Connectedness and inclusion
5.1
The Committee observed the various ways that social links can be deepened between Australia and the Pacific islands and in promoting better inclusiveness. Key areas identified included through diaspora, faith-based links, sports affiliations, educational pathways, shared history, interests and values.
5.2
Associate Professor Joanne Wallis asserted:
People-to-people connections are vital for Australian diplomacy and for improving Australia’s policy with respect to the Pacific Islands. They can help to combat the ignorance of Australians about the region and assist Australia to project its soft power in the region.
5.3
Associate Professor Wallis’s submission elaborated:
There are numerous opportunities to strengthen people-to-people links, including through sending Australian volunteers into the region via the Australian Volunteers for International Development program.
Building on the model of the military education and exchanges conducted under the [Australia’s Defence Cooperation Program], Australia could also expand opportunities for Australian public servants to interact with their Pacific Islander counterparts and develop personal links, such as the programs already run for Pacific Islander electoral officers by the Australian Electoral Commission.
Locally led and inclusive partnerships
5.4
Contributors to the inquiry representing Pacific and diaspora voices appeared to agree that particular elements of interaction are fundamental for constructive engagement with Pacific island peoples. Peacifica wrote that taking account of the ‘Pacific Mode’ in initiatives was important, while Caritas Australia supported a ‘locally led’ approach in development planning. Caritas Australia elaborated:
Decisions should be made by the people closest and most affected by the issues and concerns of the community. Programmatically it is expressed through ‘localisation’, where local communities and organisations are supported and empowered, as partners in a reciprocal relationship, to lead their own development.
5.5
In a similar vein, the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Law Society recommended:
…that, to successfully identify and address the priority needs of the government and peoples of Pacific Island countries, Pacific voices must be centred in each phase of Step-up initiatives.
5.6
As did the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law:
To create truly responsive and effective policies, Australia must engage with and listen to the views of our Pacific neighbours.
5.7
Other views expressed embedding grass-roots development participation in local Pacific communities through civil society, including, for example, building the capacity of trade union movements.
5.8
Part of the Step-up includes local capacity building within Pacific churches. Dr Sureka Goringe, National Director, Uniting World, noted that churches are strong and influential organisations in the Pacific, and that:
…our relationships with the Pacific really need to engage with churches in the Pacific, churches being probably the strongest and most influential civil society organisations in the Pacific. Engaging with them has a whole range of reasons around it, which include the fact that they are deeply embedded in community and are very influential in the public. You can build on a very long relationship between Australian churches and Pacific churches, a history of collaboration and mutual respect.
5.9
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s (DFAT) submission outlined the capacity building work channelled through Pacific church leaders to drive development outcomes:
The Pacific Church Partnerships Program works to build the leadership capabilities of Pacific island church leaders to contribute to development outcomes. It has been reoriented to meet Pacific community needs, including assisting the priorities of the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC), in response to Cyclone Harold and COVID-19.
5.10
It is widely acknowledged that to better development initiative outcomes that existing local capacity should be identified and utilised. The Whitlam Institute recommended that the Australian Government should:
Improve government, private sector and [non-government organisations (NGOs)] partnerships by encouraging Australian government agencies, businesses and [international] NGOs to better recognise existing local capacity and support the development of new capacity where requested.
5.11
The Whitlam Institute also suggested using a mix of capacity building sectors in the Pacific islands to deliver development initiatives and also to expand relationships beyond the capital cities:
…recommend that the Australian government …deepen relationships beyond the capitals, both in the Pacific states and in Australia. A multiplicity of civil society, sporting, commercial, religious and cultural links are ready to be developed, in some cases building on existing initiatives.
Australian knowledge of the Pacific islands region
5.12
Mr Nic Maclellan said the Step-up program could be enriched if the Australian based Pacific diaspora are asked about best practice engagement strategies:
Islanders living and working in Australia can enrich the current discussion about regional relationships. But it’s a largely untapped resource and we are all the poorer for the reluctance to engage with a highly mobile cohort…
5.13
However, Professor Joanne Wallis noted:
While I do agree that having a Pacific diaspora in Australia is important, I think the obligation is equally on us, as thinkers and as leaders, to be telling that story about why the Pacific is important and why the government should be devoting resources to it and paying attention to it.
