Can I begin by addressing the tragic situation that we're dealing with as a result of the disaster in Nepal. Amidst all of this tragedy, we are seeing some positive news. Today, another five Australians have been confirmed safe, but that still means that the number of Australians unaccounted for is 38, down from 43 yesterday, but that's 38 families, 38 people who we hold grave fears for. We hope, of course, for positive news further, and we're doing everything we can to work with authorities. The C17 aircraft from the Royal Australian Air Force either has landed or is about to land with aid, supplies, in Nepal as well. We think of all of the families at this very difficult time, and also for the very broader Nepalese Australian community that is a large and growing larger community as well. This is a very difficult time.
I've been having some great discussions here with my counterparts at the Pacific Islands Forum, and it has been a really constructive engagement as we've gone through the Leaders' Plenary. Tomorrow, of course, we'll finalise and communicate at the Leaders' Retreat that will be held. The 55th Forum is proving to be a very successful one. Every country is represented here, either at leader or senior level as well. And it's an opportunity to have not just the broader discussions, but also to have bilateral meetings, pull-asides, and that has occurred. I had a bilateral meeting today with David Adeang from Nauru there, and that's obviously a very important relationship for Australia. We were able to talk about the financial system there. Also, the delivery of fire trucks, which has meant that the airport could remain open. That's an essential service for the people of that island nation who depend upon aviation traffic, as do the island nations of the Pacific.
I was pleased to confirm as well in the bilateral meeting that I had with President Whipps, our host here, that during the peak season coming up, there will be a doubling of flights to and from Palau in an arrangement supported by the Government with Qantas. That is very important for the tourism industry in this beautiful destination of Palau, and will allow also for increased interaction between the people of Palau and the people of Australia as we go forward as well, and that will commence in the coming period. We also discussed a range of other issues, including of course, climate change and renewable energy. We'll have more to say about that tomorrow when we do an event with the President of Palau first thing tomorrow morning, that you will be at tomorrow. When it comes to other pull-asides and bilaterals, I've had discussions with the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and French Polynesia. We'll have a bilateral meeting with Tonga this afternoon.
In the session on peace and security, I emphasised the need to deal with transnational crime. This is increasingly an issue in the Pacific. We have rising rates of HIV, rising rates of drug usage as well, and the entry increasingly of criminal elements in the region. And of course, Australia is a destination tragically for much of the drug trafficking that seeks to go through the Pacific, with related issues of transnational crime that we need to deal with. Many Pacific nations spoke during that session about grappling with illicit drug trafficking, because it's really having an impact as well on social cohesion in those communities. And there are a range of issues that we need to deal with. Firstly, the obvious crime issue, but also health issues, related to education as well, about why people shouldn't engage in drug use. But there's also the issue of cooperation across national boundaries that is so important.
Pacific leaders have asked for Australia to do more and we will do more. Today, I announced that Australia will contribute a $600 million package that includes a range of measures. Enhanced aerial surveillance, more training for regional police. The Pacific Policing Initiative is playing a really important role. As I think I said yesterday, more than half the leaders in the region have now been to the Pinkenba facility there as well, and as you walk around the security being provided here through the Pacific Security Group, you'll see Australians or people who've been trained in Australia as well. And that changes some of the culture of the way that police forces operate. That's so important as we go forward. We need to as well ensure that there's greater cooperation between our border services, that exchange of information and intelligence that is important, and more work to stop drugs at their source, which of course is coming from South America and Central America in particular through the Pacific to Australia and New Zealand. It is very much in Australia's interest to work with our Pacific partners to deal with these illicit crime issues and very important for our population.
I'll ask Pat Conroy to speak more about this issue, and also Minister Bowen will provide an update on climate change talks. But this afternoon, the Forum will continue. We'll have the Leaders' Dinner tonight, which historically is where discussions are able to occur as well to try and land the communique tomorrow morning before the Leaders' Retreat.
MINISTER CONROY: Thank you Prime Minister. Many of you were at the 2022 Pacific Island Forum meeting in Fiji, where Pacific leaders concluded that if there's gaps in Pacific security, it should be filled by other Pacific nations. And we've seen that in action. In 2024 at the Tonga PIF, Pacific leaders came together and said, "We want to support greater cooperation for Pacific policing, so that if there's gaps in policing, it will be filled by the Pacific." Prime Minister Albanese announced that Australia would make a contribution to that. Pacific-led, Australian-backed. And we're seeing that in action right now, as the Prime Minister has talked about. 120 officers from 13 nations providing security here, through the Pacific Policing Support Group. There are more multinational police members from the Pacific providing security than Palauan police officers, which is a sign of the multinational approach to this. And yet again, Australia is listening to what the Pacific is saying and backing that in.
