Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Australia will continue to be a partner the region can count on to build a strong Pacific family. Those opposite lectured the Pacific, those opposite mocked their priorities and—importantly—they failed to show up when it mattered. Their disastrous performance meant we lost a decade as a nation we are never getting back. And I will be upfront: we do face a permanent state of contest in the Pacific. While the coalition miserably talks Australia down, our government has had transformational breakthroughs like the Pukpuk Treaty, the Pacific Policing Initiative, the Falepili Union with Tuvalu and the Nauru-Australia Treaty. This is what Australia has been delivering under the Albanese government. This is what Labor governments are delivering whilst those opposite, the coalition, are more concerned about outflanking each other. You see, they haven't realised you can't be credible in the Pacific if you continue to deny the science of climate change.