Page 23 - IB January 2023

Australia and the Pacific Australia and the Pacific

Speaking to the submission, Dame Meg Taylor notes: “We The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) for its part
need to ask ourselves why we, the Pacific, remain the most encouraged Australia to align its new policies to its own 2050
aid dependent region in the world, and how we shift from this Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent. It calls on Australia
perverse dependency on donors to seeking the financial and to provide a global ODA equivalent to 0.7% of Gross National
technical assistance to build our economies so we ensure the Income (GNI) and support the promotion of digitisation and
independence of our nations and define our own destinies, blue/green technology, connectivity, trade and labour mobil-
rather than being the pawns in this geostrategic positioning.” ity, and the Pacific Resilience Facility.
The group also calls for a deeper understanding of the Specifically on trade matters, it suggests funding or in-kind
Pacific (and the Pacific diaspora) amongst Australians “to support “under the Pacific Quality Infrastructure Initiative;
grow a cadre of diplomats and officials with strong cultural and addressing inefficient, excessive, and opaque border pro-
competence.” cedures and documentary requirements that add unnecessary
“The Australian policy community and wider society need time and cost to trade with the development of the Pacific
to make a meaningful and sustained investment in building Regional Trade Facilitation Strategy.”
Pacific literacy. Too little is taught in schools and universi- Another regional body, the Pacific Islands Association of
ties about the diversity, dynamism, and history of the Pacific Non-government Organisations (PIANGO) has called for sup-
region. We propose, as have many Pacific people, a stronger port of civil society organisations and voices through core
educational effort,” they write. funding, scaling up of funding for anticipatory action and pre-
On this point, Professor Katerina Teiawa, who is Professor arranged disaster risk finance, and cancelling of climate debt
of Pacific Studies at the Australian National University and and commitment to “a debt-free future for the Pacific.”
Vice-President of the Australian Association for Pacific Stud- Some of the recommendations made by Papua New Guinea
ies, says: “Pacific literacy in Australia is critical and needs to ‘citizen movement’, the Voice Inc. reflect common themes,
be mainstreamed such as improved
from Primary to cultural compe-
Tertiary levels. tency. “We note
That education plenty of ‘skilled
and greater un- experts’ have
derstanding must passed through
include knowledge PNG over the
of Pacific geogra- years and the
phies, histories, need to rethink
cultures, arts, this approach by
sciences and utilising people
languages. This with either a
is quite different deep understand-
from a Pacific edu- ing of the PNG
cation focused on context and/
matters of interest Penny Wong in Port Vila or a wiliness to
to Australian policy listen to Papua
makers, such as defence, security, and development. The New Guinean voices in targeting development approaches and
Pacific is worth knowing and understanding for its own sake.” investments.”
Pacific regional agencies also made submissions on Aus- The Voice Inc. also calls for building of local capacity, uni-
tralia’s development program. The Pacific Community (SPC) versity twinning arrangements, flexible funding mechanisms,
called for more flexible funding, and a greater proportion of access to Australian markets, increasing transparency of aid
Australia’s total assistance to agencies such as itself, noting, programs, and more investment in local NGOs, universities,
“Flexible, predictable, multi-year funding provides the stabil- think tanks and contractors.
ity and agility to support strategic, high-impact initiatives by DFAT received 210 written submissions relating to the new
regionally owned organisations that embody Pacific agency policy, and has held a number of consultations. The policy is
and priorities.” due to be finalised in the first half of this year.
It also called for timely, ‘at-scale’ and simplified climate Total Australian ODA to the Pacific was AU$1,720.8 million
financing that is additional to existing overseas development in 2020-2021 and the Australian Government’s 2022-23 budget
assistance, noting: “There is widespread agreement across pledged an additional $900 million in ODA to the Pacific
the Pacific that the multilateral mechanisms are not working over four years. In the Pacific, PNG is the largest bilateral
fast enough to achieve meaningful impact. It is not enough development program, followed by Solomon Islands, Vanuatu
to pledge funding that remains inaccessible—it is essential to and Fiji.
invest in funding architecture that enables climate financing
to be mobilised and leveraged in ways that are timely and editor@islandsbusiness.com
contextualised to the Pacific region.”

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