Anthony Albanese will commemorate Anzac Day by walking part of the Kokoda Track with his Papua New Guinean counterpart, James Marape.
As Australia pushes for closer diplomatic ties with the Pacific nation, the two prime ministers will spend a few days walking before attending a dawn service in Isurava on April 25 to commemorate the 600 Australians who died during the Kokoda campaign in the Second World War.
Announcing his visit on Friday, Albanese said he would honor the sacrifice of hundreds of Australians who fought along the runway to defend themselves from a Japanese invasion more than 80 years ago.
Anthony Albanese to mark Anzac Day by walking part of the Kokoda Track with Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape
“This year, on Anzac Day, I will be in Isurava, on the Kokoda track, taking the opportunity to pay my respect to the remarkable effort to protect our nation in one of its darkest moments,” he said in a speech on Friday .
‘We will gather in the peace that is the gift to us from generations of Australians who have taken up arms in our name.
‘We will gather to remember all those who have served and all those who serve now. “We will remember all those who lost their lives, all those who survived and returned home.”
Albanese will become the first sitting prime minister to walk the famous path, and this follows his historic speech to the PNG parliament last January, the first Australian prime minister to do so.
Marape addressed the Australian parliament in Canberra in February.
Kevin Rudd walked the runway in 2006 while he was opposition leader, as did Scott Morrison in 2009 when he was a backbencher.
Albanese will become the first sitting Prime Minister to walk the famous path.
The famous track extends 96 kilometers (60 kilometers as the crow flies) from the Kokoda Plateau to Owers Corner, where Australian forces were stationed in July 1942 to stop the Japanese advance on the capital, Port Moresby.
In addition to the 600 people who died, thousands more Australians were seriously injured or made ill.