It is a great pleasure to be back in Port Moresby again. It is always a pleasure to be among friends.
Thank you Prime Minister for your friendship, your hospitality and your time today.
I understand that this year marks the 40th anniversary of your entry into politics. You have been an unrivalled figure in the politics of your country since before independence. I would like to pay tribute to your contribution to your country, to relations between our two countries, and to the region we live in.
Mr Prime Minister, mine is a new government in Australia.
We were only elected a little over 100 days ago in Canberra. They have been a busy first few months as we establish ourselves and set our policy directions.
We are seeking to chart a course for Australia that prepares us for the challenges of the 21st century challenges that to a large extent our two nations share, though these challenges take a different shape in our respective nations.
* Addressing the complex challenges created by climate change;
* Ensuring that we use the prosperity created by the mining boom to invest in our future;
* Giving our children the best start in life through a quality education;
* Reforming public services like health care.
The Australian people have given us a mandate to build a modern economy and a modern society, a 21st century society, and our work is already well underway.
A key part of our plan is building a solid foundation of good relations with our neighbours and our other friends around the world.
Building our relationship with Papua New Guinea is an important part of that. I am pleased that your Foreign Minister, Mr Abal, has already been to Australia for meetings with his counterpart. I was pleased that I, too, had the chance to meet him in Canberra.
The relationship that our two nations enjoy is unique. Australia's ties to Papua New Guinea are very special because of both what we share in the past and because of the shared challenges and opportunities that lie ahead of us.
Of course our historical ties are strong.
But the ties that we enjoy today are even more important to our relationship ties that exist at the levels of government, education, business, tourism and culture.
Our government officials work together.
Our businesses have strong investment and trade links.
We have academics and students at each other's educational institutions.
We both attract tourists from each other's nation.
And our cultural and sporting links are strong.
Certainly, the enthusiasm for a State of Origin match in Port Moresby matches anything you will find in Brisbane or Sydney.
Players like Marcus Bai in rugby league, and Mal Michael in AFL, have been ambassadors for their nation in Australia.
If I can digress for a moment, I am pleased to have discovered a special local connection to Mal as in his teenage years he played for the Morningside AFL team in my own electorate in Brisbane.
Those people-to-people connections are critically important to our relationship.
Each person each contact each journey helps to build the links between us. Each one is a strand that joins us together.
Looking ahead, our two nations also share many opportunities and challenges.
We both face significant long-term challenges in ensuring growth and economic development in our own countries and across the region.
Our nations are both blessed with rich mineral resources, and we both face the challenge of working to ensure that the benefits of the global mining boom are used to build long-term prosperity.
Our nations both benefit from being open to foreign investment.
As we look to the future, we have the opportunity now to join together and write a new page in the history of our region as we work together to foster stability, friendship, growth and prosperity in our region.
But we will only achieve that future if we make the decision to work together.
Mr Prime Minister, I believe that today you and I have made that decision. We have agreed to work on a new partnership.
Our decision to build a new partnership is based on the idea that we both face many challenges. How do we educate our people to make the most of the opportunities of the globalised world? How do we ensure long-term economic development? How do we meet the great global challenges like climate change?
Our decision is also based on the idea that we can meet these changes more effectively if we work together.
That means our governments working together; our ministers working together; our officials working together.
It also means us being able to pick up the phone and talk to each other directly when there's important business to be done.
Sometimes people want to focus too much on the problems and disagreements that exist in the relationships between countries. We both know that our relationship has complexities.
But the ties between our nations are much greater than those complexities. We have an enduring friendship. And after today, we have the basis for a new partnership.
Our discussions today have been very constructive both for our bilateral relationship and for the region. We had a very useful discussion about where we are headed and what we want to achieve. As long as we agree on that, and we decide to get down to work, we can build a better relationship.
We discussed the idea of new partnership agreements what I call Pacific Partnerships for Development .
I was pleased that we could agree on this approach. The important point is these Pacific Partnerships for Development will be about shared goals for Australia and our Pacific neighbours. And it will be a symbol of our mutual commitment to each other.
We have already made a start by agreeing today on some important specific areas for cooperation.
I am particularly pleased that we agreed today on a new package of climate change measures.
No global challenge if more important. No challenge demands more creative and cooperative responses than climate change.
We signed a joint statement today on climate change cooperation. The statement noted three areas for cooperation: policy dialogue; forest carbon monitoring and measurement; and participation in global carbon markets.
We both have a lot to gain from cooperating in these fields. We can draw on each other's experience, and we can show the world that countries with very different economic structures can find common ground on climate change.
I am also pleased that we discussed the Kokoda Track. The Track is a great symbol of cooperation between us and it holds a unique place in our history. It is also a place of deep significance for many Australians who are the children or grandchildren of soldiers who walked the Kokoda Track.
Because of the Kokoda Track, many Australians are now discovering Papua New Guinea for the first time.
Mr Prime Minister I am also pleased to say that during my visit to Papua New Guinea, I will not just be seeing Port Moresby.
Visitors to Papua New Guinea are often urged to go see the country. To go beyond Port Moresby and to meet the people. But few do. I'm pleased to say that on this, my first visit to Papua New Guinea as Prime Minister of Australia, I'll be going to Goroka tomorrow.
I understand that the Highlands Highway passes through Goroka. I'm told it is the economic backbone of the country and its maintenance is critical for economic development and for access to key services such as health and education.
I'm very much looking forward to seeing that for myself. And to seeing first hand a very beautiful and vibrant part of this great country.
Regional Affairs
Mr Prime Minister one reason I wanted to come to Port Moresby early in my term was to talk to you and members of your government about our region the Pacific.
The Pacific countries are a diverse group. There are the smaller island nations. There is Australia and New Zealand. And then there is Papua New Guinea.
Your country is unique. It is a Pacific power and it sits at an important cross-road.
To your west is the world's largest Islamic democracy. To your north the rapidly developing countries of East Asia. And to your South Australia the world's sixth-largest country by landmass.
With these neighbours, your country has a great stake in regional affairs.
And perhaps your most important role is looking to your east, where the smaller Pacific countries lie.
As a leader in the region, Papua New Guinea is uniquely placed to help the island countries of the Pacific meet the challenges ahead. And I look forward to working with you on those challenges.
Today, for instance, we discussed recent developments in Solomon Islands. We are both committed to seeing stability in that country. I appreciate your ongoing support for the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands.
We also discussed Fiji. As prime ministers of two democracies, we understand the importance of protecting our institutions political, legal and social. Without our institutions, there is no certainty for the people. And without certainty there can be no future.
Mr Prime Minister I would like to think of today as the start of a new phase in the relationship between our two countries.
I hope that new phase will be characterised by cooperation, respect and partnership.
I hope, too, that this new phase will build even closer links between our people, our business communities and our governments.
And I hope that, in the future, our relationship will be recognised as a unique example of cooperation.