What we don’t talk about is a whole nation with whom we share not only history and culture but a direct border: Papua New Guinea. At its narrowest, the Torres Strait is just 3.7 kilometres wide. Under the Torres Strait Treaty of 1978, traditional communities can still cross those waters for cultural and family reasons. Anthropologist Jeremy Beckett called it “a highway of exchange, one that bound northern Australia to New Guinea rather than dividing them”. We congratulate ourselves for our token recognition of the Gadigal in central Sydney, yet treat Papua New Guinea as an afterthought.