5.14
Equally, Dr Tess Newton Cain, Griffith Asia Institute highlighted the serious lack of knowledge in the Australian public about the Pacific island region and what their taxes (development assistance) are spent on:
The amount of resources—policy resources and financial resources, and this goes way beyond aid—that are deployed in the region on behalf of the Australian public, and the fact that the Australian public doesn't know what's being deployed on its behalf, doesn't know how its officials are behaving, and doesn't know how its sense of itself is being projected in the region, is baffling and it should be a matter of great concern.
Reciprocal knowledge
5.15
Better knowledge of the Pacific by Australians may contribute to Pacific islanders feeling more respected and included, given Pacific island people generally have considerable knowledge of Australia and Australians. Parallel to that, Pacific islanders have commented on what they perceive to be a lack of visibility of Australian Indigenous people.
5.16
DFAT advised the Committee about promoting deeper connections between Indigenous Australians and Pacific island people:
DFAT recognises that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures are the foundations of Australia’s national identity. DFAT, in particular the Office of the Pacific (OTP), has a unique opportunity to showcase Indigenous stories and cultures. This includes by supporting deeper connections between Indigenous Australians and Pacific people and increasing Indigenous expertise in support of our development, trade and foreign policy efforts.
5.17
DFAT’s Indigenous Australian outreach was described:
The [Office of the Pacific] is now in the process of developing an Indigenous Engagement Plan for launch in late 2020. We are very committed to championing Indigenous Australian cultures and businesses in the Pacific, including by increasing Indigenous expertise in the implementation of the Pacific Step-up. Our work is complementing the implementation of DFAT’s Indigenous Diplomacy Agenda, Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander program. …[the Office of the Pacific’s] Indigenous Engagement Plan has two main objectives:
1
Embedding Indigenous Australian peoples and perspectives in the delivery of Pacific Step Up; and
2
Enhancing the cultural competence and confidence of [Office of the Pacific] staff so that they can better engage on Indigenous issues in Australia and internationally.
5.18
DFAT informed the Committee that it had taken a whole-of-Government approach to preparing the plan, consulting with other Government departments including Defence, Home Affairs and the Australian Federal Police.
Acknowledging shared history
5.19
The inquiry received evidence regarding the ongoing impact on Australian-Pacific islander relationships as a result of the crimes of ‘blackbirding’ which occurred in Australia during the 19th and early 20th centuries, after British law abolished slavery. South Sea Pacific islanders were transported from their island homes to enslaved labour conditions on the Australian East Coast during this period. The practice was prevalent in the Queensland colony from 1863 to 1904 although ‘blackbirding’ was first documented in NSW in the 1840s.
5.20
Approximately 62 000 South Sea islanders are estimated to have worked mainly on cotton and sugar cane plantations over this period, some in other industries. Primarily male youth of Melanesian origin were contracted into indentured labour, potentially through consensual but unethical agreement, or forced onto blackbirding vessels bound for Australia.
5.21
When the ‘White Australia Policy’ was introduced in 1901, following Australian Federation, blackbirding exploitation ceased because the policy excluded Pacific islanders from settling in Australia if they had arrived after 1 September 1879. This event was commented on in inquiry evidence, for example, a Pacific participant in the Whitlam Institute research project, Pacific perspectives on the world, drew a connection between the forced removal of indentured workers and diminished prosperity of Pacific islander descendants although they contributed to the growth of Australian colonies:
If you look at places in New South Wales and Queensland where there was indentured slavery, we South Sea Islanders did not prosper as the Indian slaves did elsewhere. We got thrown out. We can claim ownership to the building and growing of some of these regions of Australia—North Queensland, some of New South Wales.
5.22
The Committee heard that acknowledging these events as part of shared history is important; for example, Ms Leanne Smith from Whitlam Institute called for:
…Australia to recognise that, when it talks about there not having been slavery in this country, the practice of blackbirding has reignited as something that Pacific islanders want to see some acknowledgment of and resolution or acceptance of.
5.23
The New South Wales (NSW) Government’s ‘Multicultural NSW’ website states that the mass deportations between 1906-1908 following the suite of White Australia laws left only an estimated 1 600 Pacific islanders resident in Australia, noting that: ‘many ran away and hid in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales’.
