The Australian High Commissioner to the Cook Islands, Phoebe Smith, has completed her two-year term and will return to Canberra today.

Smith took over the role from Dr Christopher Watkins, Australia’s first resident High Commissioner to the Cook Islands, in 2023.

Her farewell function was held at the Tamarind House last Thursday. The event was attended by Prime Minister Mark Brown, senior government officials and representatives from the private sector and civil organisations.

“It is always hard to say goodbye at the end of a posting, especially so leaving a place like the Cook Islands You’re all here tonight because you’ve personally supported our work – or taken a particular interest in the growing relationship between Cook Islands and Australia,” Smith said in her farewell speech.

“I am very sad to be concluding my term, but it has provided me a chance to reflect on my time here. Over the two years I’ve had the privilege of representation Australia in Cook Islands as High Commissioner, there have been many highlights.”

Smith, while highlighting the achievements during her term, said as a diplomat, her job was to find ways for the two countries to work closer and understand each other better.

“This is especially important now, as we face a world that is becoming much more unpredictable, volatile and as Australia’s Foreign Minister says, ‘in a permanent state of contest’,” she said.

“There are limits to thinking about ourselves as family when we are talking about relationships between countries. Families can take each other for granted. They can stop listening to each other or doing the work to understand where the other is coming from. They can forget to care for and nurture their relationships until, sometimes, it is too late. In the world we are living in now, that is something we cannot afford to do.”

Smith, who will take up a role in Australia’s Pacific Strategy Division in Canberra, will be replaced by Susannah Hodson as Australia’s next High Commissioner to the Cook Islands.

Hodson is a career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and was most recently Director Sports Projects, Office of the Pacific. She has previously served overseas in Fiji and Belgium.

“I am pleased to announce that the new High Commissioner, Ms Susannah Hodson, is also a close friend – you can see we treasure this position and want to ensure it stays in safe hands. Susannah will take forward the stewarding of the bilateral relationship – keeping the vaka steered in the right direction – from mid-April,” Smith said.

“It has been an honour and privilege to serve as High Commissioner to the Cook Islands, and I want to thank you all for making it so rewarding.”

• Read more about the outgoing High Commissioner’s time in the Cook Islands: her highlights, the challenges she faced and her take on the China deal this Saturday.