What we are watching in the Pacific in 2025
Join us either in-person or online for a panel discussion on important updates in the Pacific this year.
๐ If you are attending in-person, please arrive at Holding Redlich at 5.30pm for registration and drinks.
๐ปIf you are attending online, you will receive a follow-up confirmation email on the day containing further details on how to join the webinar.
๐๏ธ AIIA QLD members are entitled to free in-person entry. The price for other tickets can be found after clicking the 'register' button.
๐ท Please note that you may be photographed or filmed for public consumption.
โ If you arrive after 6:00pm, the lifts may not be accessible. Ring 0477 610 083 for assistance.
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Attribution: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Website - https://www.dfat.gov.au/
With 2025 well underway, join our panel of experts to discuss what are the big issues and challenges faced by Australia's neighbours in the Pacific islands region.
Elections and political instability are in focus and are likely to have impacts at the domestic and regional levels especially if we see leadership changes.
Geostrategic competition and the impacts of Trump 2.0 will be felt in the region elsewhere in the world and there are challenges to ensure that Pacific voices are at the forefront of these conversations.
Meanwhile, issues pertaining to decolonisation and the impacts of the climate emergency are ever present and Pacific leaders and activists will need to work hard to keep them in focus in the face of an increasingly securitised narrative about the region.
Stefan Armbruster is head of Pacific News for Radio Free Asia/Benar News and will lead this conversation. He will be joined by a panel of experts including Dr Tess Newton Cain (Principal Consultant at Sustineo P/L) and Leah Lowonbu (Journalism and Communications student and Benar News contributor).
Agenda
- Panel Discussion
Stefan ArmbrusterโขLeah LowonbuโขDr Tess Newton Cain
Stefan Armbruster
Award-winning correspondentStefan Armbruster is an award-winning correspondent with more than 30 years of reporting experience in Australia and overseas. His coverage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait, multicultural, and Pacific affairs has been recognised with numerous journalism awards including from the Australian Human Rights Commission, UNAA , Queensland Clarions. He is a Colombia University Dart Centre Asia-Pacific fellow and a Walkley Sean Dorney Grant for Pacific Journalism recipient in 2023.
More information about speaker
A delegate with Australian journalists’ union MEAA for more than a decade, he advocates for media freedom and media workers' rights. Stefan mentors and trains students and journalists, including in the Pacific with ABC Pacmas, and produces and delivers regional journalism workshops and forums.
He began as a broadcaster at Brisbane public radio 4ZZZ-FM in 1988. A DFAT -funded journalism attachment in 1994 at the Fiji Broadcasting Commission ( FBC ) established his ongoing connections with the Pacific region.
During almost a decade based in London he was a journalist and senior producer at BBC Radio 4’s flagship ‘Today’ current affairs program, the World Service and then ground-breaking News Online platform, as well as reporting and producing for Dow Jones and CNBC .
Returning to Australia in 2003, he was a senior producer at ABC News Online before becoming SBS World News’ Brisbane-based correspondent, covering Queensland and the Pacific region.
Leah Lowonbu
JournalistLeah Lowonbu is a journalist from Vanuatu who works with the National Broadcasting and Television Corporation. In addition to her reporting, she contributes to Benar News and ABC Wantok. Leah is also pursuing a degree in journalism and communication at Griffith University.
More information about speaker
Dr Tess Newton Cain
Principal Consultant at Sustineo P/LTess is Principal Consultant at Sustineo P/L where she leads on their law, governance, and security work. She is also an adjunct Associate Professor at the Griffith Asia Institute and former lead for their Pacific Hub. Tess is a dual UK/Vanuatu citizen and has worked in the Pacific islands region for more than 25 years. She provides regular commentary pieces for Benar News and other outlets.
More information about speaker
- Questions from the Audience
Stefan ArmbrusterโขLeah LowonbuโขDr Tess Newton CainStefan Armbruster
Award-winning correspondentStefan Armbruster is an award-winning correspondent with more than 30 years of reporting experience in Australia and overseas. His coverage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait, multicultural, and Pacific affairs has been recognised with numerous journalism awards including from the Australian Human Rights Commission, UNAA , Queensland Clarions. He is a Colombia University Dart Centre Asia-Pacific fellow and a Walkley Sean Dorney Grant for Pacific Journalism recipient in 2023.
More information about speaker
A delegate with Australian journalists’ union MEAA for more than a decade, he advocates for media freedom and media workers' rights. Stefan mentors and trains students and journalists, including in the Pacific with ABC Pacmas, and produces and delivers regional journalism workshops and forums.
He began as a broadcaster at Brisbane public radio 4ZZZ-FM in 1988. A DFAT -funded journalism attachment in 1994 at the Fiji Broadcasting Commission ( FBC ) established his ongoing connections with the Pacific region.
During almost a decade based in London he was a journalist and senior producer at BBC Radio 4’s flagship ‘Today’ current affairs program, the World Service and then ground-breaking News Online platform, as well as reporting and producing for Dow Jones and CNBC .
Returning to Australia in 2003, he was a senior producer at ABC News Online before becoming SBS World News’ Brisbane-based correspondent, covering Queensland and the Pacific region.Leah Lowonbu
JournalistLeah Lowonbu is a journalist from Vanuatu who works with the National Broadcasting and Television Corporation. In addition to her reporting, she contributes to Benar News and ABC Wantok. Leah is also pursuing a degree in journalism and communication at Griffith University.
More information about speakerDr Tess Newton Cain
Principal Consultant at Sustineo P/LTess is Principal Consultant at Sustineo P/L where she leads on their law, governance, and security work. She is also an adjunct Associate Professor at the Griffith Asia Institute and former lead for their Pacific Hub. Tess is a dual UK/Vanuatu citizen and has worked in the Pacific islands region for more than 25 years. She provides regular commentary pieces for Benar News and other outlets.
More information about speaker
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