- The Strategist - https://www.aspistrategist.org.au -
The Gulliver dilemma: Australia and South Pacific security
Posted By Graeme Dobell on April 12, 2021 @ 06:00
‘As one of many Pacific Island nations, Australia is historically and indelibly linked to its neighbours in the region. Our shared history of endurance and mutual assistance during times of major international conflict, natural disaster, climate change and pandemic has forged strong links between Pacific Island neighbours which go beyond statehood and diplomacy.’
Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, Inquiry into Australia's defence relationships with Pacific island nations, March 2021
‘With limited government reach and resources, but strong subsistence and traditional communities, cultural integrity and traditional ways remain key to the Pacific security agenda.’
Meg Keen, ‘Security through a Pacific lens’, Development Bulletin, no. 82: ‘Perspectives on Pacific security: future currents’, February 2021
From fisheries management, protection and surveillance, to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, intelligence collection and sharing, climate change and the global pandemic, Australia’s defence organisation stands ready to play its part in the Pacific Step-up.
In the contemporary cliché, the Pacific region is clearly more crowded and contested. It can’t be denied that significant gaps exist between Australian and Pacific Islands’ understandings of and approaches to security in the region. Differences on climate change in particular remain serious ... Australia has shown repeatedly that it is able to draw on its assets in the region to protect and to prosecute its security interests, and that those assets are being enhanced through new initiatives.
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URL to article: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/the-gulliver-dilemma-australia-and-south-pacific-security/
[1] Inquiry into Australia's defence relationships with Pacific island nations: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/PacificIslandnations/Report
[2] Perspectives on Pacific security: future currents: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/rmap/devnet/devnet/DB82-final-manuscript-23-02-21.pdf
[3] Gulliver: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/829/829-h/829-h.htm#part01
[4] four-year-old: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/happy-fourth-birthday-pacific-step-up/
[5] strengthening relationships with the region: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/PacificRelationships
[6] trade and investment: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/TradewithPacific
[7] human rights of women and girls: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/womenandgirlsPacific
[8] impact of the pandemic: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/FADTandglobalpandemic/Report
[9] aid to the Indo-Pacific: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/Australiasaidprogram/Interim_Report
[10] Boe declaration on regional security: https://www.forumsec.org/2018/09/05/boe-declaration-on-regional-security/
[11] idea: https://www.aspi.org.au/opinion/pacific-islanders-boots-would-help-defence-step
[12] Fiji’s defence minister: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/fiji-seeks-pacific-regiment-in-australian-army/news-story/bd425f643a0e5bd3247f06bafccf4e27
[13] change of policy: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/recruiting-pacific-islanders-into-the-adf-requires-a-change-in-policy-not-law/
[14] government’s submission: https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=2e186df6-8ea9-48e2-9757-79ba7f6013a6&subId=684739
[15] ‘Pacific family’: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/imagining-australias-south-pacific-family/
[16] true: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/bainimarama-visit-to-show-state-of-pacific-family-ties/