Page 14 - IB March 2018 Edition

Ratu Inoke and Concetta Fierravanti Wells by Paulius Staniunas

Politics

Scheme for some smaller island states and
efforts to reduce the cost of remittances
from Australia to the Pacific.
In November, Foreign Minister Julie
Bishop released a major Foreign Policy
White Paper, which highlights growing
Chinese influence in the Asia-Pacific
region and calls for enhanced engage-
ment with the Pacific islands. Shadow
Defence Minister Richard Marles from
the opposition Australian Labour Party
(ALP) – a former Parliamentary Secretary
for Pacific Island Affairs – has also called
for increased engagement by Australia in
the islands region.

Australian policy failures
The growing influence of non-traditional
players like China, India and Indonesia has
in part come from a series of “own goals”
by successive Australian governments.
There have also been a number of poli-
cies from the Coalition and ALP that have
arguably damaged Australia’s standing
in the region. These include the ongoing
Fierravanti-Wells with Fiji Defence Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola Photo: Paulius Staniunas.
commitment to coal exports at a time
Pacific governments are seeking reduced
use of fossil fuels; the expensive and
The new Aussie assertiveness unresolved warehousing of asylum seek-
ers and refugees on Manus and Nauru;
cutbacks to Radio Australia; the closure of
AusAID as an independent statutory or-
“irresponsible” and “full of ignorance and ganisation; and the gutting of the overseas
prejudice.” aid programme, slashed to the lowest ratio
Fierravanti-Wells’ critique of Chinese of national income ever recorded.
loans and aid grants to the Pacific comes Over the last two decades, trade policy
as the Turnbull government has ramped has been a central pillar of regional en-
up its criticism of growing Chinese political gagement. PACER was first signed in
By Nic Maclellan influence in the Asia-Pacific region, in- 2001, but years of trade negotiations have
A diplomatic spat between Beijing and cluding alleged interference in Australian ended with the PACER-Plus agreement
Canberra has highlighted the Turnbull domestic politics. that the two largest island economies
government’s new assertiveness in the In recent years under the “new Pacific have refused to sign (once a flagship of
Pacific islands as it pushes back against diplomacy,” Pacific island nations have ex- Australian policy, the treaty isn’t even
the growing regional influence of “non- tended links beyond the ANZUS partners, mentioned in the new White Paper chapter
traditional” development partners. advancing collective priorities on trade, on the Pacific).
Earlier this year, Australia’s Minister climate change and the oceans. They’ve In global summits, DFAT diplomats of-
for International Cooperation and Pacific made some headway - over the last year, ten oppose Pacific island policies on loss
Affairs Concetta Fierravanti-Wells made Fiji has served as President of the UN and damage, greenhouse emission targets
headlines when she criticised Chinese aid General Assembly, co-chaired the global or nuclear disarmament. In response,
projects in the Pacific. oceans conference and been appointed to many innovative policies are being formu-
Senator Fierravanti-Wells accused China the presidency of the UNFCCC Conference lated and promoted through institutions
of “duchessing” Pacific leaders and offi- of the Parties (COP23). where Australia is not in the room, such as
cials through its aid programme. Criticis- Now we’re seeing a renewed Australian the Pacific Small Island Developing States
ing “roads to nowhere” built by China, assertiveness, as Canberra seeks to retain group or sub-regional organisations such
she told The Australian newspaper that: Australia’s role as the largest aid, trade as the Melanesian Spearhead Group and
“You’ve got the Pacific full of these useless and military power in the region. Polynesian Leaders Group.
buildings which nobody maintains, which At the 2016 Pacific Islands Forum lead- Australian government budget cuts
are basically white elephants.” ers’ meeting in Pohnpei, Prime Minister have contributed to the hollowing out
In response, Chinese diplomats lodged Malcolm Turnbull committed to a “step of institutions that are vital for engage-
an official diplomatic complaint to Aus- change” in Australia’s engagement with ment with the region, from volunteer
tralia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and the Pacific. At the 2017 Forum in Apia, programmes to Radio Australia and the
Trade (DFAT), calling the Minister’s claims Turnbull announced a Pacific Labour Bureau of Meteorology.

14 Islands Business, March 2018