And that's why in 2025, Pacific leaders of the Solomon Islands PIF said, "We want more help combating transnational crime. We want more help combating transnational crime, we need greater coordination and we need greater resources to deal with the scourge, which, after climate change, is the biggest security threat to the Pacific." Ladies and gentlemen, you know that crime is becoming multinational in nature. That means the solution has to be multinational as well. We need a multinational response, and that's what the Pacific leaders have agreed to in the last session through the endorsement of the Waqa Moana initiative, which is all about greater Pacific coordination in terms of intelligence gathering, intelligence sharing, to drive interdiction of this scourge. And that's why Prime Minister Albanese has announced a $600 million investment to do that. What you'll see in action is greater surveillance provided by the Australian Defence Force and other assets, that will then be fed into the Transnational Crime Centre of Excellence in Samoa for data fusion and assessment, that will then be fed to the Vuvale Maritime Essential Services Centre in Fiji, that will then provide tasking options to each sovereign nation. And then each sovereign nation will decide how to approach that interdiction, possibly using one of the 23 Guardian-class patrol boats that the Australian Government has already provided through the Maritime Security Program. So, this is an example of a Pacific-led approach backed by Australian action to tackle the scourge of drug trafficking that is a challenge, not just for Pacific Island nations, but for Australia as well. Importantly, this is an opt-in measure. Each Pacific nation will decide how they participate, how they will deal with this issue, how they'll opt into this system, always conscious of each nation's sovereignty. That's important. Sovereignty above all else.
So, ladies and gentlemen, this is another example of Australia turning up, listening and acting on the priorities of the Pacific in a way that is respectful of sovereignty that tackles collective issues collectively. Thank you very much.
MINISTER BOWEN: Thanks, PM. I can be very brief, because I expect climate change will dominate the plenary session this afternoon. There'll be plenty to talk about tomorrow. But the Leaders' Ascent Dialogue yesterday was very successful. Strong buy-in in the COP31 process from the PIF leaders represented at that dialogue, very strong support for the agenda that's being laid out for COP31, which is a focus on keeping up maximum efforts to keep 1.5 degrees of warming within reach. And importantly for the Pacific, a real elevation of the importance of oceans in the COP agenda, which has not been a feature of COPs in years gone past, and access to finance for those countries that desperately need it, small island developing states who are at the forefront, at the frontline of climate change and its impacts, but struggle to get the finance that's available around the world to adapt. I also expect leaders will reinforce and underline the fact that climate change is the single biggest security threat in the Pacific. That's what every Pacific leader and minister who I've spoken to has said to me, that climate change is our biggest single national security threat. So, the wonderful work that Minister Conroy is doing and what we're doing in COP is entirely a complimentary approach, where we're dealing with the impacts of national security challenges, but we're also dealing with the causes and in no small part in the Pacific, that always will be climate change.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you yourself haven't attended a COP meeting yet. Was it unrealistic to expect more than a handful of world leaders to come to the Pacific for a pre-COP event?
PRIME MINISTER: No, well, we always anticipated when it comes to pre-COP events, there normally aren't lots of leaders at it. They'll be ministerial level. But the focus that is occurring, and if you heard the Fijian Minister yesterday as well as President Whipps today, the fact that the pre-COP is being held in Fiji, with a side trip to Tavalu as well, is something that is really welcomed. Because what it will do is provide a focus on what is happening in the Pacific. And the entry fee for credibility at the Pacific Islands Forum and for bilateral engagement in the Pacific is taking climate change seriously. So, it will achieve the outcome of elevating, not just at the event that happens in Fiji, but it's elevating the issue here. It will elevate the issue at UNGA where there'll also be a climate session held. I'll be participating in that in New York City. A range of leaders will participate there, as well as leaders participating at the COP, which is where traditionally that has occurred.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the most optimistic scenario according to the UN is limiting global warming to 1.8 degrees, and it's specific countries like Palau that will feel this most. Can you confidently say Australia has done enough to limit global warming and protect countries like Palau?
