Australia’s strategic anxiety and emphasis on security in the Pacific Islands region have increasingly dominated bilateral affairs in the past decade. This paper argues the result has been a reconfiguration of valued development cooperation, risking a neglect of historical and contemporary reciprocal relations, which in turn can undermine diplomatic trust-building.

Australia’s bid to co-host the UN climate summit COP31 with Pacific Island countries was built around a clear objective to elevate Pacific climate concerns. That objective is now at risk. The paper proposes that Australia should position the pre-COP for selected global leaders, using it to align Pacific priorities with those of other climate-vulnerable countries.

The global development landscape faces profound upheaval as major donors sharply cut back on foreign aid. The Pacific Islands face an especially uncertain outlook as the world’s most aid-dependent region. This edition of the Pacific Aid Map presents five key findings that are critical to understanding the future of development and competition in the region.

The Pacific Islands have become an arena of intensifying geopolitical competition. This policy brief proposes Australia should lead the creation of a formal intelligence-sharing framework – a 'Pacific Eyes agreement' – initially involving Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji, the four most closely aligned countries in the region.

The Regional Perspectives Project was about listening to, and learning from, Pacific people on a range of topics that reflect Pacific priorities, including relationships with other countries. This report presents a summary of the key findings from Phase 2 of the research undertaken in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.