Australia has signed a security pact with its nearest neighbor, Papua New Guinea (PNG), strengthening Canberra’s role as the region’s preferred security partner.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape signed the agreement in mid-December 2024. Marape said his government initiated the deal, which respects both nations’ sovereignty and comes seven months after PNG also signed a security agreement with the United States.
“Our major foreign policy as friends to all, enemies to none remains,” Marape said.
“This is a comprehensive and a historical agreement,” Albanese said. “It will make it easier for Australia to help PNG address its internal security needs and for Australia and Papua New Guinea to support each other’s security and the [region’s] stability.”
With 10 million people, PNG is the most populous South Pacific nation after Australia, which has 26 million residents.
PNG is near the Solomon Islands, which sparked regional concern by signing a secretive security pact with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 2022. That agreement raised fears of the PRC establishing a naval base there.
Beijing later failed to persuade 10 Pacific island nations, including PNG, to sign a sweeping security deal ranging from policing to fisheries development.
Mihai Sora, a Papua New Guinea expert at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based think tank, said the Australia-PNG pact cements Canberra’s position as a primary security partner in the region. “For Australia, it’s very much about bedding down the regional security order. Projecting to other Pacific countries that Australia is a trusted security partner,” Sora said.
“The primary security dividend for Papua New Guinea will be addressing internal security concerns,” Sora added.
PNG wants to increase its police force from 6,000 officers to 26,000. Australia has agreed to support PNG’s internal security in policing, courts and prisons, including operation of a new police training center in PNG’s capital, Port Moresby, which will be open to recruits from other Pacific nations.
