Jim Molan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

We are proud, as a nation, to say that, as a Commonwealth and as a federation, we are a young nation. Compared to our Indigenous peoples in the old world, yes, we are young. But still, as one of the oldest democracies in the world, Australia has assisted a number of nations, not just in our region but across the world, to either attain a form of democratic government or to sustain that form against internal problems and external aggression. Australia has a proud record of doing so, and one of the main agencies for doing so has been the Australian Defence Force under the direction of government.

One of our nearest neighbours is Papua New Guinea. Its road to independence has been long and hard, and the person we are here to commemorate today, Sir Michael Somare, played a major role in that process and has deep links to Australia. The eastern part of the island of New Guinea has been ruled by three external powers since 1884. Germany ruled the north of the island, beginning that year, calling it German New Guinea. The United Kingdom colonised the southern half in the same year, calling it British New Guinea. It transferred that portion to Australian administration in 1905. At the outbreak of World War I, Australia took the northern half of the island from Germany in the only truly independent military action ever conducted by Australia—that is, without being in a coalition with other nations. After World War I, Australia administered the northern and southern halves of the eastern side of the island separately until 1949.

World War II broke on PNG with violence and suffering. The size of the catastrophe for the local Melanesian people has never been measured, but the interruption to their lifestyle, their local subsistence economy and the introduction of disease and conscript labour could be measured perhaps by the fact that well over 200,000 Japanese, Australian and US soldiers died in the fighting in PNG. So the impact on the local people must have been immeasurable.

As we know, the two territories were combined after World War II into the territory of PNG. This was the nation into which Sir Michael Somare was born. We rise today to offer our condolences on the death of Sir Michael Somare, the first Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea when the nation gained independence from Australia in 1975.

Sir Michael grew up in East Sepik province, first attending school there during the Japanese occupation. Sir Michael became a teacher, teaching at several schools. He returned to Sogeri for further training from 1962 to 1963. He was interested in politics early in the development of his nation. He was co-founder of the pro-independence Pangu Party in 1967. In 1968 he became the first official opposition leader in the fledgling PNG parliament. In 1972, when PNG achieved self-government, Sir Michael became the first Chief Minister, and then PNG's first Prime Minister in 1975 when the nation achieved its independence.

It was at this stage that my life and those of PNG and, very briefly, Sir Michael Somare became mildly interconnected. My first posting on graduating from the Royal Military College in December 1971 was to Papua New Guinea. I was sent there, as a lieutenant infantry platoon commander in the 1st Battalion of the Pacific Islands Regiment, for three years—half in Port Moresby and half in Lae. My job was to command 30 PNG soldiers as one of the last Australian lieutenants to be sent to PNG, as all young lieutenants who arrived after I did were Papua New Guineans. Our function was not only to lead and train the PNG soldiers to provide security to the process of self-government and independence, backing up the police in internal security, but also to assist in building the nation of PNG. This last duty involved what was called 'patrolling', which was walking, carrying very heavy packs, often with local white kiaps or civilian administrators, through the hills and mountains, swamps and rivers of PNG—as my father and uncles did during World War II—for eight months of each of the three years I was posted to PNG. We were to tell the villagers along the route that there was a country called PNG and they were it. I might have made some small contribution to the stability of PNG during self-government and independence, but that country and the PNG people taught me much more about myself as a person, a leader and a soldier than I could ever remember, and for that I will always be grateful.

I met Sir Michael during that period on several occasions, none of which he would ever have remembered. Probably the strangest was when I played representative Australian Rules football for PNG against a visiting representative Australian Aboriginal team—all Victorian Football League, VFL, players—as ruck. We lined up in the centre of the main Port Moresby stadium to be personally greeted by Sir Michael. Apart from the umpire, I was the only white man on the field and stood considerably taller than most PNG players. Sir Michael, moving along the line of players, shaking all our hands, had to significantly lift his gaze and his handshake when he came to me. He may also have noticed that I played appallingly on that day and PNG lost.

I was lucky enough to see up close the remarkable change that this society of PNG has gone through from when I was a lieutenant on many visits back to PNG, until I went back as a general many years later. PNG has had many stumbles as a nation, as we all do as our nations develop, but in all those visits I was able to see how Sir Michael inspired and led his people. Apart from being a key figure in the independence negotiations and in the preparation and adoption of a constitution—the single most difficult task that one could ever imagine—Sir Michael was the first and longest-serving Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. He served either in government or as a senior statesman through political crises, natural disasters, economic trials, rebellion, conflict and constitutional challenges. He was honoured by being made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George by the Queen in the Birthday Honours List in 1990. He is often referred to by his people as Grand Chief or the father of the nation—titles earned through those three separate terms as Prime Minister, totalling 17 years leading the nation.

The nation of PNG, our closest neighbour and of the greatest importance to this country and the rapidly changing strategic environment facing our region, will miss the advice and leadership of Sir Michael Somare, as will many Australian leaders and many of my generation who served in PNG. I offer my condolences to the people of PNG. May Sir Michael Somare rest in peace, and may the nation he led, of which he was the father, prosper in his absence.