Why critics of PNG Chiefs’ tax perks are wrong

August 2, 2026

By TERRY LIBEROPOULOS

RECENT announcements of Jarome Luai, Zac Lomax and Connor Watson signing with the PNG Chiefs NRL team from 2028 should be seen as a great moment in rugby league.

But instead of celebrating such an important moment, we have a number of the game’s identities coming out and complaining that such a signing isn’t fair in the NRL.

For those that are not aware, players who make the move to Papua New Guinea won’t just benefit from tax-free playing contracts, they will also be able to pocket tax-free income from third-party deals while living in the country.

Under the Australian tax bracket, a player such as Luai would be on a $1.2 million a year contract but would take home around $650,000 after tax. By playing at the Chiefs, he would keep the full $1.2 million.

For clubs in Australia to match that figure, they would need to offer a player just over $2 million, almost impossible under the salary cap.

But players that remain Australian residents and have a home, spouse or children in Australia and also have strong personal and economic ties to Australia could be subject to getting taxed later on.

So, it will be up to player managers to understand the Australian tax implications of PNG-sourced salary and endorsements regardless what the Australian government said. But I will leave that with the accountants to work out.

In the meantime, many players will be looking at the bigger picture and making the move to Papua New Guinea, which is fantastic for not only the game but for the crime-riddled country. The nation finds itself in a turbulent period marked by domestic unrest, crime surges, and political instability.

Plenty of money has been pumped into PNG from the Australian government to help them gain stability and it hasn’t helped that much.

For PNG, this team offers a multifaceted opportunity to enhance national unity, drive economic development and strengthen PNG’s strategic partnerships. For Australia, the deal is a chance to combine our great passion (sport) with our great need (security), while helping out a friend and, subtly, bolstering our partnership, people-to-people links and sporting product.

Sport will complement other, arguably more important, strands in the old relationship: security (traditional and human), economics, trade and geopolitics.

The PNG Chiefs team is due to debut in 2028 and is to be funded “by the Australian taxpayer” to the tune of $600 million over a period of 10 years.

And it is so important that the Chiefs are successful from the start and not just making up the numbers. The game in Papua New Guinea is a religion and a competitive team will unite the whole country.

And while a number of officials whinge, they are not looking at the long-term benefit, just concerned about their own club which to me, is very narrow-minded.

The reason rugby league has grown in the past is because of expansion and trying to get new fans to the game, instead of just looking after your own.

The PNG Chiefs will need those 10 years to produce their own players instead of depending on players from Australia. And I’m confident that they will be able to field a team in the future consisting mostly of local players.

They have the players but they need to bring them up to speed to be able to match it in the NRL. And having the PNG Chiefs at their doorstep and the facilities and structure to develop them will mean they will have more opportunities to play in the NRL.

And it doesn’t mean that those from Papua New Guinea can’t join other NRL clubs, not just the Chiefs. And that does wonders for international rugby league.

The Pacific explosion has seen Samoa and Tonga able to field sides that can match with the likes of Australia, New Zealand and England. Instead of being just the usual three nations that we have had in the past, the more international competition the better.

The Papua New Guinea Kumuls have struggled since they joined the international family. They are stronger than most nations but simply can not match with the big rugby league nations.

The inclusion of the PNG Chiefs will fix this problem but they have to make sure that they do have a number of local players in their squad, not a team full of Australian and New Zealanders. They will have a few overseas players to start with but they have to make sure that they develop their own talent.

After all, they have 10 years to do so because I don’t think too many overseas players will be heading there once the decade is over and the tax-free money is no more.

By having the Kumuls as a competitive nation can only be good for the game of rugby league. The return of Toulouse to Super League, this time on a permanent basis, will strengthen the French national team.

Many critics said that the Catalans Dragons was supposed to improve France on the international stage and that hasn’t happened. Well, the reason for that is that the Dragons have only used a handful of French players on a regular basis but Toulouse’s squad is mostly made up of players from France.

Those players from Toulouse will continue playing top-class rugby league in the Super League on a regular basis and give France a bigger pool to choose from.

It will mean that everyone playing for France will be from Super League and not from the local competition. In the past, there have always been players from the local French competition or from the English Championship where Toulouse played for a number of years.

In the next decade, it would be fantastic to see Australia, New Zealand, England, Tonga, Samoa, Papua New Guinea and France being very competitive. It would be great to see more nations make the jump up to that level such as Fiji, Cook Islands, Wales, Ireland and Scotland. But that’s easier said than done.

The inclusion of the PNG Chiefs is incredible considering that the NRL will now feature clubs from three countries. Outside of those special competitions such as the Champions League, Balkan Super League, Super Rugby and Euro-League Basketball, how many domestic competitions feature teams from three nations?

Baseball, hockey and soccer in North America include teams from Canada and the United States while netball and soccer in Australia also include teams from Australia and New Zealand.

Then there are plenty of teams in Europe that play in neighbouring countries because it is more convenient, lack of competition or they have the opportunity to play at a higher level.

Just before Covid-19 hit, a team from Albania played in the Greek rugby league competition and there was talk about having teams from Turkey and Malta joining.