2025-11-26
A rising political Force, The Green Party Of papua New Guinea
By Michelle Sheather, International Development Committee
The Green Party of Papua New Guinea are a rising political force in the Pacific. They recently stood candidates in local government elections earlier this month and are building up branches in key areas across PNG. With 7 local government councillors elected so far, they could have a team as high as 15 after the final count is completed in December. Michelle Sheather, of the Australian Greens International Development Committee, shares an update.
Papua New Guinea (PNG) is Australia’s closest neighbour. Through recent regional politics from climate change to the US and Chinese conflicting allegiances in the Pacific, it continues to be a close ally with Australia.
PNG was one of the Pacific countries that strongly supported the Australian Government’s COP30 bid for the UN Climate Change negotiations (UNFCCC). The country is also home to the world’s third largest rainforest, with 70% coverage across the country. According to the UN, it is one of the top 20 countries most vulnerable to impacts by climate change, and it is the most linguistically diverse country of the planet with over 800 languages spoken.
Over the past three years, the Australian Greens International Development Committee (IDC) has undertaken projects in PNG, including recent national and local election campaign support, gender equity trainings, and a National Conference for members in Port Moresby.
Last month, the number of functional political parties in PNG was reduced from 56 to 24, each having over 2,000 members each. The PNG Greens were complimented for their organisational capacity, their gender equity work in the country (where only 3 of 111 MPs are women, and the global nature of being a part of the Global Greens.
The local government elections earlier this month were previously postponed twice, but all candidates remained steadfast in their commitment to the Green Party. As at the time of writing, the party has 7 elected MPs at local government level in the Central Highlands and likely to have 7-8 more in the Eastern Highlands. Communication remains a challenge – often PNG Greens members need to travel to local areas, many of which are not connected by road or do not have good mobile phone connections to receive news.
The work over the past 3 years has strengthened the party’s building of six branches in Port Moresby, Mount Hagen and Enga in the Highlands, Lae in the West, Kiunga in Western Province, and a new branch in Vanimo in West Sepik the north-west of the country, close to the West Papuan border. All branches recruited party members and candidates in the recent election.
The IDC has also supported the growth of the National Women’s Network; the Pacific has the least representation of women in parliament of any region in the world. Two gender equity trainings for women in the party have been held, one in Port Moresby and a second in Jikawaka Province in the Highlands. We are also supporting the Network with further training and mentoring in 2026. A member of the PNG Greens has been elected as the Co-Convenor of the Asia Pacific Greens Women’s Network to further integrate this work.
The General Secretary of the PNG Greens, Andrew Kutapae, visited Australia to observe our national election campaign in April 2025 in NSW, Victoria, and the ACT. The Party is gearing up for their 2027 National Elections where they anticipate having national MPs in place.
“We appreciate the strong connections between the Australian Greens and the Green Party of Papua New Guinea so we can learn from one another’s experiences as close neighbours and to build up the Greens in the Pacific as a real force in politics and a grassroots democratic movement.” - General Secretary of the PNG Greens, Andrew Kutapae
Senator David Shoebridge visited PNG in December 2024 and met with and supported the work of the Green Party of PNG, as well as working with the refugees previously detained by Australia on Manus Island. Former Australian Greens Senator Janet Rice also spent three weeks in PNG in June this year, traversing the country and working closely with the Party and other organisations from the ground up. Janet, who is also a member of the IDC, said:
“I’m loving my work with the PNG Greens, helping to make a difference to people’s lives and helping to build a political force that is committed to people and the planet, to transparency, accountability, and participatory democracy.”
“I met with so many people during my visit who were excited by the potential of the Greens. They are fed up with corruption and want to see more women in the PNG parliament. During my visit I worked with Freda Pos, Convenor of the PNG Greens Women’s Network, who I’ve been mentoring over the last two years as part of an IDC initiative with the regional Women’s Network, and we strategised together on women and party building along with other key women in the Party.”
“And I met with a range of environmental NGOs and spent time hanging out in the Torricelli Mountains with the Tenkile Conservation Alliance, who are working with local villagers to stop the hunting of and protect the habitat of Tenkile or Tree Kangaroos. PNG has the most amazing forest and other natural wonders - and it is largely multinational including Australian companies who are destroying it. Colonialism and extractivism continues apace, and the locals need support to fight back.”
“I'd love to establish an Australian Greens PNG Solidarity and Support Group to transform lives in PNG, to support the growth of the Greens and help protect PNG’s precious environments.”- Janet Rice, former Australian Greens Senator
You can read more about Janet’s trip to Papua New Guinea on her Substack here.
If you would like to join a PNG Support Group, or learn more about the work the IDC is supporting in PNG, please contact Janet on janet.rice@vic.greens.org.au. We are intending to hold a webinar on this work in early 2026 – please get in touch if you may be interested in this.
Also, if you are interested in the work of the Australian Greens IDC more broadly, please email Michelle on michelle.sheather@greens.org.au.