PRIME MINISTER: We all need to do more. The message of the science tells us that the higher it leads - I'll ask Chris to comment on this as well - but if it goes further than 1.5, it is more difficult to wind that back. And that is why climate change is real, the science is real, the action that is required is real as well. And the economic cost of inaction is real. The economic cost of dealing with increased natural disasters, with natural disasters that when they occur are more intense as well. The damaging effect on our economy. And one of the discussions that's already occurred today at the forum and yesterday is that one of the lessons of what has occurred with the global fuel crisis at the moment is it's a reminder that for countries of the Pacific, the dependency largely on diesel has meant that they are more vulnerable. And so, we need to build up resilience as well, which will strengthen the economy. Tomorrow, we'll see an example, a really practical example of investment in renewables here in Palau, and that we need to act on this.
MINISTER BOWEN: Thanks PM. The unit report, which you correctly referred to, is a very powerful reminder of what's expected. And it makes it clear as you correctly say that 1.5 degrees now will be surpassed, but it makes the exact point that the PM just made. The more we miss it by as a globe, the harder it will be to repair that overshoot and the greater the implications, including here in the Pacific. The Leaders yesterday received a summary from the regional organisations here about the impacts on fishing and the impacts on the world of fish supplies and tuna supplies, the impacts on Pacific Island economies, of overshoot. So, there's so much more to do.
If it's alright, I might just add to the PM's remarks on pre-COP because I know a number of you are interested in this. I just want to provide a little bit more information as well as what the PM said. Just a couple of quick points on pre-COP. Pre-COP's role is to set the agenda for COP and to help build momentum for some of the important items that we are championing at COP31. I can confirm there will be around 3,000 to 4,000 attendees. This is no small undertaking. We have 120, more than 120 international journalists already registered to attend to see what's happening at pre-COP. So, this is a key opportunity for the Pacific. As the PM said, it is not normally a leader-level event. There was no leader at the pre-COP in Brazil or in Dubai or in Egypt or in Azubaijan. None. The Pacific said to us, we thought it would be good to invite some leaders. We've done that. There's a very small component in Tuvalu, which is a small country, limited capacity to host people. But that will be important in terms of not only prime ministers, heads of multilateral development banks, cabinet ministers who often don't attend pre-COP either, but are coming to this one.
And I just want to repeat what the PM said. I encourage you to look at what the Fijian Minister said yesterday. In terms of the importance to the Pacific of pre-COP, it's just really important, bearing this in mind. She said, "I first want to acknowledge the great leadership that has brought us to hosting COP 31 and of course pre-COP. That is the leadership of the Government and people of Australia in bidding, and to ensuring that COP comes to the Pacific. I must acknowledge Australia with a round of applause. Thank you Australia for making this happen. Let us also acknowledge the heat that is being shared not only by Australia as host of pre-COP, but certainly Fiji and Palau. There has been criticism of all directions. However, we should see this as an opportunity, especially with the media in the room. No one should be cynical about what is happening in the Pacific. We need to ensure the world hears that we in the Pacific are proud of Pre-COP coming to our region." Pretty powerful comments from the Minister for Fiji, who in my experience is speaking in a common voice with other Pacific ministers.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just on the issue of drug smuggling. Large numbers of Pacific police say aerial surveillance has a critical role, but one of their main problems is they just don't have enough boats to actually control their vast EEZs, and they don't have the personnel to staff them even if they have them. Is that something Australia's going to do or look at? Is that part of the Waqa Moana initiative, or is it largely about coordination and aerial surveillance?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, it is about, and I'll ask Patrick to comment, but it certainly is about maritime surveillance, including using the craft that had been given from Australia as part of our investment. Very much so. In addition to that, it is use of technology that Australia has available that not all countries in our region do, as well, to be able to maximise the impact.
