Marles says Pacific 'catch up' needed

"The Pacific is so central to Australia's national interest, to our national security, and we've long felt that if we are present in the Pacific, if we turn up and engage, that we will be the natural partner of choice," he told ABC Radio on Friday.

"There's a lot of catch up that we need to do but we are intent on doing it and we are here in a very present way.

"We've had a lost decade with the former coalition government. But Australia is back now and we really hope that this very substantive commitment backs up a lot of our rhetoric with real action."

The increase in aid follows on from China signing a security pact with the Solomon Islands earlier this year, with China also seeking to create other agreements with nearby nations.

However, Mr Marles reiterated the foreign aid for Pacific countries would not be offered to countries in exchange for not engaging with Beijing.

"It's about making sure that we make the Pacific more resilient and more secure from the perspective of a country that is of the Pacific, and the Pacific certainly sees Australia as part of the Pacific family," he said.

"That's the spirit in which it's being offered and that's the spirit in which the Pacific see it."

Mr Marles has been visiting Pacific nations with defence forces for the past week.

A status of forces agreement between Australia and Fiji was signed on Thursday, which allows for greater cooperation between the two country's armed services.

While there had been concern in the region surrounding Kiribati's decision to pull out of the Pacific Islands Forum and its president meeting China's foreign minister last month, Mr Marles said the country was still vital to Pacific ties.

"I genuinely believe we will be the natural partner of choice, and we want that relationship very much to continue," he said.

"That is about being there and engaging and making sure that we are backing up those visits with substantive action, and we're doing that."