Papua New Guineans to Start Serving in Aussie Defence Force

Soldiers from Papua New Guinea look on during the opening ceremony of Exercise Southern Jackeroo in Townsville, Australia, on May 29, 2026. Ian Hitchcock/Getty ImagesPapua New Guineans will begin serving in Australia’s defence force over the next year, with recruitment ramped up to “thousands” over the next decade.Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles says the first project being implemented under the Pukpuk Treaty, the trans-Torres defence pact, is the enlistment of PNG nationals.Speaking from Port Moresby on Aug. 16 alongside his PNG counterpart, Elias Kapavore, Marles said a pilot program was being readied to accept nationals of Australia’s northern ally.“We are both very committed to ensuring that by this time next year, recruitment is well and truly underway from PNG into the Australian Defence Force,” he said.“It will be smaller numbers to begin with, but in time we see this happening at scale over the next decade, where we are imagining thousands of people.”Decisions around the recruitment process are to taken over the next two months ahead of an Australia-PNG ministerial forum, due in October.In recent years, Australian defence ranks have been opened to New Zealanders, as well as citizens of Canada, the UK and United States living in Australia.The Pukpuk Treaty—which entered into force in July, and is named after the word for crocodile in the PNG language of Tok Pisin—is PNG’s first defence treaty, and gives Australia a third defence ally beyond the United States and New Zealand.It also includes an infrastructure spend, collaborative exercises, work to expand the interoperability of the two forces, and allowing forces to operate in each other’s countries.“We are seeing our defence forces increasingly working more closely together … this is a huge moment,” Marles said.Marles is on a two-day visit to Australia’s northern neighbours, visiting Honiara on Aug. 17 to meet with new Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale.By Ben McKay in Hobart