Tax-free status means Perth Bears and AFL fans are subsidising the PNG Chiefs

May 4, 2026 — 11:55am

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With all the feel-goodery about Jarome Luai’s signing with the PNG Chiefs, one small matter has gone largely unacknowledged.

The special federal government tax-free status for Chiefs players, which expands their salary cap by an effective 45 per cent above the rest of the NRL, isn’t just pretend money.

Tax-free status means they are subsidised by you, me, and all Australians, on top of the $600 million we are already donating to set up the club.

It’s also subsidised by Bears fans. And by followers of the AFL who think rugby and rugby league are the same.

And by Australians who hate sport and are getting kicked off the NDIS. And, well, every taxpayer.

Nobody can argue that overseas assistance to our allies doesn’t have a strategic benefit, and the drip-chain of Australian aid to PNG down to millionaire rugby league players’ pockets is a price of doing business.

But overseas aid doesn’t generally interfere with a sports competition in which everyone is passionately trying to beat everyone else.

The NRL talks a good game about........

© Brisbane Times