MEDIA RELEASE
8 September 2008
For immediate release
PNG AND AUSTRALIA JOIN FORCES TO RENOVATE SCHOOL CLASSROOMS
The Papua New Guinea and Australian Defence Forces have together renovated three classrooms at the Ted Diro Elementary School at Murray Barracks in Port Moresby. The work was undertaken as part of EXERCISE PUKPUK 2008, an annual joint exercise between the Papua New Guinea Defence Force Engineer Battalion and the Royal Australian Engineers.
The Australian High Commissioner to PNG, His Excellency Chris Moraitis, officially opened the new classrooms at a ceremony at Murray Barracks today.
“The improvements made to these classrooms are a joint investment in Papua New Guinea’s future by the PNG and Australian Defence Forces. The Australian Government is proud to have contributed to this task, working so closely with our PNG friends,” said Mr Moraitis.
“Cooperation and relationship building are key to the success of EXERCISE PUKPUK each year. Apart from the physical projects undertaken, the exercise helps build enduring friendships, cultural understanding and respect between PNG and Australian soldiers,” he said.
This year engineers from the PNG Defence Force’s Engineer Battalion, based in Lae, and Australia’s 3rd Combat Engineer Regiment, from Townsville, worked together to completely renovate the existing classrooms, replacing the roof, improving ventilation, laying concrete pathways, installing shelves and cupboards and adding a fresh coat of paint.
By the time the exercise concludes on 20 September, EXERCISE PUKPUK 2008 will also have demolished two disused school buildings to make way for sports courts, constructed a new toilet block for the school, completely refurbished two blocks of soldiers’ accommodation, built office cubicles in the PNGDF Communications Centre and renovated St Paul’s Chapel at Murray Barracks.
“Our close and regular cooperation on Exercises like PUKPUK helps explain why joint efforts on operations such as the the Regional Assistance Mission in the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) are generally big success stories”, said the Head of Australian Defence Staff in PNG, Colonel Luke Foster. “It’s also testament to PNG and Australia’s strong shared military history and our future as security partners in the South Pacific region.”
In total 78 soldiers are taking part in the exercise, 23 from PNG and 55 from Australia.
Media Inquiries: Francina Thomson, Public Diplomacy Officer, T: 325 9333 ext 276, Email: [email protected]