Lae, Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is located on the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and is 160 kilometres north of Australia. The western half of the island is Irian Jaya, a province of Indonesia. It comprises both the mainland and some 600 offshore islands and has a total land area of 462,800 square kilometres.

The local time of Lae is Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) +10 which is the same as Cairns.

PNG has a moderate tropical climate with high levels of seasonal rainfall. In the highlands, temperatures can range from a low of four degrees Celsius to a high of 32 degrees Celsius. The lowland, coastal and island areas have an average daily temperature of 27 degrees Celsius.

The population of Lae is approximately 350,000 (2012)

The agreement with Lae was signed on 22 June 1984.

The proclamation reads

'The City of Lae, Papua New Guinea and the City of Cairns, Queensland, Australia, hereby declare their affiliation as Sister Municipalities. The citizens of both Municipalities will endeavour to establish goodwill, trust and understanding and promote reciprocal exchanges for our mutual prosperity.  It is our firm belief that this affiliation between Lae and Cairns will contribute to strengthening the friendship between Papua New Guinea and Australia.  We also believe that it will be mutually beneficial in the areas of trade and tourism between the two countries.  To affirm this Sister Municipality relationship, the Lord Mayor of Lae and the Mayor of Cairns, on behalf of both Municipalities, affix their signatures to this declaration.  The agreement was signed 1984.'

• 2025 A delegation led by Mayor Amy Eden, Sister Cities Ambassador Sim Hayward and Dr Charles Clarke of Cairns Botanical Gardens visited Lae upon invitation for Papua New Guinea's 50th Anniversary of Independence celebrations and to participate in the Morobe Show at a stand to promote Cairns and Sister Cities.
• 2025 An exhibition celebrating our 2024 Sister Cities Anniversaries - Lae, PNG; Sidney BC, Canada and Zhanjiang, China was on display at City Library from 20 January until 20 February.  This exhibition showcased the gifts received from our Sister Cities on the occasion of our anniversaries and explained the gifts sent from Cairns, along with other items from the general display and information showing our connections.
• 2024 December Cairns Sister Cities Ambassador Sim Hayward hosted a Morning Tea for Rosso's Mamas, a delegation of women visiting from Lae City Authority and Labour Mobility at Tank Sixty-four along with Tradelinked Cairns-PNG-Pacific.
• 2024 September Cairns hosted a delegation from Lae City Authority, Lae Tourism Bureau (and Arts), SME & Labour Mobility and Lae Chamber of Commerce for celebrations of our 40th Anniversary. Mr Robin Callistus, CEO, Lae City Authority led the Delegation which were hosted for a Morning Tea and Gift Exchange with Mayor Amy Eden; tours of the new Waste Facility (MURF); Botanic Gardens and Orchid House; Court House Gallery and Tanks Gallery space; presentations by Mr Callistus, our Creative Life and Economic Development teams and artist collaborative talks.  Delegates attended the Xavier Rudd concert at Munro Martin Park, a business networking event with Tradelinked Cairns-PNG-Pacific, held meetings with local businesses and attended a welcome event held by the local community.
• 2024 40th Anniversary of the Sister City relationship of Cairns-Lae.
• 2021-22   H’art of Lae exhibition by twelve artists in the Morobe province, presented at the Court House Gallery and officially launched by Councillor Rhonda Coghlan
• 2021 A painting by Arison Kul from Lae was presented to Mayor Bob Manning at the launch of the Hearts 4 Lae Kids Bike Program in July 2021. The program is an initiative of the Lae City Authority with Cairns Regional Council under the Cairns Sister Cities Program, Rotary Cairns and local churches to help provide children growing up in the settlements of Lae who would not normally have access to a bicycle to experience the joy of owning their own bike.
• 2018  Tradelinked Cairns & PNG and Council host a delegation from Lae, led by the Hon John Rosso, Member for Lae, and the Hon Ginson Saonu, Governor of Morobe, involving a Mayoral civic lunch and a tour of Council’s waste facilities.
• 2017 Cairns Sister Cities Ambassador Sim Hayward visits Lae City Council and the Lae Botanic Gardens in October.
• 2017 “Doing Business with Lae” information session held at Council in March, with presenters including the Consul General for Lae, Mr Paul Murphy, and Cairns Sister Cities Ambassador Sim Hayward.
• 2013   Lae City Manager, Mr Roy Kamen, attends National Sister City Day celebration in Cairns
• 2013   A group of 30 students and 5 teachers from Lae visit Cairns
• 2013 A delegation led by Deputy Mayor Philip Maiven visits Cairns in a reciprocal visit to reaffirm the Sister City relationship
• 2013   Cairns Mayor Bob Manning and Lae Mayor James Khay reaffirm the Sister Cities agreement during visit to Lae
• 2013 Cairns Mayor Bob Manning visits Lae and signs Memorandum of Understanding agreeing to work together to improve municipal infrastructure and the provision of municipal services in both cities
• 2009 Mrs Lone White, Cairns Regional Council Sister Cities Advisory Committee member visit to Zumin Pottery Exhibition Zumin Potter Exhibition 2009
• 2009   Lae participated in the Cairns "Face of a Sister City" photographic exhibition
• 2008   Lae participated in "Earth Links" Ceramics Exhibition