Wong says First Nations links to Pacific give Australia a strategic edge
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has cast Australia's First Nations links to the Pacific as more than history. She says they now amount to a "strategic
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has cast Australia's First Nations links to the Pacific as more than history. She says they now amount to a "strategic national advantage" for the country.
Speaking at the Garma Festival in north-east Arnhem Land on the second day of Australia's biggest Indigenous gathering, Wong said the relationships built over centuries between First Nations peoples and their Pacific neighbours had long connected Australia to the wider world. "Centuries before Europeans arrived, First Nations people connected Australia with the world," she told the audience.
Pacific ties at the centre of foreign policy
Wong said she was proud that this part of Australia's past, once "under-utilised", now sat within foreign policy. She framed it as part of a shared vision for the Pacific region, pointing to leaders in the room from Timor-Leste, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Palau and Tonga.
The foreign minister's remarks land at a time when Pacific diplomacy matters well beyond Australia. Regional ties have become a live issue across the Pacific, where countries are watching closely for signs of respect, partnership and practical engagement from larger neighbours.
'We are not a monoculture'
Wong, speaking on behalf of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who was absent from the festival, rejected the idea that Australia is a "monoculture". "We are not a monoculture and never have been," she said.
That line went to the heart of her message. Australia, she argued, should see common ground with other countries, not just its differences. At Garma, in front of Indigenous leaders and Pacific guests, she tied national identity to a broader regional story — one she said had too often been overlooked.
Her speech also served as a signal. The Albanese government is leaning on Indigenous history as it sharpens its Pacific approach, and Wong made clear that Canberra sees political value in that connection. The audience included a mix of Pacific leaders and Indigenous participants, a setting that underlined the diplomatic and cultural weight of the event.
