I've been somewhat surprised and impressed by the early performance of Albo and his team, my wife is particularly taken by her favourite pin up gal Penny Wong's efforts in Foreign Affairs. Our Pacific neighbours have suffered badly in the past at the hands of conservative governments in both Australia and New Zealand. This weeks 'Pacific Island Forum' in Fiji is not only of vital importance to the Islanders, but to Australia as well. The growing influence of China in our region among the small island nations is understandable, but should be of concern to us all. China's influence in the Pacific needs to be addressed by our politicians in practical ways, the posturing and platitudes of the past will no longer cut it. On foreign affairs the Morrison government took the lazy way out, their "Uncle Sam" will take care of things attitude, and all Australia has to do is act the toady was a mistake. What we often forget is the small island nations of the Western Pacific, although appearing to be of an idyllic paradise in nature, are among some of the poorest countries on earth.

Too late, as the actress said to the bishop. The Solomon Islands has told Australia to 'go to hell', refusing entry to Australian aid workers, but allowing 6 of the Chinese version in.

The state of the Pacific Islands has nothing to do with 'conservative governments' (existing only in the minds of the ultra left) but with the islanders themselves, their childish greed and inability to govern themselves. Those of them who are supposed to be governing are corrupt, and will sit back, well paid to let the Chinese Communist Party pull their strings.

Sending a woman over to preach to arch patriarchs must have gone down well!

People enslaved to the Greens party love to blame Australians not like themselves for everything that is wrong with the world, including the South Pacific.

The Greens are just whiny activists, who don't contribute anything in a meaningful sense - they are hateful revolutionaries who won’t stop until everyone is as miserable as they are.

Dear Paul,

Thanks for raising this topic as a discussion.

The current government's aim appears to be - to restore
our country's place in the Pacific as a partner of choice
and to re-assure them that Australia can be relied upon.
With China trying to move its influence into the region
what Australia is doing is very commendable.

The former government's Pacific policies "dropped the ball,"
on which most political commentators agree. Their foreign
aid cuts and a "non-engagement on values" as well as the
issues on climate change did not go down well. The issue
of climate change for the islands is a national security
issue.

The current government has several plans to improve things
such as a boost in aid and a plan to set up a defence
training school in the Pacific. The school would
involve forces from - Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga,
Timor Leste, Vanuatu, and Solomon Islands.

The recent media coverage of Australia's renewed
diplomatic push in the Pacific which began with a visit to
Fiji by our new Foreign Minister Penny Wong - we saw has
been well received. So the government is on the right track.

The government is doing what it needs to do - and for that we
can all be grateful.

The sad truth is nobody seemed to care about the Pacific islands until China took an interest and the Americans got nervous.

To us they were mainly a source of potential fruit-pickers and a possibility of gaining financial benefit from the proposed "Belt-and-Road" initiative - once praised and lauded by our Government who suggested if China put up the money we could provide the expertise to help build major infrastructure projects.

Hi rache,

I can only speak for Fiji where my wife and I have many years of first hand experience with our "family" there, through a private educational charity. The lack of resources, infrastructure, basic necessities etc, things unknown to the average tourist are everywhere. Covid and the total collapse of the tourist trade had a huge impact locally. One of the most heartless things the Coalition government done during its years in office was to cut aid to the Pacific. Only this week America admitted it had neglected the region. The people there are not asking for handouts, but they appreciate assistance which gives them the opportunity to improve their lives. I think it is going to take some years to just recover to the economic level that existed pre-covid.