Results for Australia

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.

Tonga and Thailand are deepening diplomatic relations after discussing potential areas of cooperation, particularly in tourism and agriculture, in Canberra on September 5.

Australia has chosen a new government, with Tony Abbott as its new Prime Minister-elect, after the Parliamentary Election results were announced before 10:00pm yesterday September 7, following the defeat conceded by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Australia is the largest single ultimate destination for Chinese direct investment, and though Australia is a relatively small economy, it is likely to remain one of China's largest foreign investment destinations for a while to come. At the same time, the scale and pace of growth in Chinese direct investment has led to populist reactions that have challenged the open investment regime in Australia and, in particular, raised policy questions about whether investments by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) need to be treated differently from private investment. By Peter Drysdale, Australia National University.

Tonga is seeking a US$26.9 million grant from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to support the installation of a broadband cable network for Tonga next year.

To address the pay equity gap in Australia for women a new report by the House of Representatives Employment and Workplace Relations Committee has recommended a raft of amendments to the Fair Work Act and Sex Discrimination Act.

Pacific Greenpeace activists have shut down Abbott Point coal export terminal in Queensland to demand Kevin Rudd stops risking the future of Pacific Islands by undermining real action on climate change and expanding Australia's coal industry.