Aussie push to help Fijian rugby league
Australia will help Fiji put a team in rugby league's NSW Cup next year in a bid to build sporting links.
But while the two countries have agreed to work together on sport, the economy and security, Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama isn't holding back on climate change.
"I urged your predecessor repeatedly to honour his commitment to clean energy," Mr Bainimarama said at a dinner on Thursday night in Suva.
"From where we are sitting, we cannot imagine how the interests of any single industry can be placed above the welfare of Pacific peoples and vulnerable people in the world over."
Mr Morrison praised Mr Bainimarama for his leadership on climate change in the Pacific. He also previously announced Australia will directly fund projects to help Pacific nations tackle the impact of climate change.
On Friday Mr Morrison will detail the next step in the $40 million Australia-Pacific Sports Linkages Program, with a push to get Fiji into Australian rugby league.
A Fijian team will enter the NSW Cup in 2020, while an NRL preseason match will be played in Fiji in 2021.
Australia will also help Fiji's netball team with travel to the world cup in the United Kingdom in July.
Mr Morrison will visit Black Rock on Friday, where Australia is funding an expansion of the military training centre.
The centre will be used to train militaries from around the Pacific islands.
The announcements are part of a "vuvale" partnership - from the Fijian word for family - that Mr Morrison and Mr Bainimarama agreed to on Thursday.
Mr Bainimarama said the relationship had been "rocky" after his 2006 military coup but the return of free elections in 2014 had led to a thaw with Australia.
