16 News

The Australian and Papua New Guinea (PNG) Governments are partnering with the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) to deepen our connections through rugby league.

Australia will support a PNG team to enter the National Rugby League (NRL) competition no later than 2028.

As PNG prepares to mark its 50th anniversary of independence in 2025, this partnership celebrates our countries’ shared history and future, reflects our strategic trust and opens new people-to-people and economic opportunities.

The establishment of a PNG team in the NRL is an important symbol of our contemporary partnership.

It will deliver significant economic benefits to both countries through investment in new infrastructure and by boosting PNG and Australia’s sports and tourism sectors.

The Australian Government will also partner with the ARLC on a Pacific Rugby League Partnership for girls and boys, and women and men to play rugby league from the grassroots to the elite level across PNG, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.

This Partnership will use rugby league to help increase school retention, promote positive health and nutrition, build gender equality and foster youth leadership.

It will invest in girls’ and women’s rugby league across the region, cultivating pathways and new opportunities, and work toward including a PNG Women’s team in one of Australia’s premier state competitions.

This will build on Australia’s existing investments in sports development across the Pacific – which include programs for netball, rugby union, Aussie rules and cricket – and complement Australia’s broader development partnerships in the region.

Australia and PNG are vital to each other’s future. Australia is proud to be PNG’s primary security and development partner.

This new partnership will be underpinned by shared strategic trust and strong people-to-people links and reflects our commitment to delivering peace, prosperity and opportunity for our people and our region.

Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese:

“A Papua New Guinea NRL team is a game-changer for Australia’s relationship with PNG and a unifying force – no two countries have a greater passion for rugby league.

“Australia’s relationship with the Pacific is profoundly important and our sporting ties are unique.

“Partnering on rugby league is a genuine and powerful way of building lasting ties between our peoples, and ensuring long-term development, social and economic outcomes for PNG and the Pacific.

“Our partnership will create new opportunities for girls’ and women’s rugby league across PNG and the Pacific, recognising the power of sports programs in championing inclusion and improving gender equality.”

Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape:

“This one team will be for one people, one country, one nation, a national unifier.

“We deeply appreciate our relationship with Australia. While government-to-government ties are important, at the heart and soul of this relationship must be people-to-people connections. Sport has the unique power to unite our two peoples, who share an ancient history and even the same DNA, as seen in the bond between Papua New Guineans and Torres Strait Islanders.

“An NRL team for PNG is more than just sports – it is a national unification strategy. With our diverse cultures and people, rugby league can bring us together as one nation. At the same time, it strengthens the shared history and people-to-people links between PNG and Australia. 

“For us, this partnership is not only about rugby league but also about anchoring the deep connection between our two countries. Sport is a powerful tool to solidify and celebrate this relationship, creating a bridge that connects our communities on a personal and cultural level.

“As we look to our 50th anniversary of independence, we envision a future where a PNG NRL team represents not just sporting excellence but the enduring partnership and shared destiny between PNG and Australia. This is more than a game – it is a symbol of unity and mutual respect.” 

The Greens say Labor’s announcement on early childhood education and care falls short of providing genuine reform required to fix the childcare system in Australia.

Early Childhood Education and Care spokesperson Greens Senator Steph Hodgins-May:

“Parents woke up today hoping that they could send their kids to childcare without breaking the bank. Instead, they have been left disappointed. 

“Labor’s announcement will do very little for families. Three days of subsided childcare is still only three days – parents will still be stuck with high fees and long childcare waiting lists and kids will continue to miss out on an education, particularly those most disadvantaged. 

“We know that the activity test unfairly locks families out of getting an early education, and if Labor wanted to they could fully abolish the activity test today.”

“Our childcare system is in crisis and the sector is crying out for transformative change. We were hoping for genuine reform, but instead, Labor continues to tinker around the edges and kick the can of universal early childhood education and care to the next election cycle.

“If we want a universal system, where every kid gets the best start at life – we need to make childcare free and genuinely accessible. Every day that Labor delays action, is a day that our children are denied access to early education and parents are kept out of paid work. 

“While parents continue to struggle in a cost of living crisis, Labor and the Coalition simply don’t have the courage to take real action. With the Greens in the balance of power, we’ll fight to keep Dutton out of government and push Labor to make childcare universal and free.”

Leader of the Australian Greens, Adam Bandt MP:

“Many parents will be disappointed by these half-measures, which won’t make any difference for full-time working families. 

“This won’t make childcare more affordable for parents working part-time and won’t address the cost issues for women wanting to return to work full-time. 

“It’s clear the major parties won’t do what’s needed to fix early childhood education, and we can’t keep voting for the same two parties and expecting a different result. With a minority parliament looming, the Greens in Parliament will keep Peter Dutton out and push Labor to make childcare universal and free.”

Today the ACT Greens have launched draft legislation to enshrine housing as a human right, alongside a discussion paper seeking community feedback.

“Like education or healthcare, affordable housing is an essential service and key to living a life with dignity. From childhood through to adulthood, housing provides the basis for stability in all aspects of our lives,” said Leader of the ACT Greens, Shane Rattenbury. 

