Penny Wong will fly to Fiji tomorrow on her first solo overseas trip as Foreign Minister.
Senator Wong will make the visit less than 24 hours after returning to Australia from the Quad leaders meeting in Tokyo, where she joined the newly sworn in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for the summit.
Her visit to Fiji will also coincide with the beginning of the whirlwind Pacific tour conducted by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who will meet with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare in Honiara tomorrow.
The Australian High Commission in Suva has requested meetings with Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama as well as the secretary-general of the Pacific Islands Forum, Henry Puna, for the Foreign Minister.
She is also expected to give a keynote address while she's in Fiji.
"The visit, in my first week as Foreign Minister, demonstrates the importance we place on our relationship with Fiji and on our Pacific engagement," Senator Wong said.
"Australia will listen to our Pacific partners as we work together to face our shared challenges and achieve our shared goals — including tackling climate change, pandemic recovery, economic development and regional security."
The federal government is also flagging that both Senator Wong and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are likely to visit the Pacific more often as strategic competition in the region intensifies.
An Australian official said there was "clear symbolism" in Senator Wong's decision to visit so soon, with the new government signalling it regarded the Pacific as a "top-order priority".
Pacific analyst Anna Powles, from Massey University in New Zealand, said the visit — coming "hot on the heels of the Australian election and Quad meeting in Tokyo" — sent "a strong signal that the Albanese government intends to hit the ground running in resetting relations with the Pacific".
"This also gives Wong an opportunity to meet with secretary-general Puna and the Pacific Islands Forum, given the leaders meeting due to be held in early June has been delayed," she said.
"Wong will be seeking to leverage the increasingly robust Australia-Fiji relationship."
Dr Powles said the Foreign Minister "may also be seeking to form a clearer regional response to the China-Solomon Islands security deal, working closely with Prime Minister Bainimarama".
Tess Newton Cain, from the Pacific Hub at the Griffith Asia Institute, said Senator Wong was "following through" on her promise to visit the region soon.
"I see this as a high-risk strategy with the potential to deliver high reward," she told the ABC.
"The Foreign Minister spoke earlier in the week of how the Albanese government wants to stand shoulder to shoulder with Pacific partners. This is her first opportunity to walk the talk."
The Albanese government has already promised to boost aid to the Pacific by about half a billion dollars, as well as establish new migration pathways for people from Pacific Island countries.
It also argues that its promises to make deeper cuts to emissions will help bolster Australia's relationship with the Pacific.
In a video recorded just before leaving for Tokyo, Senator Wong stressed the shift in climate policy under Labor, saying the government knew that "nothing is more central to the security and wellbeing of the Pacific than climate change".
"We have heard the Pacific and we will act — standing shoulder to shoulder with the Pacific as we address the climate crisis," she said.
Some Pacific Island leaders have welcomed Labor's climate policies, but some influential figures in the region argue Labor still needs to make deeper cuts to emissions.
Beijing believed to be pressuring Honiara on media event
Meanwhile, there has been media controversy around Mr Wang's visit.
Media Association of Solomon Islands president Gina Kekea told the ABC she believed Honiara was under pressure from Beijing to restrict media access to a press event where Mr Wang will speak.
Ms Kekea said local media would only be allowed to ask a single question.
"It's discriminatory. It goes against what press freedom stands for over here," she said.
"What's the whole point of this event if you're only allowed to ask one question?
"It's quite scary. Solomon Islands being a democracy and we're heading towards the way communist countries behave like China towards their media."
