Results for Australia

Tonga’s navy has received a second guardian class patrol boat, the VOEA Ngahau Siliva, contributed by the Australian Government. Tonga's High Commissioner to Australia Princess Angelika Lātūfuipeka Tuku’aho formally accepted the new vessel at the town of Henderson in Western Australia last Friday 30 October.

New York Times reporting: They used to call it “the tyranny of distance.” Australia’s remoteness was something to escape... until the pandemic. The virus has turned this outgoing nation into a hermit. Australia’s borders are closed, internationally and between several states. Its economy is smaller, and its population growth has fallen to its lowest rate in more than 100 years. Island living looks like a privilege when the world is pestilent. By Damien Cave.

Tonga’s High Commissioner to Australia, Princess Angelika Latufuipeka Tuku’aho is looking for creative artwork or photos and stories that symbolise and celebrate Tonga's 50 years relationship with Australia - and three cash prizes are offered for the top submissions.

Australia has provided immediate financial assistance to Tonga after severe Tropical Cyclone Harold and supoort in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Queensland Tongan Language School was opened in Brisbane, Australia on Saturday 8 February. The school is hosted at Griffith University Logan Campus and offers a 12-month-course in the Tongan language.

The Brisbane Tongan Community have expressed sadness at the passing of the Prime Minister of Tonga, Hon Samuela 'Akilisi Pōhiva in Auckland, New Zealand.

Australia’s Development Minister Concetta Fierravanti-Wells – who visited Tonga in 2016 to sign the ‘Tonga-Australia Aid Partnership’ – is facing a formal complaint by China’s Foreign Ministry. The complaint responds to scathing remarks that Fierravanti-Wells made yesterday in a prominent Australian newspaper ‘The Australian’ where she berated China’s development aid projects in Pacific Island countries.

Corruption is rife in the Asia Pacific region says Transparency International in a recent report revealing just over one in four people living in 16 countries surveyed in the area are estimated to have paid a bribe to access public services. The report did not include Tonga or any other Pacific Island nation, but focused on larger economies in Asia with Australia the only nation in the Pacific region included.

The Australian Government has removed a cap on its Seasonal Worker Program (SWP) meaning there will be no longer be a limit to the number of workers from participating Pacific Islands countries.