 Madam Prime Minister, Minister Pat Conroy distinguished ladies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I'm Michael Fully Love, the Executive Director of the Lowy Institute. Let me begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we gathered tonight, the Ngunnawal and Nambri people. I pay my respects to their elders, past and present. Talofa Lava, welcome to the inaugural FDC Pacific lecture. What a great pleasure it is for me personally and for the Institute to host the seventh Prime Minister of Samoa, the Honorable Firme Naomi Matta-Affa at this beautiful venue. Welcome, Prime Minister. You'll see Prime Minister, I'm wearing Samoan colors tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, I now know what it's like to accompany a rock star because when I entered this building, we could barely get through the crowd. So you do us a great honor, Prime Minister, by giving this lecture. So thank you. This annual lecture is part of a collaboration between the Lowy Institute and the Foundation for Development Cooperation, a great Australian institution that does wonderful work. And let me acknowledge Ann Marie O'Keeffe, the Chair and Stephen Taylor, the Executive Director of the FDC. Let me also acknowledge the Chief Executive, the Secretary of DFAT, Shadow Ministers, thank you for joining us, Ambassadors and High Commissioners, Lowy Institute Board members, Serengus Houston, Penny Wensley, and many other distinguished guests and in particular, many other friends from the Pacific. Thank you very much for joining us. This is the first visit to Australia by a Samoan Prime Minister in nearly four years and not just any PM, but one of the great figures from our region, someone who has led with great strength and dignity, who has served for nearly three decades in public life in Samoa, daughter of a Prime Minister and now Prime Minister herself. And in those four years, a lot has happened. Our countries have lived through a pandemic that has forced us to close ourselves off from the world and from each other. In Europe, we have seen the brutal and illegal invasion of one country by its powerful neighbour. And here in the Indo-Pacific, we've seen an intensification of geopolitical competition. Last week, Australia's Prime Minister announced the details of the AUKUS arrangement, which is Australia's response to that competition, a signal of Australia's ambition to contribute to regional security, but something that will also be a big lift for our country. The government has announced new climate change targets. It's also built on the work of its predecessor and redoubled Australia's efforts in our immediate neighbourhood. We're very sorry that the Foreign Minister, Senator Wong, can't join us this evening as she tested positive for COVID this morning. But I do want to take the opportunity in her absence to compliment the Minister and the Prime Minister and Minister Conroy for the vigor and dispatch of their regional diplomacy. They have maintained really a breakneck speed of visits to Southeast Asia and to the Pacific. And I think that's very important. Even as we focus on new challenges to our North, it's important that we do not turn away from the region that is closest to us. We can't lose sight of the importance of the Pacific and the relationships we have with our Pacific family. And Prime Minister, I use the term Pacific family advisedly. My brother Christian is in the audience tonight with his partner, Vaimoaer, and they met each other in Apia in Samoa a few years ago. It's connections like these PM that I think show the deep bonds between our countries that are formed in relationships, loving relationships, friendships, football, faith. I think these are the factors that make Australia and Samoa such natural and easy partners. So there are many things, there are many challenges for us to think about. Many joint challenges from climate change and natural disasters and health and other issues, but also opportunities for us to explore. And we hope to look at some of those challenges and opportunities this evening. And now to introduce the Prime Minister, I'm delighted to call upon the Minister for Defense Industry and the Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Mr. Pat Conroy MP. Like Senator Wong, he has been a frequent traveller to the region since the government was elected. He's known within the government as an energetic advocate for the Pacific. Before he went into Parliament, he was involved in public life in other ways, working for Anthony Albanese, Minister Combe and in the trade union movement. He's an articulate person and a formidable force for the Pacific. And we're delighted that the minister has agreed to be here this evening and to introduce one of the Pacific's most respected and significant leaders. Minister, the lectern is yours. Thank you, Michael, for that kind and very, very generous introduction. There's a future in politics with that sort of generosity. But it is a pleasure to be at the Lowe Institute event, particularly here at Old Parliament House, proudly lit up tonight in the colours of the independent state of Samoa. This building is now home to the Museum of Australian Democracy, and democracy is a subject and a practice on which our guest is a leading authority. First, I'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners, the land upon which we meet, the Ngunnawal and Nambri people. I'd also like to pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging. Michael's already done acknowledgements, and I love the Pacific tradition of just saying all protocols observed, which I think covers all sins, but I will break that just to acknowledge a few people if people can indulge me. I'd like to acknowledge Simon Birmingham, the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Michael McCormack, the Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Sir Angus Houston, Board Member, former Chief of the Defence Force, Jan Adams, Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and Ewan MacDonald, Head of the Office of the Pacific. I'd also acknowledge all ambassadors and high commissioners here tonight. As well as acknowledging the traditional owners, I'd also like to restate my commitment as a member of the Albanese government to implementing the Uluru