Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A move the motion relating to Papua New Guinea in the terms in which it appears on the Notice Paper. Modern Papua New Guinea is a proud and vibrant nation of 7.3 million people. It is a nation of immense natural beauty, of rich cultural heritage and diversity and of, as yet, untapped potential. Forty years on from independence, Papua New Guinea retains the optimism and enthusiasm of a young nation; a nation with its best years still to come. Its people are bound by a common bond, a fierce pride in their nation and deep and abiding ties to the clan, village and province—bonds that are sometimes at odds. The passionate nature of the people of Papua New Guinea is at one-time an enormous strength, but also a challenge.

Our two nations will forever be linked by our shared past. During the Second World War we fought side by side to drive back the invading Japanese forces in brutally harsh conditions on the Kokoda Track. In doing so, we forged a bond that endures and grows with every passing year. Often spoken about, but never forgotten, this bond lies at the heart of our relationship. Papua New Guinea is our nearest neighbour and a trusted ally and close friend.

PNG faces all the challenges of a developing country and yet has achieved so much. In recent times, it is worth noting the remarkable spread of mobile telephony and increasing access to the internet. The successful resolution of the Bougainville conflict stands as an exemplar to the world. Implementation of that peace agreement is just as important as the agreement itself. The remarkable success of the South Pacific Games stands out as an example of what can be achieved by a small but determined nation. Of enduring value is the independence of the judiciary under a succession of capable chief justices and today, under Sir Salinger, the courts play an essential role in Papua New Guinea's growing democracy.

Of course there are challenges; that is the nature of the developing world. It is also where Australia can play a role. Our challenge in this former colony is to provide the support and assistance to help Papua New Guinea grow without imposing our views over the policies of the elected government. There will be times when we disagree, but Papua New Guinea's future depends upon building strong and effective democratic government and effective public service that truly reflects the wishes of the nation. Any nation can hand out money to the developing world, but the strength of our relationship with Papua New Guinea is built upon bonds—bonds developed through common history, though the pain and trauma of war and bonds through the brotherhood of friendship. However, the key to Papua New Guinea's continued growth and development is to address the challenges that remain. A strong, stable and prosperous Papua New Guinea is in Australia's national interest. The people of PNG are seeing the benefits of a refocusing of Australian foreign aid to our near neighbours in the Indo-Pacific region under the leadership of foreign minister Julie Bishop. Australian aid is supporting improvements in the areas of health and education, law and order, transport, gender and governance.

But the relationship between our two nations goes well beyond government. Among the Australian population, there is genuine goodwill towards the people of Papua New Guinea and organisations willing to lend a hand. I am proud to call Papua New Guinea a friend. I enjoy my many friendships with Papua New Guineans. I admire their rich diversity and wonderful people.

To Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, I offer my congratulations to Papua New Guinea on a remarkable 40 years. The 40th anniversary of independence is a time for Papua New Guineans to celebrate the achievements of their nation and to look forward with hope and optimism to the years ahead. For Australians, it is a time to recognise our close government-to-government and people-to-people ties and to reaffirm our commitment to support Papua New Guinea to reach its immense and untapped potential. I pay tribute to their high commissioner, Charles Lepani, who does such a wonderful job representing Papua New Guinea in Canberra.

With our close bonds forged by history and our ongoing commitment to development, I have no doubt that our two great nations will continue to work together for mutual growth and prosperity in the years and decades ahead. Papua New Guinea, celebrate your 40 years. You deserve to.

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for this motion?

Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am happy to second the motion, Deputy Speaker. I too rise to congratulate the people of Papua New Guinea on the 40th anniversary of their nation's independence. Papua New Guinea is our nearest neighbour. Although it is a relatively young nation on the international stage, the bonds between Australia and PNG stretch back many centuries—indeed many thousands of years. Anthropologists believe that our nation was first settled by people that had travelled to Australia over the land bridge that existed between Australia and PNG 50,000 years ago. PNG was present at the birth of our nation geographically, and we were present at the birth of the nation of PNG on the international stage.

Today, Australia and PNG are separated by only 3.7 kilometres of water at the nearest point. As a result, both nations will also always have a strong shared interest in each other's prospects. It is not just a shared interest in the exploits of Johnathan Thurston, Greg Inglis and the mighty Melbourne Storm; Australia's geographic connection with PNG has been reinforced by bonds forged in times of war. During the Second World War, Australians and Papuans fought alongside each other in the most desperate of circumstances—resisting an aggressive invasion from the north. The stories of this joint Australian-Papuan resistance live on in the collective memory of many Australians. Passed on from one generation to another, there is a bond of friendship that will last for some time.

