Australia says its new security and economic treaties with Fiji will reshape the bilateral relationship for generations and help advance Fiji’s vision of a Pacific “Ocean of Peace”.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong told Parliament in Canberra on Tuesday that the Ocean of Peace Alliance and Australia-Fiji Vuvale Union would strengthen cooperation between the two countries at a time of growing regional uncertainty and strategic competition.
“At a time of great uncertainty, risk and contestation, the Albanese Government recognises that Australia cannot afford to be a passive observer of the profound changes occurring around us.
“Peace is never a given.
“And we are not here to just occupy the space,” Wong said.
Wong said Australia had spent the past four years strengthening its engagement with the Pacific through partnerships and regional cooperation.
She said Fiji had been a key partner, particularly under Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who has promoted the vision of the Blue Pacific as an “Ocean of Peace”.
“As Prime Minister Rabuka described it: “a region in which strategic competition is managed; where stability is the touchstone of regional relationships; and where coercion is eschewed.
“A region where differences are resolved peacefully,” Wong said.
Wong said the Ocean of Peace Alliance represented a major step in the Australia-Fiji relationship.
“Australia was honoured to accept Prime Minister Rabuka’s proposal for the Ocean of Peace Alliance
“An Alliance is the highest act of trust between two nations.
“This is Fiji’s first Alliance and only Australia’s fourth,” Wong told Parliament in Canberra.
She said the agreement would deepen military cooperation between the two countries through joint planning, training, exercises and deployments.
“It will build ever deeper levels of interoperability.
“We will, plan, train, exercise and deploy together, strengthening our combined capability, to enhance our respective sovereignty and to ensure our nations’ and our region’s security at a time of fracture and of disruption,” Wong said.
The Vuvale Union Treaty will focus on broader economic, security and people-to-people ties, backed by more than $1 billion (US$706 million) in Australian investment over 10 years.
“It will be a multi-generational endeavour to integrate our economies, our security and our peoples,” Wong said.
On security, Australia will provide $181 million(US$127 million) for cooperation between the Australian Federal Police and Fiji Police Force to combat transnational crime and illicit drugs.
“With an investment of $181 million (US$127 million), the AFP will work hand in hand with the Fiji Police Force to disrupt criminal networks and strengthen intelligence to interdict drugs before they reach Fijian or Australian shores,” she said.
Australia will also support Fiji’s health sector, including specialist training for health workers and assistance in responding to the country’s HIV outbreak.
Wong said the economic pillar of the Vuvale Union would support infrastructure and economic diversification.
“Under our economic pillar, we will finance nation-building infrastructure – ports, and major climate adaptation projects – strengthening Fiji’s role as a regional hub.
“And we will back Fiji’s economic diversification agenda, supporting secure digital infrastructure, enhancing critical infrastructure investment screening, and increasing supply chain resilience,” she said.
The treaty also places a strong focus on people-to-people links, with more than 100,000 people in Australia of Fijian heritage.
Wong highlighted the historical links between Fijians and Australia’s First Nations peoples, including cooperation during World War II between Fijian workers and the Yolŋu people.
She said the Bukmak Forum, established under the Vuvale Union, would bring together government, traditional, faith and business leaders from both countries.
Wong said the two treaties were the first practical response to the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ call to advance the Blue Pacific Ocean of Peace Declaration.
“I have just returned from Fiji where Pacific Islands Forum Foreign Ministers reaffirmed our Leaders’ call to give practical effect to the Blue Pacific Ocean of Peace Declaration
“And these are the first two treaties to answer that call,” she said.
Wong said the agreements would benefit not only Australia and Fiji but the wider Pacific, given Fiji’s role as a regional hub for transport, logistics, education and healthcare.
“These two treaties send an unequivocal signal of our commitment to each other and to the Pacific family
“They will help realise the vision of an Ocean of Peace to make us all more secure, prosperous and resilient,” she said.
She formally commended the Ocean of Peace Alliance and Vuvale Union treaties to the Australian Senate for consideration.
