Australia’s Chance to Lean Into Leadership
It’s time for Australian leaders to step up and show true leadership of the Pacific region.
For too long piecemeal aid, from increasingly competing geo-politically interested and unaligned donors, has distracted from a strategic, long-term development goals with our neighbours.
As areas of the globe have become off limits due to COVID, supporting and integrating with our Pacific neighbourhood has become more important than ever.
Recently the Australian Government increased aid to the pacific region with a one-off supplementary funding package, to help Pacific countries through the pandemic. While the aid is important and greatly needed, it’s a temporary measure. What the region really needs is a long-term, holistic governance and leadership from Australia.
What’s holding development back?
Aside from aid, there are revenue issues in the Pacific, which are generally due to small and narrow tax bases ill-equipped to sustainably support citizens aspirations. Nations well-endowed with substantial natural assets, have found it very difficult to convert the return on these assets into sustainable, growing revenues.
Multilateral agreements and organisations, with all the best of intentions, have generally struggled to succeed especially as countries become increasingly nationalistic, while having to compete at times with bilateral donors.
Governance issues within some Pacific nations are often pointed to by donors, siting poor results and limited capability as a reason to avoid involvement and investment. These are known risks, they are challenging, but it can be accounted for and managed.
It seems that everyone who lives and works in the Pacific knows the problems that holding Pacific Island Nations (PICs) back. The solution requires a strategic shift in thinking and approach. The Pacific wants to be heard and its united voice on climate change, this should be signal enough. Traditional partners like Australia have an opportunity to redesign strategies, on how best to support the development assistance to each country. The Pacific is not a generic collective, but there are solutions to leverage the commonalities and support regional growth.
Solutions and long-term strategy
I have worked and lived for 30 years in Papua New Guinea, Fiji and throughout the Pacific. The most common desire I hear from communities, is to work and study in Australia and New Zealand to get a start for themselves and their families. It’s not forever, but to bring those acquired skills back to their homes, villages and countries to develop their communities.
Australia has not used proximity; our labour market or high quality education institutions to our advantage to boosting the Pacific. We typically prefer to focus on an aid program that oscillates in its focus every few years, depending on the government of the day. The political cycles of donor countries, drives mostly short-term solutions.
The creation of a Pacific Neighbourhood where citizens from the PICs have access to employment and education, would be a transformational approach to development that would reverberate positively for generations to come. Instead of competing for aid, we play to our strengths and needs, supporting development of our Pacific neighbours. In turn, we support the growth of industry and educational institutions in Australia.
As our relationship with China is on ice and the drip feed of international students dries up, perhaps we could fill more places at our universities with Pacific islanders, coordinating access with labour markets needs in Australia. We need to acknowledge education and skilled labour, will lead to an economically and socially prosperous neighbourhood.
I am not suggesting a total wipeout of the existing aid program, but we need through look at socio-economic benefits of opening our boarders to our neighbours for education and employment.
The first country in the Pacific gained independence in 1968 and a flourish of countries in the 1970s. It’s time we changed the model, lowered our fences and established an inclusive, gated Pacific Neighbourhood providing access to employment and education and in doing so, shore up our regions safety and prosperity.
Carolyn Blackrock was born in Mareeba and raised on outback North, Queensland cattle stations. She has lived and worked throughout Asia Pacific for over 20 years and lived in PNG for the past 10 years. During this time she has worked with Governments, public and private sectors to implement large-scale infrastructure and development programs delivering sustainable socio-economic reform. Carolyn is currently completing a Masters of Chemical Engineering (Sustainable Energy) at the University of Queensland. She splits her time between Port Moresby and rural Queensland, where she owns and operates a small cattle breeding enterprise in the Brisbane Valley and is the founder and principal of Ipsum Pacific, a strategic consulting firm.