MINISTER CONROY: Thanks. There's elements of both, to answer your question. A critical path is funding greater aerial and space surveillance, which is funded in this package, frees up the maritime assets. We've gifted 23 Guardian-class patrol boats as well as a range of smaller craft to almost every Pacific nation. Other countries such as Japan and the United States have also gifted vessels. And we provide training and there'll be more funding in this package, including for maritime interdiction, how to obviously secure the vessels and board them. But a critical thing that I've heard from the Fijian Defence Force is their maritime assets will be much better used not patrolling to try and find the narco vessels, but purely to be vectored onto them. So, if we can make sure we've got good aerial and space surveillance, their patrol craft can be quickly deployed to intercept them. So, it works hand-in-hand, and that's why more than half the funding in this package is new funding through the Department of Defence for aerial and space surveillance. And then there's maritime support underneath that. So we've heard the message from the Pacific. This will make a big difference as well as greater coordination, because one of the key challenges is passing information from one jurisdiction to another so that the best boat in the best position to intercept them can be tasked.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Government very frequently acknowledges that we're in a permanent state of contest in the region. Considering China's obvious influence over the last several days, how confident are you that Australia's efforts to date have been enough to position us as the partner of choice?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm very confident. I'm confident not on the basis of something that's theoretical, on the basis of something that's practical. The one-on-one feedback that we get, as well as the agreements that were put in place. The fact that for our first 125 years, we had two alliances. We've formed two alliances. In the last 24 hours, and the comments that have been made, I want to single out Prime Minister Marape for the comments that were made by him, which were very strong in thanking Australia for the arrangements that we've put in place between Australia and PNG. But other countries as well, the interaction has been extremely positive.
JOURNALIST: Thank you, PM. To Minister Bowen. Minister, you pitched very high in your invitations to prime ministers and presidents, and it took Fiji to reveal just five world leaders were attending. Will you apologise to Pacific leaders for overpromising and undelivering?
MINISTER BOWEN: I don't accept the premise of the question at all, Ben, with respect, not in the slightest. The invitation list has been worked up in consultation with the Pacific. The people attending moves around, as you'd expect, not yet finalised. There are people who are saying they'd like to come, but they're finding it difficult. There's others who say they're likely to come but can't yes, completely confirm.
JOURNALIST: Just five, though?
MINISTER BOWEN: That's just not right.
JOURNALIST: How many is it?
MINISTER BOWEN: When you get to Fiji, you'll see who's there, if you do come. As I said, 120 international journalists are coming. You're welcome.
JOURNALIST: Will the Prime Minister come?
MINISTER BOWEN: The Prime Minister will be there.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, I will.
MINISTER BOWEN: As will be some other prime ministers. As I said, pre-COP is not normally a leader-level event. We are having a small leader-level component to help lift the focus, particularly small islands, developing states and atolls. I dare say most of you have never been to Tuvalu, which is understandable.
JOURNALIST: I have.
MINISTER BOWEN: It's the least visited country in the world. No countries have less visitors than Tuvalu, in the world. We want to take some people to Tuvalu to show the impacts of climate change, and that's important. You might beg to differ. We think it's important. The Pacific thinks it's important.
JOURNALIST: My question was actually to Minister Conroy. Just on the surveillance that you talked to us about before, was that maritime surveillance using [INAUDIBLE]?
MINISTER CONROY: Well, I want to be careful about getting ahead of live tenders at the moment. But we've got the multi-billion dollar Pacific Maritime Security Program that is already in place. We are looking at acquiring further Bluebottles to support this effort, starting with Fiji as part of our work with them. The Bluebottle is an Aussie success story, the most advanced maritime surveillance autonomous vessel in the world. We're acquiring 55 of them for Australia, the largest fleet of such a category made in Morisset on the shores of Lake Macquarie and in Sydney, a bit of a local plug. We'll be acquiring some for Fiji. We've also got a tender out for the aerial and space surveillance aspect at the moment, and that is driving, I won't give you the exact figure because it's still subject to a competition, but that's a big chunk of the $600 million is additional aerial surveillance. We'll have a Pacific aerial surveillance program to compliment our maritime surveillance program.
JOURNALIST: And how will you judge success on it, because you've gone from what, five tonnes to 17 in a year? What do you need to get down to?
MINISTER CONROY: I'm not going to put targets on this. The key thing is to restrict drug smuggling as much as possible, and that's what we're engaged in this multinational effort to do.
JOURNALIST: Question is, as the most climate-vulnerable communities in Australia, the Torres Strait, what role will you have Torres Strait Islanders play in the pre-COP and COP meetings?
PRIME MINISTER: We'll continue to engage with all Australians, but in particular, we have one of our representatives who looks after the Pacific, of course, is Nita Green based in Cairns who is a regular visitor to the Torres Strait. As Prime Minister, I myself have been to the Torres Strait. Unlike most prime ministers, my 30 predecessors. And I've been there a number of times, but once as Prime Minister. So, we'll engage not just in pre-COP, but COP. But importantly, one of the things about climate change and the need to reduce emissions is that the impact of rising sea levels, of the impact of dangerous climate change, isn't equitable. It affects people who are often the most poor and underdeveloped in the world, whether that be in Tuvalu or whether it be in Kiribati or whether it be in the Torres Strait, where the islands there, of course, if you look at all of them, I've been to Saibai, Darnley, Yorke, as well as the larger places as well. And so, we'll continue to engage. We understand that we have a responsibility to this and importantly to future generations as well to act.
