Australian Public Diplomacy and a National Rugby League Team in Papua New Guinea

The 2024 Olympics in Paris demonstrated the continuing importance of sports events as an aspect of public diplomacy and soft power. As former Prime Minister John Howard noted, Australia has a self-appointed “substantial and special responsibility” toward the Pacific island states. The abandonment of the White Australia policy and the decolonization process throughout the Pacific led Australia to reposition itself as part of the “Pacific Family.” Nevertheless, this relationship has been characterized as unequal; Australia is the “Big Brother” while small Pacific island states are “Little Brothers.” Australia has felt the region to be essential to its security and has supported it with the largest aid budget and extensive multilateral and bilateral relationships involving policing, security, rule of law, governance and environment. The current Labor government has worked hard to repair these relationships, signing a joint communique in 2022 with Pacific Islands states calling for deep cuts in emissions due to the “climate emergency” and re-emphasizing Australia commitment to mitigating climate change and fight sea-level rise by bidding to host the COP31 in Australia “in partnership with the Pacific.” At the same time, these efforts have been undermined in the eyes of Pacific Island States by the Labor government’s continued approval of coal mining permits and the increase of coal exports. For example, while speaking out against an essentialized security-driven understanding the Pacific Islands, former Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaʻepa Saʻilele noted a “patronizing nuance” by some Pacific Island partners who believe that “Pacific nations did not know what they were doing or were incapable of reaping the benefits of close relations with countries that are and will be in the region for some time to come.” This attitude erases any agency that a small island state may have in reacting to increased great power competition as well as ignores the potential for Pacific-led solutions and approaches to international relations.