Australia to strike new funding deal with Papua New Guinea to manage transferred asylum seekers

Exclusive: Government regulations reveal Australia will provide ‘further capability support and funding’ to PNG but dollar figure is confidential

The Albanese government will strike a new funding deal with Papua New Guinea (PNG) to support asylum seekers after the country threatened to send them back to Australia unless a fresh agreement was signed.

In December 2021 the Morrison government struck a secret deal for about 75 refugees and asylum seekers to stay in Port Moresby after the regional processing centre at Manus Island was closed.

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Australia news live: Indigenous leader Rev Dr D Gondarra dies; mass cull ordered to stop NSW bird flu outbreak

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Albanese calls Coalition nuclear policy a ‘fantasy’

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has slammed the Coalition’s nuclear power policy, calling it a “fantasy” and saying it was “Peter Dutton and the Seven nuclear reactors.”

What you have here is something that I’ve never seen before. I mean, this is just a fantasy, instead of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs this is Peter Dutton and the seven nuclear reactors.

This is just absurd, to have a big buildup for an announcement and then say we won’t give you the details. I’ll make this prediction. All the details won’t be out there before the election. It will be just “trust me”, just the same as Peter Dutton said that [for the] 2030 target when it comes to emissions reduction, “I will let you know all of that after the election.”

Well, our energy policy will and is absolutely focused on driving down prices as we did in government at … this is the important point. And that is because of a range of technologies, not one, nuclear needs to be part of that mix. You need to have every horse in this race. This is a hard race to win. And we want to have every horse in the race. Nuclear is an important one, gas is an important one.

Everyone wants to sort of say there’s one technology this the answer to everything. No. I’m just wondering. It’s a balance of technologies and right now, what is clear is Chris Bowen’s strategy is not getting us to where we need to go.

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Papua New Guinea’s PM makes first visit to site of deadly landslide

James Marape apologises for not making journey sooner, as ongoing instability hampers recovery and poses risk to residents

Papua New Guinea’s prime minister, James Marape, has made his first visit to a remote village hit by a deadly landslide last week and thanked international aid donors for their support.

Authorities are still struggling to determine how many people are buried under parts of a mountain which collapsed on to the Yambali village in the remote Enga region on 24 May.

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Papua New Guinea landslide: rescuers say they do not expect to find survivors under rubble

Officials are still trying to pinpoint the exact death toll, as rescue teams are set to begin using heavy machinery to recover the dead

Officials in Papua New Guinea have said they do not expect to find survivors under the rubble of a massive landslide in the country’s remote north, with the exact number of dead under almost two storeys of debris and mud still unknown.

Heavy equipment and aid have been slow to arrive to the site of the landslide – which hit almost a week ago – because of the treacherous mountain terrain, a damaged bridge on the main road, and tribal unrest in the area.

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Papua New Guinea PM blames extraordinary rainfall for deadly landslide

James Marape says the estimated death toll is more than 2,000 people, as rescue efforts in Enga province continue

Papua New Guinea’s prime minister James Marape has blamed “extraordinary rainfall” and changes to weather patterns for multiple disasters in the Pacific Island nation this year, including a landslide last week which may have killed thousands.

Parts of a mountain in the Maip-Mulitaka area in Enga province in PNG’s north collapsed in the early hours of last Friday and Marape said more than 2,000 people are estimated to have died, with up to 70,000 people living in the area affected by the disaster.

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Australia politics live: cabinet ‘crafting the offer’ for next election, PM tells caucus; transport department boss quizzed over Taylor Swift shirt

Anthony Albanese reminds his colleagues that government now in the final 12 months of its first term. Follow the day’s news live

‘Last 24 hours only reinforces need’ for immediate humanitarian ceasefire, return of hostages and aid access, Conroy says

Pat Conroy was also asked about Israel’s assault on a refugee camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah.

Well, we’re incredibly concerned by what we saw in Rafah. And that’s why we’ve been continuing to call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. We’ve also called for an immediate return of all hostages that Hamas have taken. And the immediate opening of access so we can get massive amounts of humanitarian support into the Gaza. So immediate humanitarian ceasefire, release of hostages and immediate flow of aid is critical. That’s the Australian government’s position and you’re absolutely right, what we’ve seen overnight or over the last 24 hours only reinforces the need for those three things.

