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Why you’re paying for PNG’s new NRL team · The Front

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: It's Thursday, December five. Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson says every
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: child should be taught using old fashioned methods proven to work.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: It comes after Naplan results surged in schools where direct
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: instruction also known as explicit teaching, was embraced. Economic growth
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: has hit the skids. It's a lowest rate in history
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: after seven consecutive quarters where we've all felt the pinch.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Now the government is spending through the roof in the
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: bid to avoid a recession. Those stories alive right now
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: at the Australian dot com dou The NRL is getting
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: a new team and it'll be funded by Australian taxpayers.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: The addition of a Papia New Guinean footy team is
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: part of the government's diplomatic endeavors in the Pacific. But
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: is it enough to curb China's influence. That's today's story
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: in Papua New Guinea, where tribal tensions run hot and
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: occasionally turn into Maschetti powered bloodshed. There's one thing everybody
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: agrees on.
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  Speaker 2: Kicks a cane, Marie are coming through.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Oh what a tie.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Rugby league is the best. Have tried to pause this
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: way Olmer as he got that boat down.
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  Speaker 3: That's a big question mark and I think this is
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: gonna be a try cele question that referee says it's through.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: There's an annual festival of the boot the PNG Prime
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Minister's thirteen versus an Australian PM side. That's a bit
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: like the Melbourne Cup in Australia. Compulsory viewing.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: You really haven't seen anything until you've seen PNG. During
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: a State of Origin game, the whole place is just
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  Speaker 2: glued to their TV screens.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Most locals support Queensland and the Morons, but there are
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: enough Blues fans to keep things interesting.
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  Speaker 2: It can actually get quite hairy after the games, and
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: violence and riots and that type of thing can break out.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: They really did give Australian fans a run for their money.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: PAPOR New Guinea has a side in the Queensland Rugby
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  Speaker 1: League comp It's famous for fast, aggressive footy, but for
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: nearly two decades P and G's governments have been campaigning
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: for the country to have its own team in the
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: National Rugby League. Now it's happening, and it's Australian taxpayers
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: footing the bill. Ben Packham is the Australian's Foreign Affairs
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: and Defense correspondent. He's usually on the front talking about
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  Speaker 1: matters of state, and it turns out this is a
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: matter of state.
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  Speaker 2: The government supporting this bid for a couple of reasons. Firstly,
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: it wants to bring the nameations closer together through sport.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: P ANDNG is rugby league mad and this is something
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  Speaker 2: that Australia can do for P and G that no
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  Speaker 2: other country can do. Now under the surface, there's also
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: another important reason, and that is China. The Australian government is,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: as Pennywong has said, in a constant state of competition
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: with China across the Pacific, and we really need to
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: make sure that China does not increase its influence and
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  Speaker 2: its footprint in Pacific nations, but particularly in Papua New Guinea,
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: which is our closest neighbor.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: China is unashamedly seeking influence in the Pacific and is
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: already a major trading partner of most of Australia's closest neighbors,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: as well as the biggest customer for minerals and commodities
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  Speaker 1: from timber to fish, China's next goal is to forge security,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: military and policing arrangements across the region and in Papua
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: New Guinea's Prime Minister James, they found a leader who
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: says he's willing to talk to any nation that will
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  Speaker 1: help his people. Marape doesn't want aid handouts. He wants
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  Speaker 1: development that will make Papua New Guinea, as he says,
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  Speaker 1: the world's richest Black Christian nation.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: When it comes to the electricity network of our closest neighbor,
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: Australia has been left in the dark.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: Papa New Guinea has revealed it had secret early talks
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  Speaker 1: with China on security and policing that's sent Australia scrambling
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  Speaker 1: to be at the table.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: Australia promising two hundred million dollars to help bolster p
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: Andng's judiciary and massively scale up its police force, which
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: is grappling with escalating tribal violence.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Prime Minister Albanezi on the Kakoda Track alongside the PNG
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  Speaker 1: Prime Minister, we are the security partner of choice for
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  Speaker 1: Papa in your Guinea.
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  Speaker 3: We're family.
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  Speaker 1: I am very deeply to accorded this royal privilege. Being
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: the first Prime minis of my country to address the
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Australian Parliament.
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  Speaker 2: The negotiations for this agreement have been going for many
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: months and Australia has been working with P and G
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: on the nuts and bolts of how it will all work,
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: as well as the NRL on the financials of how
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: this team will be able to sustain itself on grassroots
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: game development and so forth. But the Australian government has
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  Speaker 2: also suggested that there is a security element to this agreement.
