China returns to Pacific with aid and influence push, report shows
China has regained its place as the second-biggest bilateral donor to the Pacific Islands, displacing the United States and targeting its spending to win influence, a Lowy Institute report on aid to the region found.
You’re not alone: Church helps bear climate change burden
ON a remote, windswept coastline at Togoru on Fiji’s southern coast, Barney Dunn surveys the land his family has occupied for five
Where does climate change finance go?
IN 2020, the New Zealand government pledged NZ$150 million for Pacific-focused climate change
Opinion: Biases within the capital flows to the Pacific
Earlier this month, USAID announced additional support to the Pacific Island economies, focusing on inclusive and sustainable economic growth and climate change.
PNG minister criticises Australian ‘boomerang aid’ as Australia launches new partnership plan
A Papua New Guinean minister has delivered scathing criticism of Australia’s aid programme, warning of funds being “wasted” as the Australian government outlines its plan for development assistance in PNG over
New Caledonia requests Australian aid for riot rebuild
New Caledonia is looking to Australia for aid to help rebuild its capital city after deadly riots. The French territory was marred by civil unrest and riots that left 10 dead in May after controversial voting reforms
Opinion: 2024 Australian aid spending and effectiveness update
Australian Foreign aid was increased by 4% over what had been projected last year to bring the 2024-25 aid budget to $4.961 billion, virtually unchanged from the (inflation-adjusted) 2023-24 level of $4.900 billion. The
Apia hosts signing of new EU-ACP Samoa Agreement
More than two decades ago, the European Union and a group of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states were due to meet in Suva, to sign a new partnership agreement. But the ceremony, scheduled for June 2000, never
China’s declining aid to Pacific islands increasingly goes to allies, think tank reports
China’s declining aid to the South Pacific is increasingly targeted toward its political allies in the region as appetite there for Chinese credit declines and competition grows with the U.S. for influence, an
A ‘new’ development policy? Or did Australia just miss its moment?
A new development policy for Australia presented an opportunity to reinvigorate a program that has lost its way amid the ambivalence, and occasional outright hostility, shown towards aid by successive conservative
‘Terrible’ rules starve climate-hit islands of finance, inquiry told
Development assistance rules are denying “vulnerable” small island developing states, or SIDS, of the help they need to combat the climate emergency and must be rewritten, a UK inquiry has been told. Multiple
Pacific aid to enforce climate, gender equality targets
Australia will push to create local employment and boost the domestic economies of its Pacific island neighbours while keeping an eye on climate change and gender equality. The latest international development policy is
Water: Making WASH aid work
What needs to change if Pacific Island nations are to get anywhere near their water and sanitation hygiene (WASH) targets under the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030? For the Regional Systems Strengthening Technical
Collision course: Australia’s flatlining aid and its climate finance commitments
Recent data shows that official development assistance (ODA, “aid”) is increasingly being spent as a form of climate finance. The OECD reported that climate finance increased from 21.7 percent of bilateral ODA in
Grants to drive change
Less than one per cent of direct funding reaches women rights organisations in the Pacific and this is just one of the reasons why a stand-alone Pacific Feminist Fund has been established to address the chronic
Australia to increase funding in the Pacific
A wide-ranging Pacific assistance package covering environmental, military, and economic support for Australia’s closest neighbours will be unveiled in Tuesday’s budget, as the Albanese government moves to
More China aid likely: Qian Bo
There is likely to be more China aid inbound to Samoa following a meeting on Monday between China’s Special Envoy for Pacific Island Countries Affairs and Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa. In a press briefing
Questions about Australian aid to fund the 2023 Pacific Games
The 2023 Pacific Games will be held in Solomon Islands at the end of the year. Australia’s support for the games of $17 million (US$11.4 million) was announced by the Minister for International Development and the
Geostrategic competition in the Indo-Pacific calls for smarter development financing
A former Australian Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) official and Asian Development Bank senior economist has authored a report that warns Australia and the European Union (EU) must address the “long-standing”
Minister Conroy wants AusAID to regain prominence within DFAT
Australia’s International Development Minister Pat Conroy says he wants development specialists to “take over” the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), in another sign he’s intent on
Pacific literacy, not perverse incentives
A group of prominent Pacific Islanders and Australians has recommended that an independent advisory group be formed to shift Australia’s development assistance away from a commercial model “toward one of
Opinion: Towards a new Australian development policy
This is an edited extract from the opening address delivered by the Hon Pat Conroy MP at the Australasian AID Conference (AAC2022) on Tuesday 29 November. This conference has grown into a pre-eminent fixture on
