Taxpayer backed scholarships for gender, climate and disabilities in PNG

An Australian taxpayer-backed scholarship for students from PNG is pushing applications to focus on ‘gender, climate and disability-related studies’ instead of agriculture, education, and health.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets with his Papua New Guinea counterpart James Marape in Port Moresby. Picture: Instagram

Students in poverty-stricken Papua New Guinea are being “strongly encouraged” by the Albanese government to apply for scholarships to study climate change, gender studies and disability policy, in a shift from a prior laser focus on agriculture, medicine and education.

Labor has been working hard to keep PNG within Australia’s sphere of influence amid intensifying interest in the Pacific nation from China.

As part of the nation’s soft-power push in the Pacific, the Australia Awards scholarships – backed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, previously AusAID, the foreign aid arm of the government – are touted as a chance for students to build “regional strength, security and prosperity”.

In the previous round, the scholarships limited applicants to six different areas: agriculture; education; health; governance; law and justice; and transport and infrastructure.

Those priority areas, the 2025 intake handbook states, were “drawn from the priorities of the PNG-Australia relationship”.

But the 2026 awards will now strongly encourage students in PNG who want to come to Australia to focus on “gender, climate and disability-related studies”. Unlike the 2025 scholarships, they do not limit applicants to priority areas but “strongly” encourage those three areas.

A spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong defended the awards, saying they had been “broadened”.

“The PNG Australia Awards strengthen ties between Australia, Papua New Guinea and our region – which is crucial to Australia’s security,” she said.

“The 2026 Australia Awards have been broadened and are open to all sectors.

“Unlike the Liberals and the Nationals – who disrespected the Pacific and left a vacuum for others to fill – the Albanese government will continue working with the Pacific family to advance Pacific priorities and ensure our region is peaceful, stable and prosperous.”

Domestic violence survivors in Lae, Papua New Guinea, Research has shown two in three women in PNG were victims of violence. Picture: AAP Image/Lisa Martin

The new focus areas are understood to have been arrived at following consultation with the PNG government. Research has shown two in three women in PNG were victims of violence.

The DFAT website says the Australia Awards scholar is “not just studying for a degree”.

“You are helping to build the international partnerships required for regional strength, security and prosperity,” the website says.

“You are studying in a field that has been mutually agreed between Australia and your own government as critical to the future of your country.

“The successful completion of your studies is important to you, to Australia, and to your home country.”

The scholarships generally offer full tuition fees, flights, overseas health cover, a one-off establishment allowance, and a fortnightly contribution to living expenses.

This comes amid heightened scrutiny on aid programs given findings and cuts to USAID by corporate mogul Elon Musk’s government efficiency commission in the White House.

The White House has previously said USAID had for decades been “unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous – and in many cases, malicious – pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats”.

It pointed to projects being used to fund diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Siberia or Ireland.

Mr Musk – who leads Mr Trump’s “department of government efficiency” commission – said on his X social media platform that USAID was a “criminal organisation” and that it needed to “die”.

The move to gut the agency is currently under review by US courts.