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By offering more effective training opportunities through its Seasonal Worker Programme, the Australian Government can contribute to the lives of workers and their home communities and better realise its development goals, Rochelle Lee-Bailey and Elise Howard write.

The rapid spread of the Omicron variant within the Pacific has seen community transmission in the previously COVID-19-free countries of Palau, Kiribati, Tonga, and Solomon Islands. The Omicron variant has led to a significant increase in the number of cases throughout the Pacific region to start 2022, with the majority of countries now seeing community…

Closed borders have created a backlog of criminal deportations to Pacific Islands states, and more effective transition programs are needed to reduce the risk of recidivism among returnees, Henrietta McNeill and Magele Vernon Mackenzie write.

As head of Australia’s Office of the Pacific, Ewen McDonald reflects on how Australia continues to support the Pacific in challenging times. 

It’s been a challenging year, but the Pacific is stronger for it, Meg Keen writes. Pacific communities have weathered a few storms this year, with national and community resilience put to the test. As we head into the Christmas holidays there is tangible relief in that a tough year is coming to a close and…

Although COVID-19 will remain a major challenge for governments in the Pacific, there is hope that 2022 will see the region reconnecting with the rest of the world. In 2021, the Pacific’s focus on the COVID-19 pandemic moved from the immediate health challenges of preventing the spread of the virus, to grappling with new variants,…