Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Stewart for her question. It is the case that last week the Prime Minister and Prime Minister Natano of Tuvalu announced a major new bilateral agreement, the Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union, in response to a request from Tuvalu. The union comprises a bilateral treaty between Tuvalu and Australia, as well as a commitment to elevate our broader partnership. What I would say to the chamber is this represents the most important step any Australian government has taken with a Pacific country since the independence of Papua New Guinea in 1975. Tuvalu's remote location, its scarce natural resources and its small population, spread across low-lying islands, mean it faces major challenges for development and major climate risks. Our governments have been working for months to secure this treaty, which elevates our partnership to one that is our most advanced, our most integrated and our most comprehensive.

'Falepili' is a Tuvaluan word for the traditional values of good neighbourliness, care and mutual respect, and the treaty covers three main areas of cooperation: climate change, security and human mobility with dignity. Under the treaty, Australia commits to providing assistance to Tuvalu in response to a major natural disaster, to health pandemics and to military aggression, at its request. For this security guarantee to function, Australia and Tuvalu must mutually agree on any of Tuvalu's security arrangements, and Australia will establish a dedicated permanent intake, a special mobility pathway, to allow a capped number of Tuvaluans to come to Australia to live, work and study. This will enable what Prime Minister Natano described to me as migration with dignity, human mobility with dignity. In this way, their government is safeguarding the future of their people, their islands and their culture.