Pacific Islands

2026

Pacific Islands, explained.

More commentary →

The Quad dividend for Australia and India
Shruti Pandalai
Solomon Islands’ Starlink workaround has connectivity lessons for the Pacific
Hilman Palaon, Samuel Warunima
2026 Australian aid budget: Predictability beats preparedness
Grace Stanhope

2025

Aid & development

Pacific Aid Map 2025

Interactive by Riley Duke, Alexandre Dayant + 2 others

Aid & development

Pacific Aid Map 2025 - Key Findings Report

Report by Riley Duke, Alexandre Dayant + 2 others

Defence & security

A Pacific Eyes intelligence-sharing agreement

Policy Brief by Mihai Sora

Research In Brief

How to scale up Australia’s investment in Pacific climate adaptation

Policy Brief by Roland Rajah, Riley Duke + 1 other

His Excellency Surangel Whipps Jnr, President of the Republic of Palau

Event Replay

2025 FDC Pacific Leaders’ Address

Surangel Whipps Jnr, Mihai Sora

Event Highlights

Frontline reporting: Pacific journalists unpack geopolitics and security in a region in flux

Mihai Sora, Andrew Griffits

Pacific Change Makers

Cathy Neap on the Australia–PNG relationship

Jessica Collins

Event Replay

Climate resilience in the Pacific: What is needed and Australia’s role

Melanie Pill

2024

Islanders in outrigger canoes selling tropical fruits off Dobu in the Solomon Sea, Papua New Guinea

Aid & development

Looking through a Pacific Islands lens: Access, accountability, and alignment in global engagements

Report by Meg Keen, Mihai Sora

Aid & development

Pacific Aid Map 2024 - Key Findings Report

Report by Alexandre Dayant, Riley Duke + 3 others

Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally in Pittsburgh (Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

United States

Harris 1.0

Special Feature by Sam Roggeveen, Michael Fullilove + 5 others

Women break coral for lime in Solomon Islands (Wade Fairley, WorldFish / Flickr)

Pacific Islands

Women are underfunded in the Pacific Islands

Data Snapshot by Jessica Collins

HMAS Adelaide passes Papua New Guinea police officers patrolling the foreshore (James D. Morgan/Getty)

Pacific Islands

The Great Game in the Pacific Islands

Data Snapshot by Mihai Sora, Jessica Collins + 1 other

Event Highlights

Pacific Panel: Advancing women in business and leadership

Penny Wong, Jessica Collins

Event Highlights

Australia’s permanent contest: China in the Pacific Islands

Hervé Lemahieu, Richard McGregor, Oliver Nobetau + 1 other

Lowy Institute Poll

Pacific Islands

Report by Ryan Neelam

2023 Aus–PNG Network Emerging Leaders Dialogue

Papua New Guinea

First Nations foreign policy: Strengthening Australia-PNG Ties

Report by Jessica Collins, Mihai Sora

Aid & development

Geopolitics in the Pacific Islands: Playing for advantage

Policy Brief by Meg Keen, Alan Tidwell

2023

Aid & development

Pacific Aid Map 2023 - Key Findings Report

Report by Alexandre Dayant, Riley Duke + 2 others

Event Replay

An address by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji, Sitiveni L Rabuka

Sitiveni Rabuka

Fijian ten-cent coin, 1987, with ula tava tava (throwing club) depicted (DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Pacific Islands

Reducing remittance costs in the Pacific Islands

Policy Brief by Jessica Collins

Event Replay

Security and PNG's national interest - an event by UPNG and Lowy Institute

Meg Keen, Mihai Sora

Event Replay

Sports diplomacy: PNG and the NRL

Mihai Sora

Pacific Islands

Building the Australia-PNG Digital Ecosystem

Report by Mihai Sora

Event Replay

Launch of the outcomes of the 2022 Australia-PNG Emerging Leaders Dialogue

Mihai Sora

Event Replay

2023 FDC Pacific Lecture: Hon Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa

Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa

Event Replay

Book launch and discussion: Helpem Fren by Michael Wesley

Meg Keen, Michael Wesley

2022

2021

Asia

The Indo-Pacific Operating System: How can America shore up the regional order?

