As with most advice dispensed by Donald Trump to fellow world leaders, it was blunt, brief – and probably unwelcome.

Australia’s landmark PukPuk ­defence treaty with Papua New Guinea was already looking shaky when Allan Bird learned of the mutual defence commitment that was to be the centrepiece of a pact that would ...

The Albanese government’s failure to conclude security treaties with Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu shows the hollowness of Australian foreign policy in the Pacific.