The South Pacific: a long-term challenge, say ASPI Reports

Release of ASPI Reports on the relationship between Australia and the Pacific Island Countries 
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) today released two new Special Reports on the relationship between Australia and the Pacific Island Countries, Australia and the South Pacific: Rising to the challenge and Engaging our neighbours: Towards a new relationship between Australia and the Pacific Islands. 

The publications were launched by The Hon Duncan Kerr SC MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs at Parliament House.

The reports are the products of an eight-month project designed to find ways of improving the prospects for economic development and political stability in the region. The reports analyse the diverse challenges facing South Pacific island states and their impacts on regional security, as well as Australia’s role in the region, leading to recommendations for policy makers.

Australia and the South Pacific: Rising to the challenge, a research collection of seven distinct papers by leading experts, examines key issues in South Pacific security and Australia’s role in the region. It offers a range of suggestions that should be considered in the development of Australia’s regional strategy. 

ASPI convened a group of prominent Australian academics, researchers, business representatives and policy makers to develop a consensus view about Australia’s relationships with the Pacific Island Countries. ‘Engaging our neighbours: Towards a new relationship between Australia and the Pacific Islands’, is the report of this Independent Task Force.
The Pacific Islands will always matter strategically to Australia and it is important that we engage our regional neighbours over the long term, especially Melanesia.  ‘That’s a key message from these two reports’ says ASPI Executive Director Peter Abigail, who served as co-chair of the ASPI Pacific Task Force.  ‘Another is that while we cannot fully open our doors to our Pacific neighbours, we should open them more than we have in the past’.