analysis
Albanese's 'brotherly' Kokoda trek with Marape showed uncommon warmth at a time of frosty geopolitics elsewhere in the Pacific
Anthony Albanese and James Marape clasp hands after walking a section of the Kokoda Track. (ABC News: Melissa Clarke)
It was an inauspicious start to Anthony Albanese's trip to Papua New Guinea. He arrived in Port Moresby and immediately prepared to head to the National Parliament, where PNG's Prime Minister James Marape was to officially welcome him to the country ahead of a formal bilateral meeting and a dinner function.
Protocol dictated Mr Marape would need to be there first so he could greet Mr Albanese on arrival. PNG's Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko, pre-positioned on the red carpet at the entrance to the National Parliament, gave Mr Marape a call.
"They are ready for you to come," he said, then paused while the voice at the other end spoke.
Mr Tkatchenko spoke again, "You have a one-on-one with him first, remember…?" continuing the conversation as he turned and walked back towards the building.
A short time later, an official came out to tell the waiting media there had been a short delay and Mr Marape would now be arriving 20 minutes later than initially expected.
It was the only hiccup — and a minor one at that — in an ambitious trip that would see two prime ministers spending days trekking in PNG's remote mountain jungles on the Kokoda Track, culminating in a dawn service for Anzac Day.
It was a big gamble, both logistically and physically, ostensibly to commemorate the Battle of Kokoda but ultimately to give a robust display of unity between the two countries. The intent was made clear from the outset in the words spoken at a dinner function before they left Port Moresby.
Mr Marape outlined his rationale for undertaking the walk. Aside from his Melanesian cultural compulsion to protect a guest on his land ("For our journey together, I chose to be your number one security guard!" he joked), he stated that Australia "is a country we can not take for granted" as "they have always stood with us".
He talked at length about the kinship between Australia and PNG, pointing to none other than the country's chief justice, Sir Gibuna Gibbs Salika, coming from a tribe of the Torres Strait islands.
"He's on this side and his tribe kinsmen and kinswomen are on the other side. It reflects on the closeness we have. We're not just brother and sister nations by name, but by kinship. We have Papua New Guineans who share blood with those who are Australians. The chief justice of our country reflects that class of Papua New Guineans."
Mr Marape expanded from the personal connections to the political: "We have many relationships elsewhere, east, west, north and also south, but there is no-one more closer to us than the Australian relationship. And in the midst of many relationships we have, you can rest assured that the security of our two nations' future is deeply anchored in our shared past."
His words are the stuff of dreams for the Australian government. In diplomacy, language is carefully calibrated to the millimetre. There is a clear gradation in the words chosen to describe relationships between countries and often deliberate ambiguity. So, to say no-one is closer to PNG than Australia, that Australia can't be taken for granted, and the two countries are brother and sister by kinship, is notable for how definitive it is.
It's not just the words, though. It's also about who hears them.
As Mr Marape described this kinship, he was addressing not just the Australian prime minister, but the broader audience at the dinner. The room was jam-packed with Australian and New Zealand diplomats and expats, crowded around tables adorned with napkins folded in the shape of birds of paradise. At a table near the front, China's ambassador in Port Moresby, Zeng Fanhua, was intently listening to the speeches. Just one day after China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi wrapped up a high-level visit to Port Moresby, Ambassador Zeng would be reporting back to Beijing this unambiguous, familial language of alliance between Australia and Beijing.
After the welcome in Port Moresby, the two prime ministers were helicoptered into Kokoda Village by the PNG Defence Force. After an elaborate sing-sing to welcome Mr Albanese, the two began the gruelling task of walking to the Isurava memorial site over two days. Up 17 kilometres of muddy, narrow track, in stifling humidity, they followed the path walked by Australian and Papuan infantry fighting back Japanese soldiers in World War II.
Anthony Albanese walks the Kokoda Track with an entourage of Australian and PNG staff. (ABC News: Melissa Clarke)
Throughout the days of arduous walking and the nights of recovery, there was an easy rapport between the two leaders. Mr Marape habitually welcomed his counterpart with a broad "My brother…" and wide open arms. In casual conversation, one would often pick up where the other left off, the train of thought continuing on the same track for both of them.
This was more than a natural easiness – it was the result of a concerted effort to spend more time talking on the phone and in each other's presence. Mr Albanese has described it as a decision to "tend" to the relationship, to deliberately choose to spend his limited time talking to – and walking with – the leader of PNG.
A personal rapport can take a long time to develop, something the relentless political cycle does not always allow. Between friendly nations, it's a bonus rather than a necessity. But the benefit is clear when you consider what can happen when there is little, or non-existent, personal connection at the highest levels.
Successive prime ministers have managed to gain little traction in the neighbouring Solomon Islands with Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare. His reticence has frustrated Australia's efforts to draw Honiara closer to Canberra rather than Beijing.
The security pact signed between China and Solomon Islands in 2022 and subsequent policing deal in 2023 dismayed Australia's government and top bureaucrats, with some lamenting privately they had "lost" Honiara.
So the brotherly bearing of Mr Albanese and Mr Marape has been seen as a "win", removing uncertainty about a neighbour's thoughts and inclinations at a time when the power plays of China in the region is cause for concern.
Mr Marape has described his country as being a buffer for Australia due to its geographical place at the intersection of Asia and the Pacific. He sees Australia and PNG as natural allies, pointing out the shared language, culture and values of the two countries. By contrast, he views Asia as having different languages, cultures and values that make them neighbours, rather than family.
Hunjara men welcomed Anthony Albanese and presented him with traditional gifts as he walked the Kokoda Track. (ABC News: Melissa Clarke)
This is where Mr Albanese has his eye and where he is looking to history for guidance.
In February 1942, then-Labor prime minister John Curtin saw Singapore fall to invading Japanese soldiers. Four days later, Darwin was bombed. Australian troops deployed in the Middle East were sent to the Dutch East Indies, where UK prime minister Winston Churchill insisted they go to Burma to battle advancing Japanese troops there. Mr Curtin stared him down and insisted they return to Australia to defend their home, where many then fought in the territories of Papua and New Guinea – including the Kokoda Track.
Mr Curtin's decision was one the prime minister referenced several times as he slogged along the Kokoda Track. Most notably, he spoke about it as he concluded his trek at the Isurava battlefield, the site of a decisive battle in the counter-offensive against the Japanese advance.
"It's a reminder of the decision of John Curtin to bring Australian troops back to our own region to defend our own land. It was a tough decision, but it was the right decision at that time and it secured our future," he said.
Mr Albanese's references to the value of focusing on security matters close to home were not just an Anzac Day reflection. He drew a direct link between the actions of Mr Curtin to turn from a remote conflict in Europe to focus on an advancing threat in Asia, and today's circumstances. Conflict hotspots abound across Europe and the Middle East demanding Australia's attention, but the prime minister stressed the need for the nation's actions and deeds to be focused much closer to home.
Mr Albanese told the ABC he saw deep symbolism in his trek. "It sends a message to both countries, but also to the region, that we're in step. We are literally walking side-by-side into the future," he declared.
"What we are today is a construct of those who went before us," Mr Marape said of the Australians and Papuans who fought on the Kokoda Track and in doing so, created a lasting connection across the Torres Strait. But he may as well have been speaking about himself and Mr Albanese. The two men are making a concerted effort to know and understand each other today, in order to tie the future of the two countries together.