‘More smoke than fire’: China’s Pacific aid falls short of pledges
Beijing’s development spending has fallen despite efforts to build influence in the region. In 2017, Papua New Guinea’s government announced a long-awaited AUD$4.1bn (US$2.6bn) upgrade of the nation’s potholed
PNG to receive ‘biggest slice’ of Australian finance
Papua New Guinea has been allocated the biggest slice — around 70 percent — of the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP), according to the Australian government. Australia’s minister
Where the buck stops: aid in Fiji
In the most aid-dependent region in the world, Fiji ranks consistently among the Pacific’s top five recipients of development financing. According to the newly released 2022 edition of the Lowy Institute Pacific Aid
Pacific aid surges as China, U.S vie for influence
Regional powers poured record amounts of cash into the Pacific Islands during the coronavirus pandemic to help them weather the economic fallout as competition for influence heats up between China and the West. An
Opinion: Labor reduces but does not eliminate Coalition aid cuts
This year’s aid budget (2022-23) has been increased from $4.55 billion under the Coalition to $4.65 billion under Labor. There are bigger increases in the forward estimate years (2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26),
Albanese government to pour $1 billion more into Pacific
The Australian government will pour an extra $1 billion (US$628 million) into aid and security assistance in the Pacific – almost double what Labor promised at the election. – as it urgently tries to counter
Opinion: A new climate for Australian aid
Australia has just been found to have failed to adequately protect the rights of Torres Strait Islanders from the impacts of climate change. In a landmark ruling, the UN Human Rights Committee heard arguments from
Opinion: More of the same is not the answer to building influence in the Pacific
Following almost a decade of geopolitically driven “stepping up”, ‘uplifting’, ‘resetting’, and “stepping up across the board”, it appears that Western governments believe more of the same will achieve
Opinion: Australia’s international health funding: commitments and challenges
by Cameron Hill and Huiyuan Liu While commentators have remarked on how little attention Australia’s domestic COVID-19 situation received in the 2022 federal election campaign, discussion of the global pandemic was
Tonga Parliament passes largest annual budget
Tonga’s Parliament passed the 2022-2023 annual budget this week, reports Tonga Wires. Totalling $764.7 million pa’anga (US$328.36 million), it is the Kingdom’s largest ever annual budget. According to the Tonga
Opinion: Penny Wong dives deep into the audacity of the Oceanic Pacific
Nurturing relationships is paramount to break down unequal power dynamics – especially in working for women rights. By ‘Ofa-ki-Levuka (‘Ofa) Guttenbeil-Likiliki From the 1990s to the early 2000s, Oceanic writer
Opinion: Labor will rebuild Australia’s international development program
Labor’s international development policies will help re-establish Australia as a partner of choice for countries in our region in meeting economic, development, climate and security challenges. These policies will
Opinion: Global racial justice needs to be at the heart of Australian aid
The Greens’ vision for aid and development sees Australia not just contribute its fair share of Official Development Assistance (ODA), but also reimagines foreign aid, not simply as charity but as an issue of global
Additional COVID funding postpones aid cuts
Faced with the prospect of another cut to aid while the COVID-19 pandemic continues – and in some ways intensifies in our region – the government has again reached for the “temporary and targeted” lever to avoid
Training Coalition faces a reckoning
By Samantha Magick A multimillion-dollar program aimed at supporting “a more prosperous Pacific driven by a skilled, competitive and productive workforce” is undergoing controversial changes which could have
Opinion: Australia should advocate for developing countries at the G7
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has invited Australia, along with India and South Korea, to attend this year’s prestigious Group of Seven Leaders’ Summit in June. This is a rare opportunity for Australia to
Boosting the Pacific Aid for Trade Strategy
February 2021 marks the first anniversary of the endorsement of the Pacific Aid for Trade Strategy (PAfTS 2020-2025). It was not the first strategy of its type for Pacific regionalism. Clearly, it is too early to make
Australia boosts Pacific aid allocation
The Australian Federal Budget delivered last night has increased aid to the Pacific. An extra A$211 million has been allocated to COVID-19 response in the form of grants, agreed in negotiations with recipient countries,
‘A little bit of maybe’ on easier Australian terms for infrastructure debt and new aid
Australia’s Assistant Treasurer says in the post-COVID environment Canberra is willing to re-examine its policies including loan concessionality, debt consolidation and aid allocations to Pacific Islands nations but
Building together: Civil society a key partner in delivering Pacific infrastructure
Building quality infrastructure in the Pacific means going beyond a narrow focus on hard assets, to thinking about the ways that new infrastructure, and accompanying services, will contribute to lasting development
Making every dollar of development aid worthwhile
By Sadhana Sen Is the Pacific an aid-dependent region making endless requests for development assistance but with little care for how effectively and successfully this aid is used? What should be done by Pacific
NZ to scrutinise its Pacific aid program
The New Zealand government is seeking submission on the effectiveness of aid program to the Pacific, and people from the region are welcome to have their say. The New Zealand Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade (DEFAT)
