What ocean is east of Australia?

The Pacific Ocean lies to the east of Australia, separating the continent from the Americas and washing the eastern coastlines of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania. The Pacific is the world's largest ocean, covering about 165 million square kilometres, more than the combined land area of the planet.

The portion of the Pacific immediately bordering Australia is sometimes called the South West Pacific. It includes several named seas: the Coral Sea off the Queensland coast, which contains the Great Barrier Reef; the Tasman Sea between New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania and New Zealand; and the Solomon Sea north-east of Papua New Guinea. These seas are formally parts of the Pacific rather than separate ocean basins.

Australia's Pacific coast is where about 80 per cent of the country's population lives, including the capital cities of Sydney, Brisbane, and Hobart, and most of the country's major ports. The East Australian Current runs southward along the Pacific coast, transporting warm tropical water from the Coral Sea down to Tasmania and giving the east coast its mild ocean climate. Climate change has strengthened this current, pushing tropical species increasingly far south.

Australia's Pacific neighbours include New Zealand to the south-east; Papua New Guinea to the north (separated by the Torres Strait); and the island states of Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and the Micronesian and Polynesian nations beyond. The Pacific Islands Forum is the main regional grouping, and Australia's Pacific Step-up policy (launched 2018) and successor frameworks position the Pacific as a strategic priority.