Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

I rise with pleasure to speak on this private member's motion in relation to Papua New Guinea and do so noting a number of people in the room who have a strong connection with PNG. I note the members for Ryan and Macquarie have both had longstanding relationships with PNG. Of course, the member for Ryan is the Chair of the Parliamentary Friends of PNG, of which I am the deputy chair. The member for Herbert and I travelled through the Pacific. I do not think we went to PNG on that occasion, but we have travelled through the Pacific together. It is great to see you in the chamber as well. I also see the member for Moreton, on this side, and the member for Kingsford Smith, who served as the Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs and did much good work in relation to fostering relationships in the Pacific.

A prime ministerial visit to Papua New Guinea, from my point of view, therefore, is always a good thing. It builds upon the visit that Prime Minister Rudd made to PNG, which was his first bilateral visit to any country, having been elected Prime Minister back in 2007. It was a gesture which lingers positively in PNG to this day. The economic cooperation treaty being signed by Prime Ministers Abbott and O'Neill was also a very satisfying moment, given this was a treaty the negotiations for which commenced under the then Rudd government.

The significance of PNG in Australian foreign policy is enormous and I think it does not gain enough attention, either within this building or within our national discourse. It is a country 50 per cent bigger than New Zealand. It is a country which has profound national security implications for Australia. It is a country with whom our economic relationship is growing by the day—$7.5 billion is the trade relationship today. It is growing. We have $19 billion of Australian investments in PNG today. It is our second largest recipient of overseas development assistance.

We have a unique history with PNG. It is one of two countries on this planet that gained its independence from Australia. It is a place which really has sacred ground in terms of those conflicts that were fought during the Second World War, and it is ground which those in PNG maintain for us extremely well. Anybody who visits the Bomana war cemetery—the largest Australian war cemetery anywhere in the world—knows that they are standing on sacred ground but sacred ground which is well tended.

I am really pleased, having just spoken with the member for Ryan before, that the PNG Oration, which celebrates PNG's independence in this building, will be continued under this government. That is an important mark, to allow PNG to have its day within this building. The Deakin symposium in relation to PNG will also continue this year and I think it does something to increase the academic profile of studies around PNG within Australia.

I also hope that we get an opportunity for more MPs on both sides of the House to meet their counterparts in PNG. It ought to be a deeply organic relationship. We have that kind of relationship with New Zealand. It should be the case with PNG and I hope that occurs.

I also hope that efforts to raise the profile of PNG more positively within the Australian media are continued. One endeavour of mine which I tried very hard to pursue and, I have to confess, failed was to have The Today Show report the temperature in Port Moresby every morning. It is basically the same every day, so it is not that hard a thing to do, but given that The Today Show is watched in Port Moresby it seems to me the least they could for that important audience is to tell them what the temperature is going to be.

I want to make this point: this visit came on the heels of the PNG arrangement which Australia had put into place, and core to that which established the Manus Island detention facility in its current form was the idea of resettling those who are found to be genuine refugees in PNG. It was the core and remains the core of the idea of taking Australia off the table.

It took eight months before we saw minister Scott Morrison have a conversation with his counterpart in PNG around this issue. Indeed it seemed to me that on this particular visit, sadly, the Prime Minister muddied the waters a little. That is something we need to get right because, while this relationship is not defined by that, it is a key issue and it is important that we get it right in future.

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