests in the Pacific.

In the post-APEC scramble to lavish funds on PNG, here’s what the country really needs

If foreign powers really want to make a difference to PNG, one of the poorest nations in the Pacific, then funding telecommunications and solar power kits would be widely welcomed, alongside schemes to use mobile phones to transfer money.

Government assistance and e-commerce boost Pacific exports

New data shows the adoption of digital technology is boosting exports, and as APEC brings leaders to the Pacific, export confidence is high throughout the region.

Making aid work

We should not accept a continued lack of progress across the Pacific as the norm. Instead, we should all agree that it’s possible to create a partnership that delivers large-scale change and remain committed and vigilant in ensuring this happens.

Australia’s Pacific funding requires a dedicated agency

If Australian policymakers want to get serious about integrating regional development assistance projects into the national security policy objectives, they should establish a dedicated agency.