Australian army to continue help PNG

THE Australia Defence Force will continue to assist its counterpart the Papua New Guinea Defence Force in terms of funding and capacity building.

This was revealed on Friday at the commissioning of the new PNGDF’s directorate of health building and facilities at the Murray Barracks headquarters.

The building and facilities are worth more than K1.2 million, fully funded by the Australia Defence Force under the PNG-ADF Defence Cooperation Program which would provide better health services for the PNGDF servicemen and women.

According to Chief of Staff Colonel Mark Goina, the friendship between ADF and PNGDF had been maintained and strengthened since World War II.

"Through this partnership the people of Australia and the government has been providing continuous aid through various sectors for the development of this country," he said.

He said the office of directorate health service was so old it was about to fall over.

"We don’t have any money to build a new one so the ADF saw the need and fully funded the building, all the furniture and the necessary medical equipment," Col Goina said.

The colonel stated that the PNGDF had included some of its plans with the Health Department to provide better health services for its soldiers as well as the surrounding community.