by Penny Wong
Australian Foreign Minister 
Op-Ed

Three years ago, I promised Australia would listen, learn and deliver on Pacific priorities.

That is what we have done, and I am inspired by what we have accomplished together –hand in hand with the Pacific family, because we share an ocean and a future.

That future is becoming more uncertain, the Pacific is facing growing challenges, from climate change, cuts to global aid and rules under strain.

None of us can solve these problems on our own. We are counting on each other to support the prosperity and aspirations of all the people who make up this great Pacific family.

In the face of global aid cuts, we have reprioritised our development assistance to dedicate 75 cents of every Australian development dollar to support our region. We have built on our position as the region’s largest development partner by lifting our development assistance to record levels, to more than $2.1 billion to the Pacific.

We have partnered to better integrate our economies, making it easier for people to move between countries to live, work and study, and for business and tourism, creating more opportunities for Pacific islanders looking for jobs and economic options.

We will continue to help goods and services move across the Pacific and beyond by investing in aviation, seaports and road infrastructure and banking.

We will continue to be your reliable partner and respond to Pacific priorities, delivering on quality infrastructure, skills, banking and budget support.

40 years of tariff-free access into Australia has helped contribute to the prosperity of the Pacific. And that will not change.

Together we have built a stronger Pacific family – working with Pacific institutions on
Pacific-led solutions, partnering in new Pacific-led policing, disaster preparedness and defence arrangements, enabling Pacific security to be provided by the Pacific family, assuring our stability and safeguarding our sovereignty.

We will continue to invest in locally-led solutions to security challenges such as health and community safety, cyber crime, corruption and maritime security.

Nowhere has this been more important than on climate change. To protect the great ocean that we all call home, Australia has enacted our commitments to reduce our country’s own carbon emissions, as we said we would. Australia will advocate with you to hold the world’s largest emitters to account.

We are on track to deliver $3 billion in climate finance by this year and we are backing Pacific climate solutions by investing in the Pacific Resilience Facility, a Pacific-led and Pacific-owned facility to deliver climate finance directly to communities.

We know that none of our nations can achieve the future we want on our own. We are stronger together. That’s why we have worked closely with our regional counterparts to help the Pacific family stay united, and will continue to be your reliable partner, working in the Pacific way to support a peaceful, stable and
prosperous region.