5.24
At a hearing in Canberra, Reverend James Bhagwan, General Secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches highlighted that the blackbirding era serves as a reminder for policy makers today to ensure the holistic welfare of workers in contemporary Pacific labour schemes:
As someone whose ancestors who were brought here as indentured labourers, this continues to be an issue for us. The minute we heard Seasonal Worker Programme and Pacific Labour Scheme, our minds went back to the issue around blackbirding…
It's more than the issue around an apology; the issue is really around taking those legacies and transforming the way in which we are engaging or the way in which the Pacific labour mobility scheme and the seasonal worker scheme are being run. We've had some discussions around developing a practical and pastoral pathway to support workers and their families, so looking at it holistically from before they travel, to how they are cared for while they are in Australia.
5.25
Peacifica also noted in its submission that the blackbirding story and associated events are still discussed by Pacific islanders, and that they: ‘See them, they remember them, and talk about them.’ Peacifica’s submission also highlighted consistent gaps in Australian’s awareness of these events, for example:
…the research found that Pacific islanders from diverse backgrounds have a consistent experience of Australia and Australians as having limited ‘Pacific literacy’.
5.26
Similarly, Mr Nic Maclellan’s submission stresses the importance of lessons from historic events and how these influence current relationships, diplomacy, and policy now and into the future:
Without appropriate protection of seasonal and migrant workers, there is a danger that hundreds of Pacific workers will return home to spread tales of Australia’s greedy, racist labour trade—the new blackbirding.
Committee comment
5.27
The Committee recognises that in the mid-1800s through until shortly after Federation, South Pacific islanders were lured away from, or forced from their Pacific island homes onto Australian-bound ships as cheap human capital, exploited in contracted servitude. The Committee acknowledges the shameful practice was widespread and supported by legislation in the colony of Queensland in the mid to late 1800s. Moreover, the practice only became outlawed indirectly: following the introduction of the White Australia policy on Federation. Blackbirding, and later the policy to deport these Pacific islanders—many of whom had endured abusive conditions and some resident for decades—not only wounded them directly, but also left grieving relatives in the islands and scarred the descendants of all.
5.28
The Committee acknowledges this dark chapter of our shared history, which it heard is under-recognised by most Australians. It is a testament to the resilience, diplomacy and culture of the Pacific islander people that despite these events, Australians and South Pacific islanders enjoy a relationship built over the last century on shared mutual respect.
5.29
Our trade routes and allied defence has created a shared story and connections. This respectful relationship has been fostered through reciprocated support in difficult times, generations of Australians of Pacific islander descent, the more recent Pacific diaspora and shared religious and sporting links. The Committee notes, however, that mutual respect is only maintained through trust, with honest disclosure at its core. Honest recognition of our history informs our regional friendship.
5.30
Mutual respect was evident during the Pacific diplomatic (Heads of Mission) roundtable convened by the Committee on 4 September 2020. The Committee and participants considered the roundtable a successful mechanism to share ideas and air concerns in the region and importantly to maintain strong relationships between the Committee and Pacific Heads of Mission, acting as a conduit for Pacific locals. This was particularly beneficial in 2020 after the first nine months of the pandemic when international borders were closed.
5.31
As such, the Committee strongly encourages the Committee of future Parliaments to convene an annual roundtable with available diplomatic representatives from Pacific island countries and New Zealand. It also encourages the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to identify opportunities like this to maintain regular dialogue between the Pacific diplomatic community.
Role of Pacific churches
5.32
The Pacific Church Partnerships Program (PCPP) was announced in November 2018 which recognised that religion played a pivotal role in Pacific island life and that churches and faith-based groups have active connections between the Pacific and Australian communities, in particular through diaspora.
5.33
The Committee received input from Christian churches and other faith based organisations, all of whom had a similar message:
Engage with and through Christian churches in Pacific countries:
Christianity is the dominant paradigm in the Pacific, it is the language of life and culture.
Churches are the most influential non-government community network in the Pacific.
Existing church-led Australian engagement can be leveraged for growth and impact.
Pacific diaspora embedded in Australian churches can be leveraged.
5.34
The following two sections highlight the links demonstrated in evidence between sport and Christian churches and other faith-based organisations—as well as strong links between the Australian Pacific diaspora and Christian churches and other faith-based organisations in the Pacific.
Sports linkages
5.35
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) explained the soft‑power value of using sport to foster connections with the Pacific islands:
Australia has a remarkable international sporting pedigree and is internationally recognised as a consistent, high-performing sporting nation. Australia has potential to capitalise on its sporting credentials by engaging with neighbouring countries and achieving public diplomacy outcomes in the Indo–Pacific region and beyond.
