PNG wake-up call
After decades of complacency and at times outright condescension, Australia is finally taking its Pacific Island neighbours seriously.
That Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape today became the first ever Pacific Islands leader to address the Australian parliament is both highly symbolic, and a signpost of the strategic landscape.
As the United States and China vie for influence in the region, Australia, as a key Washington ally, is alive to the importance of not repeating the missteps of successive governments in Canberra by allowing relations with some of our closest neighbours to drift.
A key plank of Marape’s visit has been to reassure Canberra that the PNG sees Australia as its key security partner. In a joint statement with Anthony Albanese, the pair “reaffirmed their commitment to the region’s existing security architecture as a key driver of security cooperation.”
Marape had only just visited Australia back in December, coming away with a $200 million security and policing agreement from the Albanese government. But domestic anger over poor economic prospects sparked deadly riots in Port Moresby during a police strike last month, plunging Marape’s government in crisis. Widespread looting and arson during the riots – including some Chinese-owned businesses and storefronts – prompted suggestions from Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko that PNG was considering a separate security and policing deal with China – comments he would subsequently walk back.
