Press conference, Tonga

Minister for International Development and The Pacific, Pat Conroy: I’m joined by the Fisheries Ministers of Tonga, who's also the Agricultural Minister, the Fijian Fisheries Minister, and the Cook Islands Fisheries Minister and Foreign Minister, and Doctor Manu Tupou-Roosen, the formidable Director General of the Forum Fisheries Agency.

Ladies and gentlemen, illegal fishing robs the people of the Pacific of their greatest resource. We're proud that the greatest and the healthiest tuna stocks in the world are in the Pacific. We're proud of the life-giving resource that they are. We're proud that they're harvested in a sustainable way. And they are the best-managed tuna stocks in the world, bar none.

But what we see too much is illegal, unreported and underreported fishing that is robbing the people of their future. That illegal fishing is stealing the future of countries throughout this region. That's why Australia is so proud and privileged to support the efforts of the Forum Fisheries Agency and individual countries to crack down on illegal fishing.

We're proud to have the $5.9 billion Pacific Maritime Security Program that provides 24 guardian class patrol boats to individual countries to support law enforcement and fishing compliance. We're proud of our aerial surveillance programme as well. One of the election commitments of the Albanese Labor government in the 2022 election was to double the aerial component of the maritime surveillance programme. And we're standing in front of one of those aircraft now, a Beechcraft King Air, that's equipped with radar and other sensors to identify that illegal fishing and to report it to the Forum Fishery Agency's command centre in Honiara in the Solomon Islands.

I've had the privilege of going through the centre with Doctor Manu, and it is an impressive outfit, staffed with not just FFA officials but also people rotated from the Australian Defence Force. I've seen New Zealand personnel, I've seen personnel from other militaries in the Pacific. This is all about a shared, combined Pacific future, supporting the 2050 Pacific Strategy for Blue Pacific Continent, and preserving and protecting the greatest resource of the Pacific after its people, which is the tuna stocks. The Albanese Labor government continues to do this, will continue to support the measures to support a collective security approach to the region, and that includes cracking down on illegal fishing.

So, thank you very much for being here. I'm not sure whether anyone else wanted to make any comments. Maybe Doctor Manu.

Director General of the FFA, Dr Manu Tupou-Roosen: Thank you very much, Honourable Minister Conroy. What I'd like to add to the remarks is our message of gratitude. A message of gratitude to the Australian government. We could not operate without this valuable assistance.

And it's not just the planes, it's the patrol boats. It's the whole Pacific maritime security programme that Australia provides. It ensures that we're able to extend our civilian search through the vast exclusive economic zones that our members have been entrusted with.

And so we're just grateful that Australia is steadfast in this commitment to combat illegal fishing effectively through this assistance. And it also sits in the broader context of our maritime security, ensuring that we can enhance the maritime domain in our space here in the Pacific. Honourable Conroy has highlighted that the stakes are always high, which is why this assistance is so invaluable.

Honourable Conroy has also underlined that it's a message we want to end with, that we can only do this with the cooperation, the assistance of Australia to our Pacific countries, the cooperation between our Pacific countries nationally, between interagencies and also regionally. It's the only way that we can ensure maritime security.

Minister Conroy: Thank you very much.