Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share 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.

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