Australia — Exercise OLGETA WARRIOR starts in Papua New Guinea

The Par­lia­men­tary Sec­re­tary for Defence, Sen­a­tor David Feeney, today trav­elled to Papua New Guinea (PNG) to vis­it approx­i­mate­ly 300 Aus­tralian Defence Force (ADF) per­son­nel par­tic­i­pat­ing in Exer­cise OLGETA WARRIOR.

Sen­a­tor Feeney will also meet with new PNG Gov­ern­ment Min­is­ters and agency heads, includ­ing the Hon. Belden Namah, Deputy Prime Min­is­ter, the Hon. Guma Wau, Min­is­ter for Defence, the Hon. Don Poyle, Trea­sur­er and Hon. Sam Basil, Min­is­ter for Nation­al Planning. 

“Australia’s close rela­tion­ship with PNG is reflect­ed in the coop­er­a­tion between our two coun­tries on a range of defence mat­ters, from strate­gic plan­ning to joint exer­cis­es,” Sen­a­tor Feeney said. 

Exer­cise OLGETA WARRIOR has been run­ning since 2009. It is the pri­ma­ry bilat­er­al exer­cise between the ADF and PNG Defence Force (PNGDF).

As part of the Exer­cise, approx­i­mate­ly 300 ADF per­son­nel trav­el to PNG to take part in infantry, logis­tics, engi­neer­ing and avi­a­tion training. 

“Exer­cise OLGETA WARRIOR is a great oppor­tu­ni­ty for our defence forces to exchange skills and increase interoperability. 

“The Exer­cise also con­tributes to the PNGDF’s strong per­for­mance along­side the ADF in the Region­al Assis­tance Mis­sion to Solomon Islands. 

“I am look­ing for­ward to vis­it­ing the ADF per­son­nel who are par­tic­i­pat­ing in this Exer­cise, and also meet­ing with PNGDF per­son­nel,” Sen­a­tor Feeney said. 

Sen­a­tor Feeney will also meet new PNG Gov­ern­ment Min­is­ters and agency heads. 

“In my meet­ings with the new Deputy Prime Min­is­ter, the Hon Belden Namah and Min­is­ter for Defence, the Hon Guma Wau, I will reaf­firm Australia’s com­mit­ment to help­ing fur­ther devel­op a pro­fes­sion­al and sus­tain­able PNGDF,” Sen­a­tor Feeney said. 

“Aus­tralia and PNG will con­tin­ue to work togeth­er to strength­en our endur­ing Defence rela­tion­ship,” Sen­a­tor Feeney said. 

Media Con­tact: Lor­na Clarke – 0408 345 730 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia 

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