Different views, past and present.

Did the British do well?
The British gave Bougainville Island to PNG even though Bougainville is part of the Solomon Islands Archipelago.
Bougainville people are not happy about their copper rich island being under PNG jurisdiction.
Resource poor Solomon Islands could have had that copper to develop their own economy.

The British departed !978 and left 45 million pounds for the independent government to run the economy but that was not enough. Outside influences such as world recessions and stock market trading of other peoples money ate away at monetary value.

International refrigerated factory ships scooped up migratory tuna resources ouside Solo waters. Even Malcolm Turnbull was a logger.

These days people in need cannit even afford 2 panadol. Pharmacies have closed and walked out of Munda and Noro and Gizo because locals do not have any money to buy what they need.

Australia does not need to be telling people what to eat.
Australia could still have a presence by generating employment on special infrastructure projects in Australia and in Solomon Islands. Water supply infrastructure in Australia. Roads for tourism in cash strapped Solomon Islands.

Or at least chatting with neighbors instead of switching off as the ABC has done with radio Australia short wave, that used to reach remote and affected people almost everywhere.

Or do we stay asleep and complain as China develops the Pacific?

Like most other countries Australia has closed its short wave services.
Even the BBC has closed many SW services.

It is just the way it is as the internet extends everywhere.
From memory there is a system specifically designed for Pacific Island countries.
I cannot remember the name it was given but it distributed it via radio.
The BBC and others distribute their radio services via the satellite
system to Medium wave and FM radio stations.

China Radio International (CRI) is out there on shortwave in the Pacific Islands and so is Radio New Zealand International (RNZI) but not Radio Australia.

CRI is polite and invites input.
RNZI has some good coverage of news and programs.
Radio Aus gives a half hour news broadcast on Solomon Islands short wave often inaudible due to low band static.

It seems Australia cannot afford what tiny New Zealand can afford.

Australia no longer exists. It's pitiful.

Island people in general cannot afford internet connection.
FM is in town but distance lmits signal. MW is affected by static over reasonable distance.
Short wave is free and reaches remote villages everywhere.

There is a lot more to Australia's failures in the Pacific region than just the pulling of the plug on Radio Australia's shortwave service In fact Australia has pulled the plug in a number of vital areas in the Pacific.

In Fiji, a country and a people I am very fond of, Australia and New Zealand tried to play the bully boy over military intervention in domestic politics by imposing sanctions. Without any regard to the impact these sanctions would have on an already poor population in the Island nation the big two in regional Commonwealth affairs went ahead with tough action. However another country in the form of China, which is actively seeking to extend its influence in the region, stepped in to fill the vacuum which had been created by the thoughtless actions of Australia and New Zealand. Now we have a real problem on our doorstep, much of which is of our own doing. Who can blame the poor Pacific nations from taking what's on offer, from China.

Re the comments on Queensland water.
In about 1945, when I was aged 14/15, my parents gave me a book authored by Ian Idriess and titled something like The Great Boomerang.

In the book Idriess proposed damming the coastal rivers of north Queensland and delivering that water, through tunnels, to the inland waterways west of the Great Dividing Range. The water could be used for irrigation of agricultural or pastoral land in south west Queensland and/or north western NSW.

A search of the books Idriess authored shows no tile to match my recollections.

Foyle,

I remember the book well; I was quite a fan of Ion Idriess and was privileged to know him in his later years and often talked about diverting some of the river waters inland.
You remembered the title all right, it is "The Great Boomerang",

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Boomerang

will get you on the right track.