Today I announce the appointment of Mr Jonathan Philp as Australia’s next High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea.
Australia and Papua New Guinea enjoy a long history of close cooperation underpinned by shared values, community links and common strategic and economic interests.
We are negotiating a Comprehensive Strategic and Economic Partnership, which will strengthen our cooperation in security, bilateral trade and investment, and enhance institutional, development and regional collaboration.
Our economic relationship is strong and growing. Around 5,000 Australian companies do business in Papua New Guinea with Australian investment totalling $16.9 billion. PNG is also our largest bilateral development partner, with total assistance of $578 million in 2018-19.
We share a proud history of security cooperation, most recently demonstrated by Papua New Guinea Defence Force’s deployment of military personnel to support Australia’s bushfire response.
Mr Philp is a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He has served overseas as Ambassador to Afghanistan and Ambassador to Turkey, as well as Deputy Head of Mission, Australian Embassy in Myanmar. In the private sector, Mr Philp worked as a senior executive with Woodside Energy.
Mr Philp holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the Australian National University.
I thank outgoing High Commissioner Bruce Davis for his contributions to advancing Australia’s interests in Papua New Guinea since 2015.
