Responding to Covid-19: Time to refocus on Pacific governance

There have been many proposals made to deal with the fallout of the Covid-19 on the Pacific Islands and for how ‘big brothers’ Australia and New Zealand could assist in the recovery.
The suggestions include a stimulus package from Australia and New Zealand, an increase in the number of seasonal workers from the Pacific to these countries and supplies of the Covid-19 related medical resources such as testing kits and vaccines when they become available. These were part of renewed calls to strengthen regional cooperation to deal with the socio-economic effects of the pandemic and to minimise its immediate and future impacts.
While these offers are all welcome, what was often ignored in these discussions is the vulnerable state of some Pacific Island economies before the pandemic due to structural weakness and the challenges placed on development from governance systems lacking in accountability and transparency.
There had been serious concerns about Pacific aid effectiveness for decades.
Much aid failure and wastage could be put down to poor governance and mismanagement.
Most countries were able to navigate their foreign policies to their advantage over the last two decades, based on opportunities that had arisen due to the changing geopolitical environment.
The increased influence of China through loans and development aid had allowed these countries to sometimes ignore traditional partners, such as the United States, Great Britain, European Union, Australia and New Zealand, that would link aid to human rights, democracy, transparency and accountability in governance.
Concerned about China, our traditional partners have since unveiled new strategies for enhanced engagement with the Pacific.
Australia announced its Pacific step-up, New Zealand the Pacific reset and the UK the Pacific uplift.
After stepping back from the Pacific in 2000, the EU and US expressed their intention to increase their engagement in the region.
Unfortunately, along with increased aid come a growing reluctance on the part of our traditional partners to raise the deteriorating standards of governance, democracy and human rights in the Pacific. – DevpolicyBlog