No, to be quite frank, we don’t. The Papua New Guinean government has asked the UN agencies to coordinate partner countries and those assessments are going on right now. But this is an incredibly inaccessible part of Papua New Guinea. And it’s a really challenging process for everyone.

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Papua New Guinea disaster agency tells UN 2,000 people are buried after landslide

Unstable terrain, remote locations and damaged roads have been hampering relief efforts in the aftermath of the landslide, the UN said

The Papua New Guinea national disaster centre has said that Friday’s landslide in a remote village in the northern part of the country buried more than 2,000 people, and has formally asked for international help.

Unstable terrain, remote locations and damaged roads have been hampering relief efforts in the aftermath of the landslide, the United Nations said on Monday.

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Papua New Guinea landslide death toll exceeds 670, says UN agency

Emergency workers give up hope of finding survivors of Friday’s landslide as tribal warfare threatens rescue effort

More than 670 people are believed to have been killed in a massive landslide in Papua New Guinea, the UN migration agency has said, as emergency workers and relatives gave up hope that any survivors would be found.

The death toll from the landslide on Friday had been estimated at more than 300, but 48 hours later the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said it may be more than double that, with the full extent of destruction still unclear.

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Papua New Guinea landslide: rescue convoy heads to remote village as scores feared buried

Blocked roads have hampered relief efforts to Yambali village, where officials fear death toll could reach well over 100

An emergency convoy is delivering food, water and other provisions on Saturday to stunned survivors of a landslide that devastated a remote village in the mountains of Papua New Guinea and is feared to have buried scores of people, officials have said.

An assessment team had reported “suggestions” that 100 people were dead and 60 houses buried by the mountainside that collapsed in Enga province a few hours before dawn on Friday, according to Serhan Aktoprak, the chief of the International Organisation for Migration’s mission in the South Pacific island nation.

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More than 300 dead in Papua New Guinea landslide, local MP says

Emergency response teams sent in to village in remote Enga province, but blocked road is hampering efforts

More than 300 people have been killed in a landslide in a remote region in northern Papua New Guinea, a local politician has said.

Amos Akem, an MP for Enga province, said the landslide struck Yambali village, about two hours’ drive from the provincial capital, Wabag, in the early hours of Friday. The road to Yambali from the capital is blocked, hampering relief efforts.

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Rwandans arrive in Australia after perilous journey to claim asylum

Hunters reportedly find five Rwandan men in mangroves on Saibai Island, a known crocodile habitat

As the UK government continues its push to forcibly remove asylum seekers to Rwanda, a group of Rwandan nationals has claimed asylum in Australia after arriving by boat on a remote island.

The five men arrived in Australia by an unconventional route, reportedly flying into the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, to be granted visas on arrival, before travelling thousands of kilometres east to Indonesia’s Papua province, where they crossed the land border it shares with Papua New Guinea (PNG).

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Senator’s X account removed – as it happened

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Anglicare says government spending eight times more on private investors than building housing itself

The Anglicare Australia executive director, Kasy Chambers, says the government must step up and intervene, instead of leaving housing to the private sector:

We found that the government spends eight times as much propping up private investors as it does on building housing itself. This approach is wrong, and it’s supercharging rents and house prices.

Housing cannot be left to hobby landlords and private developers. Only our government can ensure that rentals are affordable by building homes itself, and by fixing Australia’s unfair tax system.

289 rentals (0.6%) were affordable for a person earning a full-time minimum wage.

89 rentals (0.2%) were affordable for a person on the age pension.

31 rentals (0.1%) were affordable for a person on the disability support pension.

3 rentals (0%) were affordable for a person on jobseeker.

0 rentals (0%) were affordable for a person on youth allowance.

This is not hyperbole. It is Australia’s new normal.

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‘Lost for words’: Joe Biden’s tale about cannibals bemuses Papua New Guinea residents

President’s suggestion that his ‘Uncle Bosie’ was eaten by cannibals harms US efforts to build Pacific ties, say local experts

Joe Biden’s suggestion that his uncle may have been eaten by cannibals in Papua New Guinea during world war two has been met with a mixture of bemusement and criticism in the country.

