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The Pukpuk Treaty is due to be signed soon by PNG Prime Minister James Marape and Australia\u2019s PM Anthony Albanese.<\/em><\/p>\n Published On 3 Oct 2025<\/span>3 Oct 2025<\/span><\/p>\n Click here to share on social media<\/p>\n share2<\/p>\n Papua New Guinea (PNG) has approved a mutual defence treaty with Australia in a major step forward for the landmark security deal.<\/p>\n Papua New Guinea\u2019s Prime Minister James Marape announced in a statement on Thursday that his government cabinet had given its approval of the deal, and praised the \u201celevated\u201d ties with Australia.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis reflects the depth of trust, history, and shared future between our two nations,\u201d Marape said in a statement.<\/p>\n The Pukpuk Treaty was originally set to be signed in September to coincide with Papua New Guinea\u2019s 50th anniversary of independence, but Marape\u2019s cabinet failed to reach a quorum.<\/p>\n Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on social media that he looked forward to signing the treaty and establishing a \u201cformal alliance\u201d with PNG.<\/p>\n The text of the Pukpuk Treaty has not been made public, but some details were released in Marape\u2019s statement, including reference to a mutual defence clause, while laying out provisions for PNG to modernise its military capabilities and develop a national reserve force of 3,000 volunteers.<\/p>\n The treaty will also create a path for 10,000 Papua New Guineans to serve in the Australian Defence Force, while PNG also aims to build up its defence force to\u00a07,000 troops, according to Marape\u2019s office.<\/p>\n PNG has a population of more than 11 million people and is one of the most diverse countries in the world, according to the World Bank, but it also struggles with recurring violence among its more than 10,000 ethnic clans.<\/p>\n Australia assumed control over PNG as a colonial power in 1902 and administered the country until 1975, but both sides have remained close since then, according to Jennifer Parker, an Australian defence expert.<\/p>\n Parker told Al Jazeera the treaty looks set to codify the two countries\u2019 existing defence relationship and could earn Australia its first treaty ally in 70 years.<\/p>\n Australia only has two official allies \u2013 the United States and New Zealand \u2013 under the 1951 ANZUS treaty, while PNG currently has none.<\/p>\n \u201cWe won\u2019t know before we see the specifics of the treaty, but there is a view it will include a general obligation to support and defend each other,\u201d Parker told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Justin Bassi, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said the deal will also pave the way for \u201cAustralia to deepen its investment in [Papua New Guinea\u2019s] defence sector to meet emerging challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n The treaty comes at a time when Australia is wary of China\u2019s growing presence in the Pacific and amid concerns that it could establish a military base in the region, according to Parker.<\/p>\n Despite Canberra\u2019s concerns, the treaty will also include provisions to respect \u201cthird-party\u201d defence relationships between Port Moresby and other countries, according to Marape\u2019s office.<\/p>\n That phrasing appears to be a tacit reference to China, which is one of PNG\u2019s most important trading partners and a source of foreign direct investment.<\/p>\n The Chinese embassy in Port Moresby said in September that PNG should \u201cuphold its independence\u201d and not sign a treaty that is \u201cexclusive in nature\u201d and restricts it \u201cfrom cooperating with a third party\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Pukpuk Treaty is due to be signed soon by PNG Prime Minister James Marape and Australia\u2019s PM Anthony Albanese. Published On 3 Oct 20253 Oct 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Papua New Guinea (PNG) has approved a mutual defence treaty with Australia in a major step forward for the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[346,5798,327,14011,4090,744,150,15424,181,7749],"class_list":{"0":"post-25540","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-cabinet","10":"tag-defence","11":"tag-guinea","12":"tag-landmark","13":"tag-military","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-papua","16":"tag-signs","17":"tag-treaty"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n