China ‘irrelevant’ to PNG NRL deal, minister says

Papua New Guinea will get an Australian taxpayer-funded NRL team without having to explicitly rule out a future security agreement with Beijing, PNG Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko has revealed.

Anthony Albanese and PNG Prime Minister James Marape are both NRL fans. Picture: PMO

Papua New Guinea will get an Australian taxpayer-funded NRL team without having to explicitly rule out a future security agreement with Beijing, PNG Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko has revealed, declaring the deal “has nothing to do with China”.

Ahead of an announcement next week on PNG’s inclusion in the league from 2028, Mr Tkatchenko also revealed a secure fortress would be constructed in Port Moresby for the team’s players and their families, saying PNG would “do our utmost best” to keep foreign recruits safe.

The Albanese government has committed $600m to underwrite the new PNG team over a decade, while PNG has backed tax-free status for players and announced PGK100m ($A37.5m) for accommodation, facilities and grassroots game development.

The government is backing PNG’s NRL ambitions as part of a push to sideline China in the Pacific that also includes a planned new security agreement with Nauru.

The Nauru deal, which the government hopes to finalise in coming weeks, is modelled on a landmark deal with Tuvalu that gives Australia a veto over the country’s future security agreements in return for permanent visas for Tuvaluans.

Australian government sources said there was a “security element” to the PNG NRL deal. But Mr Tkatchenko said Australia had not insisted on any formal security undertakings by PNG in the final agreement.

“It was discussed at the highest level, and we all said ‘It’s totally irrelevant to what we’re trying to achieve here’,” he told The Australian.

“We don’t need to commit ourselves in that regard. You know, the game has nothing to do with China at all.

“This is to get us into the NRL. This is to build up our relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea through sport. And we don’t want to get disrupted with geopolitics on this one.

“At the end of the day, why bring in something that is totally irrelevant?”

PNG Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko, with PNG’s Deputy Prime John Rosso, Defence Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong, during ministerial talks in Port Moresby earlier this year. Picture: DFAT

Mr Tkatchenko’s comments follow those of PNG Prime Minister James Marape in October who told the ABC that negotiations on the NRL deal had included discussions on security matters but they were not the “main feature” of the agreement.

Mr Marape, who is attending a PNG mining conference in Sydney next week, will join Anthony Albanese for the formal announcement on the new franchise.

Minister for the Pacific Pat Conroy’s spokesman said: “The Australian government, the PNG government and the NRL are aligned on the fundamentals of an agreement. We are very optimistic that we will be in a position to sign an agreement shortly.”

Australian taxpayers’ $600m contribution to the deal will reportedly include $290m that will go directly to the country’s new franchise, with the balance going towards grassroots development, education and community outreach programs.

Mr Tkatchenko said PNG’s funding would go towards building infrastructure for the team, including a high-security apartment complex for the players and their family members.

Port Moresby has one of the world’s highest crime rates, with foreigners warned not to walk on the streets of the capital without an armed escort. But Mr Tkatchenko said the team’s players would be protected.

“We will do our utmost best,” he said. “It’ll be highly unlikely anything would go down against them, unless they do something wrong.

“We were a good country, it’s just a minority that spoils it for us.”

Rugby League is PNG’s national sport, and Mr Tkatchenko said the country’s fans would embrace the team.

“It’s going to be something fantastic. Our people will finally see their superstars and their idols play in Papua New Guinea as part of the deal from 2028,” he said.

The tax exemption for the team’s players, agreed in the PNG budget last week, is designed to make it easier for the franchise to attract Australian players and those from elsewhere in the Pacific.

The sweetener could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to star players if they elect to sign up with the new franchise. It will also be available to staff and officials with the new club.

The NRL deal follows a bilateral security agreement signed by the two countries last year that includes a commitment to share information on key security-related developments affecting either party.

Mr Marape declared during a visit to Australia in February that Australia was PNG’s main domestic security partner, and the US its “sovereign security partner”.

“These security arrangements in no way compromise our arrangements with other nations with their peculiar needs, but rather give security to their interests in PNG,” Mr Marape said.

“I am fortunate that all nations, including China, respect the direction I am shepherding PNG.”