Interactive by Ben Scott

Conversations

Fan Yang and Fergus Ryan on Chinese-language media in Australia

Jennifer Hsu

Video

Aiding the Pacific’s economic recovery

Alexandre Dayant

Australia

Beyond Fortress Australia

Interactive by Michael Fullilove, John Edwards + 10 others

Conversations

Richard Marles on Australia in the Pacific

Jonathan Pryke

Conversations

Jeffrey Sachs on global cooperation and sustainable development in the time of COVID-19

Alexandre Dayant

Video

Aus-PNG Network: In conversation with PNG Pandemic Controller David Manning

Shane McLeod

Video

Aus-PNG Network | ‘Infodemic’ - Social Media Misinformation and Covid-19 in Papua New Guinea

Shane McLeod

Video

Aus-PNG Network: Covid-19 in PNG's provinces

Shane McLeod

Video

Health Minister Hon. Jelta Wong on the COVID crisis in Papua New Guinea | Aus-PNG Network event

Video

The Year Ahead in PNG

2020

Fiji

Avoiding a Pacific Lost Decade: Financing the Pacific's COVID-19 Recovery

Policy Brief by Roland Rajah, Alexandre Dayant

Defence & security

Australia's Security and the Rules-Based Order: Tracking a Decade of Policy Evolution

Interactive by Sam Roggeveen, Madeleine Nyst + 1 other

Video

Lowy Institute Live: Pacific aid in the time of Covid

Jonathan Pryke, Alexandre Dayant

WTO

China and the Rules‑Based Order

Interactive by David Kelly, Nadège Rolland + 2 others

China

Submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Inquiry into the Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic for Australia's Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade

Submission by Michael Fullilove, Stephen Grenville + 15 others

ASEAN

Brookings Report: Historical tensions and contemporary governance challenges in Southeast Asia: The case of Indonesia

Report by Ben Bland

Australia

Submission to Inquiry into Australia's Defence Relationships with Pacific Island Countries

Report by Jonathan Pryke

Diplomacy

The Risks of China’s Ambitions in the South Pacific

Report by Jonathan Pryke

Video

Aus-PNG Network Live: What next in the PNG-Australia relationship?

Annmaree O’Keeffe, Ian Kemish

Defence & security

Emerging from COVID: Policy Responses to the Pandemic

Policy Brief by Stephen Grenville, John Edwards + 11 others

Defence & security

Emerging From COVID: Policy Responses To The Pandemic

Interactive by Stephen Grenville, John Edwards + 12 others

COVIDcast

Secretary General Meg Taylor on COVID in the Pacific Islands

Jonathan Pryke

COVIDcast

Dave Sharma MP on COVID and Australia’s Pacific Relationship

Jonathan Pryke, Dave Sharma

Event Replay

In Conversation: Julie Bishop and Gareth Evans on COVID-19

Michael Fullilove, Gareth Evans, Julie Bishop

Melanesia

West Papua: The Issue That Won't Go Away for Melanesia

Analysis by Johnny Blades

China

The World After COVID‑19

Interactive by Michael Fullilove, Stephen Grenville + 10 others

Asia

The World After COVID

Analysis by Michael Fullilove, Stephen Grenville + 10 others

COVIDcast

Pandemic in the Pacific

Alex Oliver, Jonathan Pryke, Shane McLeod

Pacific Islands

2019 Australia-Papua New Guinea Emerging Leaders Dialogue Outcomes Report

Report by Jonathan Pryke, Shane McLeod

2019

Australia

International Public Broadcasting: A Missed Opportunity For Projecting Australia’s Soft Power

