Senator Penny Wong called for Australia to start their own Pacific Islands infrastructure fund, following moves by the New Zealand government and an increase of interest by the US and Japan.
"I welcome these announcements as important steps to addressing the deficit in infrastructure investment in the region," Senator Wong said.
Senator Wong said during her recent trip to Washington DC there had been growing anticipation in further development of the US policy on this front was "imminent".
"US policy to support the objective of a free and open Indo-Pacific is, to some extent, a work in progress," she said.