Planning groups to discuss PNGAA future

People in State and Territory capitals are being invited to establish steering groups as part of a major consultation process about the future structure of the Papua New Guinea Association of Australia. The purpose of the groups is to contribute to a discussion about how the PNGAA can be decentralised and transformed into a Federal organisation.

As a part of broader constitutional change, it is likely a recommendation will be made to decentralise the PNGAA leadership and operational structure to create a national body with branches in States and Territories. The goal is to enable the 58-year old Association to evolve as a more sustainable and more functional organisation.

From this month, the PNGAA management committee will extensively consult members and others as part of this process of constitutional change, which will be put to a vote of members next April.

There are four main drivers for decentralising the management of the PNGAA:

▪          The ageing of the Association’s membership, with more than half aged over 70 and 85% aged over 60. The inescapable conclusion is that, unless is taken action to recruit new, younger members, the organisation will wither over the next 10 years. This means the focus of the PNGAA and what it offers to members need to change.

▪          The need for greater PNGAA engagement with Papua New Guinea and with Papua New Guineans. Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Affairs Duncan Kerr has described the PNGAA as a "valuable [contributor] towards maintaining the people-to-people links that are so critical to the continued dynamism of our relations". These words are too kind as a description of the PNGAA’s current contribution but they do reflect where the organisation needs to be heading.

▪          The need for an active membership. There are many initiatives that can be taken to achieve a condition where the PNGAA is working more energetically and purposefully to strengthen the Australia-PNG relationship, and they should involve as much of the membership as possible.

▪          The need to move away from Sydney-centrism. The PNGAA national committee is entirely Sydney-based. This is both unrepresentative of the geographical distribution of Association members and it is not tapping the best of what members have to offer.

In order to move forward, as President of the Association I am now appointing State and Territory steering group convenors and will work with them to select and lead local planning committees. The Queensland steering group has been appointed (more information on this in my next post) but interested people in other places can contact me here.

The steering groups will participate in the national discussion about an appropriate Federal structure for the PNGAA. They will also enable the PNGAA to determine whether sufficient local interest and resources exist to establish a fully-fledged branch.

People who are not able to join these groups will soon be asked to respond to a comprehensive discussion paper on constitutional change, which will be published in Una Voce, the PNGAA website, ASOPA PEOPLE and The Mail.