The Australian Museum will conduct a comprehensive environmental survey of Norfolk Island, 1700 km northeast of Sydney, over the next two years. Working with the local community, Parks Australia, the Australian Institute of Botanical Science and the Auckland War Memorial Museum, the Australian Museum (AM) aims to learn more about the flora and fauna on Norfolk Island and…

East Timorese president Jose Ramos-Horta has criticised Solomon Island’s Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare over his security pact with Beijing while urging “serious” pacific leaders to be “sensitive” to their neighbours. “Don’t bring in extraterritorial, regional, interest powers that might not be welcomed by our neighbours,” Ramos-Horta, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and president of East Timor,…

Australian prime minister and deputy prime minister have met the newly appointed U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, with climate change and Indigenous issues being discussed. Kennedy, 64, is the daughter of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, and has served as U.S. Ambassador to Japan between 2013 and 2017 under former President Barack Obama. She was…

Australian prime minister and deputy prime minister have met the newly appointed U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, with climate change and Indigenous issues being discussed. Kennedy, 64, is the daughter of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, and has served as U.S. Ambassador to Japan between 2013 and 2017 under former President Barack Obama. She was…

Duncan Lewis, the former director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Service (ASIO), has called on the new Albanese government to develop relations with Indonesia facing the challenges of international affairs in its Pacific neighbour. Anthony Albanese, the new Australian prime minister, has promised that his government will take the geostrategic environment of the Pacific seriously….

China seeks to dominate the western Pacific. That includes building up a string of ports to dock their naval forces. Doing so would force the free world away from the Indo-Pacific and force countries in Asia to submit to the Chinese Communist Party’s rule. The Solomon Islands could be the first step to achieving such…