Sport provides opportunities to develop people-to-people connections that promote partnerships of value between Australia and the region. This includes opportunities to inform, engage and influence key demographics, particularly youth, emerging leaders and women and girls.
5.36
The role of sport in deepening social ties has been reflected in the Step-up program, for example through Pacific AusSports which supported 27 sports matches in 2019 (but was suspended during the pandemic). This was also highlighted by the demand in the Pacific islands for access to free-to-air coverage of Australian premium sports program broadcasts.
5.37
An example of this is the Sports Diplomacy 2030 strategy which was launched on 1 February 2019 to forge ‘closer collaboration between the Australian sports codes, industry and government to leverage the nation's sporting excellence in ways that enhance Australia's influence and reputation and advance our national interests’.
5.38
Sport is an important feature in Pacific island communities and acts as the impetus for other governance and development efforts by non-government organisations and faith-based groups. This provides a point of connection with Australia.
5.39
The $39 million Pacific Sports Partnerships program was described by DFAT as Australia's flagship sport for development program in the Pacific. The Australian Sports Partnerships Program built on the Pacific Sports Partnership Program. ChildFund Australia reiterated the value of sporting connections to work in with development priorities:
ChildFund is working closely with World Rugby, Oceania Rugby, Rugby Australia, Fiji Rugby Union, the International Cricket Council, Cricket PNG, Netball Australia and Netball Tonga. These partnerships highlight the value of bringing together development and sports stakeholders to share development priorities. They also support the approach of the Australian Sports Partnerships Program which “recognises that stronger outcomes can be achieved by mobilising the best assets of both development and sports actors to deliver on shared priorities”.
5.40
ChildFund detailed the children’s sporting programs they support (particularly in PNG) and how these link to learning about crucial life skills:
Since 2012 ChildFund has worked with sports bodies on Sport for Development programs covering key life skills around leadership, gender, future planning, sexual and reproductive health, and preventing violence.
…Data shows participants not only learning but applying critical social and emotional competencies to make informed decisions, solve problems, communicate effectively, build healthy relationships, and manage challenges in their lives.
5.41
Alphacrucis College explained the links between Pacific faith-based organisations and sporting programs, and in their case, faith-based educational links, as a means of strengthening Australia’s Pacific island relationships:
There are also developing opportunities around expanding pathways around entrepreneurial sport leadership into faith-based educational institutions. The fabric of relationship between Pacific Island nations and Australia/NZ would be immensely strengthened by training and education that (1) ensures stronger domestic sport governance and financial sustainability, (2) enables role models to develop as leaders from Pacific island nations who in time take senior roles in Australian sport, and (3) designs and accredits localised education pathways in business, leadership, management, community service and teaching.
5.42
Alphacrucis College also noted links between faith-based groups and sport to for general youth training and development opportunities:
There are a number of parachurch organisations which are utilising sporting links for training and development. One example is Youth with a Mission (YWAM) who run a Rugby Plus program as part of their ‘Island Breeze’.
Diaspora linkages
5.43
The Step-up recognises that the approximately 200 000 Pacific diaspora population living in Australia function as ‘living bridges’ to develop and deepen economic and social ties between countries.
5.44
The Committee heard how diaspora communities, in particular in the North of Australia, have forged valuable connections to increasing trade and overcoming barriers to investment in the Pacific. DFAT particularly highlighted the engaged diaspora in Cairns:
In Cairns, the largest [Papua New Guinea] diaspora population has facilitated strong trade and investment links with Papua New Guinea, including in education, property and tourism.
5.45
The more formal diaspora linkages are dominated by faith assemblies with active relationships back to Pacific island churches and communities.
5.46
Mr Chris Gardiner highlighted in his submission made to DFAT’s development assistance policy review that many of these diaspora traits are in Australia’s favour. One of these is the fact that Pacific island communities share cultural traits with many Australian communities, including regularly participating church members.
5.47
Participation in a Church congregation or associated community activities is widespread in the Pacific island region. For example, the Whitlam Institute research project, Pacific perspectives, noted that ‘the church is almost universally the primary channel for engagement with people from other countries for Solomon Islanders as they grow up’.
5.48
DFAT’s submission states that ‘people and communities are at the heart of Australia’s unique connections to the Pacific’ and that ‘Australia’s Pacific labour mobility schemes provide further opportunities to engage diaspora, community groups and churches to support workers’. It explains support mechanisms for Pacific workers in Australia under the Seasonal Worker Programme and the Pacific Labour Scheme:
In combination with our comprehensive safeguards for employers and workers, [the Office of the Pacific] has piloted community engagement events with churches and Pacific diaspora groups to provide pastoral care and to help workers integrate with the local community and maximise their experience of living and working in Australia.