Report by Annmaree O’Keeffe, Chris Greene

Pacific Islands

Ocean of debt? Belt and Road and debt diplomacy in the Pacific

Analysis by Roland Rajah, Alexandre Dayant + 1 other

Pacific Islands

Report by Natasha Kassam

Pacific Islands

2018 Australia–Papua New Guinea Emerging Leaders Dialogue Outcomes Report

Report by Jonathan Pryke, Shane McLeod

2018

2016

Pacific Islands

Principled engagement: Rebuilding defence ties with Fiji

Analysis by Jose Sousa-Santos, Anna Powles

Defence & security

Turning back? Philippine security policy under Duterte

Analysis by Malcolm Cook

Defence & security

The lion and the kangaroo: Australia’s strategic partnership with Singapore

Analysis by Euan Graham

2015

Asia

Russia’s Asian rebalance

Analysis by Matthew Sussex

South China Sea

Chinese worldviews and China’s foreign policy

Analysis by Merriden Varrall

In The Media

Q&A - Friends and Allies in Foreign Policy

Michael Fullilove

United States

Congress and Asia-Pacific policy: Dysfunction and neglect

Analysis by Aaron L Connelly

Defence & security

Nuclear-armed submarines in Indo-Pacific Asia: Stabiliser or menace?

Report by Rory Medcalf, Brendan Thomas-Noone

Event Replay

Lowy Lecture 2015 - General (Ret.) David Petraeus AO

David Petraeus

Defence & security

The perception gap: reading China's maritime objectives in Indo-Pacific Asia

Report by Linda Jakobson, Rory Medcalf

Melanesia

Papua New Guinea in 2015: at a crossroads and beyond

Report by Jenny Hayward-Jones

Video

Perspectives on the rebalance

Michael Fullilove

Middle East

Australian foreign fighters: Risks and responses

Analysis by Andrew Zammit

Asia

Chinese aid in the Pacific

Report by Philippa Brant

2014

Asia

China, the G20 and global economic governance

Analysis by Hugh Jorgensen, Daniela Strube

China

Chinese Assistance in the Pacific: Agency, Effectiveness and the Role of Pacific Island Governments

Report by Philippa Brant

Video

Asia-Pacific Maritime Security Challenges- Rory Medcalf

Rory Medcalf

Video

In Conversation: Daniel Russel and Sam Roggeveen

Sam Roggeveen

2013

Japan

Japan is back: Unbundling Abe’s grand strategy

Analysis by Michael J Green

China

China's economic statecraft: turning wealth into power

Analysis by James Reilly

Defence & security

Judicious ambition: international policy priorities for the new Australian Government

Analysis by Michael Fullilove, Anthony Bubalo + 7 others

Video

In conversation: Professor Zha Daojiong on Chinese investment in Australia (1/3)

Zha Daojiong

Video

In conversation: India and China — C Raja Mohan and Rory Medcalf

C Raja Mohan, Rory Medcalf

Video

In conversation: US-China relations and the East China Sea — Professor Jin Canrong

Sam Roggeveen, Jin Canrong

Video

In conversation: Japan-Taiwan fishing agreement and the East China Sea — Linda Jakobson

Linda Jakobson

Video

In conversation: Lowy Institute-FRS dialogue and the French defence white paper — Camille Grand

Rory Medcalf

Video

In conversation: Challenges facing US-France strategic relations — Camille Grand

Rory Medcalf

India

India Poll 2013

Polling by Rory Medcalf

Video

Lowy Lecture Series: Security Council challenges for Australia: The Middle East, Africa and Asia - Kenneth Roth

Kenneth Roth

Video

Lowy Lecture Series: The year ahead - Michael Fullilove, Anthony Bubalo, Linda Jakobson and Mark Thirlwell

