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

I thank Senator Fawcett very much for his question. Very swift action taken by our Pacific neighbours to restrict travel, along with quarantine measures, has very effectively kept COVID-19 infection in the Pacific to a very low rate, but that is not to say that we can be complacent. In fact, we must absolutely continue to be vigilant. Australia has pivoted our development partnerships to help Pacific island countries and Timor-Leste to protect communities from COVID-19. We have, indeed, responded to over 80 requests from the region since January, including for a range of issues: PPE, medical supplies, quarantine management, laboratories, pandemic communications and outreach, isolation facilities, and emergency response services. We're working with the WHO, the Pacific community, New Zealand and the United States to procure and distribute GeneXpert diagnostic equipment to improve COVID-19 testing. This enables COVID-19 test results to be available and delivered in less than an hour, which is essential if countries are to respond quickly to any outbreaks. Testing equipment has already arrived in the Cook Islands, in Fiji, in Kiribati, in PNG, in Nauru, in Niue, in Samoa, in the Solomons, in Tonga, in Tokelau and in Tuvalu, with deliveries expected to other countries in coming days and weeks. We are very grateful for the support we've received from airlines and the ADF for the delivery of a number of those.

Our Pacific step-up initiatives are also pivoting to respond to the needs of our neighbours. Our Pacific women's partnership is supporting crisis centres to provide remote counselling and frontline service support. In Timor-Leste, we're working to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in women's shelters. Our Pacific Fusion Centre is focused on producing targeted and timely information on COVID-19 to support key decision-makers. Our focus is on absolutely supporting our Pacific partners to address the pandemic.