Photo: Hilaire Bule
The Australian government has committed almost three quarters of its $AU1.9 billion Pacific budget-package to enhance "peace and security" in the region.
Chief of policy for Australian Council for International Development Jess Mackenzie said no one knows exactly how the security money would be spent, but said it would likely be on wharfs and defence training.
Mackenzie said the money was not all new money with about $950 million of the $1.4 billion coming from defence's own budget.
Australian National University's Crawford School of Public Policy senior researcher Cameron Hill said the focus on security reflects the intensifying geopolitical competition in the region.
"I think it is a function of the clear competition we see over influence in the Pacific," Hill said.
"We saw last year the focus on Solomon Islands and China and that has expanded subsequently that competition. This really is a part of Australia's response to that intensifying competition around influence in the region."
Budget Australia 2023: Billions to go towards the Pacific
Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers in his budget speech on May 9 said the Albanese Government was upholding the security and stability of the region.
"We are implementing the recommendations of the defence strategic review and allocating $1.9 billion to strengthen our relationship within the Pacific," he said.
The money, which will be spent over five years, will "expand Australia's engagement with Pacific Island countries", according to the government.
Australia's foreign minister Penny Wong in a statement said the government is delivering a "transformational package" of support and would ensure "shared interests in a peaceful, prosperous and resilient region".
The next biggest spend to the Pacific is $370.8 million over four years to expand Australia's seasonal worker programme, the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme.
However, the Australian government estimates it will get $300 million of this back in receipts.
Other spending will go toward supporting "regional architecture" to go towards helping run the Pacific Islands Forum.
There is another $89.5 million for "strengthening people to people ties".
Global aid money is increasing modestly by only $191.2 million over four years and will come to $4.77 billion next financial year.
However, the government will increase it by 2.5 percent from 2026 onwards, which will cost the taxpayer $8.6 billion from 2026 to 2036.
Mackenzie said the increase in aid spending was not expected to be radical because it has only been six months since the government announced an additional $1.4 billion in global aid.
The Pacific is the big focus for Australia's aid spending, also referred to Official Development Assistance, making up 42 per cent of Australia's spend.
Aid spending looks to be on track to be $1.9 billion for 2023-24 for the Pacific, which is $500 million more than 2022-23.
"We have never spent so much in the Pacific before," Mackenzie said.
"Just for context, New Zealand's aid programme is about a billion dollars a year globally and so Australia's going to have flows of aid to the Pacific of $1.9 billion in this coming financial year."
Hill said there was a continued focus of the Australian government on the Pacific.
He said a decade ago the Pacific made up only about 25 per cent of the global aid budget.
"While there was not much new in this budget, the government did make a big announcement on the Pacific and Timor Leste in last year's budget of $900 million over four years, the focus now is really on implementing that package," he said.
"But aid to the Pacific is still very high and is at historic highs relative to other parts of the world in Australia's aid budget."
Papua New Guinea is the largest recipient country of aid in the Pacific from Australia.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade estimates for the year 2022-23, PNG would have received $479.2 million, increasing to $500 million by 2023-2024.