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All citizens of the Pacific nation of Tuvalu will be able to apply for a new visa to move to Australia and flee the catastrophic impacts of climate change under a historic deal signed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today.
Tuvalu, an atoll home to slightly more than 11,000 people, is one of the lowest-lying countries on the planet, and as such one of the nations at most risk from rising sea levels due to climate change.
The country's prime minister Kausea Natano said the deal would allow Tuvaluans to "work, study and live" in Australia.
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"The government of Tuvalu initiated and submitted a request to the government of Australia for a more elevated bilateral partnership," he said.
"This means that we would enter a treaty that guides us to respect each other's sovereignty, commit us to safeguard and support each other as we face the existence or threat of climate change and geostrategic challenges, to commit Australia to establish a special visa arrangement to allow people from Tuvalu to work, study and live in Australia."
Under the agreement, a new special visa category will be set up for Tuvaluans, with up to 280 issued each year.
Australia accepted 395,000 migrants in 2021-22, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Albanese said the visa agreement was a "groundbreaking" moment.
"The Australia-Tuvalu union will be regarded as a significant day in which Australia acknowledged that we are part of the Pacific family," he said.
"So with that comes responsibility to act to a gracious request from our friends in Tuvalu and step up the relationship between our two nations."
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New Zealand and the USA already have similar agreements in place with Pacific nations – the former with the Cook Islands and Niue, the latter with Palau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands – but this is the first time Australia has signed such a treaty.
"We will always act appropriately according to the circumstances," Albanese said.
"And this reflects Tuvalu's special circumstances, as a low-lying nation it is particularly impacted by climate change. Its very existence is threatened by the threat of climate change.
"And that is why we are assisting on adaptation but we are also providing the security that these guarantees represent for the people of Tuvalu, who want to preserve their culture, want to preserve their very nation going forward."
