At its best, the scheme changes lives – like an abattoir worker using savings to supply clean drinking water to his Vanuatu village. But exploitation remains rife.
Articles on Solomon Islands
Displaying 1 - 20 of 38 articles
Members of the Pacific Islands Forum have a full agenda when they meet this week. Many hope squabbles over China and Taiwan will take a back seat to climate change.
Coral reef conservation needs to take an equitable approach and include local impacted communities in decision-making and resource distribution.
Looking to the stars is an important part of how Pacific voyagers navigate. But deep knowledge of ocean currents, winds and waves, along with mental mapping strategies, are critical too.
A sophisticated machine called the LM-3032 Tape Restorator is helping give new life to decaying, decades-old cassettes.
Most residents would rather their leaders focus on improving living standards in the country.
With China increasingly seeking to influence Solomon Islands’ media, Australian news outlets must renew their commitment – and funding – to cover the Pacific.
Three new surveys paint a mixed picture of local feelings about China. The participants did not simply ‘love China’ or ‘hate China’, but had more complicated perceptions of the country.
In a crowded region, it’s hard to know who is doing what, and where. Effective statecraft, though, is not always measured by quantity over quality.
From the cuscus with the fancy coat, to the wallaby often sporting a single white glove, a wide variety of life evolved on island homes in the south-west Pacific.
Instead of just offering defence funding, we need to look at how hard we make it for Pacific Islanders to come here if we want a really meaningful relationship.
How has China managed to make such deep inroads in the region so quickly? Higher-calibre diplomats and companies willing to do the bidding of Beijing.
Albanese, in an address being promoted as the most important he has made internationally, warned of the dangers where there was not “the pressure valve of dialogue”.
The prime minister’s visit comes after a fractious year between the two countries, including tensions over China’s role in the Pacific and the postponed election in Solomon Islands.
At the end of September, US President Jo Biden will host Pacific leaders at the White House – a sign the US is taking the region, and China’s role in it, more seriously.
Efforts by the Solomon Islands’ government to delay its federal election and ban ships from its ports have caused international concern.
For Pacific Islands, climate change trumps all other threats to their security. While they welcome Australia’s new emission targets, this is an issue of survival that demands greater ambition.
The foreign minister’s trip to Solomon Islands was a difficult one, but while there was no big “win”, it also did not make things worse.
To repair our relationship with the Pacific, the new government must make swift decisions addressing the climate emergency. But that’s just the starting point.
Word from The Hill: Ray Hadley’s shouty assault on Albanese; the intractable Solomons issue; and the wider play of Deves
Michelle Grattan discusses politics with politics + society editor, Amanda Dunn
Top contributors
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Faculty Member, Asian Studies Program, Georgetown University; Visiting Fellow, Department of Pacific Affairs, Australian National University., Georgetown University
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Professor of International Security, Adelaide University
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Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
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Associate professor, Griffith University
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Head of Pacific Research Program, Australian National University
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Honorary Research Associate, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University
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Professor of Development Studies, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University
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Associate Professor and Co-Director, Initiative for Peacebuilding, The University of Melbourne
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Senior Research Fellow, School of Civil Engineering, The University of Queensland
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Liber Ero Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Waterloo
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Professor, School of the Environment, The University of Queensland
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Healthy Oceans Program Manager, Global Change Institute, The University of Queensland
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Chair Professor, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW
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Joint Division Head, Population Health and Immunity, WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research)
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Associate Professor in Ocean Stewardship, Stockholm University