Leaders of countries with fewer than a million people rarely receive a 21-gun salute and full diplomatic reception in Canberra.
But new Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale, who has been in office for less than a month, is the fresh face of a small country with big implications for Australia.
“The cannons this morning, I thought: Blimey, it’s something else,” Wale said in Anthony Albanese’s parliamentary courtyard.
“So, pardon my naivety, it was all very nice.”
Beneath the pomp and ceremony of this week’s welcome, Canberra is locked in an arm wrestle for influence in the Pacific.
