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Available for comment: Oliver Nobetau, Sarah Thompson
A joint communiqué from the Australia–Papua New Guinea Network’s 2026 Emerging Leaders Dialogue calls for a more equal and practical partnership between Australia and Papua New Guinea, built on stronger business and cultural ties.
In May, 19 emerging leaders from Australia and PNG gathered in Cairns for the dialogue, convened under the theme “Bilums to boardrooms: The business of Australia–Papua New Guinea relations”.
The emerging leaders’ communiqué sets out their recommendations to strengthen the bilateral relationship. These include calls for more frank and honest engagement, greater recognition of cultural priorities in workplaces and institutions, stronger support for small businesses and an annual dialogue between young business leaders, improved identification systems in PNG, and easier movement between the two countries.
The emerging leaders also recommended that both governments treat labour mobility as a two-way investment, deepen cooperation on emerging financial and cyber threats, build new AI and digital capabilities, expand academic and professional exchanges, and ensure PNG benefits from its new NRL team, the Chiefs.
“A partnership that cannot hold an uncomfortable conversation is not a partnership in full,” the communiqué states. “The language, architecture, and delivery of the relationship must reflect genuine partnership and equal effort.”
The communiqué also draws on the image of the bilum — a woven bag made from thousands of individual threads — to describe the work needed to sustain the relationship.
“Each thread in the Australia–PNG relationship matters,” it says. “This cohort, and the generations that follow, must keep weaving.”
The Emerging Leaders Dialogue is the flagship program of the Lowy Institute’s Australia–Papua New Guinea Network. The program brings together emerging leaders from both countries to develop relationships, exchange ideas, and contribute to the future of the bilateral relationship.
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Available for comment
Oliver Nobetau
Pacific Islands Program Director
Oliver (Oli) Nobetau is Pacific Islands Program Director at the Lowy Institute.
Sarah Thompson
Research Associate, Pacific Islands Program and Project Director, Australia–Papua New Guinea Network
Sarah Thompson is a Research Associate in the Pacific Islands Program and the Project Director of the Australia–Papua New Guinea Network (Opens in new window) at the Lowy Institute.