Foreign Minister Marise Payne is confident Australia will maintain a good relationship with Papua New Guinea no matter who leads the Pacific nation.
PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill announced on Sunday he would resign after seven years, citing a need for change following weeks of unrest during which several of his ministers quit.
His resignation will be confirmed when Mr O'Neill visits the governor-general, which is expected on Tuesday. Mr O'Neill wants to hand over his job to former two-time PNG prime minister Sir Julius Chan, 79.
But Sir Julius' tenure could be brief because the government may not have the majority 62 seats it needs to govern, in the wake of multiple defections to the opposition.
Senator Payne praised Mr O'Neill saying he has played a pivotal role in strengthening Australia's partnership with PNG, which receives more than $500 million in aid from Australia each year.
She's confident this relationship will continue regardless of who leads Australia's "closest friend and closest neighbour" in the region.
"Obviously, these are matters for the Papua New Guinea parliament and political parties and we will work with the leadership as it is determined by them," she told ABC Radio National on Monday.
"And I'm sure that no matter who that is, that will be a continuing approach similar to the one that we've enjoyed in recent years."
Senator Payne said it was too soon to determine if a leadership change would have implications for Australia's offshore processing deal with PNG.
"We'll obviously deal with those issues as they arise," she said.
"I think it's premature to speculate on those. As we've seen in recent weeks, Papua New Guinea politics is historically and clearly currently very dynamic.
"You'd be a very brave person to predict outcomes at the moment."
