Photo: Getty ImagesFinance Minister Julie Bishop says Australia has encouraged Britain to have a greater presence in the Pacific region post-Brexit but won't say whether this is to counter the influence of China. Ms Bishop, who has been attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in the UK with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, says Britain wants to be more global once it has separated from the European Union next year. "We have been encouraging Great Britain post-Brexit to have a greater presence in our part of the world," Ms Bishop told Sky News today. "We have been encouraging Great Britain post-Brexit to look again at the Pacific as somewhere they could invest." She also said in the recent past, most of Britain's aid was delivered by the European Union.

Source: Otago Daily Times April 22, 2018 01:07 UTC