Australia’s failure of diplomacy in PNG shows we can’t – and won’t – understand our Pacific neighbours

‘Australia’s politicians did not make the right decisions, because they sought to confine these Pacific countries within its strategic imperatives without acknowledging that theirs might well be different.’ Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Anthony Albanese’s 10 days in the Pacific have been less than stellar.

Last week, he could not land a $500m economic and security agreement with Vanuatu, the second such rebuff from Vanuatu in as many years. The idea that Australia should exercise veto rights over Vanuatu’s relationship with third parties (which is code for China) did not strike its advocates as a bridge too far. Just a month ago, Australian ministers initialled the Nakamal agreement, apparently unaware of the opposition and resentment within both government and opposition ranks in Port Vila.