MCKILLOP: So, we're not just toying around, as that gentleman put it? I mean, is funding an NRL team in Port Moresby going to cut it when it comes to securing our geopolitical place in the world?
MARLES: Look, I think actually that step has been really important because we need to be much more imaginative about how we improve our relations with the countries of the region. And one of the things that we have which is such an advantage for us in terms of countries in the Pacific is a sense of affinity. There's a whole lot of ways in which the countries of the Pacific and the peoples of the Pacific look to Australia. Now, one of those is sport. You know, rugby league is a massive sport in PNG and this has been a long held dream of Papua New Guinea to have a team in the NRL. And to now see the realisation of that dream, you know, greatly connects us with that country. And it's something that no one else can do, no other country can do. And so, you know, I think is actually a really important step forward and it's part of a suite of measures that we've taken which sees our relationship with Papua New Guinea closer today than it's ever been and that's really important. And yes, that's happening in a kind of cultural, sports cultural area like rugby league, but it's happening in defence. Our defence-to-defence relationship with Papua New Guinea has never been closer. We've never been doing more exercises, operations, looking at joint recruitment, you know, a whole range of areas where we are very close in that respect. We're about to, you know, we've announced that we'll be doing a Defence Cooperation Agreement with Papua New Guinea. These are really important steps forward. And from the perspective of Cairns, that matters because in so many ways, Cairns is our more than our gateway, it's really our connection, I think, with PNG. And, you know, there's a lot of PNG expats who are in Cairns. Cairns is such an asset in terms of our relationship with Papua New Guinea and that's only going to become more so going forward.
