Australia will send up to 50 police officers to Papua New Guinea by the end of the year to help tackle the country’s growing law and order problem. The deal is one of a series of agreements arising from the 21-hour visit to Papua New Guinea this week by Australia’s Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, to meet his PNG counterpart, Peter O’Neill.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd

‘Recognising the importance of law and order to PNG’s economic prosperity, we have agreed importantly that by year’s end Australia will deploy 50 police in visible policing roles in Port Moresby and Lae,’ Rudd said.

This deployment is in addition to the exchange of up to 150 officers, arranged with the Queensland State government, he said.

Australia’s Trade Minister Richard Marles said talks have also focused on the wider issue of establishing a Pacific economic bloc.

‘We will be talking about the PACER Plus negotiations which are going on in the region, and offer an opportunity to really build,’ he told Radio Australia.

‘If we can get those negotiations going, an economic community throughout the Pacific which would include Australia and PNG.’

There was no firm agreement on the issue of asylum seekers, but both leaders said they were working through a United Nations’ report that heavily criticised the Australian-run asylum seeker processing centre at Manus Island in PNG.

‘There will be in the future more illegal immigrants and refugees and asylum seekers who will continue to come into this part of region,’ O’Neill said.

‘That is why we need to establish a permanent regional processing centre.’

Other key points to come out of the visit:

• Both governments agreed to bring forward design and scoping work for the Ramu-Madang Highway;
• The scoping and design work for the lower courthouse complex in Port Moresby will be sped up;
• New dedicated passenger lane arrangements for Papua New Guinean citizens will be put in place at Brisbane and Cairns airports from 1 September, to streamline the arrivals process. PNG citizens will use the same processing lanes as holders of Australian and New Zealand passports.
• An additional AUD$160 million for health over four years to 2016. This will go in part to buy medical supplies at 2,700 health facilities. It will also support the rehabilitation of rural and remote health facilities in Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Milne Bay, Western Province, and Bougainville, as well as the refurbishment and expansion of training schools and colleges for nurses, midwives and other health workers.