5.49
Another avenue which not only provides education and skills pathways, but also importantly strengthens social ties into the region, is through youth education links within Australia. The Pacific Secondary Schools Scholarship program is another initiative which brings Pacific students to Australia (but has only conducted one round of applications and the first student intake, initially planned for July 2020, was delayed due to pandemic complications).
5.50
The New Colombo Plan, as noted in chapter 3, also enables diaspora-linked students to return to, or engage with, the Pacific islands region.
Cultural inclusiveness
5.51
DFAT noted ways in which its Office of the Pacific is supporting reciprocal cultural inclusiveness between Australians and Pacific islanders, including:
Building opportunities for Indigenous Australians to be contributing partners in the Step-up (including through new sports and church partnerships);
Reflecting on the unique history of Australian South Sea Islanders to reach out and build cultural connections;
Establishing a joint DFAT, ANU and Lowy Institute ‘Pacific Research Program’ to facilitate a strong research network and increase Pacific literacy and understanding within the broader Australian community.
5.52
The PacificAus TV initiative, discussed later in this chapter, is also designed to ‘deepen Australian connections with Pacific audiences’.
5.53
The Pacific islands’ traditional connection to the islander ceremonial drink kava was a topic of much conversation at the roundtable hearing convened by the Committee with invited Pacific region diplomats.
5.54
It was suggested by inquiry participants that regulations surrounding the limited importation of kava into Australia be relaxed to enable the diaspora, and potentially a wider market, to more readily consume the Pacific’s traditional beverage. And, as such, create a more viable commercial market. For example, the Griffith Asia Institute recommended that:
Australia should continue the announced trial of commercial imports of kava from Pacific Island countries. The initial trial period (of 12 months) should be extended (to at least 24 months) to allow would-be exporters to develop a viable market.
5.55
The importation of kava from a commercial standpoint was considered in chapter 2.
Media outreach
5.56
Inquiry submissions received described the important role of Australian media in the Pacific island region. Australian media penetration was noted to not only provide public information and be of educational value but also to foster an understanding of Australia-Pacific shared values.
5.57
The Australia Asia Pacific Media Initiative (AAPMI) also emphasised the desire of Pacific islanders, Australian South Sea Islanders and the Pacific island diaspora to forge ‘stronger links with Australia’s Indigenous communities including through media and stories told by media’. This was echoed by the Whitlam Institute.
5.58
DFAT also detailed their efforts in promoting greater Indigenous Australian participation in professional roles:
…we have a pretty strong Indigenous graduate program. Across government we tend to have one of the highest levels of career advancement as well. So it is pretty active.
5.59
Televised Australian content programs have been enjoyed by Pacific islanders for over 25 years.As described by Heriot Media and Governance, international broadcasting provides a valuable opportunity to build people to people links, develop trust and embed cultural mores and understanding:
The core purpose of international broadcasting and associated activities is to reach and establish a trusted form of engagement with target audiences. In doing so, it models certain values and norms, and establishes a discursive platform on which to represent core strategic narratives. In Australia’s engagement with the Pacific, these narratives may be said to include—
Democracy, freedom of speech, and the rule of law;
Respectful engagement with the ‘Pacific family’ and our common security;
Shared challenges requiring transnational cooperation; and
Australia’s identity as a close US ally but with independent interests.
5.60
Heriot Media and Governance’s submission asserts that the purpose of media in the Pacific should be to:
Support peaceful region building—that media outreach will ‘complement the aid program’ and ‘the government’s public diplomacy while remaining distinct from them’. The Submission asserts that: ‘A substantial body of research internationally supports the view that audiences are likely to invest greater trust in an international media service if they perceive it to be independent of political and other vested interests.’
Respond to contingent events and crises—Shortwave [radio] had been the only medium of long-distance communication in the Pacific able to offer an almost uninterruptible signal when local media had been disabled by natural events or political actions.
Challenge foreign cartels of information—this could be ‘a combination of political groups acting in common; where local media organisations have distinct political orientations or allegiances and/or where state media dominate’.
Counter disinformation and inaccurate perceptions—social media offers enormous potential as a force multiplier for those actors seeking to disseminate purposeful disinformation or unintentional misinformation.
