The Australian government says it has confidence the government in Samoa will wisely use the millions of dollars Australia has contributed to the tsunami recovery effort.
The Australian and New Zealand governments have announced they will each give about four point five million US dollars directly to the Samoan government for recovery and reconstruction.
Australia's parliamentary secretary for international development assistance, Bob McMullan says Samoa has handled the disaster well but its scale is too great for a small country to manage alone.
He says Australia, like New Zealand has a strong relationship with Samoa.
"We certainly have a very extensive Samoan community in Australia and a very high level of awareness of Samoa as a neighbour and a friend. So whether it's quite the same as New Zealand, that's for others to judge but there's been a very high degree of public response to the crisis."
Bob McMullan is currently visiting Tonga and Samoa, and says the response of both countries to the tsunami are an example of good governance in the region
