I joined Anthony Albanese for his Kokoda Track walk. It was a moment in history. A sitting Australian prime minister had never walked it before. Neither had a PNG prime minister.
After two days climbing the muddy path through the mountains of PNG,Albanese and Marape marked the dawn service at the Isurava battlefield memorial.
Prime Minister James Marape said the 1942 Kokoda campaign set a precedent for close military co-operation between the two nations.
It’s a party on wheels.
Anthony Albanese said the thing that had most struck him along the walk was the formidable conditions Australian and PNG soldiers encountered during World War II.
The prime minister received an energy boost along the way from his favourite sweet:a bag of liquorice Black Cats,which he shared with fellow walkers.
When Prime Minister Anthony Albanese lurches out of the PNG jungle at Isurava shrine,four words will be etched on his psyche.
Two days after China’s top diplomat poured scorn on AUKUS during a Port Moresby visit,Albanese will be the first Australian PM to walk the Kokoda Track while in office.
Their family is best known for mining billionaire “Twiggy”,Australia’s richest man. But another personality has haunted the Forrests for decades.
Australia was ready to provide support to the Marape government to quell the violence in Papua New Guinea,Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
In the first address to parliament by a Pacific leader,James Marape said PNG wanted to end its dependence on foreign aid.