One story that Australians hold particular reverence for is, of course, of the four months that Australians and Papuans spent protecting the most direct route through the mountains between Gona and the capital, Port Moresby—the Kokoda Track. More than 600 Australians were killed during those months, and over 1½ thousand were wounded, making it one of the most significant battles in Australian military history. During that conflict, Australian soldiers were assisted by sympathetic locals who aided the war effort, particularly when the injured and sick needed assistance in returning to aid stations and barracks. Close relations grew between the Australians and the locals, who were affectionately referred to as the 'Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels'. The wartime photo of an injured Australian soldier, Private George 'Dick' Whittington, being guided away from the battlefield by Raphael Oimbari has become an iconic image from that conflict, as well as an iconic representation of the people-to-people connections between our countries. The battle along the Kokoda Track has become one of the stories that have helped Australia to define our national identity—a story that will always remain inextricably connected to PNG and its people.

Today, both Australia and PNG retain a strong interest in each other's progress. Government relations are formally underpinned by the Joint Declaration for a New Papua New Guinea-Australia Partnership, but our relationship extends much deeper than official agreements. Our political leaders meet annually to promote trade and collaboration on defence agreements, climate change, development targets and joint management of our shared commons, such as the oceans and fisheries to Australia's north. Our economic ties are also growing, with two-way trade between our countries worth $6.8 billion in 2013-14. Australia has also welcomed many Papua New Guineans to Australia to attend universities, including the children of the current Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Peter O'Neill. Bringing the best and brightest to Australian universities to study has increased our people-to-people relationships. We should reciprocate and ensure that young Australians are given the opportunity to live and study in PNG.

Australia also continues to partner with PNG to deliver extensive development assistance in that nation. I emphasise 'to partner'. Australia provides more development assistance to PNG than any other country—assistance that, thankfully, has not experienced the kinds of cuts that we have seen elsewhere in Australia's foreign assistance programs in recent years.

Last month I travelled to PNG with Save the Children on a delegation with other MPs and senators to see what our development assistance programs are achieving on the ground. Australian aid works—in 2013-14 alone we established 14 family and sexual violence units, trained 4,315 teachers and financed 600,000 children to attend primary school in PNG. We strengthened health and HIV-AIDS services which enabled 24,848 babies to be delivered under supervision of skilled staff, immunised 54,393 children against measles and other diseases, and maintained over 2,000 kilometres of PNG's most economically important roads in the past. However, PNG continues to need Australian assistance—38 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line and it is estimated that the growth of approximately 40 per cent of children is stunted.

PNG has confronted major challenges in achieving the targets set out in the Millennium Development Goals. As we speak, the country is experiencing the further challenge of a devastating drought resulting from the intensification of unusual weather patterns continuing. Problems stemming from the lack of water are amplified by overnight frosts that are destroying what is left of subsistence farm crops and food gardens. With almost 85 per cent of the population living in rural areas and many relying on subsistence farming, these extreme weather conditions are having crippling effects. According to PNG's weather service, these conditions are likely to last through 2016.

PNG is facing challenges and, like any nation in difficult times, we owe them our attention and our support. Our relationship with our closest neighbour will only remain strong while we continue to value it and work on it. I would like to reaffirm Australia's commitment to our closest neighbour and our region, and our commitment to working together to find collective solutions to our shared problems. I thank the people of Papua New Guinea for their hospitality and congratulate them on the 40th anniversary of their independence.

Louise Markus (Macquarie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I have pleasure in speaking about a country that is very close and that is very dear to my heart. Papua New Guinea is our nearest neighbour and a dear friend to Australia. Having been married for nearly 27 years to a man who was born in Papua New Guinea, I have enjoyed the camaraderie and relationship I have with his family and the capacity that I have as a federal member to build relationships with many people who are leaders in Papua New Guinea.

On the 16 September, PNG celebrated the 40th anniversary of its independence. Thousands of people were in attendance for the official ceremony which was held on Independence Hill in Port Moresby. Australia was pleased to celebrate Independence Day celebrations in PNG together with them, and RAAF aircraft participated in a PNG fly-past. The celebration was marked with an additional commitment of $25 million over four years from the Australian government to upgrade the National Museum and Art Gallery. We will also provide $5 million annually over five years for the preservation of the Kokoda Track region. These projects showcase PNG's identity but also our deep connection to PNG and our cultural history. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of independence is a huge milestone, and I want to acknowledge and congratulate the government and the people of PNG for the progress they have made in the decades since achieving independence.

Australia and PNG have a special relationship built on a shared history and enduring people-to-people links. We share a border, economic interests and common legal frameworks. Australian business investment in PNG is worth nearly $19 billion, with over 5,000 Australian companies doing business there. It is very encouraging to see the economic performance of PNG driven by high international prices for exports, particularly agriculture. The trade between Australia and PNG is also valued by both countries, with two-way merchandise worth $5.9 billion and total trade worth $6.8 billion in 2013-14. This deep and diverse relationship that we have with PNG is recognised and apparent with our leaders and ministers, as they have close and regular contact. The Minister for International Development and the Pacific, the Hon. Steven Ciobo MP, travelled to PNG in early October.

