MEDIA RELEASE
25 January 2007
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNOR-GENERAL GIVES MESSAGE TO PNG ON AUSTRALIA DAY
The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, Major General Michael Jeffery, AC CVO MC, said on Australia Day today that Australia remains committed to helping Papua New Guinea.
The Governor-General comments came at the start of Australia Week in Papua New Guinea – a week of activities designed to promote Australia in PNG and highlight the strong relationship between the two countries.
Major General Jeffery said: “At Papua New Guinea’s independence in 1975, the Australian Government said that it was committed to helping the Government and people of Papua New Guinea to achieve their development objectives.
“We remain very closely linked through geographical proximity, a shared history in peace and war, a mutual desire for strong democratic institutions operating under the rule of law, and by our ongoing security, economic, tourism, educational and people-to-people links.
"I want to assure you that Australia remains committed to helping Papua New Guinea achieve a secure and prosperous future. Best wishes to you all."
Major General Jeffery has a close relationship with PNG himself. He spent a number of years at Taurama Barracks in Port Moresby in the 1960s and also commanded soldiers of the Second Battalion the Pacific Islands Regiment in Wewak.
In 2000 he returned to PNG as a member of an Eminent Person's Group tasked to review the size, structure and role of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force.
The Governor-General returned again in September 2005 to mark the 30th anniversary of PNG’s Independence.
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