Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Scarr for his question. Australia is standing strongly with our partners, in the Pacific and in South-East Asia, in their response to COVID-19. We are delivering on the Prime Minister's commitment at the G7 to provide up to 20 million vaccines for our neighbours, including 15 million to the Pacific and Timor-Leste and five million to South-East Asia.

To date, we've delivered over one million vaccine doses to eight countries: Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Samoa, Tonga and, most recently, Vanuatu. Our contribution of Australian vaccines complements the $623 million we've committed to vaccine access, including end-to-end support for the Pacific and South-East Asia. Our Pacific flights program is sustaining air connectivity to the Pacific and Timor-Leste, ensuring life-saving vaccines and medical equipment are delivered. In Papua New Guinea, our closest neighbour, we're strongly supporting the government's campaign to lift vaccination rates. We're partnering with churches, businesses and NGOs to promote vaccination-positive messages. The ADF is providing vital logistics support to PNG's vaccination campaign in the Torres Strait border region. In Fiji, our regular supply of vaccines, AUSMAT teams, PPE and medical equipment has been vital to assisting our partners in Fiji to address a very difficult delta variant COVID-19 surge.

I've been in regular contact with my counterparts on these matters. I met with Pacific Islands Forum foreign ministers last week. Today I've met with ASEAN foreign ministers and spoken with Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown and Tuvalu foreign minister Simon Kofe. Our assistance through these vital partnerships is genuinely saving lives and genuinely helping to stem very lethal outbreaks.