My view is that the Australian Government needs to consult its regional neighbours, plan an exit strategy, and a handover to a selection mission from island disciplined forces, perhaps led by Fiji. Australia could provide funding (as ever) and perhaps a very limited supervisory role.
And when the mission ends it should refer to the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee the question of how Australia should better respond to regional law and order issues in the future. The Committee might reasonably asked whether a fear of China intervening if Australia played a critical role in our decision.
What is really important is that the good people of the Solomon Islands are not given the impression that Australia is about propping up a corrupt government rather than protecting their welfare.
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That can best be achieved by an early handover to a regional security contingent with limited financial support. And by early, I would hope it can happen within days or weeks.
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