Australia has taken a selective approach to international development and regional engagement, declining to commit funding to a new global financing facility for protecting tropical rainforests launched at COP30, despite broad international backing. At the same time, Australia has strengthened strategic cooperation with key partners, agreeing with the United States and Japan to develop infrastructure projects along the Luzon Economic Corridor in the Philippines. Cooperation with Papua New Guinea continues in areas such as telecommunications reform, port infrastructure and disaster management, reinforcing Australia’s regional security and development priorities. Under the new Pukpuk Treaty, Australia will finance three digital submarine cable systems for PNG at a cost of US$120 million, with no contribution required from PNG’s national budget.
The Australian government has announced several development and humanitarian funding commitments across the Indo-Pacific, including US$50 million for disability equity and rights programs in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, US$48 million to support HIV responses in the Pacific, and a five-year US$25 million initiative to address gender-based violence in nine Pacific countries. Additional humanitarian assistance includes US$14 million for communities in Southeast and South Asia affected by cyclones and flooding, and a further US$10 million allocated to humanitarian aid for Sudan, alongside condemnation of violence against civilians. Australia’s autonomous sanctions regime on Afghanistan includes humanitarian permit provisions to allow aid delivery under defined conditions.
In foreign policy and governance, concerns have been raised about transparency around defence exports linked to conflicts in Sudan and the UAE, with officials declining to provide detail during parliamentary hearings. Australia is also pursuing a trilateral partnership with Indonesia and the Palestinian Authority to support education and law enforcement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Domestically, parliamentary scrutiny of Australia’s aid and security framework has intensified, with new inquiries launched into the role of the international development programme in conflict prevention and into gender equality as a national and economic security issue, while earlier evaluations of conflict prevention within DFAT remain incomplete.
Australia’s global development performance presents a mixed picture. It has risen to 15th out of 38 countries in the latest Commitment to Development Index, performing strongly in trade, technology, health and investment, but ranking poorly on environment, migration, security and finance, with its position falling further when adjusted for income. In the Pacific, Australia is negotiating a major bilateral treaty with Vanuatu that would provide long-term funding for climate, security and development priorities, while also influencing how Vanuatu engages with third-country financing. Australia and New Zealand have also successfully supported Nauru’s continued access to official development assistance by delaying its graduation to high-income status.
At the global level, Australia is positioned to increase its relative standing as a donor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, following a replenishment round that fell short of its overall target. Broader international trends point to tightening aid budgets, with countries such as Canada and Sweden announcing significant reductions or reallocations of development assistance. These shifts, alongside ongoing humanitarian crises in Gaza and elsewhere, highlight growing pressures on the global aid system and underscore the significance of Australia’s development and humanitarian policy choices in a constrained international environment.
