The ‘entry fee’ Australia must pay for Cairns to gain greater access to the Pacific: Albanese
A commitment to climate change will forge stronger bonds with Pacific nations, creating new economic opportunities and bolster diplomatic ties for Cairns, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.
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A commitment to climate change will forge stronger bonds with Pacific nations, creating new economic opportunities and bolster diplomatic ties for Cairns, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.
But the PM warned the relationship could sour if Australians aren’t serious about staving off rising sea levels for neighbouring island nations.
More than 2300 Cairns residents were born in Papua New Guinea with thousands more connected through family ties to our nearest northern neighbours and other Pacific islands.
The Pacific’s Cairns connections meant the region was ideally placed to play a key role in international relations, Mr Albanese said.
“That … is something that will cement the people-to-people ties,” he said.
“Here in Far North Queensland those ties are important but so are the economic ties.
“PNG is a really important country that has been underdone in terms of its relationship with former governments.”
In November the Prime Minister announced a deal with Tuvalu that will allow residents of the low-lying island nation the chance to resettle in Australia.
“The entry fee for credibility in the Pacific is taking climate change seriously,” Mr Albanese said.
“For them it is an existential threat and certainly not something they’re laughing about. It’s something they want action on.”
A $400m Pacific Policing Initiative and $190m security deal with the Solomon Islands announced last year will counter China’s growing influence in the region.
But soft diplomacy measures, including trekking the historic Kokoda Track, as Mr Albanese did with PNG Prime Minister James Marape last April, were invaluable.
“That’s a way of showing respect for PNG and what they did for us and Australian Defence Force personnel,” the Prime Minister said.
“It was one of the best things I’ve done in my life. I was the first Australian Prime Minister to do that … and we did it together.”
Last year, community leaders including Advance Cairns and the Cairns Chamber of Commerce joined forces, calling for an Office of the Pacific to be established in the Far North city.
“Cairns has the highest population of people from PNG outside Port Moresby,” Advance Cairns CEO Jacinta Reddan said in June.
“Our closest capital city is Port Moresby, and not Brisbane. The ambition that we have for the region is that we pivot to the north and that we no longer measure ourselves against what’s happening in the south.”
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