Parliament hosts roundtable on the Pacific today

DIPLOMATIC representatives from Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Kingdom of Tonga, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, New Zealand, and Kiribati will meet today with members of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade for a roundtable discussion on the topics of Pacific trade, aid and defence.

The roundtable connects several inquiries from sub-committees of the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee.

Members of the sub-committees will be seeking the views of participants on the Australian Government’s Pacific Step-Up, infrastructure development, regional security, seasonal workers programs, a new development-centred trade agreement, the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus (PACER Plus) and the potential of a “Pacific bubble” for easier travel and tourism between the island nations and Australia and New Zealand, in response to the COVID-19 shutdowns.

Further details about the about the inquiries, including terms of reference, details on how to contribute a submission and, when available, details of public hearings and roundtable discussions, can be obtained from the Committee’s website.

Public hearing details

Date: Friday 4 September 2020
Time: 9am to 12:30pm
Location: Committee Room IR1, Parliament House, Canberra

The hearing will be audio streamed live at aph.gov.au/live.

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