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.
For the past four years, we have been building Australia's future in our region.
A future built through partnerships, not coercion.
A future built by the countries and peoples of our region.
And that is why, from the outset, the Albanese Government has listened to our region, engaged with respect and humility, and acted on our shared priorities.
We are investing in being the partner of choice for our immediate region, including the Pacific.
We are using all tools of statecraft to invest in Pacific relationships, trust and regionalism.
Embracing Pacific leadership and backing initiatives that make our region safer, more prosperous and more resilient.
And we could not have had a better partner in this than Fiji.
Under Prime Minister Rabuka, Fiji has crafted and tirelessly championed a vision of our Blue Pacific as an 'Ocean of Peace' that the Pacific family has embraced.
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'.
Fiji is a leader in our region, and one of only three Pacific island countries with a military.
Australian and Fijian service men and women have stood shoulder to shoulder in two world wars, in deployments to support our region's security, and in peacekeeping missions across the world.
And it is in the shared pursuit of peace, stability and prosperity, that we deepen our partnership.
I know Prime Minister Albanese was deeply moved to receive Fiji's highest honour - the Companion of the Order of Fiji - on the same day as signing these landmark treaties.
As the name of our treaty suggests, Australia and Fiji are one family, one Vuvale.
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.
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.
The Vuvale Union Treaty is equally important.
It will be a multi-generational endeavour to integrate our economies, our security and our peoples.
It is backed by more than a billion dollars of investment over a decade, including grants and loans.
On Security: together, we will elevate our fight against the scourge of transnational crime and illicit drugs.
With an investment of $181 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.
We will support Australian doctors and nurses to enhance specialist training for Fiji's health workers, boosting Fiji's response to fastest-growing HIV outbreak in the world.
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.
Our final pillar is our People.
Australia and Fiji are linked by deep personal connections, including more than 100,000 people in Australia with Fijian heritage.
Our multifaith, multicultural communities and First Nations peoples share a strong bond.
For thousands of years, Australia's First Nations peoples have maintained connections across our region.
During World War II, Fijian missionaries, skilled farmers, builders and sailors, worked alongside the Yolŋu people and elders still recall the esteem with which they were held.
The theme of this year's Garma festival was 'Bukmak' - a local Yolŋu word meaning "everyone".
The same name was gifted to the Bukmak Forum established through the Vuvale Union.
The Forum will bring together government, traditional, faith and business leaders as our two nations build a shared future.
Yolŋu elder Djapirri Mununggirritj travelled forty hours from Yirrkala to stand with our Prime Ministers at the Treaty's signing.
And a Fijian delegation, including Fiji's Minister for Women, Sashi Kiran, and traditional leaders, joined this year's Garma festival.
This reflects the spirit of shared history, purpose and vision that drive the partnership between Australia and Fiji.
And the foundations upon which we have now chosen to elevate our bilateral relationship.
Colleagues, these two treaties tabled in Parliament today will transform our relationship, far beyond what was contemplated when we started this journey together.
They will form a durable structure for generations of the future.
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.
As Prime Minister Rabuka has said, these treaties reaffirm Fiji and Australia as trusted partners working together not only to benefit each other, but as contributors to a more stable, peaceful and resilient Blue Pacific continent.
We know that in these unprecedented and dangerous times, we are stronger together.
And everything we do will also be aimed at supporting our Pacific region.
Investments in Fiji will flow on to the Pacific family, which relies on Fiji as a regional hub for transport, logistics, education and healthcare.
Mr Deputy President, 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.
I commend the Ocean of Peace Alliance and Vuvale Union treaties to the Senate for consideration.
