The comments come as foreign Minister Julie Bishop met with her Pacific colleagues in Sydney, ahead of the Pacific Island Forum leaders' summit to be held in Port Moresby in September.
The meeting comes as concerns are raised over Nauru's crackdown on dissent in the island nation.
While Nauruan president Baron Waqa was in attendance, the meeting primarily focused on the Pacific's disaster preparedness.
There were 16 countries including Australia at the Pacific Islands forum foreign ministers meeting.
Ms Bishop says she was moved to suggest the gathering of ministers responsible for foreign affairs in their nations after witnessing the devastation that struck Vanuatu earlier this year.
She adds that Pacific Island nations have proven their ability to work together through their response to natural disasters.
"We look out for each other, we came to each other's assistance and Vanuatu was the beneficiary of that but it also highlighted that our region is susceptible to natural disasters, tsunami, cyclone, earthquakes flooding and we needed to be as prepared as we possibly could be to ensure we save lives."
Secretary General to the Pacific Islands Forum Dame Meg Taylor chaired the meeting.
She says the forum proves that countries in the region have the ability to successfully work together.
"In the room during the meeting with the Ministers were other agencies like the South Pacific community, the South Pacific environment program and of course the Pacific Island forum secretariat. These are the agencies in the region that ministers have charge with the responsibility to be better coordinated particularly around disaster recovery, disaster reconstruction and I think it was a very positive discussion among leaders particularly about preparedness and about utilising their own resources to be prepared."
Ms Bishop also met with Nauru President Baron Waqa for a second time about Australia's concerns over the deteriorating situation in the tiny Pacific country.
Other leaders and ministers at the forum also raised concerns with the president, including New Zealand's Murray McCully, whose country funds Nauru's legal system.
New Zealand's foreign minister is holding the possibility of an aid cut over the head of Nauru's president following heated talks over the declining state of democracy and rule of law on the island.
Ms Bishop said she had also met with Nauru's Prime Minister and agreed to remain in close contact over concerns raised by other foreign ministers.
"The various ministers met separately with President. I took the opportunity to meet with the President and reiterated the concerns they expressed in my phone call with him a little while ago. I sought assurances from him that the rule of law would be upheld, that the judiciary system would have integrity in its processes and that there would be fair dealing with the Opposition members who had been either detained or charged. The President gave me assurances. We agreed to remain closely engaged on this matter."
Ms Bishop says leaders are due to meet again in late July ahead of a summit in PNG in September.
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