Speech
27 March 2008
Launch of the Lowy Institute Melanesia Program
Thank you very much Jenny Hayward-Jones, Director, The Myer Foundation Melanesia Program.
I would like to commend the Lowy Institute for its foresight and vision in establishing, with the support of the Myer Foundation, the Melanesia Program.
Introduction
Australia has had long and close links with the countries of Melanesia: Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu, and with the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, which has a substantial Melanesian population.
These Melanesian Islands are significant members of the larger family of Pacific island states and territories. They are relatively large in terms of both population and area, with diverse and complex cultures and societies.
They have significant potential, based on human and natural resources. Within the wider Pacific, they are, in geographic terms, our next door neighbours and vitally important countries and societies for Australia to understand.
I have a long personal relationship with our Melanesian neighbours. I was an election observer in Fiji in 2006, and in the 1980s, was Dean of the Law School at the University of Papua New Guinea.
Regrettably, I too have observed that in recent years many of the institutional and personal links that used to bind Australia closely to Melanesia have begun to weaken. Our knowledge base with respect to our neighbours, our level of understanding of who they are, has begun to erode.
The Lowy Institute and the Myer Foundation - through the Melanesia Program - will be able to make an important contribution to reinvigorating those links and enriching our understanding of our own neighbourhood.
Australia’s Relations with the Pacific
The islands of the Pacific and in particular Melanesia face many challenges. Some are unique. Others are the global challenges that we all face in the twenty-first century: economic development in a global economy being transformed by the rise of China and India; climate change; and new threats to security, including resource scarcity; and transnational crime.
Australia is committed to working with our neighbours to meet these challenges and to help Melanesia harness its many assets, not the least its people.
There is a tremendous amount of work to be done and we stand ready to do it, shoulder to shoulder.
There is of course a view among some that the problems facing the Melanesian nations are intractable and that there is little prospect for success.
The Australian Government does not share this view.
This is not naiveté. Significant problems do remain and we are not blind to them. But the recent near total collapse of civil order in the Solomon Islands taught us that indifference in the face of these challenges will carry far too high a price.
The costs of standing by as Pacific states descend into chaos are far higher than the cost of offering early assistance. Chaos opens the door to misery, and for the penetration of State infrastructure by transnational criminal organisations and others who may be Australia’s strategic competitors.
By being a good citizen and helping our neighbours to weather these storms we are fulfilling our own strategic charter.
A New Approach
Our Government is committed to a new policy approach to the Pacific.
The foundation of this new policy is the Port Moresby Declaration, issued by the Prime Minister during his visit to Papua New Guinea on March 6.
The Declaration is a 20-point plan that maps out Australia’s commitment to re-engagement with the Pacific. Central to this new policy focus is the formation of Pacific Development Partnerships, which will provide a new framework for Australia and Pacific Island nations to commit jointly to shared goals.
Under the Pacific Partnerships, our Government will forge bilateral contracts of shared responsibility and obligation between ourselves and our neighbours.
The Partnerships will embrace:
- improving economic infrastructure and enhancing local employment;
- enhancing private sector development, including better access to infrastructure and microfinance;
- achieving quality, universal basic education;
- improving health outcomes through better access to basic health services; and
- enhancing governance.
Over time, in a spirit of mutual responsibility, we are prepared to increase partnership investment with our Pacific neighbours.
The Goals of Our Engagement
Australia - with New Zealand - has a critical supporting role to play in the stability of the Pacific region.
We are also keen to work with others: government and non-government participants, who share our interests in, and vision for, the advancement of the Pacific. We particularly look forward to delivering on our offer to host the Pacific Islands Forum in 2009.
With enough commitments from all parties, there are genuine prospects to reverse negative trends in health, welfare, education and economic levels, across Pacific Island countries.
Kevin Rudd’s recent visit to PNG and Solomon Islands has set the scene for next month’s Australia-PNG Ministerial Forum, which is to be held for the first time since 2005.
