We talk about the Pacific ‘neighbourhood’, but too often Australia’s approach to the region has been of saying what we’re going to do, rather than how – and listening to the people it most affects.
China made a huge splash in PNG in late 2018 with infrastructure investments and loan pledges. But since then, it has struggled to make inroads due, in part, to anti-Chinese sentiment.
Scott Morrison attends the Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu in 2019.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Interviews in three Pacific nations revealed concerns over a lack of balance in the Australia-Pacific relationship and a certain level of racism and disrespect directed towards islanders.
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has agreed to meet with Bougainville officials to institute a political settlement.
AAP Image/Joel Carrett
With an overwhelming referendum result, Bougainville has just taken an important step to becoming an independent nation.
Rudd said Australia must once again become the international champion of the South Pacific nations: ‘The so-called 'Pacific step-up’ is hollow.‘
Lukas Coch/AAP
Launching journalist Peter Hartcher’s Quarterly Essay, Red Flag: Waking up to China’s challenge, Rudd said “we have become too China-dependent. We need to diversify further”.
Scott Morrison has heavily promoted his government’s ‘Pacific Step Up’, but it hasn’t invested the requisite funds to support the initiative diplomatically.
Darren England/AAP
New research shows that funding for DFAT has hit a new low of 1.3% of the federal budget. Scaling back has a real effect on Australia’s influence around the world.
Morrison told reporters he’d made the point ‘which was well received, that Australia is an independent, sovereign nation’.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Morrison stressed “that we will never feel corralled into any sort of binary assessment of these relationships” - assessments that said “pro-United States or pro-China”.
The inability to meet Pacific Island expectations on climate change will erode Australia’s leadership credentials and influence in the region.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Australia ensured its official communique watered down commitments to respond to climate change, gaining a hollow victory.
Pacific leaders don’t want to talk about China’s rising influence – they want Scott Morrison to make a firm commitment to cut Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that Australia’s inability – or refusal – to take firmer action on climate change is undermining its entire ‘Pacific step-up’.
China is broadcasting to more than 1 billion people in several different languages, while Australia sits on its soft power reviews.
Screenshot/YouTube
Soft power is a country’s ability to gain influence through attraction. Australia’s soft power in the Pacific began waning when it axed the Australia Network in 2014. And China is filling the gap.