On a suburban street in eastern Melbourne on a cool summer\u2019s day, Alolita Tekapu sits on the couch feeding her one-month-old son, Philip, while her three older boys play outside. Her husband folds laundry nearby, pausing occasionally to check on the children.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an ordinary domestic scene. But the reason this family are in Australia is far from ordinary.<\/p>\n
Alolita and her family come from Tuvalu, a Pacific nation of about 10,000 people whose low-lying atolls are among the most vulnerable in the world to rising seas. They are part of a historic group of Pacific Islanders arriving in Australia under a new deal offering<\/a> permanent residency to Tuvaluans, many of whom are on the frontlines of climate change.<\/p>\n Map of the Pacific, including Tuvalu.<\/a><\/p>\n Climate change has had a profound impact on daily life in Tuvalu<\/a>, which lies roughly halfway between Australia and Hawaii and whose highest point sits less than 5 metres above sea level. Alolita remembers navigating king tides and intense storms in her Pacific home. She describes flood waters rising to knee height at her workplace, seawater pushing farther inland each year, and an airstrip that would turn muddy and waterlogged during high tides.<\/p>\n \u201cThe land is eaten by the sea little by little,\u201d Alolita says. \u201cI worry about how we are going to live for the next decade.\u201d<\/p>\n The migration deal \u2013 part of a sweeping bilateral agreement signed between Australia and Tuvalu two years ago<\/a> \u2013 allows up to 280 Tuvaluans a year to live, work and study permanently in Australia. The agreement, known as the Falepili Union, commits the two countries to cooperation in other areas including climate adaptation, disaster response and security guarantees.<\/p>\n The migration opportunity has proven hugely popular. More than 8,750 <\/a>people registered for July\u2019s ballot, which randomly selected those eligible to migrate to Australia.<\/p>\n Alolita waited until the final days before applying. She was unsure whether leaving Tuvalu was the right decision, cherishing the freedom and ease of life in her island home. Her husband was already in Australia as a temporary migrant, working long shifts at an abattoir under the Pacific labour scheme. He had decided he did not have time to enter the ballot himself on behalf of his family. In the end, Alolita put her own name forward quietly, without telling anyone else.<\/p>\n An aerial view of Funafuti, Tuvalu. Photograph: Kirsty Needham\/Reuters<\/p>\n A week later, she was at work singing happy birthday at a colleague\u2019s celebration when her phone buzzed. It was an email from the Australian government. She had been selected as part of the inaugural cohort to migrate under the deal.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the middle of the song I was shouting out and happy,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m so thankful to God.\u201d<\/p>\n Her colleagues crowded around to congratulate her. Then, one by one, they reached for their own phones, searching for the same message.<\/p>\n \u201cSome people, I could tell they were jealous,\u201d Alolita says. \u201cI feel so lucky [considering] how many people applied.\u201d<\/p>\n Pregnant and keen to give birth in her newly adopted country, Alolita fast-tracked the move and arrived in Australia with her children last September, becoming one of the first successful ballot recipients to make the journey. Since then, others have followed, including a dentist, a pastor and Tuvalu\u2019s first female forklift driver, Kitai Haulapi.<\/p>\n \u201cI applied to Falepili because I learned about the many opportunities it offers particularly in employment,\u201d Haulapi said in a video shared by Australia\u2019s foreign affairs department.<\/p>\n \u201cThe wages are very good and would enable me to support my family back home.\u201d<\/p>\n The Tuvaluans\u2019 migration is part of a global push for countries to address climate-driven displacement. In July 2025, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion<\/a> recognising population displacement as part of a list of \u201csevere and far-reaching\u201d consequences to climate change, which poses an \u201curgent and existential threat\u201d.<\/p>\n Alolita Tekapu and Alesana Teikale prepare lunch for their four sons including one-month-old Philip in their new home in Melbourne Photograph: Christopher Hopkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Nevertheless, there is still no obligation under international law for countries to accept people displaced by climate change. Celia McMichael, a professor specialising in climate change-related migration at The University of Melbourne, therefore describes the Australia-Tuvalu agreement as a \u201clandmark initiative\u201d in a landscape where climate migration across borders is largely unsupported.<\/p>\n \u201cMigration can offer a pathway for people to adapt to climate change,\u201d McMichael says. \u201cIt allows people to move away from places exposed to climate change risk and to send back money that can support local climate adaptation and resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n