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

I am pleased to make a contribution to this motion regarding Papua New Guinea, and I acknowledge the long relationship that the member for Ryan has had with the people of Papua New Guinea and the government. PNG is our closest international neighbour, and a very important relationship for the people of Australia and our government. There is an enduring fondness between the people of Australia and Papua New Guinea. Many Australian nationals work and live in Papua New Guinea, and similarly many Papua New Guineans live and work in Australia. We also share a wonderful fondness for the game of rugby league, and it is great to see the Kumuls, the Papua New Guinean team, doing so well in the Q Cup.

The relationship between Papua New Guinea and Australia does require careful consideration and nurturing, and I am pleased to see that the Liberal-National party's relationship with Papua New Guinea is improving because there has been a rocky relationship between the government of Papua New Guinea and the then opposition leader and now Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Papua New Guinean politicians are not ones for mincing words. In the wake of Prime Minister Abbott's meeting with Peter O'Neill, the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, after the signing of the regional resettlement arrangements, it was said that Peter O'Neill made it clear to the Australian media that he did not appreciate his words being misrepresented by Mr Abbott. Thankfully since that time relations appear to have improved, and it is very important that the Australian government has a strong relationship with Papua New Guinea.

In recent times Papua New Guinea has been strategically very important to Australia in its approach to tackling people smuggling. The relationship with the Papua New Guinean government relating to Manus Island and the regional resettlement arrangement is a very important part of the architecture of the scheme to deter people-smuggling of asylum seekers to Australia. Unfortunately, since the election of the Abbott government enough attention has not been paid to processing asylum seekers on Manus Island, and that has been identified by the Cornell report—that is, there was a lack of progress in application processing that led to the disastrous events on 16 to 18 February.

Papua New Guinea has a long way to go in its development, and analysis of the Millennium Development Goals clearly indicates that unfortunately Papua New Guinea has much to do in terms of progress, particularly around poverty, infant mortality, education and women. Unfortunately, only 50 per cent of women in Papua New Guinea have a basic level of literacy. Only 40 per cent of the population have access to clean, potable drinking water. Gender-based violence is a very big issue in Papua New Guinea, and that was part of the reason behind Prime Minister Gillard establishing the Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development Program. In health care there are a number of challenges associated with HIV-AIDS. Tuberculosis, a preventable disease in most developed democracies, is still a big issue in Papua New Guinea. I travelled to Daru in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea as the Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs to open a brand new tuberculosis clinic funded by AusAID and providing important ambulatory services up the Fly River to tackle what is a preventable disease in that particular region.

Papua New Guinea also presents enormous opportunity for its people and for our region. The resources projects that are beginning to come online, most notably ExxonMobil's $20 billion LNG project in the Highlands, are beginning to reap benefits for Papua New Guinea. But what is important in this project is that the economic benefits of that project to flow to the ordinary citizens of Papua New Guinea. In that respect, Australia was quite prompt in saying to Papua New Guinea that they need to look to put in place a sovereign wealth fund established in accordance with the Santiago principles of best practice to ensure that the benefits of economic development in Papua New Guinea benefit the people who need it most. It is an important relationship, it is an enduring relationship and it is one that I am pleased to be involved in.

Debate adjourned.

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