5.61
Mr Shane McLeod from the Lowy Institute outlined how media services and outreach had considerably expanded in the Pacific islands over the past couple of decades; he particularly addresses the PNG situation with the growth in mobile networks:
PNG has pretty diverse media and it's been growing over recent years. I think there are now three national TV news services. But broadcast has been fairly static in terms of use, and it is switching to digital. So the availability of mobile networks in Papua New Guinea over the last 15 years has been dramatic—remarkable. I think people still turn to traditional media for a source of verifiable information. But that's obviously then buttressed by a massive growth in social media and sharing. That sort of oral tradition of sharing news has sort of migrated to social media and you see really high usage of social media platforms, in particular Facebook, but also some of the messaging platforms like WhatsApp.
5.62
Mr David Hua promoted the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) role in broadcasting to the Pacific islands and how this outreach not only provides media services to the region but also acts as a constructive method of engagement between Australia and the Pacific islands:
The ABC's international activities make an important contribution to strengthening Australia's relationships with its Pacific neighbours. They promote an understanding between our nations; they encourage receptiveness to Australian ideas and ways of thinking; and they help to foster trust. Not only does the ABC engage in relationship-building with Pacific audiences and organisations, but its international media services lay foundations that can help in relationship-building between Australia and its neighbours, such as through trade, tourism, and cultural exchanges.
5.63
Mr Hua emphasised the extent of the ABC’s Pacific island outreach by detailing just how many people are viewing this programming:
Each month, the ABC reaches a unique overseas audience of about 11 million on our own platforms—that’s television, radio and digital services—and in the Pacific we reach about 830 000 each month. This equates to about seven per cent of the total population in the Pacific. On Radio Australia, there are over 400 000 listeners each month in the Pacific and Timor Leste, and there are over 360 000 viewers of the television service. In 2019, we had 275 000 downloads from the Pacific of ABC podcasts. That's all on platform. Off platform, in 2019 there were 1.6 million views of ABC content on YouTube, and that's a figure that's grown by 177 per cent so far this year.
5.64
Ms Annmaree O’Keeffe AM from AAPMI stated that being a largely untapped media environment, the Pacific islands represent a unique challenge when attempting to reach its dispersed peoples:
It’s got dispersed populations, making the ratings very difficult to determine, because they’re so remote and so difficult to actually access, except via radio. But the urban governing elite does have access to domestic and international media and they are very much influenced by various interests.
Media influence and saturation
5.65
The Australian Government aims to promote Australia and Australian values in the Pacific through an expanded media presence to ‘help balance an increasing regional media presence of other nations in our region’ including through:
In 2019 the Australian Government funded the PacificAus TV initiative, delivered by Free TV Australia. It allows Pacific broadcasters the rights to use at least 1000 hours per annum of a selection of commercial Australian content programs to include in their schedules at no cost. It is funded under ‘Amplifying Australia’s voice in the Pacific’, covering three years of program rights, technical delivery and administrative costs of $17.1 million.
In 2020 the initiative was rolled out to audiences in Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Vanuatu, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Nauru with ‘enthusiastic feedback’ from participants. Various genres are covered including children’s programs, drama, news, reality and sports.
5.66
A key theme to emerge from the inquiry evidence is that Australia’s media presence in the Pacific islands must be enhanced in order to ameliorate foreign saturation of the broadcast space and the affiliated risk of misinformation and interference. For example, the ABC noted:
…at the May 2018 Pacific Media Summit in Tonga, [China Central Television] representatives were actively pursuing memoranda of understanding with Pacific media bodies to secure carriage of Chinese content and offering media training to strengthen the influence of the [People’s Republic of China].
5.67
Ms Jemima Garrett from the Australia Asia Pacific Media Initiative (AAPMI) stated how despite ardent efforts by the ABC and others, Australia’s media presence has weakened in recent decades and that as a result of this diminished Australian presence, the Pacific islands have become a contested media environment:
The bottom line in the Pacific is that China's media push is significant, and Australia's media voice and its development programs are not keeping up. China has comprehensive radio, TV and online services, and it has correspondents in places like Fiji, where the Australian media does not. China's media services in the region are reaching out for partnerships ...It's not only having an impact on the way governments approach media in terms of media freedom and restrictions on media but it also has the potential to make local media financially dependent on help from different parties or editorially compromised.
