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The Importance of the Pacific for Australia's Security
Australia has a long relationship with the Pacific Islands nations. The work that we've done spans more than 100 years. Australia's first humanitarian assistance mission was to Samoa and Tonga in response to the influenza outbreak of 1918-1919. We don't presume our status. We wish to earn a relationship that matters to both countries because the Pacific matters to Australia. They have certainly championed the message of climate change, and I think extraordinarily effectively. If we are that best Australia we can be, there is a natural affinity that brings the Pacific and Australia closer together. But we have to recognise that we have to work at it.