On behalf of the Papua New Guinea Association of Australia, I'll be meeting with the Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Affairs, Duncan Kerr [left], and the PNG High Commissioner to Australia, Charles Lepani [below], next month. The meetings will discuss the Australia-PNG relationship and, in particular, how the Association and its 1700 members may best be able to assist this relationship at a civil level.
We will also discuss a number of PNGAA initiatives previously put to government - including the School of the Pacific ('new ASOPA') proposal, an exchange scheme between Australian and PNG public servants and a donation of The Blatchford Collection ('Documents on the Development of the PNG Educational System') to PNG. If there are other subjects that you believe should be discussed, you can let me know by email or by adding a comment below.
Meanwhile, David Epstein, Principal Adviser to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, has referred the Association's request for the government to fund the search for the Montevideo Maru to Joel Fitzgibbon, the Minister for Defence.
In other PNGAA news, following the resignation of Rebecca Hopper, Harriet Troy has been appointed to the national committee and has taken up the position of chair of the Fellowship & Caring Sub-Committee which, among other things, organises the Association six-monthly luncheons.