5.68
Mr Sean Dorney AO reiterated the notion of Australia’s dwindling Pacific island media presence being seized by external influences:
But the vacant space that was left there when Australia Network disappeared, as people have said, has really been taken over by China. Throughout my time as the Pacific correspondent for the ABC, I saw this Chinese influence growing everywhere. I'll just end off by saying that, if we did boost broadcasting again, it does require greater collaboration. There are excellent journalists out there in the Pacific that we could work with to create content for both of us. It’s our region, and I think we should embrace it.
5.69
The AAPMI explained that if the status quo continues and no effort is made to re-establish Australia’s information presence in the Pacific islands, this risks failing to curb the interests of external parties which are likely not amenable to Australia’s interests, nor those of the Pacific islands:
Aside from the need to counter the expanding Chinese influence, which you've all heard about, the whole region is very undisturbed by mainstream media, which risks leaving the provision of services to other countries, whose interests are not necessarily those of Australia.
International broadcasting strategy
5.70
Ms Annmaree O’Keeffe also from the AAPMI, emphasised how the ABC’s international role has been neglected for some time:
There is no guidance to Australia's international broadcaster on how it should be supporting Australia's national interests. There are simply a couple of sentences in the ABC's charter, which of course we all know about. Thirdly, there has been no assessment of Australia's international broadcasting for its fitness to adapt to the changing international context, nor its potential to advance Australia's strategic interests. That is well overdue.
And, finally, the budget, or the dwindling budget, has been the key decider in what Australia's international broadcaster does and can focus on, rather than considering the strategic importance to Australia in terms of the Pacific, and how this all relates to the Pacific.
5.71
Ms O’Keeffe felt that there is a lack of a clear strategy or cohesion regarding Australia’s Pacific island media presence from a bureaucratic perspective, and is something that can be affordably rectified for great benefit:
The problem is that DFAT hasn't had a voice in putting together some sort of broadcasting strategy, whether it's for the ABC or whether it's for a broader group or institution. Funding for ABC's international work is part and parcel of the budget, or the funding it gets from the Department of Communications. It's rather difficult when you look at the different ABC reports and the department of communications reports do actually have to say which bit of the budget should be going to international broadcasting. … the agency or the department that should have visibility and close linkages with the ABC to actually develop some sort of strategic approach is not part of the institutional framework.
5.72
One area in which this strategy could be best implemented is with Australian assistance in the establishment and maintenance of communications infrastructure in the Pacific islands. This was highlighted by Free TV Australia, which detailed its delivery of the PacificAus TV initiative:
…we have a satellite, a space on IS-19, through which we play out programs every day …But the primary delivery method is an internet portal that we've established, through which the broadcasters in each of the markets that have sufficient internet capacity can download programs. That's been aided by the fact that the Australian government and other governments have put in the Coral Sea cable, which goes to PNG and the Solomon Islands, and there's the existing Southern Cross cable that goes across to Fiji and then down to Vanuatu.
5.73
Mr Graeme Dobell proposed a distinctly separate international ABC as a means of restoring Australia’s Pacific island media presence:
…I think we need an Australian International Media Corporation, not an Australian International Broadcasting Corporation. That moves it even further away from the ABC. But I think …it would be set up as a separate corporation under the ABC—the ABC Act entitles the ABC to create separate corporations—and you'd be looking at an Australian international media corporation that obviously had the ABC, had Radio Australia and had some international television.
…On the board, you'd want SBS. You'd want National Indigenous Television; You'd be looking at getting the commercials involved. …a seat on the board to the vice-chancellors of Australia's universities. …a seat, maybe, for Austrade. And that's the sort of new, platform-neutral, international media effort you'd be seeking to fund.
5.74
Mr Graeme Dobell proposed having a reenergised ‘Radio Australia’ as an affordable and potent solution to restore an Australian presence and influence in the Pacific islands:
…Radio Australia—despite all of the damage that it's had; despite the incredible running down that it's had—just goes to prove that journalism is one of your cheapest power weapons because Radio Australia is still highly regarded in the region. You'd want Radio Australia to be part of that sort of reenergised, rebuilt digital audio, feeding into apps, feeding into FaceTime, feeding into Facebook—in a sense, a platform-neutral media operation focused on the South Pacific…
5.75
Ms Jemima Garrett of AAPMI was optimistic that Australia’s media presence in the Pacific islands can be prioritised:
We think it's a constructive and timely new engagement. We believe that the media has a lot to offer as a policy tool to strengthen and expand the work of the Step-up.