Statement from the heart in full, voice, treaty and truth. In Australia, we are proud to be home to one of the oldest continuous cultures in the world. We have First Nations Connections history with the Pacific family through shared geography, history and kinship ties that stretch across the blue Pacific. And they provide a strong foundation to engage on shared interests with partners in our region. They are just one but very important subset of our people-to-people links. As Michael alluded to, another of our people-to-people links is on the sporting field. And it'd be remiss of me not to congratulate the Prime Minister again on the wonderful performance of the Samoan Rugby League team at the Rugby League World Cup last year. And I'd like to make the point that I've made many times in the Pacific, which is if the Australian kangaroo, the players in the Australian kangaroos of Samoan heritage had actually played for Samoa, you would have thrashed us. So congratulations again. But my job here tonight, and it's a great honour to have this job, is to introduce our speaker, the esteemed and highly respected Prime Minister of Samoa, Fiamme Naomi Mata-Afa. I'm honoured to welcome her to Canberra on her first official visit as Prime Minister. Our Foreign Minister Penny Wong and I have valued her wisdom, her graciousness, her tenacity and her leadership. Particularly her passionate, committed advocacy on climate change, her principled, thoughtful approach to Pacific regionalism, and her determined, honest commitment to building an economically stable and secure future for the Samoan people. And the Pacific family is part of who we are. From the ocean that we share, to the deep people and family links across our islands, we take our responsibility as a member of the Pacific family seriously. As a government, our approach to supporting a stronger Pacific family has been to listen, to show up and to deliver for the priorities of the Pacific. And of course, the biggest priority as the Prime Minister has been a champion of is taking action on climate. Prime Minister, you've worked hard to raise awareness of the existential threat posed by climate change to the nations of the Pacific. Looking for any forum or alliance in which you can sway thinking and garner support for change. I'm glad to have this opportunity during your visit to discuss what more we can do together to drive global action on climate change, to keep 1.5 degrees within reach and build our region's resilience to this existential threat. And as you know, Australia under this government has already legislated much more ambitious national emissions reduction targets. We've set a minimum floor of 43% reduction in our emissions by 2030 and to moving to 83% or more renewable energy production by the end of the decade. And we've returned to being part of the solution. That's why we'll join at least 105 countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, New Zealand and all Pacific Island countries who are UN members, the co-sponsor of Vanuatu's UN General Assembly resolution requesting an ICJ advisory opinion on climate change. This resolution reflects the views of the Pacific Islands Forum, leaders that in the shared endeavor, the obligations of all major emitters past, present and future should be examined. In your work on climate, you have been and remain as I said earlier, a deeply committed regionalist, someone who works hard to generate consensus. You said before the world needs to put as much energy into addressing climate change as we have on addressing COVID and you are right. You've said that the effort has to be collective and you've clearly put that spirit into action. Samoa under your leadership remains an active player in the Pacific Islands Forum. Your leadership has helped reinforce the centrality of Pacific architecture and the importance of the United Pacific family. We can navigate our shared challenges best when we do it together. You've also committed to hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting next year, the first Pacific Island nation ever to do so. And I saw your advocacy in the Chogham Forum, first-hand in Rwanda, where you argued passionately and eloquently and effectively for action on climate change and justice for the Pacific. None of this advocacy and engagement is an accident. It is the determined, continued focus of a nation seeking to deliberately influence the world around it in positive ways. In a sense, we shouldn't be surprised that the leadership Prime Minister, FIMA, has shown both in Samoa and across the region. When Samoa led the Pacific and achieving independence in 1962, her father was Samoa's first Prime Minister. Her mother too was an MP and High Commissioner to New Zealand. Prime Minister FIMA first entered Parliament in 1985 and has over time held almost every portfolio. She was Samoa's first female minister as Education Minister in 1991, first female Deputy Prime Minister and first female Prime Minister. So it is a true honor for our country to host her this week. Prime Minister, I believe you are one of the great state's people of our time. I'm privileged to work with you and to learn from you. I would like to thank you for your continued leadership and for your ongoing commitment and that of Samoans around the region to building a peaceful and prosperous Pacific. I'm very much looking forward to hearing what you have to say tonight. And I'd be grateful if you could come to the stage. Thank you very much. Mr. Conroy, your parliamentary colleagues, the representatives of the Australian government. I'd like to acknowledge the Lowy family, members of the board and of course, Dr. Fulilab for the arrangements that are inviting me tonight. Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, Dhalofalava and warm Pacific greetings. I'm honored to be given the opportunity to deliver this specific lecture as has been the tradition for the Lowy Institute to host world leaders in order to foster positive relations between Australia and our respective countries. I have been asked to provide through Samoa focused lenses, Pacific perspectives on the region's most pressing challenges and opportunities. And there are a few. The Pacific Islands occupy a vast oceanic region that covers almost 20% of the Earth's surface and is home to the world's largest concentration of microstates. I quote from the renowned Pacific writer, Ebelli Hauofa. Oceania is us. We are the sea. We are the ocean. We should not be defined by the smallness of our islands, but the greatness of our oceans. The Pacific's three ethnographic subregions of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia include 10 sovereign states, five freely associated states, and eight dependent territories. For the Pacific region and its island countries, the ocean is crucial. Exercising a sense of common identity and purpose linked to the ocean has been critical for protecting and promoting the potential of our shared Pacific ocean. It is this commonality of the fundamental essence of the region which has the potential to empower the region through collective and combined agendas and actions. The blue Pacific narrative will strengthen the existing policy frameworks that harness the ocean as a driver of a transformative socio-cultural, political and economic development of the Pacific. And it gives renewed impetus to deepening Pacific regionalism. We know that we can do more together than alone. While Pacific countries vary widely in population, economic circumstances, development, political status and stability, they face several common challenges, each amplified by the devastating impact of COVID-19 pandemic and the pervasive impacts of climate change. These challenges include political leadership and regionalism, peace and security, economic development, climate change-related impacts, natural disasters, oceans and the environment, technology and connectivity, and the intensification of geo-strategic competition exacerbating the region's existing vulnerabilities. At their 2019 meeting in Tuvalu, forum leaders further highlighted these concerns and subsequently endorsed the development of the 2050 strategy for the blue Pacific continent, a strategy that reinforces commitment and working together as a collective for advancing Pacific regionalism based on the blue Pacific narrative. Pacific Island leaders have nonetheless recognized the need for a new, inclusive and game-changing approach to Pacific regionalism, a regionalism that can not only realize the unmet development needs of Pacific Island peoples, but also meet the demands of a new global development paradigm. At the heart of this approach is an emphasis on inclusive policy development and implementation, as well as recognition of the political dimension for ensuring development outcomes for the Pacific. The 2050 strategy encapsulates how we can best work together to achieve our shared vision and aspirations. It is based on the firm recognition of the strategic, cultural and economic value that our blue Pacific region holds for us and our shared commitment to protect and leverage this value. Therefore, the newly emerging wave of regionalism maintains a people-centered lens and Pacific control of a regional agenda. It fosters wider political engagement and maneuvers creatively through and around, structures with the common goal of improving the lives of our Pacific peoples. It seeks to achieve the key objectives of sustainable development that combines economic, social, and cultural development in ways that improve livelihoods and wellbeing and uses the environment sustainably. Economic growth that is inclusive and equitable. Strengthened governance, legal, financial, and administrative systems. And security that ensures stable and safe human, environmental, and political conditions for all. It expresses the political ambition of our leaders to navigate the Pacific through the global and regional geopolitical forces that impact on our region's ability to achieve development outcomes for our people. In this context, development actors need to work with us, understand the politics of development in our region, and seek to engage with us in a way that supports our agency and leadership on sustainable development. As well, it emphasizes Pacific leadership and ownership on regional opportunities and challenges. My country, Samoa, has always advocated for a re-energized and robust Pacific forum process through which all development partners work with at the regional level, even with the preference to deliver bilaterally. For the member countries, this will add value to the efficacy of their respective prioritization processes. This has resulted in creating a platform for the PAM process with Japan, the US Pacific Summit, and the Korea Pacific Summit. It is against this background that we have made all efforts to reconnect our Pacific family, including strengthening our regional institutions, in particular, our premier educational institute, the University of the South Pacific. The USP has contributed significantly towards shaping the framework for the Pacific regionalism through intellectual dialogue and to interface with people who are actively engaged in redefining the way the Pacific framework should work. The collaboration between the USP and other institutes in the region can leverage research-based sustainable solutions for issues facing the region. We have learned from the past of examples that are testimony to the strength of our own Pacific diplomacy, which included successful outcomes from the COP 21 climate talks in Paris in 2015. The advocacy for the SDG-14 on oceans and the inclusion of loss and damage on the climate change agenda during COP 27. Climate change remains the single greatest threat to the well-being, livelihoods, and security of Pacific peoples. Taking into account the insufficient global response to limit temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius, as a small island-developing state, as well as the chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, EOSIS, we will continue to advocate for retching up ambitious targets and urgent follow-through in the implementation of the nationally determined contributions. For Samoa, we are aiming to reach a target of 100% electrification through renewables by 2030 and to promote urgent and inclusive transformation of the land and maritime transport sectors towards decarbonisation. The Pacific will remain persistent in urging major emitters to phase out all fossil fuel subsidies and accelerate actions towards transitioning to low greenhouse gas