Australia and Nauru have signed a new treaty that will lock other nations out of providing security or critical infrastructure to the island nation.
The deal has been inked as Australia competed with China for influence in the Pacific. Commonwealth Bank will establish operations in Nauru as part of the $140 million deal.
In return, the government of Nauru has agreed with Australia that the country’s critical infrastructure “shall not be used by any third party for security purposes”.
Australia will also be able to veto any engagements by third countries in Nauru’s “security and key critical infrastructure sectors”.
The agreement is similar in some ways to the Falepili Union which Australia signed last year with the Pacific Island nation of Tuvalu.
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The pacts are part of a broader push by Australia to cement its strategic position in the Pacific in the face of increasingly fierce competition with China.
Nauru switched recognition from Taiwan to China in January this year, and representatives from the Bank of China have visited the Pacific nation earlier this year to explore setting up a branch in the wake of Bendigo’s exit.
The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with Nauru’s President David Adeang on Monday morning in Canberra to sign the new agreement, which will see the government hand over $100 million in budget support over five years, along with $40 million in security support.
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Nauru faces a deeply uncertain financial outlook, and Mr Albanese said Australia’s ongoing budget support would “strengthen Nauru’s longer-term stability and economic resilience” and “give the Nauru government the certainty it needs to make long-term investments for its citizens in areas like education, health and social services”.
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Let’s not forget that many of the Pacific nations were passed into the hands of China by the Liberal government cutting agreements and funding.
Now, we have a lot of goodwill to make up.