Australia

On Thursday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison unveiled a new foreign policy strategy for the Pacific region, including increased military cooperation.

But Defence Minister Christopher Pyne told Fairfax Media this strategy also includes a new vessel to operate semi-permanently in the south west Pacific.

He said the ship could assist with preparation for and response to natural disasters and other resilience support.

Australia will also strengthen its links with police forces in the Pacific.

The assistant minister for international development and the Pacific, Anne Ruston, said under Australia's pledge to step up its relationship with Pacific nations it recognised that labour mobility was a key issue for them.

This was reflected in the 40 percent annual growth of the seasonal worker scheme, while a new Pacific labour scheme would also bring in 2000 workers over the next year, she said.

Having dominated throughout Australia's tour of the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan inflicted more misery on Aaron Finch's side to complete a 3-0 success with five balls to spare.

Babar Azam starred again at the top of the order with his second half century of the series as Pakistan made a superb start under the lights, the hosts racing to 93-0 in the 13th over.

Babar's 50 came off just 40 balls and included a superbly executed upper cut for six off Nathan Coulter-Nile, the bowler only able to watch on as the ball sailed over the third-man boundary.

The Wallabies have fallen 37-20 to the All Blacks in Yokohama despite a vastly improved performance from their first two Bledisloe showings of the year.

The first half in Sydney, Auckland and on Saturday, Yokohama, all had a similar feel to them.

The Wallabies were able to slow the game down and defended quite well, tries to Liam Squire and Kieran Read coming at the end of five minute patches in which the All Blacks did not leave the Australian 22.

The attack looked dangerous and was caused genuine headaches for the world champions.

Michelle Bachelet included criticism of the centres on Nauru and Manus Island in her maiden speech at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The former president of Chile said the council had a responsibility to speak out against human rights violations without fear or favour.

She focused on migration in her address, saying an international agreement due to be signed this year provides for regional and international cooperation to set up prompt and humane reception for all arrivals.

In a speech in Canberra, Dame Meg Taylor warned that climate change had brought truly desperate times to the Pacific Islands.

Dame Meg urged unity from Australia, saying the region could not afford to have one or two acting in ways that place the wellbeing of the region at risk.

At the Forum Leaders' Summit last week, Australia was the country that tried to water down a commitment to climate change action.

The government of Australian prime minister Scott Morrison was also planning to officially dump emissions reduction targets.

Nauru, which is home to an Australian immigration detention centre, is hosting this year's leaders' summit, which will get under way on September 1.

Amnesty International has co-signed a joint open letter representing a coalition of 84 NGOs, which addresses Forum leaders and observers about conditions for refugees on Nauru, and also PNG's Manus Island.

Amnesty's Pacific researcher, Roshika Deo, said the system is clearly broken if children on Nauru are considering self-harm.

Nauru, which is home to an Australian immigration detention centre, is hosting this year's leaders' summit, which will get under way on September 1.

Amnesty International has co-signed a joint open letter representing a coalition of 84 NGOs, which addresses Forum leaders and observers about conditions for refugees on Nauru, and also PNG's Manus Island.

Amnesty's Pacific researcher, Roshika Deo, said the system is clearly broken if children on Nauru are considering self-harm.

Authorities have detained 15 people and think more are hiding in mangroves north of Cairns, say police.

The boat, believed to be from Vietnam, is the first people-smuggling vessel to make it to Australia "in more than 1,400 days", according to Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.

Authorities are continuing a search.

They did not say how many people were aboard when the boat ran aground near Daintree on Sunday, nor if any have plans to appeal for asylum.

Local mayor Julia Leu told ABC that they were "putting themselves at risk in known crocodile habitat".

John Kaurasi, 29, prepared the $17.5million shipment for export from Fiji before travelling to Australia to collect it, police allege.

The package arrived on August 10 and was referred to the Australian Federal Police.

Officers from the Australian Border Force allegedly discovered the cocaine at an inspection facility in Sydney.

The Daily Mail reports Kaurasi was arrested on Friday, following a search on a Hurstville property.

He was later charged with importing a commercial quantity of border-controlled drugs.