emission climate resilient economies. Climate financing is crucial to ensure transformational investments in order to achieve the net zero by 2050 goal. However, we cannot achieve that if funding for the root causes of climate change is exponentially greater than investment in appropriate response to climate change. We continue to see devastating impacts of climate change on our neighbours like Van Watu, having recently been hit by Cyclone's Judy and Freddie within a few days. This is our reality and that is why we will never stop pushing for all to do their part. Samoa's role as the chair of the Alliance of Small Island States emphasises Aeosis' advocacy role as a strategic necessity and is the thread that binds its work. It must be said that the active engagement of all members, in particular the Pacific members, at the highest political level is critical to achieving our desired objectives. The Commonwealth has always been a champion for small island developing states and the escalating concerns about the ongoing climate crisis. Samoa will be bringing our Commonwealth family to our Blue Pacific region in 2024, as alluded to by Minister Conway. There is no better place to discuss solutions and concrete responses to the climate crisis than in the home of those who stand to lose the most. Similarly, the Pacific offers solidarity to support Australia's bid for the COP in 2026. Our Blue Pacific continent is fast becoming an increasingly contested strategic space. The question for us is how prepared are we to tackle the emerging associated challenges? Regional and national stability has never been more critical in order to maintain peace and security, prosperity and well-being of all our Pacific peoples. We are faced with the perplexities of varying versions of the Indo-Pacific strategies. The resultant partnerships that have emerged from the diversity of networks and alliances, as well as the underlying lack of understanding of the Pacific countries of how and when the two large ocean spaces morphed into the Indo-Pacific and the rationale behind the concept. Why? Because this is the basis of the geo-strategic approaches of the development partners working in the region. I feel I need to be very frank and to say to this gathering tonight that in the Pacific we feel our partners have fallen short of acknowledging the integrity of Pacific leadership and the responsibility they carry for every decision made as a collective and individually in order to garner support for the sustainable development of our nations. Such acknowledgments can simply be in the form of information sharing and open consultation if we consider ourselves as a Pacific family and looking to find solutions in the Pacific way. The shifting global and regional geopolitics is creating an increasingly complex and crowded region that places the Pacific at the center of contemporary global geopolitics. This trend coupled with broader challenges such as climate change and disaster risk, rising inequalities, resource depletion, maritime boundary disputes, and advances in technology will continue to shape the Pacific regional security environment. Pacific Island forum members have a proud history of working collectively in response to events and issues that have challenged regional security, peace, and stability in the past. The Pacific region's current geopolitical and geostrategic context underlines the need for an integrated and comprehensive security architecture incorporating an expanded concept of security. A stable and resilient security environment provides the platform for achieving the region's sustainable development aspirations. We welcome the efforts by some of our development actors to keep the Pacific countries consistently informed of security developments specific to their countries but which can have potential impact on the Pacific region. On that note, I was very fortunate to have a security briefing earlier this afternoon by your security teams and I'm very thankful for the sharing of that information. While we become, we may become an unwilling actor in the current tensions around the Pacific Rim by virtue of our geography. It may be pertinent to ask how our region can assert our geography as the basis for promoting regional and global peace as was done with the work of the Rarotomo Treaty. In terms of economic growth, I wish to acknowledge Australia and New Zealand's support towards the post-COVID recovery through the important contribution of labour mobility and what it makes to the economy of all participating countries. While considering the nuances of expanding labour mobility, we must ensure that we maximise the benefits and minimise any negative impacts on the livelihoods and business domestically in labour-sending countries. It is important that regular consultations take place and that there is the opportunity to review from time to time the efficacy of the schemes to ensure unfair disadvantage of either side. Pacific countries with limited human resource capacities cannot sustain development efforts with regular brain drain. Of great importance to Pacific-sending countries is the commitment to ensure that workers' rights and welfare conditions are socialised, safeguarded and implemented in a timely manner. It is also important to note that in terms of development cooperation, Australia recognises the importance of long-term commitments and predictability to effective planning and sustainable change for partner countries and have instituted agreed-to arrangements to facilitate policy shifts as well as accepting the integrity of the use of partner country systems. It is also important to maintain close communication and cooperation in order to shape policies and institutions to drive inclusive and sustainable economic growth, including working closely with all willing development partners through processes such as the Joint Policy Action Matrix Dialog. Such a process encapsulates the advancing of economic reforms to achieve sustainable growth and prudent debt management. All PASA Plus signatory countries are committed to closer regional economic integration through working together and with the PASA Plus implementation unit based in Arpere to drive the implementation of PASA Plus and facilitating the flow of goods, services, capital