“For too long, politicians across the nation have treated the government’s role in the housing market as providing for private profit, rather than safeguarding our community from the skyrocketing cost of finding and keeping a home. 

“Now more than ever, in the middle of the most urgent housing crisis in living memory, we need to think about housing differently.  

“We need to set the groundwork for a complete rethink of the government’s role in the housing market, providing a starting point for deeper, more ambitious discussions about how the government can provide truly affordable homes.

“This legislation put forward by the Greens’ reflects a practical way we can focus the priorities of the government, ensuring that the government properly considers housing affordability in decision making. 

“This means that when legislation is introduced in the Assembly, the government will need to consider the human right to housing, which includes the impact on security of tenure for Canberrans, affordability, services like water and electricity, accessibility, location and cultural adequacy

“It is my hope this legislation will start a conversation both within and outside the government about the level of change that is needed to prioritise building homes for people over the private profit of property investors and companies.

“This could include greater focus on market interventions or broader provision of publicly owned housing to boost the rental market with affordable places to live, we’re open to all sorts of ideas from the community.

“That’s why we’ve launched a discussion paper alongside this new legislation to ensure there is a real grassroots movement behind this call for change.

“Canberrans who want to have their say can submit their feedback by getting in touch with my office. These submissions will inform the future of Greens action on enshrining housing a human right.”

For more information about the draft legislation and discussion paper, visit the ACT Greens website. Consultation for the draft legislation will close on Friday the 28th of February 2025 and is welcome from everyone in the community.

Today the ACT Greens have launched draft legislation to enshrine housing as a human right, alongside a discussion paper seeking community feedback.

“Like education or healthcare, affordable housing is an essential service and key to living a life with dignity. From childhood through to adulthood, housing provides the basis for stability in all aspects of our lives,” said Leader of the ACT Greens, Shane Rattenbury. 

“For too long, politicians across the nation have treated the government’s role in the housing market as providing for private profit, rather than safeguarding our community from the skyrocketing cost of finding and keeping a home. 

“Now more than ever, in the middle of the most urgent housing crisis in living memory, we need to think about housing differently.  

“We need to set the groundwork for a complete rethink of the government’s role in the housing market, providing a starting point for deeper, more ambitious discussions about how the government can provide truly affordable homes.

“This legislation put forward by the Greens’ reflects a practical way we can focus the priorities of the government, ensuring that the government properly considers housing affordability in decision making. 

“This means that when legislation is introduced in the Assembly, the government will need to consider the human right to housing, which includes the impact on security of tenure for Canberrans, affordability, services like water and electricity, accessibility, location and cultural adequacy

“It is my hope this legislation will start a conversation both within and outside the government about the level of change that is needed to prioritise building homes for people over the private profit of property investors and companies.

“This could include greater focus on market interventions or broader provision of publicly owned housing to boost the rental market with affordable places to live, we’re open to all sorts of ideas from the community.

“That’s why we’ve launched a discussion paper alongside this new legislation to ensure there is a real grassroots movement behind this call for change.

“Canberrans who want to have their say can submit their feedback by getting in touch with my office. These submissions will inform the future of Greens action on enshrining housing a human right.”

For more information about the draft legislation and discussion paper, visit the ACT Greens website. Consultation for the draft legislation will close on Friday the 28th of February 2025 and is welcome from everyone in the community.

The Greens have said Labor’s move towards the Greens’ consistently advocated position for an immediate, permanent and unconditional ceasefire proved the minor party right from the beginning, but have criticised Labor for allowing tens of thousands of people to be killed in Gaza before starting to recognise the reality of the unfolding genocide. 

The Greens say Labor must now start to implement the Greens’ calls for sanctions on the extremist Netanyahu government, and commit to actioning arrest warrants issued by the ICC. 

Adam Bandt MP, Leader of the Australian Greens:

“Labor is recognising the Greens were right all along to call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, but tragically tens of thousands of people have been killed in Gaza in the meantime.

“The Greens opposed the invasion of Gaza from the beginning, and consistently called for an immediate, permanent and unconditional ceasefire. Labor attacked us, backed the invasion and refused to call for Benjamin Netanyahu to simply stop, but today Labor’s position has been exposed for the mistake it always was.

“Since the Greens first called for a ceasefire, Gaza has been levelled, its health system has totally collapsed and a genocide is unfolding, while international courts have issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu and found apartheid is being committed.

“Now Labor must do what the Greens have been calling for and put real pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the invasion, starting with sanctions on his extremist government and ending the two-way arms trade.”

Greens Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Senator Jordon Steele-John:

“This is a move in the right direction but it must now be backed with action to pressure The State of Israel into complying with international law. 

“Labor has resisted supporting an unconditional ceasefire for too long while tens of thousands have been killed and the extremist Netanyahu government has crossed every red line set out by the International Community.

“This government must end its opposition to applying sanctions to members of the State of Israel’s government including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

“Australia must now show leadership by joining South Africa’s case at the international Court of Justice and by stopping the two-way arms trade with Israel.

“There is a genocide occurring in Gaza right now and we cannot afford not to act.”