Australia’s Pacific amnesia

Lowy Institute Institutional·2026-09-14PacificP7: Alliance Architecture P8: Northern Arc

Why it matters

Australia's cyclical pattern of rediscovering and then neglecting Pacific Island engagement directly weakens the Alliance pillar (7) and the Northern Arc (8) by ceding diplomatic presence and influence to China. Without sustained regional engagement, Australia cannot compete for security partnerships or counter Chinese basing initiatives in the Pacific archipelago.

Read the original report at Lowy Institute

Pillar tags and the significance note are AI-classified (Claude) and human-curated. The platform's own preparedness scores never move on a single story without a separate human approval.

Where this sits in the model

This development bears on 2 of the eight pillars of Australian preparedness — the overall picture right now is 5/100.

P7: Alliance Architecture25/100 P8: Northern Arc14/100

Go deeper · Encirclement

See how the map is being redrawn around Australia.

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The bigger picture

One signal in a live tracker of Australia's preparedness.

Every story here is scored against eight pillars — defence, energy, industry, fiscal reform, alliances and more — companion to the book Unprepared: Australia in an Age of Chinese Power.

See the full picture The eight pillars The book

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