Australia & NZ need to prepare for PNG migration

RADIO AUSTRALIA

PROFESSOR RICHARD BEDFORD is a specialist in migration studies who has been looking at population movements in the Asia-Pacific region since the 1960s.

He says that between now and 2050, Australia and New Zealand can expect much larger numbers of migrants from Melanesian countries.

He says this new wave of Pacific migration is something both countries need to begin preparing for.

“I think we're going to find that we become more engaged as we have been in the last decade with the western Melanesian countries [like] Vanuatu, Solomons and Papua New Guinea.

“And we're going to see I think a lot more people from those island countries coming to New Zealand and Australia as part of the ongoing development processes in their countries, and maybe also part of our own shortages of labour, particularly in less skilled areas in the economy.

“I think one of the things on the policy front that we will have to be more sympathetic to is the pressure that will build for access to opportunities in our cities from our near neighbours,” Prof Belford said.

“I think we're going to need to see some more thinking like that, how we accommodate the pressure for assistance and support and opportunities for young people in those regions in our particular countries.”

Comments

[Peter Kranz]

Leonard - Terra Nullius ['no one's land] was never applied in PNG and landowner rights were recognised quite early in colonial law and are now of course explicitly protected by the constitution (depite the SABL issue threatening this).

Mining companies have specific responsibilities for negotiating with recognised land owners. Of course there are sometimes disputes between various groups who may have competing claims over certain areas - a confusion which no doubt can be exploited by unscrupulous coumpanies.

The Mabo case which overturned Terra Nullius in Australian law and recognised native title concerned the Murray Islands in the Torres Strait, but to my knowledge the doctrine of Terra Nullius was never used in PNG.

[Leonard Roka]

Just reverse the thought and say, Westerners are about to exploit Papua New Guinea well this century if this Melanesians are not to change their political fluidity.

It's okay, if Prof. Bedford, should research the Australia-PNG relations to see if there is no undercover practice of indirect 'terra nullius' doctrine in the mining and petroleum industry.

[Ludmilla Isalonda]

Is mass-Melanesian migration to the two western countries in our region a realistic challenge that the two feel anxious to plan for?

I should like to pour cold water on such a contingency. It is my hope as a well-travelled, well-educated Papua New Guinean who is very much at home back home that such a scenario does not play out for PNG.

My hope for PNG is for all my fellow country men and women alike to lift this beloved country to a state where the only lure to go outside is to visit sun-scorched Australia and icy New Zealand as well-heeled tourists.

[David Kitchnoge]

Hi Paul - Thanks for that. Got you.

Perhaps some people play the escape game and run away to some other place and watch and criticise from a distance. That’s the easy way out and doesn’t help at all. In fact, I think it compounds our problems because we are losing talent (factors of production) which would have otherwise been better used here.

But I doubt that a great majority of Papua New Guineans who’ve left our shores have done so to escape from our problems. Rather I think most people do so because they feel being grossly undervalued in their own country for the knowledge and skill levels they possess.

There exists a conspiracy to push talented Papua New Guineans away from their own country with the nonsensical dual remuneration system we currently have here. For doing the same jobs and producing the same or even better results, Papua New Guineans are remunerated 3 times less than their expatriate colleagues in the same position.

The very talented and capable Papua New Guinean gets disillusioned by this unfair treatment over time and decides to go elsewhere to realise his/her true market value. And what does the employer in PNG do? Import an expatriate replacement and pay them 3 times more than the Papua New Guinean for doing exactly the same things.

And our government watches on and does nothing about it.

[Paul Oates]

David, the essence of what I was clearly not communicating very well is this: I’m not anti Melanesian culture. Far from it. I believe it has some very valuable lessons to be shared and I want it to be taught in Australian schools. The aspects however that have promoted the endemic culture of corruption have I believe, their origins in the ‘big man’ traditions of PNG.

Sil’s article effectively describes what the problem as far as PNG politics is all about. People are voting for politicians that give away all these so called ‘goodies’ without thinking about what these so called ‘big men’ will do after they are elected to Parliament. PNG media and blogs have for years been overflowing with complaints about what is wrong with the government yet the same voters seem to not be able to connect this frustration with the people they have voted for and why?

I suggest that many educated and qualified PNG people have left PNG because they cannot achieve what they want by staying. This ‘brain drain’ is not helping true patriots like yourself who have stayed and want to see changes in the way your country is run.