As I mentioned earlier, there is also a close historical association between Australian and PNG, with over 10,000 Australian there at any one time and approximately the same number of PNG nationals in Australia. Australia is also supporting more students, particularly girls, to enrol in and complete education. Promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls is critical to PNG's development. From a partnership point of view, the New Colombo Plan Scholarship program is an example of such opportunities. This is a signature initiative of the Australian government which aims to lift knowledge of our Indo-Pacific region by supporting Australian undergraduates to study in the region.

Women's participation is critical, particularly in their parliament. During the June 2012 elections, 135 women candidates ran out of approximately 3,500 candidates in total. 3 women candidates were successful in becoming new members of the house: the Hon. Delilah Gore, the Hon. Loujaya Toni and the Hon. Julie Soso.

An article 'Improving women's participation in PNG politics: learning from recent success' says:

According to Soso, external support from the UNDP's Practice Parliament training and the Centre for Democratic Institutions' inaugural PNG Women Candidates Training Strategy also helped her electoral prospects. Both training programs were organised by the PNG Office for the Development of Women, with the WCT funded through the Australian Aid Program.

It also is important to note that it took Soso a long time to overcome some of these challenges. She ran unsuccessfully as a candidate three times before she was successful in 2012.

While there are still many challenges that PNG faces in the way of political stability and improving the standard of public health and education, there is a bright future ahead. With over 852 languages and that many tribal groups, it is indeed a success story that Papua New Guinea has been able to successfully conduct an enduring democracy. With 80 per cent of the population on traditional lands, they have many challenges ahead, and I wish them every success as they pursue a future.

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Macquarie.

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

It is with delight that rise this morning to add my voice to the motion of the member for Ryan and, in doing so, acknowledge both her and the member for Macquarie's longstanding commitment to Papua New Guinea and Australia's relationship with that really important country. I enjoy working with the member for Ryan and the Parliamentary Friends of Papua New Guinea. I would also like to acknowledge the member for Gellibrand, who has just gone to PNG for the first time. I know it will not be his last.

We are acknowledging an event which occurred 40 years ago: the independence of Papua New Guinea—one of two countries to gain their independence from Australia, along with the Republic of Nauru. At that time, it was a ceremony which was undertaken between the first Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Sir Michael Somare, and as it turned out, a near-departing Prime Minister of Australia, Gough Whitlam—both giants of their respective political landscapes, befitting a huge moment not only in the life of PNG but also in the life of Australia. It was a moment that was supported in a bipartisan way across this parliament then, as it is now, which again is manifested in the fact that Prime Ministers Whitlam, Hawke and Fraser were all awarded Honorary Grand Commanders of the Grand Companion of the Order of Logohu, which entitles them to be called Grand Chief.

We meet 40 years after PNG became independent and note the extraordinary achievements that country has undertaken since then. Port Moresby today is an entirely different place to what it was then, befitting the extraordinary economic growth that we have particularly seen in PNG over the last decade. As a result of that, we have seen the reliance of PNG on Australia aid increasingly decline as a percentage of their revenue to the point where trade with Australia as a source of revenue far exceeds aid from Australia, which I think is a very significant moment in the development of Papua New Guinea.

It is a country which has, from its outset, conducted democratic elections and continues to do so. Governments change and MPs change peacefully by an expression of the will of the people—no small achievement indeed for a developing country for whom democracy was a very different cultural concept, given the millennia of indigenous culture that the people in PNG had previously experienced.

I also want to mention the state of tertiary education: there are now six universities in PNG today compared to only two that existed at the time of independence. Many challenges remain for PNG—social indicators in health, in education, in the participation of women in society and politics and business: all of those could of course be much better. Corruption continues to be an issue.

But these are challenges which PNG is meeting, and I think dwelling on them is, in a sense, a matter for another day, because today is about celebrating how far PNG has come and also noting the significance of the relationship between our two countries. This is our nearest neighbour. It is a country of more than seven million people—50 per cent bigger than New Zealand. It is a country which has enormous Australian history as a part of it—it is the custodian of the Kokoda Track and the Bomana War Cemetery, which is the largest war cemetery of Australians anywhere in the world. As I said, it is one of two countries which gained independence from us. It remains a significant—I think the most significant—development assistance partner we have. It houses one of our largest overseas missions in the world. It is a critical part of our national security framework.

Whichever way you cut it, this is a critical relationship to this country, and, in my view, one which is often understated within discussions in this place and within the media. I find it concerning—'depressing' is probably a better word—that we still see morning TV going into Port Moresby but that morning TV, which at this point in time is the ABC breakfast show, not telling us what the weather is on any given day in Port Moresby, even though that is not a particularly difficult task given that it is the same pretty much every day. It would be good if they did that—to show respect to an audience which watches them. It is a relationship that we need to take more seriously, but we are incredibly lucky to have this country as our neighbour. Life in PNG is simply led there in a way it is not lived anywhere else. (Time expired)

Debate adjourned.