Pacific Island foreign ministers meeting in Suva on August 7 failed to agree on a joint statement condemning China's July submarine-launched ballistic missile test; Kiribati and Nauru, both of which switched recognition from Taiwan to China in recent years, blocked consensus; New Zealand's Winston Peters accused the blockers of following 'outside partners' wishes'; the matter is deferred to the Palau leaders' summit, August 30 to September 4
Australia's 31st Prime Minister and ALP leader, managing AUKUS submarine delivery, stabilizing China trade ties, and a reform-heavy second-term domestic agenda from Canberra.
full dossier ›New Zealand and Papua New Guinea signed a defence cooperation agreement in Port Moresby on July 22-23, 2026, establishing expanded military dialogue, joint training and exercises, and closer maritime cooperation; Wellington framed the deal as a response to growing strategic competition and China's expanding regional footprint, with further joint sea patrols on the agenda
The Pukpuk Treaty, Papua New Guinea's first formal defence alliance and Australia's first mutual defence pact in more than 70 years, came into force on July 9 as Prime Ministers James Marape and Anthony Albanese met in Brisbane; the pact covers intelligence sharing, logistics and training and includes a pathway for up to 10,000 Papua New Guineans to join the Australian Defence Force, drawing criticism from China and a former PNG Defence Force commander over PNG's sovereignty
India's PM Narendra Modi and Australia's PM Anthony Albanese struck a uranium supply deal and LNG framework on July 9 in Melbourne, alongside defence and critical minerals pacts; the uranium agreement, confirmed by Asharq Al-Awsat and Pakistan's Dawn, delivers Australia as a supplier to India's civil nuclear fleet; SBS Australia noted warm optics masking harder migration and trade politics
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said Wellington will formally consider joining the Ocean of Peace Alliance, a mutual-defence treaty Australia and Fiji signed on July 7; the announcement comes as Pacific island states condemned a Chinese ballistic missile test and the PNG-Australia Pukpuk Treaty came into force
Canberra sealed a bilateral defence alliance with Fiji on July 6 and the next day agreed with Solomon Islands to accelerate treaty negotiations; both moves came within 24 hours of China's SLBM test in the South Pacific, which Australia and Solomon Islands both condemned
India's prime minister departs July 6 on a three-nation Indo-Pacific swing covering Jakarta, Melbourne and Auckland; the New Zealand leg is the first state visit by any Indian PM to the country since 1986
Beijing's Foreign Ministry warned Canberra that Pacific cooperation must not target third parties, after the Nakamal Agreement locked in Vanuatu's ban on foreign military bases and required Suva to consult Canberra on critical infrastructure deals
Australia-UK-US trilateral security partnership built around nuclear-powered submarines and advanced technology sharing, reshaping Indo-Pacific defence alignment since 2021.
The 30th Rim of the Pacific exercise began June 24 in Hawaii, the largest maritime drill ever, foregrounding allied integration against China's Pacific military build-up
After dropping the contested unrealised-gains design, Labor lands an extra 15% over A$3m and 25% over A$10m, indexed
Tranche 2 of the EPBC reforms creates a national EPA as Australia takes a negotiator role at Türkiye's COP31
Évian invites Brazil, Egypt, India, Kenya and South Korea, but not Canberra, breaking a near-unbroken run since 2019
Singapore meeting streamlines the buy to second-hand boats and launches the first Pillar II undersea-drone project