east timor, page-10

yes, the south pacific is in our backyard. Australia should pay a lot more attention to this region, and together with New Zealand, we can have an effective and influential role to play.

I think it was Howard, either last year or two years ago, who floated the idea of encouraging these south pacific island-states to form a political federation to pool their economic resources to try to create some economy of scales. One good example is to have just one airline to serve the federation, instead of each of these states having their own national carrier which is not financially sustainable.