and people across signatory countries. We will also collaborate on biosecurity and market access to enhance trade flows. We very much look forward to stronger partnerships for economic growth, for security and stronger relationships between our people. There is a clear need to reinforce and support existing and promising approaches, particularly those that are non-partisan and non-interventionist. In closing, let me again express my appreciation for the invitation to deliver some specific perspectives of the region we share. I would also like to acknowledge the assistance which has been provided by the Australian Educational and Research Institutions to the Pacific countries and to Samoa, in particular since the end of the Second World War. At a time when the Pacific is in need of research on so many issues of vital importance to the Pacific, it is the Lowy Institute that has filled in some of the very important research gaps by placing significant focus on the Pacific region. But I do have to say, Michael, mostly in Melanesia. I wish again to thank the Lowy Institute, all the best for your very important work as we move into the future. And I want to acknowledge all of you and thank you as colleagues for your interest in the blue Pacific and its future development. Thank you. Well, thank you, Prime Minister. Thank you very much for those thoughtful and wide-ranging remarks which deserve to be read widely around the region. And thank you also for the Prime Ministeral feedback, which is noted. And a lot of my brilliant colleagues from our Pacific team are here today. So we'll have a talk about that feedback. So thank you. Thank you also, PM, for agreeing to take some questions from me for 10 minutes or so. And then the PM has agreed to take questions from the audience. So if you get your questions ready, if you catch my eye, the PM may be willing to take some questions from you. PM, you talked about so many different issues. But let me start with climate change because you identified it as the number one security threat in the Pacific and you mentioned the effects that Vanuatu and other countries have felt. I know you're just back from London, so you've got a bit of a global view that you can share with us. How optimistic are you that the world will reach agreements that limit dangerous warming and how comfortable are you with the efforts that Australia has committed to in the last year? Well, it's always best to start closer to home and the latter part of your question had to do with advancements in Australia's stance on climate change. So I think I need to take the opportunity here at the Lower Institute to say how much the Pacific family has appreciated the newer commitments that have been made by the Australian government on climate change, your own nationally determined contributions, the targets to which you have set, which are very significant. And I would like to congratulate you all. And I think I need to acknowledge, Samo and other Pacific countries are so small. It doesn't take a lot of data collection or huge surveys to determine what people are thinking. You can gauge that very quickly. But what I did note with the developments in Australia's advancing positions on climate change is that a lot of that had to do with your public and the stance that your constituents were presenting to. So as a politician, I sort of see things in those lenses and I think I do have to credit the Australian public. I mean, of course, there are varying views, but I think it is to such a degree where the government has made those commitments. Now, the last cop in Shamu shape was a bit underwhelming, I think was the word, the polite word. And we were concerned from the Pacific that there seemed to be some backsliding in terms of what we had understood to be global agreements on the 1.5. The AOSIS group very quickly made presentations to the convention, to the conference, presenting this concern that we were seeing. We do understand, of course, that that particular region was with its fuels and so forth. They have a particular view. The next cop is also going to be in the same region. So we in the Pacific and those of us who are all advocating for timely interventions to the climate crisis, I hope that we will keep up the pressure to ensure that the commitments that have been agreed to in past conferences can be upheld and that the work is carried forward. The loss and damage issue, I think it was quite significant at the last cop, a bit of good news. It's formally on the books, so to speak, with proposals to develop funding models of how that work can be carried out and it is a demonstration of progress. So although it would seem at times perhaps we're not moving towards our goals as fast as we should be, I think we still need to acknowledge some of the wins that we are achieving and to just pursue those and advocate strongly. And for those who are able to make significant contributions, especially to funding, research, it's very important that that keeps going. So I'm optimistic. All right, let me ask you about some other security issues. You alluded to the increasing competition that the region sees between the United States on the one hand and China on the other. Let me invite you to speak a little bit more about that if you're open to it and in particular let me ask you about the issue that's in the headlines this week and that is AUKUS. A couple of times you mentioned the importance of consultation and you thanked the Australian government for some security briefings which I presume was on AUKUS but can I ask you about the substance of those briefings? Do you feel comfortable with the AUKUS arrangements as they've been announced? Well, I think I said in my comments that... And I think this is framed around the new narrative of the Indo-Pacific and that has become the founding narrative for development partners, especially the morphing together of these two big oceans. Now, the Pacific Islands were never consulted about that new narrative or had a discussion amount. I think perhaps Fiji might have been invited to one or two meetings. But then it's quite interesting. We had the summit last year in September with the Americans. They talk about Indo-Pacific. Australia and New Zealand talk about Indo-Pacific. Japan talks to us about