Until and unless honest and reliable leaders are elected to Parliament, nothing will change. Bart Phileman has just recently said so. In order to understand the quality of the prospective politician, voters should look at what they have previously achieved rather than what they promise (mere hyperbole) and the ‘goodies’ they give out to buy votes under the Melanesian principles of reciprocity.

It’s blokes like yourself who must lead the way. Mate, I am only trying to proffer some helpful suggestions.

[David Kitchnoge]

Paul - I'm not sure if I get the connection between Sil's essay and the discussions on this thread.

But if I understood you correctly, it will be a very sad day for PNG if PNGans actually leave our shores because they want to run away from their own people as you insinuate.

No one is killing anyone with guns and bombs and we are not in conflict with each other in PNG. So why should we run and what are we running from? We are a country still learning and developing and we will turn the corner for the better soon: at our own time and pace.

And while we are changing, we can’t afford to lose the people we need the most (the drivers of change) for some “better life” elsewhere. We must have a national policy to get our own people to contribute to building our nation.

We must give back to our country what we get out of it. Every Papua New Guinean must feel indebted to the country because this is the country that gives us life and creates the initial opportunities for us.

People have their own feelings about what constitutes “better life”. As for me, I wouldn’t trade my life in PNG for anything. I can’t help but immerse myself with the warmth of my culture and the generous and truly genuine love and care of my very large extended family when I go back home every Christmas.

There is a story about a particular priest who was sent from Europe to come and Christianise our people all those years ago. After having spent a few years here, he wrote back to Vatican and said this to the Pope:“people here are already Christians and there is no need for me to be here”.

We were already living “christian” lives of sharing, caring and loving long before the “missionaries” arrived here. And that is exactly what I love about my country. So no thanks, I’m not going anywhere.

[Paul Oates]

Hi David - Today’s essay by Kela Kapkora Sil Bolkin effectively presents the nub of the problem concerning the current PNG political process. ‘Big Man’ and ‘cargo cult’ mentalities are still in operation at village level using and other people’s money in practice.

How can anyone bridge that credibility gap? As quoted in the summary, ‘they regard the source of the money that the candidates spew around as a triviality.’

This is why so many educated PNGians have emigrated to a better life elsewhere and left the dross to take over by default?

So why shouldn’t people just accept reality and ‘go with the flow’? After all, to undo the cultural norms of centuries requires significant hard work and motivation.

The only way to initiate change at the kunai roots is to offer an alternative option that people can see works in their favour. If voters can’t clearly see that the resources being used to bribe them to vote are in fact their own resources, what can one do to change their voting preferences?

PNG people are quite capable of determining the best way forward but they must be offered a viable, honest and believable alternative to vote for. It doesn’t sound like anyone has yet been able to create and organise any such option as yet in many rural areas.

The question that must be asked is ‘Why not!’ That’s the real issue.

[David Kitchnoge]

We need every single PNG brain to remain attached to PNG and contribute in building our nation.

Perhaps it's time for the PNG government to start preparing in such a way that still allows for flexible labour movement between our countries but one which halts permament brain drain from our end.

[Colin Huggins]

Yes Peter I agree with you for once!
Try the map factor in the great USA and see if their school kids and for that matter the adults can find any country with no names on it. Didn't you know, the Americans live in the 4 square zone - Seattle to the north of Maine, down to Key Biscayne and then to San Diego and then back to Seattle? That is planet Earth, according to the USA bible!
Now due to the lack of tourism promotion in PNG by the PNG government ( a gold mine of possibilities) , the kids here don't know where PNG is. PNG might as well be in the middle of the Sahara Desert!
However, give Aussie kids a map with no names and ask them to point out Bali or Fiji, their little fingers will go to the correct location.
Of course little kids in PNG know where Australia is, their parents remember that we were up there pre-Independence.

[Peter Kranz]

I agree with Paul. The absence of teaching about Melanesian history and its relation to Australia is a glaring omission in Australian education.

I was speaking to some local young people recently (in NSW) and not one could point to PNG accurately on a map (with names hidden.)

But I reckon around 99% of PNG kids could to point to Australia on a similar map.

[Paul Oates]

This article further underlines the need for Tok Pisin and Melanesian culture to be taught in Australian schools.

I hope Mr Garrett, the Minister for School Education and his staff, are reading this today.

[Mrs Barbara Short]

It would be nice to have some Papua New Guineans amongst my neighbours who come from, Italy, Egypt, China, Korea, Ukraine, New Zealand, England, Scotland,and Lebanon.

But not if it causes a Brain Drain!