‘Better than a veto’: NRL soft power play packs a secret punch on China

The setting of the press conference told the story. No footballs were thrown, no cheerleaders waved pom poms. The leaders, wearing suits and ties, stood beside each other at the formal, rather bland, Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices in Sydney. Not at one of the city’s top rugby league stadiums, as might have been expected. Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys hovered at the side of the podium, as if on the interchange bench rather than the field. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Papua New Guinea counterpart James Marape were the stars of the show as they announced a PNG team would enter the NRL in 2028.

The decision to eschew any kind of razzmatazz was a deliberate one by Albanese and his team. The message to Australians watching at home: this is a serious foreign policy initiative, not a matter of fun and games. The government is aware that, with many voters struggling to pay their mortgage or rent, many Australians could easily blanch at the idea of handing over $600 million over 10 years to set up a new rugby league team in the Pacific.

PNG Prime Minister James Marape and Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese announcing the PNG NRL team … as Peter V’landys waits in the wings.Credit: Kate Geraghty

“This isn’t about sport; this is about safety and security,” Pacific Minister Pat Conroy told talkback radio in Perth, where listener anger was apparently running hot against the deal.

The strategic rationale for the deal is clear. PNG is easily the biggest nation in the Pacific and Australia’s closest neighbour. It’s in our national interest to stop it from falling under China’s spell, as the Solomon Islands did just two years ago.

In the days leading up to the announcement, the foreign policy community was abuzz about whether PNG’s entry to the competition would be paired with a promise not to enter into any security or policing pacts with nations such as China. Australian government sources insisted there were “explicit” security measures attached to the league announcement. By contrast, PNG’s Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko said that “China has nothing to do with this at all” and Marape claimed the “rugby league team comes on its own”.

Now we know how the real story. Sort of. As well as the NRL franchise agreement, Albanese and Marape have signed a separate “shared strategic trust” document. Reflecting the sensitive nature of the pact, its precise terms are confidential and there are no plans to make the document public. Hardly a triumph of transparency.

PNG’s leaders are understandably not enthused about highlighting the security side of the league deal. They are seeking deeper economic ties with China as a way to lift their citizens out of poverty and don’t want to offend Beijing.

Senior Australian government sources, however, say the document contains a clear assurance that PNG will only partner with Australia and other Pacific nations on security matters. A policing deal between PNG and Beijing – like one Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pushed for during an April visit to Port Moresby – would be out of bounds, they say. So would a Chinese military presence in PNG.

“This is stronger than a veto,” a government insider says, arguing the PNG agreement packs more of a punch than the treaties struck with Tuvalu last year and Nauru earlier this week. Under those pacts, Australia has the right to prevent Tuvalu or Nauru from entering into security arrangements with third parties such as China if it does not approve.

Leaving aside the secretive side deal on security, the NRL agreement itself contains not just sweeteners but a big stick. Although a confused V’landys incorrectly claimed otherwise at the end of Thursday’s press conference, the franchise agreement gives the Australian government the right to boot PNG’s league team out of the competition at any point over the next 10 years. Given how league-mad the country is, it’s a powerful motivation for Port Moresby to steer clear of any security or policing deals that Canberra wouldn’t like.

As soft power goes, this sporting deal comes with a decidedly hard edge.

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