Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The Pacific region, of which Papua New Guinea is such a dynamic and vital part, is of great significance to Australia. As the Parliamentary Secretary for the Pacific Islands in the previous Labor government, I was fortunate to visit a number of Pacific Island nations and to work with those governments—in particular, Papua New Guinea. In 2013 I was pleased to open the 22-bed tuberculosis and isolation ward of the Daru General Hospital in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea. That was part of Australia's $33 million commitment to support PNG's approach to the detection and treatment of TB in the Western Province. In government, Labor was keenly engaged in strengthening ties with our neighbours through such initiatives and also in the provision of aid, including in times of natural disaster.

As countries have recognised common interests in protecting the Pacific region's resources and responding to the challenges of climate change, political and security links across the region have grown. Economic ties have expanded as well, as the countries of the region, foremost amongst them Papua New Guinea, have become fully integrated into the global economy. Papua New Guinea has dynamic gas resources that are currently being exploited and which provide big opportunities for the nation—not only to increase their living standards but also to increase the national income of the country.

Australia and PNG also share many ties—business, personal, family and, of course, sporting. Many Australians and Papua New Guineans now live in each other's countries. There is a long tradition of Papua New Guinean students choosing to study in Australia. Tourism and cultural exchanges between the two countries are also on the rise. These links help to deepen our already close relationships.

For many years, defence policies have identified the need for Australia to play a role in the Pacific. Australia has supplied patrol boats throughout the Pacific, playing vital roles in such initiatives as the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands.

Our aid footprint is also the largest in the Pacific, as is our diplomatic footprint. An important part of the partnership that Australia shares with Pacific island nations in work with those governments is through the Australian Federal Police. The Australian Federal Police have a great tradition of training and providing security deployments for Pacific island nations.

When I was in Papua New Guinea on my most recent trip, a few years ago, I was fortunate to visit the Department of Justice and Attorney General and to see firsthand the training that the AFP had been providing to police officers and to police prosecutors in prosecuting perpetrators of domestic violence. We all know that domestic violence is a massive issue in the Pacific, in particular in Papua New Guinea. The training that the AFP were providing for these prosecutors and police officers working to combat domestic violence was first class.

The Gillard government also initiated the Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development program, which was a great success in improving the living standards of women, access to education and access to healthcare services and, importantly, combating domestic violence. It is a program that I am deeply proud of as a member of the Labor Party.

As this motion points out, Papua New Guinea will be hosting APEC in 2018. It will be a massive challenge for this nation and without a doubt the biggest international focus on Papua New Guinea in its modern history. Papua New Guinea and Australia undertake through the Australian Federal Police a policing partnership, with 73 AFP personnel working in that nation, working with the Papua New Guinean government, in preparation for APEC, ensuring that security is refined, ensuring that people who participate in this conference will be safe. That is something that the Australian people should be very, very proud of.

With such growth in the Papua New Guinean economy comes the potential magnification of issues that plague PNG now. With so much change and opportunity, Australia should seek to build our lasting ties and commonalities to work with our neighbours to the north and ensure a prosperous, secure future for a shared region. I congratulate the AFP for the work that they are doing in working with Papua New Guineans to improve security and to keep the Papua New Guinean public safe. We should all be very, very proud of the work of the Australian Federal Police.

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