Tuvalu will decide which citizens gain access to the visas,but Australian authorities will conduct security checks on potential recipients.
Under the deal,Australia has committed to provide access to education,health care and income and family support instantly to Tuvaluans upon arrival.
It is expected that by 2050,half the land area of the capital,Funafuti,will be flooded by tidal waters daily.
As well as the new visa,the agreement includes a $16.9 million commitment from Australia to expand Tuvalu’s main island’s landmass by 6 per cent to help withstand the expected sea level rise.
It will also see Australia commit to helping the Pacific nation in the event of emergencies including major natural disasters,pandemics and military aggression.
It commits the countries to mutually agree on any partnership,arrangement or engagement with any other state or entity on security and defence-related matters in Tuvalu.
Tuvalu currently recognises Taiwan,rather than mainland China,but the Australian government is aware that this could change quickly,after other Pacific nations such as the Solomon Islands and Kiribati changed their stance in 2019.
Natano described the announcement as “not just a milestone,but a giant leap forward in our joint mission to ensure regional stability,sustainability and prosperity”.
Albanese said he was open to new deals with other Pacific nations,but said they would have to be “purpose-built” for each country.
Former Tuvalu prime minister Enele Sopoaga said the resettlement of Tuvaluans must be worked out within the bounds of international law and with the consultation of Tuvalu’s parliament.
“Australia’s responsibility to Tuvalu is to recognise that its excessive[greenhouse gas] emissions into the atmosphere is sinking Tuvalu and other Pacific[island nations] into the chaos of climate change,” he said.
Referring to Australia’s bid to host the 2026 global climate conference,he said:“I believe Australia must urgently honour its commitments through tangible concrete actions on climate change mitigation,adaptation and loss and damage before it can host a COP.”
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In 2019,Kevin Rudd proposed in an essay that Australia should offer citizenship to residents of the small Pacific nations of Tuvalu,Kiribati and Nauru if climate change rendered their home island uninhabitable,in exchange for control of their seas,exclusive economic zones and fisheries.
“Under this arrangement,Australia would also become responsible for the relocation over time of the exposed populations of these countries[totalling less than 75,000 people altogether] to Australia where they would enjoy the full rights of Australian citizens,” Rudd wrote.
The United States has hammered out so-called shared government “grand compacts” in the Pacific with Palau,the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia,as has New Zealand with Niue and the Cook Islands.
In a submission to a government inquiry into Australia’s defence relationships with Pacific island nations,Australian National University international relations expert Professor John Blaxland recommended that an Australian compact should offer Australian citizenship if life on the islands become untenable.
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