Dave Sharma (Wentworth, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, I present the report entitled Strengthening Australia's Relationships in the Pacific.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—As recent news events have illustrated to us, the Pacific is a region of incredible strategic defence, military and development importance to Australia and it is important that we maintain our position as the primary partner of choice for these countries, the security guarantor for these countries, the preferred development partner for these countries and the leading exemplar of soft power in the region. I believe that we have made a number of important steps in recent years in both recognising the importance of this region to our own strategic interests, recognising our humanitarian obligations to this region and increasing the level of Australian engagement accordingly through programs like the Pacific Step-Up, through expanded labour mobility programs, through expanding and enhancing our diplomatic presence in the region, through enhancing our defence engagement and defence partnership with the region, and through programs like the scholarships, educational exchanges and even, indeed, sports diplomacy.

The report that the committee is tabling today, Strengthening Australia's relationships with countries in the Pacific, seeks to build upon what has been achieved already in the Pacific Step-Up. I must also at this juncture commend some of the measures announced in the budget on Tuesday evening which increase our level of development assistance to the Pacific and also provide a number of new initiatives to enhance our relationship.

Australia can no longer assume that our interests in the Pacific will look after themselves. We've had to contend with outside powers seeking to exert influence before, but those sorts of developments have generally been of a more manageable variety: rivalry between Taiwan and the mainland of China for diplomatic recognition in the late 1990s and 2000s; some occasional forays from nations like Russia, Iran, even Libya for a period, but nothing like what we're seeing in terms of the level of interest from Beijing and China's government in the Pacific. Of course, something that has been in the news much this week is the potential partnership agreement between the Solomon Islands and China, which, if it were to allow the establishment of a military presence, permanent or nonpermanent, in the Solomon Islands, would pose a grave risk to Australia's strategic and defence interests.

What that means, though, in short is we need to work harder in the Pacific. We need to invest more time and resources and people and diplomacy and development and defence assets in the Pacific, and we should no longer assume that these nations will take us for granted. We need to both address their priorities and listen to their concerns. With this in mind, the committee heard evidence from a number of Pacific island countries, think tanks, academics and others about some of the initiatives they would like to see, and this report seeks to elaborate on those. Firstly, the report recommends that we lead a large-scale, multiyear post-COVID aid and recovery package for the Pacific. I note that the government has announced such a package. They're building on it in the budget, but it's incredibly important, given the dependence of some of those countries in particular on tourism receipts, that we help their economies rebuild after a period when they've had almost no tourist dollars come in. We also recommend that Australia seeks to build upon existing and expanding labour mobility schemes with the Pacific to make sure that such schemes provide career development options so people can move up the skills ladder and take better skills back. Also, Australia seeks to build limited permanent residency pathways so that people who are making an enduring commitment to this nation also have options to reside here longer term.

As a committee we heard a lot of evidence about the exceptional importance of climate change as an issue facing the Pacific, and the report emphasises and recommends that climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation efforts be a high priority in Australia's assistance to the region but also our diplomatic engagement with the region. For most of these countries, they see this as an existential challenge, and they look to Australia to take the lead on this issue both domestically and internationally.

We also make recommendations that the federal court's judiciary program in the Pacific continue to be supported; that we look at the creation of a dedicated Pacific component to Australia's permanent migration intake, similar to what New Zealand offers to these countries, as a way of strengthening our people-to-people and cultural ties; and that we look at expanding Australia's media and broadcasting footprint in the Pacific, recognising that this is a key element of Australia's soft power. The information domain is increasingly contested in these countries, and we need to make sure that we, Australia, remain a trusted source of unbiased and fact based news for these countries, given that there are alternatives available.

Finally, while the committee take no particular view on the outcome of these explorations, we do recommend that we explore ambitious proposals for deeper integration with the Pacific, such as a long-term compact of free association. I commend this report to the House.

Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Western Australia) | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I too rise to speak on this report of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. I'll start by commending the work of the chair, who's done an excellent job in chairing the committee, and acknowledging the deputy chair, the member for Bruce—who would be speaking on this report if it weren't for the fact that, unfortunately, he currently has COVID. I'll thank the committee members for their work and also the secretariat. We saw in the submissions that were put to this inquiry the great enthusiasm from the foreign policy community in Australia and indeed business, trade unions and academia about the opportunities for Australia that lie in the Pacific.

One recommendation that I think does need to be picked up is to acknowledge that while there was a Pacific Step-up there is so much more to be done. Recommendation 1 notes that Australia should lead a 'large-scale, multi-year post-COVID-19 aid and recovery package within the Pacific islands region', looking for not just a step-up but 'transformative public investment'. And I think it is that transformative public investment that we need in order to fully realise the potential of the Pacific as well as to realise our ambitions in helping our Pacific neighbours to achieve their goals.

I note that this is one of four inquiries that the broader Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee has completed that focus on the Pacific, and I commend the chair of the joint standing committee for their leadership in getting us to that point of having a multi-report response to some of the opportunities that lie in the Pacific. Australia's relationship with the Pacific is—and must be—a forever partnership. A region as diverse as the Pacific will of course have diverse views and diverse opportunities. But what we did see was a universally positive association with Australia's engagement and that we are seen as a first responder when our friends in the Pacific face a crisis. But of course that is not enough. We should also be the partner of choice for our Pacific partners to address shared challenges in our region. Unfortunately we have seen some signs that this may no longer be happening, and the impact of COVID in the Pacific highlights more than ever the importance of Australia working with Pacific neighbours to deliver a region is both secure and sovereign.

Beyond those challenges that the chair outlined, we also have the challenge of climate change. While the report rightly identifies climate change as an issue facing the Pacific region, I believe it fails to fully capture the significance of the challenge. I fear that the government has always dealt with climate change as an issue for domestic politics rather than something where Australia needs to be seen on the world stage as a good, honest long-term actor. We can no longer let down our Pacific neighbours by failing to take climate change seriously both at home and in our work abroad.

I'd also like to highlight John Blaxland's 'grand compact' proposal—that is, that Australia offer a compact of association with South Pacific countries for shared governance, somewhat similar to what New Zealand has done. The committee has recommended that the Australian government consider this proposal, with, as the chair mentioned, a permanent migration intake similar to that in the New Zealand model.

Finally, I want to talk about Radio Australia. It was 25 years ago that the Howard government made significant cuts to Radio Australia. This report says that we have to change direction. We need to reinvigorate Radio Australia, which is well regarded in the region, and to boost its digital appeal. We know that soft diplomacy, using our media assets and using things like Radio Australia, is a huge opportunity to share stories of the Pacific and stories of Australia with our neighbours. Continuing to invest in things such as Radio Australia is just one simple way that we can reverse some of the damage that's been done over many years in our relationship with the Pacific.

Dave Sharma (Wentworth, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House take note of the report.

Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 39, the debate is adjourned. The resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for a later hour this day.