This panel event at the 2020 Australasian Aid Conference outlines the key findings of new research that analyses how Pacific islanders from Fiji, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands perceive Australians and the government’s policies and interventions in the Pacific.
In November 2018, the Australian Government announced the Pacific step-up, taking its engagement with the Pacific to a new level. Despite this shift, new research finds that many people in the Pacific are concerned Australia does not know how to engage successfully as part of the Pacific community.
This panel event at the 2020 Australasian Aid Conference outlines the key findings of research commissioned by the Whitlam Institute on the views of Pacific islanders from Fiji, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands on their countries’ and region’s future place in the world. The panel explore how these three island nations perceive Australians and the government’s policies and interventions in the Pacific, and makes some recommendations.
>> Read the research report here
Panellists:
Dr Tess Newton-Cain, Principal, TNC Pacific Consulting
James Cox, Executive Director, Peacifica
Dr Geir Henning Presterudstuen, Lecturer, Anthropology, Western Sydney University
Linda Kenni, Local Consultant, Vanuatu
Chair:
Leanne Smith, Director, Whitlam Institute