“We can only achieve our biggest goals by working together” – Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong on why the Pacific Islands Forum is more important now, than ever before
Op-Ed by Penny Wong, Australian Foreign Minister
Across the Pacific, there are many goals we share: creating more good jobs, better health services and schools, building safe communities – and we all want to fight climate change.
We can only achieve our biggest goals by working together.
And when the countries of the Pacific are united, we can achieve much more.
This is why the Pacific Islands Forum – the PIF – is so important.
The PIF is where 18 Pacific members, including Fiji and Australia, come together to solve problems and work towards our shared goals.
For more than 50 years, PIF members have been building a peaceful, stable and prosperous region, which has made progress possible.
With so many big problems to solve now, the PIF has never been more important.
In Tonga this week PIF leaders will meet, including Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka and Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
And Australia sees these meetings as our best chance to hear from Pacific leaders about Pacific priorities.
In recent meetings, Australia has heard how Pacific countries want to be more ready to respond to natural disasters, such as cyclones and floods.
And Australia is acting on what we hear. In Fiji this month, Australia and New Zealand announced a major investment in Pacific humanitarian warehouses.
This will set up warehouses of emergency supplies across the Pacific, ready for whenever they are needed.
Wherever I travel around the Pacific, it’s clear that climate change is the greatest and most immediate threat.
Now, we are making Australia’s energy supply cleaner – with 82 per cent of our energy mix coming from renewables by the end of this decade. That’s part of how we’ll get to net zero emissions by 2050.
And we are helping the Pacific family to prepare for the effects of climate change.
The Pacific is our home. As we face so many challenges, we will keep playing our part in the Pacific Islands Forum.
By working together, we can keep our region peaceful, stable and prosperous for many years to come.
