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

I commend this proposed resolution. It affords an opportunity too rare, I think, to speak about both Papua New Guinea and our relationship with PNG and indeed the Pacific. The proposed resolution speaks of congratulating the role of the Federal Police in PNG, and I would certainly add my congratulations to that. It speaks about an increase in numbers of the Federal Police being provided to PNG in the lead-up to APEC, which will be a huge moment in the history of PNG next year. Indeed, as I understand it—and I hope to go to PNG in a couple of months time—the holding of APEC next year is transforming Port Moresby and is really a huge development moment for PNG.

It is right to say that Australia's actions in the Pacific over a long period of time and in PNG have been very significant. It is, for example, the largest Defence Cooperation Program that we have. Our development assistance relationship with PNG has at times been the largest that we have had. It has always been consistently in the top two or three. One of our largest missions in the world is our diplomatic mission that is in PNG. We have a significant presence in Papua New Guinea. It reflects a history that we have with PNG, and it also reflects the fact that PNG matters. PNG deeply matters. It is a country which is 50 per cent bigger than New Zealand. It is right there, in the sense that there are people, each and every day, who commute from PNG across the Torres Strait to work in Australia under a unique treaty which exists between the two countries and which allows that movement of people to go to work each and every day.

There are a whole lot of issues that face PNG that are relevant to us. There are law and order issues in PNG, which the motion alludes to, but there are also issues in relation to health. Making sure that we are being the best friend that we can be in providing assistance to PNG is critically important for Australia. It is also important to understand that PNG has choices. PNG has relationships with other countries in the world, which it is perfectly entitled to have. There is no inevitability or exclusivity about the relationship that Australia has with PNG. We cannot take it for granted. We need to be working at it. PNG has choices, and it is a remarkable country. It is quite simply the most exotic place I have ever been. It is a country where the multitude of languages and cultures mean that life in PNG is lived in a way that it is not live anywhere else in the world. It is colourful, it is stunning, it is beautiful, and more Australians should understand it.

You can extrapolate those comments in terms of the work Australia does within PNG and the remarkable nature of PNG and the Pacific more generally. It is an incredible part of the world, where Australia looms large. And from the perspective of those in those regions, we dominate their sense of how the world is seen. We have a huge role to play, and a huge leadership role to play, within that part of the world. But it does not have, in my view, the place in our discourse in this country that it should. This is why I think this motion is quite refreshing, because it is an exception to the kinds of discussions we tend to have when we talk about foreign policy and we talk about Australia's place in the world. That is something we need to change. We deeply need to change it.

It is not that we should have a view of the Pacific where we get to impose our ideas on that part of the world. That is not it at all. We need to have a respect for the people of the Pacific, which we do, and a respect for their sovereignty. But we must have ideas about the future of the Pacific and we must be in the business of articulating them. There is an absolute expectation from those living in the Pacific that we lead, and this is a critical point that we need to understand. And it is not just those who live in the Pacific—and this is where I want to finish; the rest of the world sees our role in the Pacific as our global calling card. For good or ill, how we engage with the Pacific is how we are judged and, actually, that is fair enough. So the way in which we operate in the Pacific and in PNG is not just a matter of how we deal there; it is about our standing globally. It is really important that it has the emphasis it deserves.

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