Foreign Minister Penny Wong has pledged to expand Australia's Pacific labour scheme, increase co-operation in critical mineral mining and adhere to the non-proliferation treaty as she wraps up her year-long Pacific blitz.
Senator Wong became the first Australian minister to address New Caledonia's Congress on Thursday, using the historic speech to laud future business opportunities for both nations through nickel mining.
"No small part of the climate challenge will be to shift the world's energy habits to move the world to clean energy and to electric vehicles," she said.
"In this, both Australia and New Caledonia will play a major role this century. We hope that Australian investment and partnership becomes a bigger part of New Caledonia's future."
Senator Wong announced six New Caledonian civil servants would travel to Australia to participate in an energy resources program to promote responsible mining practices and explore new innovations.
She also said Australia was considering expanding the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme - known as the PALM scheme - to include the French territory.
The labour scheme recruits people from nine Pacific nations and East Timor to help fill critical labour shortages in Australia, while developing skills and providing incomes for workers to support their families back home.
"It is one example of how Australia is working with Pacific partners to deliver for Pacific priorities and to build a more prosperous, a more secure region," Senator Wong said.
The foreign minister is also working to allay concerns about Australia's acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines through the AUKUS alliance with the US and UK.
She said it was "crystal clear" Australia would comply with a regional nuclear free treaty after the New Caledonian president expressed concerns.
The Rarotonga treaty legally binds members from manufacturing, possessing, acquiring or controlling nuclear weapons.
"We will ensure we continue to be a party which exercises the highest standards of compliance with the non-proliferation treaty," the senator said.
The UK high commissioner to Australia says the sharing of nuclear technology doesn't contravene non-proliferation obligations and would act as a deterrence to keep the region safe.
Vicki Treadell says deterrence in Europe lasted from the end of World War II and through the Cold War until Russia invaded Ukraine last year.
"The calculation that our fear of a large country, using violence and aggression is what we're seeing playing out," she told AAP.
"By enabling Australia to provide its own deterrence, its own defence to play its part for regional stability and security, that's the price of what AUKUS seeks to guarantee."
The high commissioner also spoke of the safety of nuclear propulsion, adding accusations nuclear material had the potential to be misused were misinformation.
"The UK and US would not be doing so if we were not 100 per cent certain that Australia in receiving this technology will live up to the requirements of stewardship and the regulatory framework that will secure it," she said.
Senator Wong will also travel to Tuvalu this week, whose foreign minister also raised concerns about nuclear power in the region, referencing the human and environmental cost of the Fukushima disaster.
