The Prime Minister has shut down a potential civil war in Queensland rugby league by convincing the Mackay Cutters to play in Port Moresby.

The Cutters were under threat of being booted from the state’s top competitions when they refused to travel to Papua New Guinea for a scheduled Hostplus Cup game on Saturday.

The fixture was slated to be PNG’s first home game since 2019 after the Hunters based themselves in Australia due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Despite more than 10,000 tickets sold ahead of the game, the Cutters indicated they would refuse to board a flight to Port Morseby due to safety concerns.

But the team was persuaded to go ahead with the final round match when Anthony Albanese became involved yesterday and offered security assurances to the Mackay team.

Mr Albanese spoke to his PNG counterpart on the matter, who confirmed he would personally attend the match.

“The people of PNG are passionate in their support for rugby league and our relationship is of critical importance to Australia,” Mr Albanese said.

“I have discussed with the Defence Minister and conveyed directly to the QRL that the Australian government will support any requests for security for this match.”

Image: Nine News