Policy Updates

On August 30, 2024, the 53^rd Pacific Islands Forum leader's meeting, held in Tonga, announced that the PRF would have its headquarters in Nuku’alofa, the capital of Tonga.

The PRF is a disaster and climate resilience financing entity owned and led by Pacific countries and plans to commence business in 2026.

Australia has contributed AUD100 million (US$67 million) and is the main donor so far to the facility, which has raised US$137 million. Saudi Arabia, the US, China, and Japan have also committed funds.
.

On August 30, 2024, Australia's NHMRC awarded a grant of US$3 million to establish a center focused on NTDs.

The funding was awarded to the Kirby Institute, located within the University of New South Wales In Sydney. Professor John Kaldor stated that the new center will be called ENGAGE.

It would involve service organizations and health researchers in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. The center will seek to work with partner countries and communities on preventing and controlling endemic neglected tropical diseases.

On August 28, 2024, the Lowy Institute found that gender equality was the principal target of around 3% of development funding in the Pacific, compared with a global average of around 4%.

The Pacific was found to have the lowest level of female political representation in the world. In addition, a much smaller proportion of women than men are in the workforce compared to the global average, and about two-thirds of girls and women had experienced domestic violence.

While Australia’s contribution was slightly beneath the global average for women’s development financing, it has spent US$6.4 billion between 2008 and 2021 on women’s investments in the Pacific.

On August 27, 2024, Australia committed US$100 million to a Pacific Resilience Fund, which has a goal of raising a total of US$500 million by 2026.

Australian Minister for International Development and Pacific Pat Conroy stated that the UN should encourage contributions to the resilience fund by other countries, as only US$116 million has been pledged so far.

A report by the World Meteorological Organization in Tonga released on August 27, 2024, demonstrated that sea level rises are accelerating. Apia, Samoa’s capital, recorded a rise of 31 centimeters over 30 years and was projected to increase by a further 23 centimeters by 2050. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the Pacific islands were uniquely exposed, with an average elevation of just one to two meters above sea level. Half of the infrastructure in these countries is within 500 meters of the sea.

Australian sea level rises were much lower, with Sydney’s sea level rising by 9 centimeters in the 30 years leading up to 2020.

On August 26, 2024, the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University announced its 2024 Australasian Aid Conference, to be held from December 3 to 5, 2024, at the Crawford School of Public Policy in Canberra, focusing on a range of sectors and aims to support development within the research community and promoting collaboration.

The conference is Australia’s largest annual meeting on international development and normally attracts some 600 participants, including researchers from the Pacific, Asia, and Australia.

The Development Policy Centre also planned to host a 2024 Pacific Migration Workshop on September 3, 2024. The workshop will focus on climate resilience and mobility, as well as the economic dimensions and social implications of migration.

Submissions are open until August 30, 2024, to propose possible panel events and papers.

On August 20, 2024, Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy announced AUD35 million (US$23 million) for a new Civil Society Partnerships Fund to improve the ability of civil society to engage in decisions, improve information sharing, and broaden community meetings.

The funding supports engagement with development partners to discuss priorities and improve local leadership. The program was funded for 4 years.

Australia plans to introduce a new transparency portal by the end of 2024 and published its first report on the Performance of Australian Development Cooperation.

Conroy announced the new fund in the context of the first anniversary of the Australian government’s International Development Policy. He claimed that since the new policy was launched, the ODA program assisted almost 24 million emergency-affected vulnerable people and provided therapeutics, medical equipment, and vaccines to immunize 10 million people.

On August 13, 2024, Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy opened Australia’s annual parliamentary seminar by announcing an additional AUD3 million (US$2 million) for CePaCT to support the regional gene bank for the Pacific community.

Australia has funded CePaCT since 2009, which aims to achieve long-term conservation and distribution of key trees and crops in the Pacific.

Conroy emphasized Australia's continued response to the climate impact in the Pacific, including through the Pacific Climate Infrastructure Financing Partnership which helped deliver renewable energy and off-grid infrastructure to improve rural livelihoods and food security in the more remote Pacific islands.

The annual seminar run by the Crawford Fund saw Dr. Ismahane Elouafi, the new managing director of CGIAR, and Dr. Yvonne Pinto, the head of the International Rice Research Institute, as keynote speakers.

Chair of the Crawford Fund, ex-Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson, noted that the allocation of funds to the ACIAR, involved only 2.5% of Australian ODA. Funding for bilateral research partnerships and contributions to CGIAR both came from within that allocation.

On August 9, 2024, New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong announced AUD43 million (US$28 million) in joint funding to support disaster preparedness and response in the Pacific and Timor-Leste.

The program will assist 14 Pacific Island countries, as well as Timor-Leste, to manage and store supplies for disaster relief in the case of a humanitarian emergency.

The program was driven by the Pacific Island countries due to the increased frequency of natural disasters and the impact of climate change in the Pacific region.

On July 29, 2024, Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy was elevated to a member of the government's cabinet.

The cabinet is the main decision-making group in the Australian government. Conroy noted this was the first time a minister responsible for the Pacific has been a cabinet member.

It has been close to 40 years since the Minister for International Development has been a member of the cabinet. Conroy asserted that his elevation was a clear indication of how the current Australian government placed priority on relationships with Pacific Island nations and on a stable and prosperous future for the region.

On July 29, 2024, Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong announced that Australia would provide more than AUD18 million (US$11 million) over four years to provide cable network technical assistance and training in the Indo-Pacific region.

Wong made the announcement at the conclusion of a Quad Foreign Minister’s meeting in Tokyo. The project is an Australian contribution to the Quad countries’ Partnership for Cable Connectivity and Resilience.

Wong noted that a new Cable Connectivity and Resilience Centre would help ensure that undersea cable networks were resilient and that countries in the region could benefit from growth in the digital economy and reliable connectivity.

Australia is slated to commission analysis and research to assist regional governments with information for decision-making and regulating undersea cables.