Anthony Albanese has claimed regional support for Australia's climate policies as the Pacific Islands Forum wraps up in Fiji.
Pacific leaders spent Thursday in an all-day leaders retreat in Suva that is expected to declare a climate emergency.
Prime Minister Albanese exited the retreat declaring a "very successful meeting", adding that Australia's "new position on climate change was particularly well received".
"It was also reflected in every single one of the person-to-person dialogues I had with prime ministers and other leaders from our Pacific Island neighbours," he said.
Mr Albanese also claimed an endorsement from the Pacific of Australia's bid to host a forthcoming UN climate change meeting.
"They all expressed support for the bid and you'll see that reflected in the communique," he said.
Australia's reception in 2022 contrasts with the last in-person PIF leaders summit.
The Tuvalu 2019 summit was marked by former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison's intransigence in the face of Pacific requests to boost climate pledges.
"The prime minister was very insulting, very condescending, not good for the relationship," Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama told The Guardian in 2019.
Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga, the last host, accused Australia of only being "concerned about saving your economy".
"I'm concerned about saving my people in Tuvalu and likewise the leaders of other South Pacific small island countries," he said.
Mr Albanese also claimed a breakthrough on an issue that has clouded the week: the withdrawal of Kiribati.
The Micronesian nation walked from PIF on the weekend before the Suva summit, with Prime Minister Taneti Maamau not engaging with diplomatic outreach.
That changed on Thursday afternoon, when Mr Bainimarama contacted Mr Maamau to convey PIF's "keenness to unite".
"Prime Minister Bainimarama conveyed to the other PIF leaders that it was a very constructive dialogue ... the door is open to Kiribati rejoining," Mr Albanese said.
A line also appears to have been drawn under the Solomon Islands' flirtation with closer security ties with China.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare told journalists an agreement signed earlier this year would not lead to a Chinese military facility on Australia's doorstep.
"The moment we establish a foreign military base, we immediately become an enemy. And we also put our country and our people as targets for potential military strikes," he told The Guardian, RNZ and SIBC.
"There is no military base, nor any other military facility, or institutions in the agreement."
Next year's chair will be the Cook Islands, which will steer PIF to the 2023 summit, which it will host.