JOURNALIST: Well, you've talked a lot about transnational crime and drug trafficking. In smaller Pacific nations, the entrenchment of organised crime in communities is a big part of that, and Australia's deportations actually contribute to that. What are you doing about that part of the problem?
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry, I'm not sure what the basis of the question is.
JOURNALIST: Well, it's the fact that Australia's deportation policies have contributed to the entrenchment of organised crime in the region.
PRIME MINISTER: I don't accept the premise of the question. If people who aren't Australian citizens commit crimes in Australia, we're entitled to implement Australian law just as other countries are. If someone from outside, if an Australian commits a crime here in Palau, there are consequences. And so, we will work with our neighbours, but we will always stand up for Australia's national interest as well. The objective here is to do everything we can working with our partners and neighbours to reduce crime. That is what we are doing, including with our friends in New Zealand who participated constructively in today's discussion.
JOURNALIST: Back on climate change, and I appreciate this isn't easy, right? It's the world's biggest problem, but what do you say to Pacific leaders who see the Resources Minister opening a new gas project at Beetaloo? Today a decision's been made on the BHP Saraji coal mine expansion. They look at you and they say you are the problem.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they don't do that.
JOURNALIST: They raise objections to Australia's fossil fuel expansion.
PRIME MINISTER: No, they don't do that. Australia is highly regarded when it comes to climate change, and the talking down of Australia does not happen from outside Australia. I'll make that point. The Pacific Leaders have respect for the position that we've taken, and they also understand with the transition, because they're dealing with it as well, that the transition can't happen overnight, that it requires strategies and policies to be put in place. And one of the things that renewables requires is firming capacity, and gas has a role to play in firming capacity. We've made that position very clear, and people understand that that is the circumstance.
We have, in a very brief period of time, since we formed government, we have changed the way that Australia is seen at the Pacific Islands Forum. We've changed the way we're seen around the world, which is reflected by the positions that we've been able to secure, including the partnerships that we have in the region. People understand that climate change is a national security issue. That's why Chris Bowen sits on the National Security Committee as well of my government. We understand that. My government is implementing policies consistent with that. When I was the climate change spokesperson, a long time ago, in environment. The Howard government had a policy, you might recall, a mandatory renewable energy target. Guess what it was? Two. We have a position of - 50 per cent, was what we achieved in the December quarter last year, at a time where Australia's energy use was the highest it has ever been.
So, we are implementing a range of policies, both in the macro sense, in the way that the deal that we did, for example, with Tomago recently to support jobs, support that transition of the economy, do it in a sensible, practical way that brings the Australian population with us. At the same time, as we're assisting individual households of whom something in the order of 530,000 households and small businesses have to store renewable energy off their roofs of which one third of Australian households have solar panels on their roofs to store that in order to make a difference to them in their energy bills as well as make a difference to the planet.
JOURNALIST: Minister Bowen said the pre-COP was about building momentum. It's also going to cost taxpayers a lot of money, more than $20 million. Is that money well spent, considering only five leaders are showing up, at a time when Australians -
PRIME MINISTER: That's not true. With respect, you are being so disrespectful to the Pacific Leaders who are here.
JOURNALIST: That was what Fiji said, though.
PRIME MINISTER: Did they count Fiji? Did they count Australia?
JOURNALIST: Non-Pacific leaders.
PRIME MINISTER: You're being very disrespectful here in the Pacific.
JOURNALIST: Five world leaders. Global. Well, outside of the Pacific.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, sorry, but we need to actually have some respect for the process -
JOURNALIST: What about respect for taxpayers?
PRIME MINISTER: - and respect for our Pacific leaders. And Australia has an absolute interest in engaging with the Pacific. The entry fee for credibility in the Pacific, including on national security issues. And there's lots of rhetoric about national security, but if you want to look at what the cost would be of an event or some of the things that countries might want to do in the Pacific, what the cost would be of response to that, then I tell you what, you're not talking about those sort of figures. You're talking about a much, much larger figure. Now we have an absolute interest in engaging with the Pacific respectfully, treating them for the world leaders that they are, as well as the global agencies who will all be at pre-COP. There isn't one leader here who has criticised Australia for our support for bringing the pre-COP to the Pacific. In fact, it is the opposite.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, is Australia's own cocaine habit to blame for the drugs trafficking crisis in the Pacific?
