Aussie police to fill top PNG roles fighting tribal violence, corruption

Police from Australia and other Commonwealth countries will go to work in PNG to help stamp out deadly tribal violence and rampant corruption.

Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape and Anthony Albanese. Picture: AFP

Police from Australia and other Commonwealth countries will go to work in Papua New Guinea to help stamp out deadly tribal violence and rampant corruption under a new Australian-funded initiative.

An initial 50 Commonwealth police officers will be contracted to fill senior roles in PNG, where they will wear the uniform of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary and take orders from its chief commissioner.

The new policing partnership is part of a bilateral security agreement to be signed by Anthony Albanese and PNG Prime Minister James Marape in Canberra on Thursday. The agreement will cover police, defence, cybersecurity, biosecurity and fisheries co-operation, sidelining China’s efforts to secure closer security ties with Port Moresby.

PNG’s Internal Security Minister Peter Tsiamalili Jnr said PNG had already opened recruiting for six senior positions including an assistant police commissioner, and directors for crime, fraud and anti-corruption, and highway patrol.

He said experienced Australian Federal Police and state police were encouraged to apply for the contract positions, with preference given to those who had recently left the force.

“The Australian government is providing us with funding and we are opening the recruiting to all Commonwealth countries,” Mr Tsiamalili said.

“The constabulary acknowledges its shortcomings and … has identified that strong leadership and experience are urgently required to build the capacity and capability and further strengthen performance within its investigation and prosecution functions, as well as those of traffic, highway patrol and internal affairs.”

Tribal fighters in Papua New Guinea's Enga Province show their strength, with many armed with machetes. Picture: Facebook

Mr Marape said Australian ­officers “will work under the command and control of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary and the police commissioner”.

The officers will be in addition to AFP advisers deployed to the country, who are barred from frontline roles following a 2005 legal challenge that stripped them of legal immunities.

Mr Marape said the agreement would expand Australian support for police training at PNG’s Bomana Police Academy and could open the way for the creation of a regional police training facility.

The PNG Prime Minister, who had dinner with Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Wednesday night, said the “landmark” security agreement was in the best interests of both countries.

“Australia and Papua New Guinea share common security interests, and such security arrangements are vital to maintaining law-and-order in the region, safeguarding economic and trading interests,” he said.

Both governments insist the agreement will be legally binding, despite it being downgraded from treaty status amid a backlash in PNG over the country’s defence co-operation agreement with the US earlier this year.

Australian officials said the agreement would be considered by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties before being ratified by the parliament.

Tribesmen drag the bodies of three killed opponents behind their Toyota ute.

Mr Tsiamalili said the agreement would have legal status in PNG but would not have to be ratified by its parliament.

The pact comes amid Australian and US concerns over China’s growing influence in the Pacific, with Beijing’s security agreement with the Solomon Islands spurring a region-wide diplomatic push by both countries.

The Prime Minister said he was delighted to welcome Mr Marape to Australia.

“Australia’s relationship with Papua New Guinea is special; we hold common history, values, and an enduring bond as neighbours, partners and friends,“ he said.

Australian Federal Police officers on patrol in PNG in 2004, before a Supreme Court ruling stripped their immunities, preventing them from working in frontline roles.

PNG’s long-running law and order crisis has worsened in recent years, with tribal fighting in the country’s remote highlands region claiming at least 150 lives this year alone.

The governor of PNG’s violence-wracked Enga Province, Sir Peter Ipatas, appealed for Australian help earlier this year.

Police have blamed politicians for fuelling the tribal wars, while local MPs, including Sir Peter, ­accuse the local police of failing to deal with the perpetrators.