The forum offers an opportunity to build on this new phase in Australia’s Pacific relationship, and to tackle important issues, such as climate change and scaling up our response to the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases in PNG, to the tune of $13 million.
We also look forward to considering the report of the team jointly reviewing the Australia-PNG Enhanced Cooperation Program.
The review will identify ways to improve the effectiveness of the program and its management and provide a good basis for discussion at the Ministerial Forum on the program’s future direction.
Australia also welcomes the commitment shown by the new Solomon Islands Government to work closely with Australia, both through the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) and our bilateral relationship.
Australia continues to play a significant role, in partnership with other Pacific nations, in RAMSI's reconstruction and nation-building work in Solomon Islands. RAMSI has been successful in restoring law and order and this allows for an increased focus on capacity-building.
Work is now beginning on establishing a Solomon Islands Government - RAMSI Partnership Framework. This will serve as a mechanism for mutual responsibility that sets priorities to deliver the policy objectives of the Solomon Islands Government.
In line with our broader approach to partnerships in the Pacific, Australia is committed to a stable, prosperous and peaceful Fiji. It has been disappointing to note that the Fiji economy contracted by more than 4 per cent in 2007.
Each time Fiji has experienced a coup, its people and economy have suffered. Military coups are not a solution to domestic political issues in Fiji. No matter the intention behind the ousting of civilian government, the result is universal - ordinary people suffer and the outcome rarely, if ever, lives up to what is intended.
We are committed to seeing a return to democracy in Fiji. We want to see the renewal of a genuine democratic foundation that can rid Fiji of the damaging culture of coups and counter-coups that have so damaged its economy, community and international reputation over the past 20 years.
At the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting in Tonga in October last year, Commodore Bainimarama, the interim prime minister, gave an undertaking to hold elections by March 2009. We look to him to deliver on his undertaking but we are very concerned about slow progress in preparing for those elections.
Yesterday in Auckland, I took part in the third special meeting on Fiji by the Foreign Ministers of the Pacific Islands Forum countries. The Foreign Ministers reinforced the importance of Fiji’s interim government working effectively towards democratic elections by March 2009. Ministers emphasised the need for the election to take place in accordance with Fiji’s Constitution, and for the interim government and for the armed forces in Fiji to accept the election outcome, regardless of the result.
Fiji’s interim foreign minister, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, told us the interim cabinet would soon consider a detailed timetable for election preparations and that an appointment to the key position of Supervisor of Elections would soon be made. We welcome these small steps, which are consistent with the commitments made by the interim government in March 2007, and note the ball is now very definitely in the interim government’s court.
There is a strong regional and international consensus that free and fair elections are a crucial first step towards Fiji addressing its longer-term challenges. Forum Foreign Ministers yesterday agreed to establish a Ministerial Contact Group, building on the efforts of the existing Fiji Working Group, to further monitor the progress of election preparations.
The Ministerial Contact Group will consist of the Foreign Ministers from Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Tuvalu. Australia is fully committed to working closely with our regional neighbours to achieve democracy and the return of the rule of law to Fiji.
I am pleased that Vanuatu is also a strong focus of the Lowy Institute’s Melanesia Program.
Since my time as Justice Minister in the Keating Government, when I visited Port Vila, I have maintained a close interest in how Vanuatu is meeting its development challenges.
This Sunday, my colleague Bob McMullan and I will be embarking on a joint official visit to Vanuatu to launch the Pacific Economic Survey in Port Vila.
We look forward to meeting Prime Minister Lini and President Mataskelekele, and visiting AusAID programs on Tanna and Espiritu Santo.
The Lini government has enjoyed political stability in recent years. This, along with five consecutive years of GDP growth, helps justify claims that Vanuatu is one of the success stories of the Pacific and illustrates the possibilities that do manifest when economic reform and stability of government come together.
However, Vanuatu still faces significant economic development, land tenure and infrastructure challenges, especially in rural areas, and our Government will work with Vanuatu to address those challenges.
