The Albanese Labor Government elected in May 2022 promised to remedy ‘the worst Australian foreign policy blunder in the Pacific since the end of World War II’ – the Morrison Coalition Government’s handling of the April 2022 China-Solomon Islands security agreement. Less than a week in office, new Foreign Minister Penny Wong jetted to Fiji as part of her government’s mission to reset relationships. The Albanese Government continued the most effective elements of the Pacific “step-up” policy implemented by the Morrison Government, including enhanced labour mobility opportunities, increased development assistance, and efforts to improve people-to-people links. It also implemented its own positive initiatives, creating the Pacific Engagement Visa, increasing investments in Pacific media, and negotiating the Falepili Union Treaty with Tuvalu. But the Falepili Union treaty also reflected that the Albanese Government retained the same preoccupation with strategic competition with China that had dominated the Morrison Government’s approach, as it gave Australia an effective veto over Tuvalu’s security. Reflecting this, the Albanese Government ramped up the pursuit of bilateral security arrangements, including signing a mutual defence treaty with Papua New Guinea. But while driven by short-term strategic imperatives, these bilateral initiatives risked sidelining Pacific regionalism and created long-term obligations that Australia may have difficulty meeting. And the Albanese Government didn’t meet its obligations to its Pacific neighbours to take more ambitious climate action despite its promise to stand “shoulder to shoulder” with the region. Although it (unsuccessfully) bid to co-host CoP31 with them, it simultaneously approved highly polluting gas and oil projects. Therefore, by the end of 2025, Australia had taken two Pacific “step-ups” forward, but one step backward.
