Doorstop - Isurava, Papua New Guinea

JAMES MARAPE, PRIME MINISTER OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA: He made a call, he made it happen in terms of picking that date. I would just want to reflect that Papua New Guineans must not take this lightly. He, as I said in the interview earlier, he could have picked a chopper to get him here, retired his obligation to pay respect to the ANZAC event and then walk down towards the easier leg of Kokoda. Instead, he walked the hard way up, and that's reflective of the inner man he is. The commitment and dedication to the post and his overview of the Pacific as a family of nations should maintain respect to the past, especially those who paved the way for our democracy to be what it is today in terms of the Pacific nations having democracy, free market economy, respect the rule of law. And Australia is the biggest democracy in our part of the world, so to speak, and so for him taking this moment and reflecting on the past. What we have today is the construct of those who went before us. Today the journey up was hard, not easy, not a walk in the park so to speak, but those who walked with us would have felt the odious task it was to just walk up. What became evident was the help to each other, not just him and me, but mostly those who walk with us lent a hand when it needed the most. The carriers, the porters, just for me, something that stood out in my mind, the porters were able to assist us all the way through. And I was just imagining what it was, where a few weeks earlier they would have been strangers, but forced by the, you know, this possible act of war, they fought as friends, mates, carrying each other through the jungles. I mean, we walked the easier walk. We'd already laid out the track, but they were carrying each other, carrying the wounded, walking through. So, it paved the way for the democracies we have in our part of the world.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you're paying respect to the past, but also there's strong symbolism about the present and the desire for war not to visit this region again, for there to be peace. That's the symbolism of you two gentlemen walking together today?

PRIME MINISTER MARAPE: Correct, and in our own small way we are passing through the journey of time. As democracy there's a sunset in my own career, there's a sunset in his own career. I wish you long in politics, but in any case, but what we're doing today symbolises that we can't take the present for granted. We too must plant our own memories, the memories of democracy, respecting each other, caring for each other, carrying each other, working for each other, and walking side by side. I think that was what symbolised in this ANZAC, whoever Australian Prime Minister and PNG Prime Ministers down the line can beat our records. Maybe do the entire six days or seven days of walk, but we've done two days of walking, that's good enough for us. He's very busy man, the Prime Minister of the thirteenth biggest economy. I know he can walk up the way I saw him walk today. He had a spirit, and he had the stamina to walk at his own pace. We got to go do our honours tomorrow morning, and it's got to go off running his country, and I've got to go off running mine.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Albanese, can you explain the emotion coming here, at the end of this trek after two days. Talk to us about your feelings as you arrived here?

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Well, it's very humbling to have walked for the past days in the footsteps of giants. Giants who defended what was then one nation of Australia and the territory of Papua. And now what we have done over the past couple of days is get just a small insight of the courage and resilience that our soldiers, and the Papuan soldiers, and the people who provided them assistance, the local citizens did it is quite extraordinary. The achievement that they did to defend this nation and to defend Australia. It's a reminder of the decision of John Curtin to bring Australian troops back to our own region to defend our own land. That was a tough decision, but it was the right decision at that time, and it secured our future. But what the walk has also been about is us walking side by side, showing that we walk together today and into the future as well. We cooperate and have a great relationship as individual leaders, but our nations have a great relationship as well, and that was forged here on the battlefields during World War Two.

JOURNALIST: Do you think the next trip will be snorkelling and relaxing at the Reef maybe?

PRIME MINISTER MARAPE: He goes to work tomorrow, I go off to work tomorrow, I'm hosting a dignitary, and I'm flying off on Friday to another workup in Hagens, so there's no rest for us. Sometimes our people take politicians for granted. We don't rest like most rest. There's no snorkelling for us, correct?

PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Indeed. Correct.

PRIME MINISTER MARAPE: Can I ask Governor Jaffa, we are guests in your tribal territory. We come and go, but you live with the stars and legacies, the people here. You walk with us every step away, you welcome us. And here we are very strong.

GARY JUFFA, GOVERNOR OF ORO PROVINCE: Thank you, Prime Minister, and welcome to Oro province. Welcome to Isurava, Prime Minister Albanese. The northern province has obviously a deep connection with Australia because of our shared water and heritage. And we are honoured to join our Prime Minister and welcome you into our province. We believe that this walk would give you an insight into the challenges that our people face, the difficulties that they face in terms of delivery of goods and services. We are very fortunate, we're part of the government, and we're seeing some substantial development now in the province that we've not seen for some time. And we feel that with this partnership, it is good and positive news indeed for the people of Oro province, thank you.

PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Could I just add a big thank you to the Governor and to your people here who provided us with extraordinary assistance. The porters, the people who prepared meals, the people who looked after us, thank you. I will never forget, I've made a very good friend on this trip, Bella, who looked after me for the last couple of days. I certainly couldn't have done it without his assistance. And I'm sure the Australian delegation couldn't have done it without the assistance and support of the local community, so thank you.

PRIME MINISTER MARAPE: That was what it was during the war, you know. Unnumbered locals also got injured and killed during the conflict, but that's part of the legacy we're living with. Well done, good on you. Good on you. Could not have happened without you.

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