Australia has announced a range of new initiatives to help its closest neighbour improve domestic security and its justice system.
The agreement with Papua New Guinea, announced less than 24 hours after Chinese Premier Li Qiang left Australia, came a little more than a month after reports PNG was considering signing a policing deal with Beijing.
The deal signed in Port Moresby yesterday will boost support for fighting financial crime, improve access to justice for young and remote people, and make the country’s correctional facilities safer and more secure.
Li had barely left Perth when a huge Australian delegation including Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Defence Minister Richard Marles and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus travelled north in a diplomatic show of force.
“A stronger and safer Papua New Guinea is good for PNG. It is also good for Australia, and it is good for the region,” Wong said yesterday.
“This is the logic and the imperative of the work we’re doing together on your domestic security.”
PNG Foreign Minister Justin Tkachenko praised the countries’ efforts to work together to reinforce “Pacific unity” and help each other in times of crisis.
Tkachenko said no one stopped PNG from going ahead with a policing deal with China, which The Sydney Morning Herald last month reported Australian officials “pulled out all the stops” to halt.
“When it comes to China, they are a strong economic trade partner to Papua New Guinea, just like Australia,” the foreign minister said.
“And when it comes to security, we have signed a bilateral security agreement with Australia.
“They are our traditional security partner, a partner of choice, and we, as a government, saw it crystal clear that we will continue to support and work and partner with Australia now in the future for our security.”
