News

Aotearoa New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon Nanaia Mahuta and Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong, met in Wellington today for the biannual Australia - Aotearoa New Zealand Foreign Minister Consultations.

Australia will provide an initial $675,000 to assist Kiribati respond to the country’s severe drought. The funding commitment follows the Kiribati Government’s declaration of a State of Disaster on 13 June.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong will travel to New Zealand and Solomon Islands to reinforce our close friendships and cooperation in our region. This is Penny's third visit to the Pacific since being sworn in last month.

The reference to a contractor in the Canberra Times article of 30 May 2022 incorrectly states that the individual was employed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and had access to sensitive information from within the department.

On Wednesday, 1 June, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong will travel to Samoa and Tonga, to renew and strengthen Australia's deep ties of friendship and family.

Today marks one year since Australian citizen, Dr Yang Jun, faced a closed trial in Beijing on national security charges. One year on, Dr Yang is yet to learn the outcome. The Australian Government is very concerned about this delay. 

Professor Anne Orford and Associate Professor Rain Liivoja have been appointed as DFAT’s Visiting Legal Fellows for 2022-2023.

On Thursday, 26 May, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong will travel to Fiji to strengthen our Vuvale partnership and to discuss how we can best secure our region and help build a stronger Pacific family.

On 24 May 2022, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida hosted the fourth Quad Leaders’ Summit in Tokyo. Leaders acknowledged progress the Quad had made, and announced further Quad initiatives on health security, climate change, maritime domain awareness, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, cyber, space and infrastructure.

On 23 May 2022, Australia joined the United States and 11 other partner countries in launching the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).