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The Australian Defence Force is joining partners in the Pacific to strengthen disaster readiness in the region.
The US-led exercise Pacific Partnership is the largest multinational humanitarian assistance and disaster relief mission in the Indo-Pacific, with the 2025 run proving successful.
Chief of Joint Operations, Vice Admiral Justin Jones, said the exercise is a clear display of Australia’s continued commitment to peace in the region.
“Australia is committed to working in partnership with Pacific island countries to build our region’s capacity to prepare and respond to disaster events,” he said.
“Participating in multinational missions like the Pacific Partnership allows the ADF to share its unique knowledge to support disaster response efforts across the Pacific family.”
The exercise has seen military personnel across the United States, Canada, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and the United Kingdom work with Australia to rehearse a mass rescue scenario. The location of the exercise, Samoa, was chosen due to its vulnerability to extreme weather events. Testing regional interoperability is an important move for multinational collaboration in the event of a humanitarian disaster.
Australian disaster management planner Major Paul Randall said exercises like Pacific Partnership are important to coordinate militaries and plan for the future.
“This exercise enabled the ADF, the Australian Civil-Military Centre, and partner militaries to work alongside Samoan counterparts to identify how we can best support them in the event of disaster,” MAJ Randall said.
“By practising communication and deployment with our Pacific partners, we strengthen our collective preparedness and improve interoperability, ensuring we’re ready to respond together when it matters most.”
Australia will also support training in Papua New Guinea, deploying personnel to aid in operations planning, medical and dental, gender peace and security, environmental health, chaplaincy and community services in collaboration with the US.