5.76
Mr Graeme Dobell and AAPMI’s submissions commented on a minimum budget allocation for international broadcasting expenditure in 2020, to provide for an Australian publicly funded international broadcasting platform which has an influential voice in the Asia Pacific region. AAPMI wrote that there should be:
The allocation of a total of $55-$75 million per year to ensure Australia has a fit-for-purpose, multi-platform media voice in the Asia Pacific region.
5.77
Similarly, Mr Dobell’s submission estimated an increase in the annual budget ‘from $16.7 million annually, towards $75 million’.
5.78
Evidence taken at two public hearings and in nine submissions stated that the provision of media and information services in the Pacific is a relatively affordable but powerful and underrated tool for public diplomacy in Australia’s Step-up efforts. Ms Annmaree O’Keeffe, AAPMI, stated:
…international broadcasting and its potency is not recognised at government level as a public diplomacy tool.
Free-to-air broadcasting of Australian content in the Pacific
5.79
The Committee heard from Free TV Australia that working with Pacific island broadcasting partners is crucial to develop a variety of suitable free‑to‑air broadcasting programming options for the PacificAus TV initiative:
Key to the success of the PacificAus TV initiative has been Free TV’s ability to work with our Pacific broadcast partners to ensure that the programming made available meets the needs of the Pacific communities.
5.80
Free TV Australia described how enabling free-to-air broadcasters greater capabilities could be an additional opportunity to play a greater media role in the region:
Most of the major Australian sports already have pay TV distribution arrangements in place in the Pacific and the Australian Government may want to consider introducing a scheme that gives free-to-air broadcasters a chance to show major events in the Pacific region.
5.81
Mr Shane Wood, Free TV Australia, detailed the potential success that a greater focus on Australia’s media presence in the Pacific islands may net, as Australia’s broadcasted content has already proven to be more popular than other foreign programming:
Essentially, we've only been going for six months, but the amount of Australian programming on each of the broadcasters is increasing—in many cases, markedly—and it's substituting for other programming that may be delivered by some of those other services. That's not necessarily China; it's also Pasifika, the New Zealand service equivalent to ABC Australia.
Committee comment
5.82
The Committee recommends that Australia’s media presence in the Pacific islands and its digital footprint in the region is not only expansive, but also one which informs, educates and entertains to a high standard. A holistic international media strategy, with a tailored approach and a budget relevant to the needs of the Pacific region, should play a significant role in Australia’s Pacific soft diplomacy.
5.83
The nature of the platform should be informed by the services on which the region’s people actually depend, including ensuring that upgrades of technology are appropriate for the location, climate and topography, especially regarding emergency alert systems. Australia can enjoy a positive and enabling influence in the region by ensuring Pacific communities are more informed and connected by offering a broad menu to meet the needs of different demographics and digital acumen.
5.84
To ensure Australia’s broadcasting fulfils part of the above, its content should continue to be provided in consultation with Pacific island peoples.
5.85
Both the private and publicly operated Australian media sectors support the delivery of Australian content to the Pacific islands—which Pacific broadcasters may choose to schedule. This content delivery could be expanded to a suite of tailored options including, for example, news, social media, emergency-broadcasting and topical events coverage. If quality, relevant content is offered, it will be scheduled.
5.86
The abovementioned actions would ensure Australia’s media communication presence in the Pacific islands provides an informative service which responds directly to the needs and desires of the region.
5.87
To inform and oversee a platform-neutral international media strategy in the Pacific the Committee recommends the creation of an Australian International Media Corporation (AIMC) which is a separate corporation with a board, including the ABC and DFAT, representing aspects of various Australian sectors. The AIMC would provide the direction for the services provided in the Pacific from broadcasting, content, radio and other digital platforms.
5.88
The Committee notes the media environment within the Pacific is becoming more contested, and recognises Australia has a national interest in maintaining a visible and active media and broadcasting presence there. The Committee recommends the Australian Government considers steps necessary to expand Australia’s media footprint in the Pacific, including through:
expanding the provision of Australian public and commercial television and digital content across the Pacific, noting existing efforts by the PacificAus TV initiative and Pacific Australia;
reinvigorating Radio Australia, which is well regarded in the region, to boost its digital appeal; and
consider governance arrangements for an Australian International Media Corporation to formulate and oversee the strategic direction of Australia’s international media presence in the Pacific.