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The Prime Minister’s quick visit to Papua New Guinea this week focused on the asylum-seeker issue, but also has some wider security implications.

Although Mr Rudd enjoys good personal relations with Sir Michael Somare, PM Peter O’Neill has a commanding grip on national politics, with most PNG MPs currently behind him, and a different style and priorities. Most younger PNG leaders share O’Neil’s single-minded, unsentimental, focus on PNG’s national interest—witness his decision to travel to Jakarta rather than Noumea when the MSG Leaders Summit was due to consider West Papuan membership last month. (And, indeed, his willingness to go along with the idea that asylum seekers heading this way represent a security problem for the whole region). This forward-looking outlook may assist productive, businesslike ties relatively free of decolonisation-era baggage, but also means we can’t rely so much on a special relationship, with the PNG Government assessing its options on their merits in a more competitive international environment. Read more