The Pacific

The South Pacific encompasses a vast expanse and is home to island nations which face pressing economic, social and environmental challenges.

Countries such as Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, the Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tuvalu and Vanuatu often hit the headlines for the wrong reasons, but they also have great potential for growth and development.

At the 2016 Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting in Pohnpei, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull pledged a ‘step-change’ in Australia’s engagement with the Pacific. Australia has since announced a range of measures to build stronger partnerships in the region to boost economic growth, encourage social change and ensure security.

Created by Global Access Partners (GAP) and Strategic Development Group, the International Centre for Democratic Partnerships (ICDP) has been tasked to deliver the government’s new Pacific Connect pilot programme to extend and strengthen Australian-Pacific networks and will hold dialogues and create projects in a range of activities, from education to digital trade.

Open Forum has been running a series of articles on developments in the Pacific region in the lead-up to a special Pacific Connect Forum, held at NSW Parliament Houses in September 2018.

Read more about economic, social and strategic developments in this vital region and Australia’s engagement with its diverse nations in these Open Forum blogs.

• Mobile money creates opportunities in PNG – Prof Mark Moran
• The limits of Australia’s defence diplomacy – Daniel Baldino
• Connectivity is about people rather than technology – Peter Kenilorea
• Australia steps up its Pacific pivot – Joanne Wallis
• Turning the cybersecurity spotlight on the Pacific – Open Forum
• Youth empowerment for social good: Samoan start-up seeks to digitally revolutionise education – Olisana Mariner
• Youth Co:Lab Samoa continues to thrive – Government of Samoa media release
• Digital connectivity to boost educational opportunities in the Solomon Islands – Benjamin Blackshaw
• Floriculture to alleviate poverty – Aileen Burness
• Pacific Connect’s First Anniversary – Tina Briggs
• Bridging the digital divide: Pacific Connect Forum personal report – Brian Mangi
• Passports remain a ticket to corruption in the Pacific Islands – Anthony van Fossen
• Countering China’s challenge in the South Pacific – Graeme Dobell
• Cultural diplomacy: Australia’s chance in the Pacific – James Miles Carey
• Newington College’s enduring partnership with Tonga’s Tupou College – David Mulford
• Student seminar boosts maths and computer science in PNG – Benjamin Kamaka
• Boe: a confluence – Paul McCarthy
• Tackling diabetes in Fiji – Open Forum
• The changing dynamics of internet governance in the South Pacific – Bart Hogeveen
• Tackling the strategic neglect of our Pacific island neighbours – Eva Willmann de Donlea
• Deepening Australia-Pacific connections – Benjamin Blackshaw
• Are we being played in the Pacific? – Fergus Hanson
• Australia’s political instability damages the national interest – John Hewson
• Tides of change in the South Pacific – Ewen Levick
• Australia at the Pacific Islands Forum: getting our priorities right – Joanne Wallis
• Sydney hosts the inaugural Pacific Connect Forum – Tina Briggs
• Diverging regional priorities at the Pacific Islands Forum – Jenny Hayward-Jones
• Finding Australia’s soft power – Caitlin Byrne
• Rising seas will displace millions of people – and Australia must be ready – Jane McAdam
• Power plays in the Pacific – Sarah O’Dowd
• International Centre for Democratic Partnerships (ICDP) officially launches – Tina Briggs
• Getting realistic about the South Pacific – James Batley
• Don’t divert foreign aid spending to drought relief – Nichole Georgeou
• French classes in Australia need to acknowledge our Pacific neighbours – Florence Boulard
• Open hands beat clenched fists in the Pacific – Michael Shoebridge
• The hard part of soft power – Graeme Dobell
• Mice that roar: patrol and coastal combatants in ASEAN – John Coyne
• Pivoting to the Pacific – Alexandre Dayant
• ICANN At-Large Advisory Committee elects a new Chair – Maureen Hilyard
• Ham and eggs: who’s really committed in the Indo-Pacific? – John Powers
• Innovations for Pacific cities of the future – Kenneth Katafono
• Australia in the South Pacific: Growing the yabby’s second claw – Michael Shoebridge
• International community assist with educational regionalisation – Mohammed Aruf Yasin
• A visit to Namotomoto shows the power of small data – Belinda Henwood
• A start-up ecosystem for the Pacific: Lessons from the APEC entrepreneurial bootcamp – Emmanuel Narokobi
• A year in the life of a small not-for-profit – Tina Briggs
• Advancing entrepreneurship in Papua New Guinea – Winifred Kula Amini
• Strengthening Pacific partnerships – Tina Briggs
• We should speak for ourselves in the Asia-Pacific – Graeme Dobell
• Rough ride ahead in Timor-Leste? – Sue Ingram
• Pacific Connect-USP Academic Dialogue discusses digital innovation – Tina Briggs
• The First Pacific Connect Business Network Dialogue – Communiqué to key stakeholders – Open Forum
• Resources curse PNG communities’ future – Michael Main
• ICDP and Pacific Connect join ‘Together for a Digital Pacific 2018’ Conference – Tina Briggs
• World cultures and the Western Pacific at the South Australian Museum – Stephen Zagala
• Pacific Connect – Digital connectivity and collaborating networks – Mary Koisen
• Australia needs to reset its Pacific policy – Joanne Wallis
• Kangaroo step-up and Kiwi reset in the South Pacific – Graeme Dobell
• ‘Glocalism’ turns its eye to the Indo-Pacific – Isaac Kfir
• Australia and the South Pacific: come to my aid – Graeme Dobell
• The tyranny of distance: Corporate harm on the frontline in the Pacific – Amy Sinclair
• Why China’s ‘debt-book diplomacy’ in the Pacific shouldn’t ring alarm bells just yet – Michael O’Keefe
• The power of collaboration between PNG and Australia – Jeremy Palme
• Blockchain technology offers a catalyst for Australia-Pacific collaboration in Papua New Guinea – Tina Briggs
• Developing maritime awareness for the ‘Blue Pacific’ – Christian Bueger
• Australia to fund internet cable to PNG and Solomons – Open Forum
• Australia should be a regional leader on youth, peace and security – Helen Berents
• Press censorship clouds the Asia-Pacific – Open Forum
• Lessons for the WPS agenda in the Solomon Islands – Amelia Meurant-Tompkinson
• Australia needs a larger and more potent navy – Richard Menhinick
• Pacific feminists are creating new spaces to talk and be heard – Jane Alver
• Aid, influence and strategic anxiety in the Pacific – Nicola Baker
• PNG picks itself up after the earthquake – Anton Lutz
• Hollow hegemon – Australia’s declining influence in the Pacific – Joanne Wallis
• Assessing Australia’s South Pacific guest worker programme – Open Forum
• The political aftershocks of PNG’s earthquake require careful handling – Paul Flanagan
• Marshall Islands to launch official crypto-currency – Open Forum