For years Pacific leaders have been telling Australia at annual Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) gatherings that the two most serious security threats in the region are climate change and events in West Papua, yet Australia insists Chinese influence is the more pressing concern.

On climate change, the Australian government claims it is working proactively with its Pacific allies.

"Climate change was identified in the 2016 Defence White Paper as one of the factors that will contribute to state fragility – including within Australia’s immediate neighbourhood – and exacerbate the challenges of population growth and environmental degradation," a spokesperson for Defence said in a statement.

"Climate change-related risks are regularly reviewed as part of Defence’s planning processes.

"As part of the Australian government’s climate change effort, Defence is working with its Pacific partners to find solutions to help address the security impacts of climate change and build resilience, including through strategic dialogue with security leaders at the Joint Heads of Pacific Security event, Defence cooperation programs and new measures under the Pacific Step-Up."

Pacific leaders are mostly unconvinced.

The PIF meeting this year was an unmitigated disaster for Australia, prompting normally jovial and non-confrontational Pacific leaders into calling out prime minister Scott Morrison, with host Tuvalu saying: “You’re worried about your economy. I’m worried about the survival of my people.”

Fiji’s PM called him a “bully” while Kiribati’s former president Anote Tong claimed “China is now the lesser evil compared to Australia”.

While these issues are fraught with diplomatic pitfalls, there are simpler ways Australia can strengthen ties with its Pacific neighbours.

Almost every day in Port Vila, Vanuatu, Australian container ships arrive full of Australian produce for supermarkets, hardware stores and other shops. These same ships then return to Australia largely empty of any island produce. The trade is almost all one-way.

For islanders, trade is not just about business but about relationships and culture.

Perhaps the PM could take the heads of Coles and Woolworths on his next trip to help place one trade item from each neighbouring Pacific country into their supply chains.  Australia could buy PNG coffee, Solomons tuna, Vanuatu kava and Fijian sugar.

How about creating a Pacific Village in Brisbane and Sydney, with peppercorn rents so they have a focal point to bring in produce at wholesale prices for national distribution just as Chinatowns do in each city?

At the same time, a stream of Australian tourists arrive at Port Vila airport getting visas on arrival, while a small straggle of Pacific islanders goes the other way, arriving at Australian airports having completed onerous and costly visa applications just to visit.

What kind of family demands you get a visa before visiting?

This scene is replicated across the Pacific islands.

It is just one way in which Australia’s Pacific “step up” is missing the most important and obvious elements - policy that actually embraces our neighbours at a time when they now have alternatives.

By contrast, China wants to buy almost anything the Pacific produces and gives its citizens visas on arrival, as does much of Europe.

Morrison has been putting in “face time” and engaging leaders in a way no Australian PM has done before, having understood the Pacific is a region which operates on personal relationships, not ideology.

But in calling our Pacific neighbours “family” as the Morrison government does, the question is also being asked by islanders: “What kind of family demands you get a visa before visiting?”

According to the most recent immigration statistics, nearly 10,000 Malaysians were recorded as having overstayed visas in 2016-17, together with 6500 Chinese nationals and 5170 from the United States, yet there has been no change to their visa requirements.

More than 40 countries get a visa exemption when visiting Australia, but none of our Pacific neighbours do. It seems our Home Affairs Department remains terrified that a few islanders might overstay if we relaxed visa requirements.

They mainly want to visit relatives and have a holiday, or do seasonal work or maybe study and then go home.

Our Melanesian neighbours can travel visa-free across Asia and Europe but not, it seems, to their “family” friend Australia.

Ben Bohane is an Australian journalist based in Vanuatu with 25 years' experience covering Pacific nations