Indo-Pacific. Everyone talks to us about Indo-Pacific. And I think there's an assumption there that we know what they're talking about and actually we don't. So, I mean, we're having to inform ourselves as best we can. But given that we occupy a very large space of one of those oceans, one might have thought that having some input from the Pacific Islands might have been a good idea as we moved into that new narrative. But I think we were quite used to it. We don't really want to throw any tantrums or anything like that. We'd like to be helpful. I think given when the opportunities arise that we can make comments. But I think I was sharing with colleagues who were giving me the security briefing this afternoon. There's something about foreign policy, right? Which a large part of it has now got to do with security. And I'm reminded of the former king of Tonga, Tupo V, when he was minister of foreign affairs. He was asked by a reporter, what was Tonga's foreign policy? And he said, foreign policy, we don't have foreign policy. And this poor reporter was quite stumped because of course he's talking to the foreign minister and does expect a very comprehensive reply and not that kind of answer. And so he said, oh, could you explain yourself further? And the minister then said, well, it is our lot in the Pacific that other people have foreign policies. We just navigate our way around them. So I think there's a lot of truth in that. And I think it's also why we from Samoa advocate so strongly for regionalism. Because as a bloc, you get a bit more attention. As tiny little islands, no one really pays too much attention to you. So I think the experience of the advocacy, especially around climate change, the advocacy that we did as a region around the Rarotonga Treaty on nuclear issues, it has built up the credibility of the Pacific's participation in foreign policy and foreign affairs. Am I answering your question? You provided a wonderful answer, P.M. I don't think you quite came at the question of the nuclear-powered submarines. Oh, right. That's very easy, Michael. That's none of my business. I mean, we understand it. And I think Minister Conroy, who unfortunately had to leave us, and I think yourself in your introductory comments, this is how Australia sees its role in the security aspects of the region. And we understand that. And I think with the further integration of New Zealand and Australia into the Pacific family, Australia is now part of Melanesia. New Zealand is part of Polynesia. I think we're deepening opportunities to be talking to each other a lot more about those sorts of things. And I can't tell you what your security people told me this afternoon. There's lots of redefinitions of regions happening. Let me ask you, I want to come to the audience and give them an opportunity to ask a question. But I do want to ask P.M. as the first female Prime Minister of your country, named recently by the BBC as among the 100 most influential women around the world. Can you reflect? It's not bad. It's not bad. Can you reflect a little bit about the role of women in the Pacific? And can you tell us, is there a particular female leader that you've admired over the course of your career, from whom you've taken inspiration? Well, it's no secret that the Pacific still has the lowest representation of women in our respective governments. And there are still some of us who don't have any women. I think in the early days of the gender issue, some of us around this room might recall the first decade for women. One of the indicators of successful women's participation in public life was linked to the general economic status of a country. So I still would tend to think that that indicator and the cause, perhaps, of this low representation amongst many other gender disparities is that our respective economies reached that level where the basic services for women, especially around their responsibilities to their families. The burden is still upon the women to carry on. So our economies were not able to give them the benefits. We're not able to give them the services that may free them up to, perhaps, participate more rigorously in political life. So, I mean, Australia has been a leading donor in the Pacific on gender equality. The Verotonga Declaration, when was it again? 2012? So we were on that. Anyway, that was the first time that the leaders, the Pacific leaders made a gender declaration. And I think there is discussion. It needs to be revisited. And there's still a lot of work that needs to be done. I mean, the questions are a lot of resourcing has gone into this, both fiscal and human resourcing, technological resourcing. So the question being posed is, why is there not enough change? And was there one female lady that you've looked up to? Well, funny enough, it's not necessarily national leaders. The women leaders have had an impact on me. Of course, my family and the communities. And I've always been active in young women's and women's organizations. So there's so many leaders there. And it's quite interesting for me as a politician, since 1985, I still find that when I go back to those organizations that I belong to, I'm at a conference where it brings together women. I draw such a lot of energy from them. So it's still a basis of a source of energy for me. Well, thank you, Pam. Let's take a few questions, two or three questions I'd like to. Please, if you'd like to pose a question to the PM, please put your hand up. Yes, I see Meg Keen and Simon Birmingham. So we might start with those two, and then I'll take one more if we can fit it in. So first of all, no, no, let me call on you first. Meg, head of the Pacific Islands Program at the Lowe Institute. Thank you very much for that fantastic presentation. I think we're all going to be pouring over it for some time to come and thinking about all the points you've made. But one really stood out for me when you were talking about Pacific leadership and the name for a game-changing approach, particularly regionally, and you did mention the game-changing approach with the Raratanga Treaty. But I'm wondering what in contemporary times a game-changing approach looks like from a Pacific lens. Thank you. Well, I've been reflecting on that a lot. And one of the lessons that I've more recently