By Papua New Guinea correspondent Marian Faa and foreign affairs reporter Stephen Dziedzic, ABC
The major defence treaty between Australia and Papua New Guinea has failed to get over the line. (ABC News: Lincoln Rothall) Photo: ABC News / Lincoln Rothall
A major defence treaty between Australia and Papua New Guinea failed to get over the line on Wednesday, with the countries resorting to signing a communique in lieu of the actual document.
Papua New Guinea's cabinet has not yet approved the treaty, throwing a spanner in the works for Australia, which was hoping to clinch the high-level agreement this week.
The landmark mutual defence treaty would see Australia and PNG commit to defending each other in the event of a military attack.
But after signing the communique both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and PNG's Prime Minister James Marape played down the delay.
Albanese has previously said PNG's cabinet couldn't reach quorum to sign off on the deal on Monday evening because some Ministers were absent due to 50th anniversary commemorations.
The treaty would create an "alliance" between the two countries. (ABC News: Lincoln Rothall) Photo: ABC News / Lincoln Rothall
On Wednesday morning Albanese said it had been a "busy week" in PNG and that the wait was "perfectly understandable".
He said he expected it to be signed in "coming weeks."
"One of the things about this, not just this treaty, but this relationship, is we respect sovereignty," he said.
"The wording has been agreed to. The communique today, as signed, outlines precisely what is in the treaty."
Marape said there was "no sticking point" about the pact, and suggested that PNG's cabinet would sign off on the document shortly.
"We're not running a military dictatorship here, we're a democracy," he said.
The communique released outlines the major components of the Pukpuk treaty - the details of which the ABC revealed earlier this week.
It also says the treaty will create an "alliance" between the two countries with Mr Albanese calling the document an "historic move forward".
Marape said PNG would soon join the United States and New Zealand as only Australia's third formal military ally under the pact.
"What this does is formalise what I think is a common sense position resulting from our history and resulting from our geography," he said.
"This is in the interests of Papua New Guinea and in the interests of Australia."
Security partner of choice
PNG's Defence Minister Billy Joseph warned earlier this week that "external" players had tried to sink the agreement.
But Marape brushed off a question about whether China might use the delay to obstruct the pact.
"Let's give respect to China it has been an enduring friend [but] China also knows clearly: we have our security partners of choice," he said.
He also said that Dr Joseph, the country's defence minister, would visit multiple countries across the region - including China and PNG's direct neighbour Indonesia - to explain the treaty and to explain why PNG was making the choice to partner much more closely with Australia.
Anthony Albanese travelled to Port Moresby to mark Papua New Guinea's 50th anniversary of independence. Photo: AAP / MiCK Tsikas
Marape also declared that he had a responsibility to build up the capabilities of the PNG defence force under the treaty, saying there were compelling reasons to draw much closer to Australia and benefit from its high end military technology.
And he insisted it was Papua New Guinea that had approached Australia asking for the new military alliance, not the other way around.
"It's in our shared interests that our defence forces are interoperable, my number one task is to protect the country," he said.
"In the interests of protecting the country, I'm making this call."
While both governments insist the delay will only be temporary and the text is now agreed, Professor of International Law from the Australian National University, Don Rothwell, said it would be possible for either country to make changes right up until the final signing.
"Prior to signature of the treaty it technically remains under negotiation and as such if the PNG cabinet requests some change to the language to the text of the treaty that remains possible," he said.
"Once the treaty has been signed then adjustment of the text of the treaty becomes much more difficult."
-ABC
