Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

It's fair to say that engaging with our partners in the region is a core part of the Pacific step-up. We're not alone in our commitment to a stable, prosperous and secure region, and our partners, including New Zealand, the United States, France, Japan and multilateral agencies, are strongly committed to the development of the region.

We're collaborating with the United States and Japan under our trilateral infrastructure partnership. The Papua New Guinea Electrification Partnership that I referred to earlier is a really good example of this effective partnership approach, through which we are working with Papua New Guinea themselves, Japan, New Zealand and the United States to support the Papua New Guinea government to achieve its goal of providing electricity to 70 per cent of its population, from the current level of 13 per cent, by the end of 2030.

Projects are underway to achieve that aim, and it is truly transformative for Papua New Guinea. We are also engaging closely with the private sector and with civil society to ensure that we maximise the potential of our Pacific step-up to strengthen the region.