learned is when I went to the Chogham Leaders' Meeting in Rwanda last year, and the journey that that country has taken to where it finds itself now since the genocide of the early to mid-90s. Now, when we're talking early-mid-90s, it's just a matter of 30, 40 years. It's one generation. I regret that I didn't do a lot more reading about Rwanda before I went. But when I arrived at that country, it looked like a developed country. I saw people walking around freely, especially women. And we all know the statistic that Rwanda is famous for, that they have more than 50% women in their parliament and also more than 50% women in their cabinet. And young. So if we're talking about game-changing, the Pacific is small, its populations are small. It really needs to use a lot more of its human resource. And I don't think we've done that enough and paid attention to that. We can have the aid dollar and, of course, the opportunities that are available for education and training is very significant when we're talking about buildings, capacities, especially of our youth. But I don't think we utilize it in a way that I've seen how they've done it in Rwanda. And I think that's... And engaging a lot more people in the process of economic growth. You know, governments are so much bigger in small countries. And everyone thinks, you know, the government is the answer to everything. That mindset needs to change as well. We need to be able to ensure that there's a much wider participation than just merely the government in the development and growth of our economies. Thank you, Senator Birmingham. Probably don't need it. Prime Minister, thank you very much for your wide-ranging and thoughtful address tonight and for spending this week in Australia and travelling through a number of Australian states as well. It is very grateful. Can I ask perhaps two questions? I'll be cheeky there. One, building a little upon the message for the Pacific voice to be heard more powerfully and how you think Australia can help to empower that Pacific voice, that regional architecture, to be heard in other capitals around the world can we provide through our foreign service by other means to empower that Pacific voice to be as strongly as possible? And then perhaps to come back to the bilateral relationship you spoke about, labour mobility, PASA Plus, what would be the priorities that Australia could lend to help with the economic empowerment and achieving those aspirations that you have in leading Samoa to achieve stronger economic outcomes in the future? The first part of your question about how Australia helps with the Pacific voice, I mean the best example of that is creating opportunities for the Pacific and ensuring Pacific participation either by sponsorship or using your aeroplanes just to get us around to places and also helping us refine the message, taking the message to other fora that the Pacific doesn't necessarily have a voice in and where I made mention of the further integration of New Zealand and Australia into the Pacific architecture and now Australia is a member of the Melanesian subregion. You know, I think that's another way where if Australia speaks, it can speak, I think, a lot more, a lot stronger in terms of this new format that we've moved into Pacific architecture and the organisation around regionalism. With respect to the labour mobility that seems to have been a bit contentious lately but that's mostly because you move a lot faster than we do so, you know, your policy shifts are faster, we're having to catch up but I think as I said in my comments is that we need to have, you know, regular review of these agreements that we come to. The labour mobility scheme has assisted Pacific countries greatly over the COVID and how our respective economies have been impacted. You know, especially around tourism, the retailing and services industries and so forth. So the scheme has really, you know, brought support to families and of course, you know, it carries through then to the whole monetary system assists with our balance of payments and so forth. But then equally we are now experiencing the impact essentially of brain drain because initially the schemes had started off in the agricultural and horticultural so from the sending countries it was mostly the unemployed but because the scheme has now expanded to other sectors we are now moving into the more skilled labour force so we are feeling the impact of that now. Now we had the leaders special retreat earlier this month in Fiji and we took the issue to the leaders meeting and there was some thinking, you know, perhaps as sending countries we need to sort of get together and talk before we talk to, you know, New Zealand and Australia and we said, no, that's not what Simon was saying. What we are saying is that we sat down together and we talked through this. If there are issues, it's important that we sit down and continue to have that dialogue. Now I'm going to be very contentious and say that, you know, labour mobility is one thing. We're talking about PASA Plus, you know, and how, you know, that can accommodate not only labour mobility but services and goods and people. So on the people side, I've just come from the UK and I've been exited Europe, you know, and that whole concept there of the European common market. So we've been talking about that in the Pacific for a long time and part of that common market is free access of people around the region. I think we need to explore that in the Pacific. Now, when we were talking about that in Fiji, Penny Wong came from here and the deputy prime minister of New Zealand attended on behalf of their leader. And it was quite interesting. Penny Wong didn't say anything when I sort of suggested, you know, we might look at sort of common market type arrangement. But the deputy prime minister of New Zealand said, oh, but all the people in the islands will want to come and live in New Zealand and Australia. I said, well, I think that's what you might think. But you might think also that if we have easy access, you know, people can just come, do their business, visit their relatives, go on holiday in New Zealand and Australia, but go back home and not have such a difficult time coming into Australia or New Zealand. So it's just a thought. I'm going