Our partnership investment activities in Vanuatu focus on strengthening the governance of key institutions, achieving a stronger and more accountable law and justice sector and promoting an environment that is conducive to further economic growth.
Now, I understand that the Melanesia program here at the Lowy Institute also focuses on East Timor. That, of course, is not in my direct remit, but I would like to stress that our Government - led by the Prime Minister - is committed to East Timor’s long-term future development and Australia is at the forefront of international efforts to help East Timor become a peaceful and more prosperous nation.
The Australian-led International Stabilisation Force (ISF) will support the East Timorese Government and the UN Integrated Mission in East Timor in stabilising the security situation for as long as necessary - and for as long as the East Timorese Government wants it to remain. Australia’s approach to assistance for East Timor has a strong focus on capacity building.
Economic Reform
Of course, the future of Melanesia - and the Pacific region as a whole - will depend very much on getting economic policy fundamentals right.
The goal for Australia is to work with the governments and the people of the region to promote stability and achieve economic growth and development.
Australia is committed to continued reform processes that open and build on robust economies in the Pacific, and these must include specific approaches to capital investment, land and labour in the region.
Melanesia’s greatest asset is not its extensive mineral resources, but its people. For too long there has been too much focus on Melanesia’s physical resources. As has been the case in Australia, the easy exploitation of such natural endowments provides a temptation, particularly during mining booms, to sit back and not properly plan for the future.
In Australia, the Rudd Government is committed to developing our productive capacity through more focus on investment in education and infrastructure, tackling climate change, continuing health reform and providing strong economic management. This focus on raising the productive capacity of the people is also required across the Pacific.
Our Government is committed to ongoing dialogue with the region regarding labour mobility. We are studying this complex issue carefully and Australia is very keen to learn from the New Zealand experience.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and Trade Minister Simon Crean have all had useful discussions with their New Zealand counterparts on this experience.
The Government would like to test the demand for labour and receptiveness to a pilot program in various parts of Australia.
We then look forward to having a Pacific-wide discussion on the issue at the next Pacific Islands Forum Meeting in Niue.
I might just mention that trade is another vital plank in our Pacific strategy.
Freeing up the flow of goods, services and investment in the region will be a vital route out of poverty. We know that countries that open themselves up to trade and investment grow faster than those that do not.
The Government is committed to working towards the comprehensive regional free trade agreement envisaged by Forum Leaders under the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (known as PACER Plus).
Of course it can be difficult when capacity to take advantage of new opportunities is lacking or when powerful interests seek to protect the status quo.
We do not underestimate the challenges our neighbours face, and we stand ready to help. We know it is difficult.
It is only in the past quarter-century that Australia’s trade barriers have come down, often in the face of strong resistance, but the benefits have been well worth the short-term transition costs.
We acknowledge that the PACER Plus arrangements will take time and patience if we are to take into account the needs of all parties, including smaller countries.
By working closely and in partnership with our Pacific neighbours on these issues, we can play our part in our region, so its people achieve their economic and social goals and aspirations.
Conclusion
Let me conclude by saying that the new Australian Government has a new approach to the Pacific. We aspire to assist the region deliver on its enormous potential not least because we recognise that Australia is part of it.
Our approach is based on mutual respect and seeking common agreement, and is grounded in forging new partnerships.
We share our history and our future with the Pacific. To this end, the challenges facing Melanesia’s nations are our challenges and we have a stake in helping them meet their responsibilities and achieve their aspirations.
Our partnership investment in the Pacific is part of our contribution to ‘future-proofing’ the region and to the collective futures of all our people.
I will leave it to my colleague Bob McMullan to expand on a range of Australian initiatives across Melanesia and the future of our development relationships.
I thank the Lowy Institute for the invitation today, and once again congratulate the Institute and the Myer Foundation on the launch of this important Melanesia Program.
Media inquiries: Mr Kerr's office - 02 6277 4991