THE Solomon Islands is one of the most contested environments in the Indo-Pacific with respect to China’s political warfare operations. That’s why it was pleasing to see last month Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese securing long-stalled agreements with the new Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, Matthew Wale, on his visit to Canberra.
The key agreements were a joint policing initiative and elevating the relationship between the two nations to “a comprehensive strategic” one, with a treaty to be negotiated in coming months. “We have said very clearly we want Australia to be the security partner of choice in our region, and we want the Pacific family to look after our security in this region,” Mr Albanese said.
Celsus Talifilu, the private secretary to Wale, wrote after the visit: “As I reflect on my Prime Minister’s week-long state visit to Australia, one word comes to mind: historic. Not because of the ceremonies or formalities, but because it felt different. There was a genuine sense that the Solomon Islands–Australia relationship was entering a new phase, one grounded in openness, mutual respect, and a shared commitment to the future.”
The new Solomon Islands leadership appears to be shifting towards Australia and away from China. But we shouldn’t sit pat. The biggest and most urgent need in Solomon Islands is healthcare. In 2025 we concluded the Solomon Islands Australia Health Partnership. It’s a four-year $28 million investment to support health services for Solomon Islanders. But this is relatively “small beer” compared to the $190 million over four years we announced we’d give Solomon Islands for police assistance in December 2024, an agreement that had become stalled until Wale’s recent visit.
One aim of the health partnership is to support emerging leaders in the Solomon Islands health sector. Albanese and Wale discussed opportunities to deepen the two states’ education partnership. Now is the time for a big idea. To support an education partnership, we should introduce a medical partnership program with our Melanesian neighbour.
We should activate a program of training medical students from Solomon Islands at one of our medical schools in Townsville, Cairns, Brisbane or the Gold Coast. It would be relatively inexpensive way to promote goodwill and improve health throughout the Solomon Islands. Such an initiative would strengthen our ties with an important Pacific Island country and weaken those of China, whilst improving the standard and delivery of health care throughout the archipelagic state.
The Solomon Islands are persistently “under-doctored”: it’s estimated that there’s one doctor for between 3000 and 4000 head of population. In NSW the ratio is one doctor for 606 head of population. The numbers in Solomon Islands are worsened because of the “strung out” distribution of the islands and a tendency to concentrate population in Honiara. There is no medical school in Solomons Islands, (though there’s a school for nursing).
To date, all Solomon Islander medical students have been trained elsewhere — over the last several years mostly in Cuba. They must first learn Spanish. In 2025 there were nine new medical graduates, eight of them from Cuba. Not a single doctor has been trained in and graduated from an Australian university. That’s despite the fact that Australia is a more practical option in terms of language and distance. For multiple reasons the Cuban connection to Solomon Islands medical training is now severely disrupted and probably dying.
Prior to being selected for Cuba, students in Solomon Islands had to undertake, (after the equivalent of the HSC), a bridging course followed by a bridging exam. This is designed to bring the students “up to scratch.”
An abbreviated bridging course could be established in a Queensland university to enable a seamless entry into an Australian medical school. The design and staffing of such a course should be well within the capacity of our universities.
The current medical course at Cairns, for example, is over six years. It may be possible to compress the shortened bridging course into the first year which would save a year of study in a demanding situation. The program could start with a modest number of students. A generous estimation of the cost of educating six students over a six-year period would be around $4 million.
It’s not that ambitious. But in terms of the value to both Australia and Solomon Islands in respect of health outcomes, firm long-term friendship and security, we’re looking at a bargain. Filling this obvious health need for our Melanesian partner is an opportunity that shouldn’t be missed. A medical school in Hong Kong teaches in English. We need to get our skates on.