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  Speaker 2: Now we've seen the government do some interesting deals around
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  Speaker 2: the region, particularly with Tavaru. The government's Falow Pillar Union
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: agreement with Tavaru offers permanent visas and migration pathway for
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  Speaker 2: Tavaruans in return for a veto over Tavaru's future security
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  Speaker 2: agreement and so basically its sidelines China. Now, the Austraian
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: government's also working on a similar agreement with Nauru, which
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: it hopes to finalize in coming weeks. The P and
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: G NRL deal is another opportunity to put Australia's interests
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  Speaker 2: front and center in the Pacific, and the Australian government
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  Speaker 2: has intimated that yes, there are security aspects to this agreement,
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  Speaker 2: but PNG's foreign Minister Justin Chichenko has told The Australian
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: that in fact, Australia did not insist on a security
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  Speaker 2: guarantee in the final agreement that has been struck here.
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  Speaker 2: He says that yes, this was discussed at the highest levels,
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  Speaker 2: but ultimately it's totally irrelevant to what they're trying to
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: achieve and they want to keep geopolitics out of this. Now.
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  Speaker 2: Australia does have a bi lateral security agreement with Papua
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  Speaker 2: New Guinea, which does include a commitment to consult on
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  Speaker 2: any other security tie ups that it might wish to do.
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  Speaker 2: But in terms of this NRL deal, according to the
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: p and G Foreign Minister, there is no explicit security
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: right of veto for Australia.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: It's a really interesting choice, isn't it. Ben. Presumably Australia
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  Speaker 1: could have chosen to come in quite hard to these
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: negotiations and say, look, we will give you this thing
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: that we know your people want an NURL team, but
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: there's a price to pay, and this is it. If
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: Australia has chosen not to take that path and is
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: going about it a little bit more softly, what do
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: you think that would say about Australia's choices.
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  Speaker 2: Well, they do call this sort of stuff soft diplomacy,
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  Speaker 2: so a more measured approach is probably warranted. Pat Conroy,
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  Speaker 2: the Australia's Minister for the Pacific, has done a great
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  Speaker 2: job here in bringing things to where we are, to
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  Speaker 2: the point that this agreement is going to be signed.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: The NRL's also been central to this in coming to
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  Speaker 2: the party. All will be revealed next week in terms
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: of the agreement, but as far as we know at
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: this stage, and according to Papua New Guinea, there are
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: no explicit guarantees around security.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Coming up. The gritty details of just how a taxpayer
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: funded footy team will work rugby league can be pretty wild.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Camera Monster will go to rehab tomorrow facing one hundred
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: and thirty.
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: I want all the kids out there tonight and my
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: behavior was not okay.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: This is absolutely the last thing the NRL needed.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: Sex scandal.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: NROL player Latrelle Mitchell has been issued with a breach
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: notice days after a photo leaked online on a hotel
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: room coffee table flashing a small ziploc bag full of
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: white powder. Then we know from the amount of time
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: NURL stars spending the news that managing an NROL team
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  Speaker 1: is incredibly difficult. How is it going to work in practice?
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  Speaker 2: There's been quite a bit of progress on the sort
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: of nuts and bolts of the issue, and just last
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: week PNG are announced in its budget that players for
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: this new franchise will have tax free status for the
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: next decade, so that will assist in attracting Australian and
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: other international players to the team. And you know what,
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: Moresby isn't the safest place. I think is probably putting
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: it mildly. They do have some domestic security issues and
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: there will be a secure apartment complex built for the
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: players and their family members so that they can live
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  Speaker 2: in the PNG capital without sort of fear of being
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  Speaker 2: the victims of crime or violence that sadly all too
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: common in the country.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Since China began flexing its muscle in the Pacific and
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  Speaker 1: actively courting our direct neighbors, Australia has done a number
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  Speaker 1: of things to try to develop a good feeling really
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: among the people of the Pacific about Australia. One of
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: those is the Pacific Australia Labor Mobility Scheme, where workers
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: come from the islands to work in Australia and are
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: able to send remittances back to their families, often being
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: able to make a huge amount of money, but they
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't make in a lifetime at home from a few
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: years of work here in Australia. What do you think
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: about those people to people kind of links, Ben, It
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  Speaker 1: seems like the government's really kind of double down on
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  Speaker 1: that as its big idea. Do you think it's the
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: right idea.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: I think it's very important. These sorts of things are
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  Speaker 2: very important. The Pacific Area Labor Mobility Scheme has been
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: very successful in building those ties between Australia and Pacific countries.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: The government's also looking at potentially recruiting Pacific people into
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: the Australian Defense Force. That's not quite there yet, but
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  Speaker 2: that would also serve to bring Australia closer to its
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: specific neighbors. These are all sorts of things which China's
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  Speaker 2: not in a position to do. They really underscore the
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  Speaker 2: historic ties that Australia has with the region. We share history,
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  Speaker 2: we share a common language, we enjoy the same sports,
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  Speaker 2: and leveraging off those sorts of common interests and common
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  Speaker 2: values is really a no brainer when it comes to diplomacy.
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  Speaker 1: Ben Packham is The Australian's Foreign affairs and defense correspondent.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: You can read his exclusive interview with P andg's foreign
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  Speaker 1: minister right now at the Australian dot com dot au