Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Scarr for his question and for his deep and abiding interest in the neighbourhood and the Pacific. Our neighbourhood continues to face unprecedented challenges from COVID-19. No nation is immune to the virus, but we must tackle it together, and this government is getting on with the job of shaping a region which is safer, healthier and more prosperous for all of us. We've now gifted over 2.1 million life-saving vaccines to our neighbourhood, because, until everyone is safe from COVID-19, nobody is safe. And, similarly, hundreds of thousands of Australian jobs depend on strong economic growth across our region.

To support that growth, in 2021 we delivered a record $1.7 billion in support to the Pacific, over 50 per cent higher than when Labor were last in office, and we've delivered over $1 billion in support to South-East Asia. Together with a $1.5 billion loan to Indonesia, this represents our largest amount of funding to South-East Asia since the 2004 tsunami. Beyond our existing aid program, we've already delivered nearly $200 million in emergency economic support to the Pacific. In Fiji, this funding is supporting social protection payments to the most vulnerable, benefiting more than 100,000 Fijians. In Timor-Leste, we are supporting new infrastructure projects in more than half of the nation's 450 villages, directly benefiting communities and economic recovery. In the Solomon Islands, we're improving water supplies for more than 4,000 households and sanitation facilities for over 2,000 households, and we're rolling out critical infrastructure support in the region that supports Pacific nations' long-term economic aspirations. We're investing in ports, roads, airports, energy generation and transmission, and telecommunications. Our high-quality loan financing is in high demand. These are projects that will create jobs and unlock new opportunities, ushering in an even stronger era of growth in partnership between Australia and the Pacific.