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4 months ago
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Why are some rugby league writers falling over themselves to defend the Albanese government's decision to donate $600m of taxpayers money to help set up a commercial sporting venture in Papua New Guinea?
They have echoed PNG Prime Minister James Marape's claims that safety and security concerns in his home country aren't an issue, dismissing anyone who raises the issue as peddling rubbish.
That's despite Port Moresby, where the new ventures home games will be played, is ranked as the world's fourth most dangerous city. And official government travel warnings tell Australians to be wary of everything from kidnappings to murders to sexual assaults.
It didn't take long for the violence in PNG - effectively a failed state on our doorstep - to once again rear its ugly head.
Today we learned that 26 people have been slaughtered in a massacre in the PNG province of East Sepik. Mothers nursing their babies were decapitated.
Yet another sign of how turbulent, violent and unstable PNG really is. No matter how much proponents of a rugby league team based in PNG are.
Granted - the province where the massacre occurred is a long way from Port Moresby.
The violent attacks on three remote villages in the Angoram district of East Sepik, in Papua New Guinea's (PNG) north, has likely killed 26 people, including 16 children, while several people were forced to flee after attackers set fire to their homes, the United Nations said
Anthony Albanese with James Marape, the prime ministers of Australia and Papua New Guinea respectively. A deal has been stitched up to spend $600m on a rugby league venture in PNG
But as mentioned Port Moresby is one of the world's most dangerous cities already. Travel warnings tell Australians to be wary of machete wielding gangs roaming the streets, and not just after dark.
To simplistically dismiss such realities in PNG when trying to line up good reasons to support an enormous government spend to help establish an NRL team in PNG is denialism in the extreme.
It's also not journalism. The role of the fourth estate is to ask questions and challenge assumptions being sprouted by the powerful.
In this case, a stitched up deal between the Australian and PNG government's to spend $600m on a rugby league venture they also tell us will be a commercial and ratings success.
If that's the case, why does it need so much taxpayers' money going into it? Why isn't the spending a loan rather than a handout?
I did see one rugby league writer devote a sentence to the need to inject money into PNG to ward off Chinese influence. Even if that's true, why isn't the money being pledged to more worthy pursuits, such as tackling the infant mortality rate in PNG? Or helping establish schools to lift the failed states poor education outcomes?
But even if you want to skirt over the poor priorities for the spend, discussions about how security concerns will be addressed can't be ignored, as today's horrible news highlights.
Part of the Hanuabada Villaga in Port Moresby
But I guess such fact finding doesn't easily find its way into puff pieces.
It is the job of journalists - whether covering sport or politics - to press politicians for the answers to these sort of concerns. For the sake of rugby league fans, for the sake of the players and their families.
Unfortunately all I have seen written on the sports pages of major mastheads so far is glowing tributes to the worthiness of $600m of taxpayers cash going out the door.
Because it is exciting to think about an NRL team from PNG. Yes it is - but the job of those covering the planned spend is to hold it up to the light.
Failing to do that isn't journalism, it's PR.
I always thought the NRL had a large enough media team to spruik such tall tales on their own, without the help of journalists.
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