PRIME MINISTER: It is a contributory factor. There is no doubt that when it comes to the transnational crime that is occurring in our region, and this was mentioned by leaders, the destination of some of, not all obviously, of the cocaine, for example, that is travelling through the Pacific, the two destinations are Australia and New Zealand. So, there are consequences. We have a responsibility as well to seize what we can to work with our neighbours as well to make sure that it doesn't enter our shores. But we also have a responsibility as well to do what we can to reduce that demand. And that was one of the things that was spoken about as well by the Prime Minister of Tonga and other countries.
JOURNALIST: Question for Minister Conroy. The Australian Border Force has seen decreasing amount of time they spend doing maritime surveillance. They're increasingly finding it hard to find pilots to fly planes to do that kind of maritime surveillance. And now you're suggesting that Australian Defence Force and other agencies will add on to the amount of surveillance they're doing, extending that. Are you confident that you will be able to achieve this without taking resources away from other surveillance happening in the North West Shelf and others?
MINISTER CONROY: Well, the answer is yes. Minister Burke's already addressed his plans to strengthen Australian Border Force through innovative technologies. I'm expecting the same process through our tenders. We won't be flying very expensive Australian Defence Force assets to do this surveillance. You don't need a F-35 stealth fighters to track narco subs. We'll be using a combination, I imagine, because it's subject to a live tender right now, so I have to be careful, but common sense would dictate will be a combination of commercial aircraft and drones that will do that, as well as space-based situational awareness. We're already working with helping Fiji purchase space awareness time on satellites for the Maritime Essential Services Centre. So, it'll be a combination of those that will work. We already have a template for this. One of the policies the Prime Minister took to the 2022 election was to double the funding for maritime aerial surveillance to combat illegal fishing in the Pacific, because it is a scourge that's ripping out livelihoods in the Pacific. And so we fund that through the private sector where the private sector, typically through DASH8s, provides that surveillance. So, the private sector will provide a solution funded by the Department of Defence to support the Pacific in this really critical endeavour.
JOURNALIST: Thanks, Prime Minister. So, just a question on the trilateral initiative between the Cook Islands, New Zealand and the US to upgrade the Port of Penrhyn Atoll. What significance, if any, does that have for Australia in terms of either security or economic sense? And what signal do you think that sends about US engagement in the region under the Trump administration?
PRIME MINISTER: That's a question for those countries. Australia isn't a party to it. But we of course welcome engagement by the United States as a Pacific Nation as well. They're not members of the Pacific Islands Forum, but I've had a very - one of the pull-asides I had here was with the Undersecretary of State as well. Those countries will engage and will allow them to do it according to their own recognition of their own sovereignty.
JOURNALIST: The Melanesian Spearhead Group has met with various parties here this week with the new head of the group, Dr Anna Naupa. And she said a couple of days ago that they're restructuring the Melanesian Spearhead Group to make it more inclusive and that she'd be open or they would be open to an application by Torres Strait Islanders for observer status. Would you support that, and do you support them having a greater voice in the Pacific and having a seat at the table?
MINISTER CONROY: Thanks Prime Minister. I was honoured to be the first Australian Minister to attend the Melanesian Spearhead Group as an observer in Fiji. Obviously, there's a process that is going through where the Melanesian Spearhead Group consider whether Australia would be an observer at the MSG. We're obviously keen to make that happen, because we see value in having the people of Australia as an observer through the Australian Government at the Melanesian Spearhead Group.
JOURNALIST: PM, your great mate, James Marape, has a foreign minister who thinks that Taiwan shouldn't be coming to the PIF because it proves to be a distraction. Do you think Justin Tkatchenko's got a point?
PRIME MINISTER: I think that the Pacific Island Forum is in control of its own destiny. I refer you to the answer I gave yesterday. It's the same as well. It's a matter for the Pacific Islands Forum who attends these matters. And I think that's fine. What we've been focused on here as well, as I said yesterday, prior to the beginning of - well, there had been the opening, is the whole concentration here is the members of the Pacific Islands Forum. It is such a valuable gathering of people. I want Australia always to participate in it. We are a country that provide, I think, substantial leadership in the region. We're the security partner of choice and my government will make sure that that remains absolutely the case. Thanks very much everyone.
