Up to date on April 7, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. ET
Port Moresby, PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Six months after Papua New Guinea and Australia signed a bilateral protection treaty, public opinion in PNG stays divided, with some telling Radio Free Asia that they like that the pact creates alternatives for youth, and others saying that they fear about doubtlessly being drawn into a bigger battle between the West and China.
Unofficially named the Pukpuk Treaty, after the Tok Pisin phrase for “crocodile,” it’s Port Moresby’s first mutual protection pact and it attracts the 2 regional allies nearer collectively in an period of accelerating Chinese language affect within the Pacific.
Past the nuts and bolts of coordination and cooperation throughout crises, the pact additionally permits 10,000 Papua New Guineans to hitch the Australian Protection Power, or ADF, and develop into eligible for Aussie citizenship.
Supporters of the treaty say that in a rustic the place 58% of the persons are below 25 and, in accordance with World Financial institution information 3.8% youth unemployment, the chance is simply too nice to disregard.
“I agree with the Pukpuk Pact. It’s an employment alternative for our ever rising youths who can’t be employed after leaving faculty,” John Kau, a former colonel within the Papua New Guinea Protection Power, or PNGDF, advised RFA. “Our nation’s leaders do not know on how you can mitigate the dearth of jobs for the college leavers.”
Kau mentioned that it will be good for younger Papua New Guineans to tackle Australian citizenship as a result of incomes an Australian wage would allow them to care for their prolonged households.
However he additionally understood that the treaty signifies that Papua New Guineans may very well be known as on by Australia within the occasion of struggle.
“I’ve no downside so long as it’s a simply trigger,” mentioned Kau.
The citizenship for service settlement was a significant promoting level of the Pukpuk pact. Shortly after the treaty was introduced in August 2025, Papua New Guinea’s Protection Minister Billy Joseph advised Australian media that there was “a really massive pool” of younger Papua New Guineans “and Australia can have as many as they need.”
He added that recruitment would happen at regional facilities and within the capital Port Moresby.
Divided opinion
However on the streets of Port Moresby, not everyone seems to be lining as much as enlist. Chris Pole, a younger Papua New Guinean, advised RFA that he discovered it onerous to consider that the treaty would permit 10,000 Papua New Guineans to hitch the Australian navy, particularly when the PNGDF has solely 4,000 personnel.
“The Pukpuk recruitment alone will outnumber the PNGDF measurement, so if there’s a struggle, undoubtedly Australia will use Papua New Guineans as pawns,” he mentioned, noting that pawns in a sport of chess are sometimes sacrificed to guard extra invaluable items. “Papua New Guineans will likely be sought out first when there’s a struggle and placed on the entrance line if Australia decides to assist america in a struggle towards China.”
Australia additionally has a mutual protection settlement with the U.S. and New Zealand by way of the 1951 ANZUS Treaty, and Washington entered right into a protection cooperation settlement with Port Moresby in 2023.
Pole known as on the nation to stay in its conventional impartial international coverage stance of being “pals to all, enemies to none.”
However Bosco Bothoa, one other younger Papua New Guinean, advised RFA he would like to serve if it meant he would develop into an Australian.
“I undoubtedly would need to be a citizen of Australia as acknowledged within the pact, in fact,” he mentioned. “In Australia there’s higher way of life than in PNG and the wage can be greater.”
However Bothoa additionally understood the obligations that might include enlisting and buying a brand new citizenship. When requested if he can be ready to combat if struggle erupts within the Pacific, he mentioned, “Battle isn’t the final word answer,” but when it occurs, “then we should serve our nation as residents of Australia.”
Bothoa and others who need to enlist might need to attend although. In a Fb publish on Jan. 4, the PNG Ministry of Protection suggested that the primary part of recruitment below the plan would solely be open to Papua New Guinean residents who’ve everlasting residency standing in Australia. Part two would begin at a later date and embrace candidates residing in Papua New Guinea.
The PNGDF advised RFA that the recruitment course of has not but been finalized, and it stays below session.
Mutually helpful
The Pukpuk treaty is a win-win, in accordance with the Washington-based Middle for Strategic & Worldwide Research. In an article revealed shortly after the treaty was signed, the assume tank mentioned that the treaty deepens the connection between the 2 international locations, and that enlisting Papua New Guineans into the ADF can be good for either side.
“Given the ADF’s recruitment challenges and PNG’s undermanned protection forces, the association provides clear advantages for each nations,” the article mentioned. “As a mutual protection treaty, the Pukpuk Treaty stands as each a continuation of earlier features of the Australian-PNG relationship but in addition constitutes a basic change within the depth of that relationship.”
However the treaty is perhaps at odds with Papua New Guinea’s structure, Jerry Singirok, a Papua New Guinean former two-star common who’s now a protection strategist, advised RFA.
“No matter how finest the Papua New Guinea authorities need to justify the mixing of a international power, our structure doesn’t present for navy integration with a international energy,” He mentioned. “The PNG Defence Power is remitted to serve the sovereign curiosity of PNG and any association that embeds PNGDF with the Australia’s Defence Power or aligns PNG’s navy doctrine with Australia,’s may very well be seen as undermining PNG’s nationwide sovereignty, violating the precept of non alignment which PNG had traditionally upheld.”
He mentioned that barring an modification to the structure, the legality of the Pukpuk Treaty may very well be challenged in courtroom.
Previous to the treaty’s signing, a spokesperson for the Chinese language Embassy in Papua New Guinea mentioned that China “adheres to the precept of non-interference in different international locations’ inside affairs,” including that the treaty shouldn’t forestall Port Moresby from cooperating with a 3rd occasion nor ought to the treaty goal a 3rd occasion or undermine its “respectable pursuits.”
The treaty doesn’t point out China by title.
Edited by Eugene Whong.
Replace corrects the given title of Col. Kau.