Diplomacy

China's foreign policy dilemma

Analysis by Linda Jakobson

Video

In conversation: Linda Jakobson on China's foreign policy dilemma

Linda Jakobson

2012

2011

India

India’s new world: civil society in the making of foreign policy

Analysis by Ashok Malik, Rory Medcalf

2006

Asia

Newsletters

Pacific Islands

2026

Low Earth Orbit satellites: Closing the Indo-Pacific digital divide

Between backyards and nakamals: Shifting Australia–Vanuatu relations

Cartel Paradise: Unpacking the Pacific’s drug superhighway

After the compromise: Australia’s COP31 blueprint for the Pacific

The Future of Australian Aid

2025

Pacific Aid Map 2025

Pacific Aid Map 2025 - Key Findings Report

A Pacific Eyes intelligence-sharing agreement

Research in Brief: Southeast Asia Aid Map 2025

Research in Brief: Lowy Poll 2025

Vacating the lane in the Pacific

How to defend Australia

How to scale up Australia’s investment in Pacific climate adaptation

2025 FDC Pacific Leaders’ Address

Frontline reporting: Pacific journalists unpack geopolitics and security in a region in flux

Cathy Neap on the Australia–PNG relationship

Climate resilience in the Pacific: What is needed and Australia’s role

2024

Looking through a Pacific Islands lens: Access, accountability, and alignment in global engagements

Pacific Aid Map 2024 - Key Findings Report

Harris 1.0

Women are underfunded in the Pacific Islands

The Great Game in the Pacific Islands

Pacific Panel: Advancing women in business and leadership

Australia’s permanent contest: China in the Pacific Islands

Pacific Islands

First Nations foreign policy: Strengthening Australia-PNG Ties

Geopolitics in the Pacific Islands: Playing for advantage

2023

Pacific Aid Map 2023 - Key Findings Report

An address by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji, Sitiveni L Rabuka

Reducing remittance costs in the Pacific Islands

Security and PNG's national interest - an event by UPNG and Lowy Institute

Sports diplomacy: PNG and the NRL

Building the Australia-PNG Digital Ecosystem

Launch of the outcomes of the 2022 Australia-PNG Emerging Leaders Dialogue

2023 FDC Pacific Lecture: Hon Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa

Book launch and discussion: Helpem Fren by Michael Wesley

2022

Storytelling and representation - Theatre in PNG

Music in PNG

Foreign aid to the Pacific

Potential Chinese military base in the Pacific

Dame Carol Kidu

Tania Bale

Damarise Bonga

Podcast series - Women in politics in PNG

Unpacking the Solomon Islands-China security pact

Vagi Hemetsberger

Theresa Meki

Aus-PNG Network: Language, diversity and cultural identity in Papua New Guinea

2021

The Indo-Pacific Operating System: How can America shore up the regional order?

Fan Yang and Fergus Ryan on Chinese-language media in Australia

Aiding the Pacific’s economic recovery

Beyond Fortress Australia

Richard Marles on Australia in the Pacific

Jeffrey Sachs on global cooperation and sustainable development in the time of COVID-19

Aus-PNG Network: In conversation with PNG Pandemic Controller David Manning

Aus-PNG Network | ‘Infodemic’ - Social Media Misinformation and Covid-19 in Papua New Guinea

Aus-PNG Network: Covid-19 in PNG's provinces

Health Minister Hon. Jelta Wong on the COVID crisis in Papua New Guinea | Aus-PNG Network event

The Year Ahead in PNG

2020

Avoiding a Pacific Lost Decade: Financing the Pacific's COVID-19 Recovery

Australia's Security and the Rules-Based Order: Tracking a Decade of Policy Evolution

Lowy Institute Live: Pacific aid in the time of Covid

China and the Rules‑Based Order

Submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Inquiry into the Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic for Australia's Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade

Brookings Report: Historical tensions and contemporary governance challenges in Southeast Asia: The case of Indonesia

Submission to Inquiry into Australia's Defence Relationships with Pacific Island Countries

The Risks of China’s Ambitions in the South Pacific

Aus-PNG Network Live: What next in the PNG-Australia relationship?

Emerging from COVID: Policy Responses to the Pandemic

Emerging From COVID: Policy Responses To The Pandemic

Secretary General Meg Taylor on COVID in the Pacific Islands