Papua New Guinea will officially join the NRL from 2028 with a Port Moresby-based team in a major agreement aimed at bolstering security relations and strategic trust between the two countries and dashing China’s growing influence in South Pacific. Australia will pay $600m to prop up the initial 10-year “rugby league for diplomacy” deal, which was confirmed in a joint press conference between Anthony Albanese and PNG Prime Minister James Marape on Thursday. “Rugby league is the national sport of Papua New Guinea and PNG deserves a national team. The new team will belong to the people of Papua New Guinea,” Mr Albanese said. “It will call Port Moresby home.” The financial investment includes a $60m payment to the NRL for a licensing fee, plus $290m for franchise support, and $250m to bolster rugby in the Pacific programs, with the first payments to begin this financial year. Of the $600m, $480m is from new funding, while the remaining $120m was sourced from existing resources from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Australia’s withdrawal of financial funding will also immediately terminate the PNG team from the NRL. PNG has also committed to building safe, world-class accommodation for players and officials and implementing tax incentives to boost the competitiveness of the franchise. Behind PNG’s pending entry is also a security agreement to ensure the continuing strategic trust between the two countries that will not be made public. While Mr Marape said China would remain a “great trading partner,” PNG had made a “deliberate choice to have Australia as a security partner”. “In security, closer to home, we have the synergy and our shared territory needs to be protected, defended, policed … and in that context, we make this call, and the NRL commercial system fits in neatly with it,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment