Nine visits in nine months. High standing. What is the Foreign Minister promising the s..tholes. We will never know. More money (borrowed) is a good bet.

It's hard to figure which is the most dangerous to Australia: China; the blackmailing Pacific Islands, or the Australian government itself. Probably all three, equally. At the moment, the ALP is a bigger problem than the CCP.

It seems the honeymoon phase is going well for the new Australian government. But may well be short-lived when the Pacific discover how much our coal and gas exports are contributing to climate change and Island inundation.

We do the talk, talk well, hand over enough crumbs to placate most friendly neighbours, but not the fair dinkum walk, walk!

Sport is and remains the opiate of the masses/the great unwashed, even as significant parts of Pacifica sink slowly into the sunlight sea! As craven cowards mill around having a feel-good gab feast.
Alan B.

Come on Alan, do try to keep up.

A number of surveys have shown that rather than sinking into your sunlit sea, every atoll type island of more than 10 acre extent is expanding, growing land. It is the nature of coral islands, & was first explained by Darwin. You should have had time to understand the system by now.

Islands can rise or subside, it all depends on the tectonic plate mood. Those islands at the precipice of ocean canyons may or may not be gone one morning & no-one knows how many times that scenario has played out already. NZ has had a few severe rumblings & when one looks at the Philippines, Java, Japan & all deep water islands are probably not registered as permanent in the scheme of things. Baja California & the nearby San Andreas fault are simply waiting for the gong.
That's the harsh reality of it all. As Hasbeen said, coral atolls are growing but not up ! Be it Climate change, man-made or otherwise, humans have a lot of control over nature but not that much.
My imagination shows me a picture of cavities pumped clear of oil & gas eventually collapse causing severe earthquakes on top of natural tectonic activity.
Ah well, people just want more of everything & more people will cause more problems, no surprises there ! Something tells me that Penny Wong's jaunts have only momentary feel-good moments for the people living on dices in the middle of the ocean.

Gee, forgot to mention atomic & other underwater blasting !

"There will be challenges such as the future of Bougainville but for now our standing is excellent."

- 'Standing' you say?

The Foreign Minister, Penny Pong, has visited the region nine times in nine months. Unprecedented.

- Sounds to me more like she's 'bent over and presenting'.

ttbn and Hassy,

What is it about Islanders that brings the hatefulness out in you fellas. Then again what non white fellas do you actually like? NONE!

Come on Hasbeen, do try and keep up, coral expands outwards not upwards! And only as far as the new low tide mark. What are you suggesting? That the inundated build on stilts like in parts of overcrowded and impoverished Asia?
Alan B.

Alan B,
What did they do before Global Warming when sea levels rose ?

Indy. They moved to higher ground, other islands etc. One thinks that was how NZ was settled. It's another island chain and has significant high ground.

You're right, since the dawn of time there has been tectonic plate shifts and some land subsidence. and we have natural climate change as the sun goes through wax and wane phases. And as our elliptical orbit moves us closer or further from the sun.

And given we've been in a waning phase since the mid-seventies (NASA) the joint has been getting progressively and rapidly cooler and sea levels are dropping.

At least that is what should be happening given our current orbital position from a waning sun. Instead, we've had record heat waves, accompanied by record deaths by heat stroke, the longest and most enduring droughts in living memory.

Coal-fired enthusiasts may lie to protect coal-fired financial interest, but the peer reviewed science doesn't! 97% of the world's CLIMATE SCENTISTS, agree that what we are experiencing is largely down to manmade climate change and therefore reversable.

MSR thorium is not just the cheapest cleanest and safest power source available to us, it's also carbon-free.
Alan B.

I love the islands, in real life. Tell me, just what have you done for islanders, other than talk about them.

I have made 6 trips at about 50 miles a day in my yacht, dragging 50+ft logs from high [volcanic] islands to atolls, because canoe building logs don't grow on atolls.

I have built a number of jetties on atolls to make it easier to ship copra.

I have traveled as mother ship for fleets of canoes traveling to special fishing grounds they can no longer visit since they stopped making the big double hulled sailing canoes.

I have swum with the shark callers of the Solomons, but only once. I decided they are too crazy for me.

What have you done?

MSR thorium
Alan B,
Would this employ as many people as the coal industry ? Would it be economic enough to introduce 3-day working weeks to offset the coal job losses ?
I'd really hope it would. The trouble is that so much spare time would lead to even more stupid masses. Somehow, maybe even by legislation, the population growth needs to be curbed or it'd all be for nothing !
When you have people who object to a petty 12 months Service to the benefit of the Nation for unemployed & unemployables then what is it really all about ? Maybe we could have raffles for morons to score a seat on Penny Wong's jaunts ?

Now that we've solved the problem with Penny Wong, why not take a good look at immigration for islanders who could lose their homes. Africans have plenty of land that they could offer to Pacific Islanders who could settle in Australia instead of the Africans (who have enough land).
We could for once take a serious look at inland Australia & revisit a Bradfield type scheme to establish towns primarily designed for multiculturalism & see if that can actually work.
Start off with a clear goal & don't let any lawyers & do-gooders settle there.

Indy. Thorium needs to be mined and refined.bs But will not replace coal mining jobs. Other minerals in increased demand will! But thorium as the most energy dense material on the planet, a lifetime supply for a reactor can be measured in kilograms while the same energy quotient produced by coal in a similar time frame, requires millions of tons.

Thorium is so abundant we can never run out of it. We will have mined all our coal reserves in less than 700 years, given we still have a habitable planet to live, work and play on!

This burn difference makes thorium power much, much cheaper and if one uses, mass produced SMRs supplying microgrids, one can make power supply for as little as 1 cent PKWH. As much of the transmission and distribution losses (around 75% in total) And transmission line maintenance is all but eliminated.

All this means we end current energy related inflation and allow all manner of manufacturing and onshore processing to start up. And even be able to challenge China as the manufacturing capital of the world. All with clean green energy and no downsides.

Yes, there would be many new jobs, occupations and economic/commercial opportunities! Along with enough economic growth to retire all Gov. debt organically.

MSR technology can also be used to burn the current nuclear waste stockpile and supply almost free industrial (carbon-free) energy in complete safety.
Alan B.

Indy. The Bradfield scheme is dead in the water due to the current/massive cost of pumping the water. We need much cheaper than coal, power, i.e., MSR thorium to make it doable. And steel pipes we can afford. Arc furnaces use huge electric current. Aluminium is just congealed electricity.
Alan B.

Piping is old fashioned & economically unviable. Simply let the water find its own channels & when absolutely required, blast ! The priority is to create a waterway towards inland. At first, it is not important how & where the water flows as long as its in the general direction to Lake Eyre.
Once water flows work can commence to streamline the flow. Additional volume could come from Lake Argyle once that dam has been raised to enable water to flow south. It has to be accepted that this is a generational project so, investors need to wait a decade at the least before holding out their hands for dividends. Best scenario would be no investors & make it a Government long term project. National Service could contribute lot of personnel for the next 50 years. Those who serve can find comfort in the fact that their children will benefit from a better society & economy !

Another puff piece from a labor sycophant.

Those who think populating inland Australia is too costly, simply let less $-orientated people go there !
Of course, consult with the traditional inhabitants regarding access & mark out the sacred sites.
The rest will will be in Automatic mode for the good of all.