Australia has the opportunity to establish a new era of Pacific cooperation when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd visits Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands this week.
The importance of this early visit should not be underestimated (remember that the previous government at one point banned PNG ministers from visiting Australia).
The true test, though, will be whether Australia can begin forging a real partnership with our Pacific neighbours on three key issues: promoting economic growth in the island countries, tackling climate change and improving the regional security environment.
These three challenges are clearly linked. Promoting sustainable development will improve the Pacific's security environment, but sustainable growth likewise depends on a benign security environment. A 2003 Pentagon report also highlighted the dangers of failing to address climate change. It warned that the effects of climate change could lead to instability, disruption and conflict.
Last week, Trade Minister Simon Crean discussed Australia and New Zealand's shared ambition to create a trade deal for "boosting island countries' trade opportunities in very practical ways, and for deepening their economic integration with us and with the global community."
Pacific island countries are willing to begin such negotiations, but they want something in return short-term labour mobility. This would involve a small number of Pacific citizens coming to work in Australia for a short period of time, in areas where Australian businesses cannot find enough Australian workers. It has been estimated that Australia loses more than $700 million a year in gross value product because of these labour shortages.
Allowing Pacific citizens to assist Australian rural businesses would be mutually beneficial. A 2006 World Bank study showed the remittances sent home assist with poverty alleviation, and families use them to improve their educational qualifications.
The Australia PNG Business Council has said that such a scheme "would have little impact on the labour market in Australia, but would generate enormous goodwill in the countries concerned and would assist to generate additional funds flowing through their economies".
Journalist Graeme Dobell believes "labour mobility is a cornerstone issue. It would be a vital demonstration of Australia's good intent. It would open up new vistas, give new hope and opportunity." For some Pacific countries, providing hope and opportunity also means tackling climate change.
The Pacific has some of the smallest, lowest-lying countries in the world. Rising sea levels have the potential to make a number of our Pacific neighbours uninhabitable long before they are completely flooded. Already, citizens from the Carteret islands in PNG have been evacuated because they have lost their freshwater.
Australia can do much to assist Pacific countries to mitigate the effects of climate change.
But, in time, it is likely that one or more Pacific island countries will have to be evacuated. These citizens will not have the option of moving to a different part of the country because the whole country is being flooded, or has been made uninhabitable because of saltwater contamination.
On current projections, Tuvalu is likely to be the first country that has to be evacuated, but others may follow. A 2006 World Bank study estimated that up to 80 per cent of Kiribati could be flooded by mid-century.
Australia should, as part of an international coalition, do its fair share to accept climate change refugees as part of our humanitarian immigration program. Yet Australia needs to work with our Pacific neighbours to prepare for such contingencies now.
Climate change is one security threat to the region, but a number of Pacific countries have obviously experienced other security crises. The key lesson from these crises is that prevention is better than cure, and early intervention can save lives and the economy.
To improve the region's preventive diplomacy, Australia could fund a Pacific peace and security centre. This would be charged with preventing and resolving conflict, with a team of experts from across the Pacific monitoring situations and making country visits. The centre could also facilitate regional exchanges of police and armed forces.
To complement the centre, Pacific countries should also be able to deploy a peace-monitoring group to prevent or contain conflicts (similar to the peace monitoring group that successfully assisted the Bougainville peace process). Countries should commit to providing the personnel for such a group, when a substantial regional presence is needed to prevent the escalation of conflict.
A standing peace-monitoring group, immediately available, may limit the spread of violence, saving lives and avoiding the need for a larger peacekeeping operation later.
The first phase of Australia's Pacific engagement involved sending out Australian diplomats and defence personnel. The second phase, in more recent years, has involved sending out police and financial experts.
We need to now embrace a third phase, where the flow of ideas and people is two-way: where we welcome Pacific citizens to Australia, so they can earn the remittances they need to help their home communities; where we welcome Pacific citizens who have lost their homes to the ravages of climate change; and where we work together to create a peaceful and prosperous region.
The practical expression of this new era should be the creation of a Pacific community, building on the Pacific Islands Forum. Unlike many regions around the world, the Pacific has failed to pursue substantive regional integration. In contrast, large countries in Europe and small countries in the Caribbean have enjoyed higher economic growth and a better security environment by committing to regional integration.
There will doubtless be much fine rhetoric this week during Rudd's visit. That is an important and necessary beginning to a new era. The real test in time will be whether Australia and our Pacific neighbours can commit to practical measures similar to Europe and the Caribbean in a legally binding treaty.
Rudd has issued his report on his first 100 days in government. What are some reasonable objectives for the next 100 days to improve the Australia-Pacific relationship?
A high-level ambassador for the Pacific should be appointed to consult with our Pacific neighbours. Further, a working group of experts, drawn from across the Pacific, should be established to develop proposals for advancing Pacific regional integration.
After the 100 days, a special summit of Pacific leaders could be called, to establish an agenda for regional cooperation.
And if the Government wanted to be truly ambitious, it could commit to negotiating a regional treaty to establish a Pacific community within its first 1000 days in office.
There's a great deal of work ahead of us if we are to realise the promise of a new era of Australia-Pacific cooperation.
It's time to begin.
Dave Peebles is author of Pacific Regional Order (Asia Pacific Press), which advocates Pacific regional integration. He's a former federal Labor adviser.