Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

Seventy-five years ago, the security of the Pacific was of vital strategic interest to Australia. We worked with our allies in the Solomon Islands and in other theatres of battle, as I said, to secure the Pacific and to secure our own defence. Whilst we do not now face the same direct military attack that we faced at those times, we do have challenges to our regional security. Those challenges now come in the form of the trafficking of drugs, unregulated and irregular fishing and, most importantly, instability. May we never again have a situation like we did in RAMSI, and that is the reason why the Australian government, together with other governments in the region, contributed to this regional force. So, as it was in World War I and World War II, the Pacific remains an important area— (Time expired)