{"id":148684,"date":"2025-09-17T01:43:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T01:43:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/148684\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T01:43:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T01:43:06","slug":"anthony-albanese-fails-to-seal-defence-treaty-between-australia-and-png-australian-foreign-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/148684\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Albanese fails to seal defence treaty between Australia and PNG | Australian foreign policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthony Albanese\u2019s strategy of pushing back against China in the Pacific has been dealt another blow, with a major defence treaty<\/a> with Papua New Guinea delayed amid concerns about sovereignty.<\/p>\n

A deal was expected with the former Australian colony this week but the prime minister is set to leave Port Moresby without signing the so-called Pukpuk mutual defence treaty with his counterpart, James Marape<\/a>, on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Albanese downplayed the delay earlier this week, suggesting cabinet deliberations had been held up due to commemorations of PNG\u2019s independence. Instead the two governments signed a joint communique and pledged to continue negotiations on the wider defence pact.<\/p>\n

It is the second such delay in as many weeks for Albanese.<\/p>\n

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Before this month\u2019s Pacific Islands Forum, Vanuatu\u2019s government paused the signing of a joint agreement with Australia, saying more work was needed<\/a> on the question of critical minerals funding from China.<\/p>\n

The PNG deal is expected to lock the two countries into joint defence arrangements in the event of a military attack, and to allow citizens of both countries to serve in the defence forces of the other.<\/p>\n

Joint training exercises, better technical interoperability and new cooperation on cybersecurity preparedness are all envisaged.<\/p>\n

Albanese has pushed a deal for PNG to enter the NRL in 2028<\/a>, part of the $600m agreement which has served as a major diplomatic sweetener. He stressed there was no delay to the team entering the competition.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a press conference in Port Moresby, Albanese said the text of the defence agreement had been confirmed but both governments had more work to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will go through our respective cabinet processes and expect to finalise the signing of the treaty, the words of which have been agreed, in coming weeks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is very positive, very positive. There is no downside in this whatsoever. This is all upside for Australia and upside for Papua New Guinea<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marape said PNG\u2019s defence capability was not sufficient to defend the country and its people, making shared security settings with Australia necessary.<\/p>\n

He stressed that the new treaty was PNG\u2019s proposal, not Australia\u2019s, and that it would not affect PNG\u2019s sovereignty.<\/p>\n

\u201cA security treaty for Papua New Guinea would be the highest, in terms of secure relations we have given to any country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe threats that face us are exposed to Australia. Threats that face Australia are exposed to Papua New Guinea.\u201d<\/p>\n

PNG\u2019s foreign minister, Justin Tkatchenko, called the deal \u201ca work in progress\u201d, indicating it was yet to be signed off by cabinet. Ministers are due to meet again next week.<\/p>\n

The Liberal senator Jane Hume called the delay \u201ca real failure for the PM\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important that these deals are approached appropriately and with a guarantee that they will actually come through,\u201d she told Sky.<\/p>\n

The Nakamal agreement with Vanuatu had been expected to be signed earlier this month. That deal would see Australia spend up to $500m over a decade on climate change resilience, security services and the economy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Labor believes both agreements can still be signed in coming months.<\/p>\n

China has used infrastructure funding and loan agreements to build influence with Pacific Island countries, undercutting Australia\u2019s ties with the region and testing the country\u2019s diplomatic reach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anthony Albanese\u2019s strategy of pushing back against China in the Pacific has been dealt another blow, with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-148684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}