to take one more question. We have a lot of friends from the Pacific in the room. I'd love to take a question from someone in the Pacific if they would like to ask one. Please. But if not, I'm going to take one more question. Yes, ma'am. Final question of the evening. Thank you for your address, Prime Minister. You mentioned leveraging strategic geography to promote peace. Can you talk about that a bit more? So how can I explain this by example? Okay. The United States as a development partner hasn't really been that visible in our part of the world. In fact, they left probably 15, 20 years ago after to Australia. But more recently, we were asked to have a summit of the leaders with the President of the United States. So they're recognizing our geographical space. For all the reasons they have, and we think we understand. But nevertheless, the attention is there. Now it might be a good thing. And it might not be such a good thing. Sometimes it's just good to go under the radar. But that's the situation of the geopolitics. There's now an interest in the Pacific and we're geographically placed. So people are beginning to talk to us. And we have to take up that opportunity. Because there are very many issues, challenges, and opportunities for us as well. And we look to our neighbors and family here in the Pacific to help us navigate that. But it's first of all, understanding that before, people just used to see the Pacific as a big ocean with a few dots. But now because the situation has changed, they actually see us or they see the Pacific in a different way. And it's not an opportunity to be missed. PM, thank you for taking our questions with great dignity and humor and intelligence and wisdom. And for being a little contentious, as you put it, we love that at the Lowy Institute. Let me call upon, before we finish, let me call upon Ann Marie O'Keefe to deliver the vote of thanks. Ann Marie is chair of the Foundation for Development Corporation. She's a long time non-resident fellow of the Lowy Institute and a colleague of mine and a very senior former Australian diplomat and an aide official. So Ann Marie, perhaps you would move her vote of thanks to the PM. Prime Minister, it's my great honor to have been asked to thank you for your inspirational speech and the observations at this, the Foundation for Development Co-operations in Orgul, Pacific Lecture hosted by the Lowy Institute. You may or may not remember, but we first met in the late 1990s when you were Samoa's minister of education and I was an Australian aide official visiting your country for aid talks. As Samoa's first female cabinet minister, you already had a region-wide reputation as a visionary Pacific leader with a deep understanding of the development challenges facing Samoa and the border Pacific. My then boss, who went on to become the head of AusAid, gave me really strict instructions to listen to you and to take on board what you were saying. And of course, nobody would ever not do that when it was Bruce Davis telling me to listen. But I'll be frank, I was very nervous about meeting you because of that reputation. What did I have to offer to our conversation about development in the Pacific? Now, more than two decades later, you're Samoa's first female prime minister and we collectively have had the privilege this evening of hearing your frank analysis of the challenges that confront the Pacific and the way forward. It is clearly a difficult pathway for the blue Pacific continent. You and other Pacific leaders must manage a region-wide, potentially destabilizing geopolitical competition for influence. At the same time, you must respond domestically and internationally to climate change, which is, as you've described it, the single greatest threat to the blue Pacific. You also have to respond to the enduring and emerging obstacles to improved social and economic prosperity across the region and within your individual countries while at the same time acting on opportunities to promote that prosperity. You have also reminded us this evening of the frustrations you suffer when partners fall short of listening to the Pacific leadership. Tonight you have given us a fulsome insight into what it means to be a Pacific leader. And this is why the Foundation for Development Cooperation is supporting this lecture series and why we at the Foundation were so keen that it was you who was the inaugural speaker. We were going to hound your office to do so, yes. Inspired by the Lowy Institute's outstanding work on the Pacific, the Foundation believes it has found the right partner in the Institute to further its own ambition of harnessing and leveraging the blue Pacific's collective skills, knowledge and organizational resources. Prime Minister, your words this evening underscore the critical need for the Pacific voice to be heard and to be listened to. And so, distinguished guests, I would ask you to join me in a round of applause to thank the Prime Minister for her guiding and visionary words tonight to the Samoan Prime Minister. Thank you. Thank you very much, Anne-Marie PM. Let me add my thanks to Anne-Marie's. You spoke about, you were asked about what could be the game changer, but I think tonight you've been a game changer for all of us. So thank you very much. Gentlemen, thank you for joining us here at the Institute. The Lowy Institute is headquartered in Sydney, but we're a national institution. It's important to us that we're represented here in Canberra. So thank you for coming along to an occasion on which I think you'll agree was a special one at which all of us got to learn at the feet of a great Pacific statesperson. The PM quoted a memorable line at the beginning of her speech. She said, the Pacific should be defined by the greatness of the oceans, not the smallness of the islands. And I take that as an injunction to all of us to think big. And the PM has tonight been thinking big. And I think all of us will do that in response. So ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here. As you leave, you'll see, as Minister Conroy mentioned, the façade of Old Parliament House illuminated in the colours of the Samoan flag. Thank you very much for being here. I'm going to try my best here, PM. Manuia Massoifua. Thank you very much. Very good. Thank you.