In this month’s edition of the Pacific Islands focus column, Isabelle Zhu-Maguire – PhD candidate and Croakey Health Media Member – reports on disaster recovery, new security alliances and renewed calls for the Federal Government to sign the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Isabelle Zhu-Maguire writes:
Approximately 200 people gathered in Fiji in July at the ‘Let’s Talk Periods! Festival’, calling for menstrual health to become a central part of disaster preparedness.
Under the theme ‘Biology does not pause for a cyclone warning’, the festival brought attention to the insufficiency of many disaster relief programmes in addressing menstruation.
Festival attendees called for practical barriers such as limited access to clean water, sanitation facilities, private toilets and affordable menstrual products, and social stigma to be addressed.
As Fiji’s HIV crisis continues, the most effective way to slow the spread of the virus amongst the country’s intravenous drug users is through the sale of sterile needles, according to Uate Tamanikaiyaroi, human rights advocate at Planned Parenthood Federation’s Suva office.
But, Tamanikaiyaroi says “pharmacies, the only realistic source of sterile equipment, frequently refuse to sell syringes without a prescription”.
Fiji Police confirmed that 76 parcels that washed ashore in the Lau Group, Qamea, Kadavum and Beqa have tested positive for cocaine. Fiji Police told RNZ Pacific in a statement they acknowledge “traditional and community leaders for reinforcing the need to report the discoveries as quickly as possible to police, to allow for the deployment of officers to recover the packages”.
“Dilapidated infrastructure” has been blamed for a fatal prison escape attempt in Papua New Guinea, according to RNZ Pacific. The Papua New Guinea Correctional Service (PNGCS) confirmed three prisoners were shot in the Western Highlands Province while attempting an escape. Five others were critically injured and two other escapees remain at large.
Baisu Prison’s perimeter fencing is rusted, has cracking concrete, unstable soil and is subject to frequent water-logging, which is facilitating the conditions to allow frequent escape attempts, according to RNZ. The prison is in the process of being replaced, with Australia’s help.
In Aotearoa-New Zealand, Pacifika women are calling for better cancer education and more culturally responsive healthcare in the light of new research showing major gaps in awareness of gynaecological cancers.
The US declared a public health emergency for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and Guam following the devastation caused by Super Typhoon Bavi which hit in June.
More information about the recovery efforts can be found in the ‘Further reading’ paper attached.
Climate negotiations
As we approach the COP31 conference, Oceania First Nations’ leaders have met in Canberra to discuss the needs of their communities in the face of climate change. Convened by WWF Australia, you can read about their discussion in the National Indigenous Times.
The Pacific Innovation Forum held in Vanuatu in July featured a competition for Pacific entrepreneurs to showcase Pacific-led climate and environmental solutions. Among the winners were a type of sustainable concrete and grass systems for soil stabilisation.
The forum comes as the first stage of drought has been declared for parts of Vanuatu. The Torba province, and parts of Sanma, Penama and Malampa provinces recorded significantly below-average rainfall over the past three months.
Officials from Tuvalu and the Federated States of Micronesia endorsed UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ call for greater global efforts to reduce methane emissions. Maina Vakafua Talia, Tuvalu’s Minister of Home Affairs, Climate Change and Environment has likened the persistence of methane emissions to “having a remedy but not using it to cure a deadly illness”.
The members of the Pacific Islands Forum have adopted the Pacific Regional Climate Finance Access and Mobilisation Strategy 2025-2030.
Pita Ligaiula wrote in Pacific Islands News Association: “According to the report, Pacific Island countries received US$3.4 billion in climate finance between 2010 and 2021, with 59 percent directed to adaptation, 31 percent to mitigation and 10 percent to cross-cutting projects. More than half of the funding came from multilateral development banks.
“The report estimates the region requires US$13.2 billion in climate finance by around 2030, noting that only about a quarter of that amount has been mobilised over the past decade.”
Testing alliances
Following China’s missile test in the Pacific in July, international eyes are once again on the Pacific region.
This test occurred while Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was in Fiji to expand the ‘Vuvale Partnership’ to the ‘Vuvale Union Treaty’.
This trip also saw the unveiling of a separate ‘Ocean of Peace Alliance’. This new military alliance is being backed by Australian Government spending of more than $1 billion over a decade on measures against transnational crime as well as education, health and infrastructure in Fiji. The alliance enshrines Australia’s fourth mutual defence obligation.
This Ocean of Peace alliance has been contested, especially by those in the Pacific peace movement who see it as antithetical to demilitarisation. I recommend reading Johnny Blades’s RNZ article ‘Has the Pacific’s Ocean of Peace concept been hijacked?’ and Australian National University academics Raihaamana Tevahitua and Dr. Romitesh Kant’s op-ed, ‘Testing the ocean of peace’.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale said there is growing consensus in support of his proposal to form a Pacific-wide regional security agreement. Wale floated the concept with Prime Minister Albanese during his visit to Canberra in June as well as with his counterparts in PNG and Fiji.
The link between sport and geopolitics was also on full display this month. In the Vuvale Union, expansion of sport is central to the financing from Australia to Fiji. Australia committed FJD$35 million (US$17.5 million) towards sports development in Fiji, including support for rugby union.
Following this, Australia announced a region-wide multi-million-dollar rugby league deal with Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga. This agreement was signed in Australia as the heads of state of these three Pacific states attended a game together with Albanese.
Tahina Booth wrote an interesting commentary about this Pacific sport strategy undertaken by Australia for the Lowy Institute titled, “The four o’clock field: The easy goal for Australia’s Pacific sport money”. Booth is the Founder and Managing Director of the Grass Skirt Project, a Papua New Guinea-founded, women-led organisation using sport to prevent gender-based violence and build youth leadership in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific.
Nuclear anxiety
With heightened geopolitical attention in the Pacific, activists and governments across the region have raised continued concern about the longevity of a nuclear-free Pacific. If you are unfamiliar with the history of nuclear weapons in the Pacific, Vehia Wheeler’s blog for the Pacific Security College provides a good overview.
Tonga announced it has become the 179th state to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.
Tonga’s permanent representative to the UN Viliami Va’inga Tōnē said this is not just a legal formality but a statement of who they are and what they stand for, telling RNZ Pacific: “The Pacific has felt the pain of nuclear testing. Ratifying the CTBT is our contribution to ensuring that no one, anywhere, has to go through that again.”
In response to China’s missile testing, Palau’s President Surangel Whipps Jr warns of rising nuclear anxiety in the Pacific in a conversation with RNZ Pacific journalist Johnny Blades.
In Australia, Reverend James Bhagwan, General Secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches, led the group of Pacific and allied anti-nuclear activists at Parliament House on Ngunnawal Country, Canberra.
The group was calling on Australia to sign the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This was a commitment Labor made before winning office but has yet to fulfil.
Further reading
Read this collection of additional reading on regional Pacific politics, alliances and recovery from Super Typhoon Bavi.
About the author
Isabelle Zhu-Maguire is a PhD candidate at the Coral Bell School of Asia and Pacific Affairs, Department of International Relations within the Australian National University. Her thesis investigates the ways in which Australia listens and responds to the climate advocacy of Pacific Island Nations.
She has conducted extensive research into the experiences of women in Afghanistan and their perspectives and realities living through conflict, oppression, and climate change.
Isabelle has also been advocate for greater youth inclusion within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. She was elected a member of Croakey Health Media in December 2025.
Croakey thanks and acknowledges Isabelle Zhu-Maguire for providing this column as a probono service to our readers.
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