Biden spoke about his uncle, 2nd Lt Ambrose J Finnegan Jr, while campaigning in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, describing how “Uncle Bosie” had flown single engine planes as reconnaissance flights during the war. Biden said he “got shot down in New Guinea”, adding “they never found the body because there used to be a lot of cannibals, for real, in that part of New Guinea.”

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Group to search for celebrated US pilot’s fighter plane in South Pacific

Richard Bong downed 40 aircraft in a Lockheed P-38 Lightning before it crashed while being flown by another pilot

A Wisconsin museum is partnering with a historical preservation group in a search for the wreckage of the second world war ace fighter pilot Richard Bong’s plane in the South Pacific.

The Richard I Bong Veterans Historical Center in Superior, Wisconsin, and the non-profit second world war historical preservation group Pacific Wrecks announced the search on Friday, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

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Papua New Guinea massacre: fears violence could spiral over tribal conflict

Prime minister James Marape to seek help from Australia to support police after the deadly killings in Enga province

Authorities in Papua New Guinea are bracing for an escalation of violence after dozens of men were killed in a tribal massacre on Sunday.

In the wake of the killings, the prime minister, James Marape, is facing calls to declare a state of emergency to address the ongoing fighting.

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Dozens killed in outbreak of tribal violence in Papua New Guinea highlands

Police say attack between neighbouring tribes led to mass deaths, marking an escalation in fighting in the country’s remote northern region

Dozens of men have been killed in a fresh outbreak of tribal violence in the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea, local police have said.

George Kakas, Enga provincial police commander, told the Guardian the men were killed by heavy gun fire on Sunday. He said men from two tribes staged an attack on another group who were “ambushed and killed.”

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Australia politics live: PNG PM James Marape praises legacy of Gough Whitlam in historic address to parliament

Marape hails Whitlam for ‘hearing the cries of the founding fathers of Papua New Guinea for our own self-determination’. Follow the day’s news live

David Littleproud continued:

But there needs to be greater architectural reform, which is also what Professor Fels articulated, which is what the Nationals have said. When there’s too much market concentration, you have too much power.

And all we’re saying is that whether it is in the supermarket [or farm gate], we want fair prices from the farm gate to the supermarket gate.

I think that he demonstrated the need and reinforced what the Nationals have been calling for, when there’s evidence, clear evidence around price gouging.

We saw that with meat prices where farm grade prices dropped by 60% or 70% in June. Yet, the checkout price only dropped by 18%. They put pressure all the way down through the supply chain. And what Allan Fels has said in his inquiry is that we need to have more ACCC price investigations, where there’s clear evidence. And that’s what we were calling for and the government ignored that. And I think shoppers have paid too much.

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Papua New Guinea’s PM to address Australian parliament as Pacific security race with China builds

Anthony Albanese and James Marape to meet on Thursday amid rising domestic pressures on the PNG leader

Australia will roll out the red carpet to the visiting Papua New Guinea prime minister, James Marape, amid efforts to stall China’s security talks with the Pacific country.

Marape is due to arrive in Canberra on Wednesday before he addresses a joint sitting of the Australian parliament on Thursday – the first Pacific leader to be afforded this honour.

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Papua New Guinea in talks with China on security cooperation, foreign minister says

Justin Tkachenko says they are in ‘early stages of negotiation’ with Beijing on its offer to assist with police and security

Papua New Guinea is in early talks with China on a potential security and policing deal, the country’s foreign minister Justin Tkachenko has said, weeks after deadly riots in the country’s capital.

Amid jostling between Washington and Beijing for influence in the Pacific, the biggest Pacific Islands nation, Papua New Guinea (PNG), has previously said Australia and the United States are its security partners, while China is an important economic partner.

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Papua New Guinea puts capital under state of emergency after deadly riots

Soldiers and police patrolling streets where witnesses say quiet has replaced looting and chaos that reportedly left at least 16 people dead

Soldiers and police patrolled Port Moresby on Friday a day after Papua New Guinea declared a state of emergency in the capital in response to rioting and other violence in which at least 16 people are reported to have died.

The prime minister, James Marape, declared a 14-day state of emergency, suspending several officials and putting more than 1,000 soldiers on standby, after a police and public sector protest over pay on Wednesday descended into rioting and looting.

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