Who does the Lowy Institute really speak for?

BY PETER KRANZ

AUSTRALIAN THINK TANK THE LOWY INSTITUTE, which is a frequent commentator on Papua New Guinea affairs, has urged foreign minister Kevin Rudd to get more personally involved in brokering a solution to PNG’s political crisis.

To remind readers of the interests of the Lowy Institute, here's a list of its board of directors:

Robert Ferguson - former managing director, Bankers Trust Australia
Ross Garnaut - academic, and ex-Director of various PNG-based mining interests (including Ok Tedi Mining and Lihir Mining)
Martin Indyk - diplomat; former United States ambassador to Israel
Frank Lowy - Lowy Institute founder and chairman; co-founder, Westfield Group
Peter Lowy - group managing director of the Westfield Group
Steven Lowy - group managing director of the Westfield Group
Ian Macfarlane - former Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia
Robert O'Neill - academic
Mark Ryan - company director
Judith Sloan - economist
Michael Thawley - former Australian Ambassador to the United States

Well, I'm usually cynical as you may have guessed, but is this really a bunch of grassroots representatives with PNG interests at heart?

Comments

[Peter Kranz]

Aw shit - I was thinking of proposing me and Rose as the mediators. I think we could do a good sight better than most others.
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If Heavy Kevvy's unavailable, we'll give you a call - KJ

[Keith Jackson]

The original Lowy Institute comment about an intervention by Kevin Rudd (hardly a natural born conciliator) has got the hounds running - the wrong way.

O'Neill v Somare needs no intervention, no mediation, no interlocution, no Ruddian interposition.

This is the political process hard at work. In essence, it is what politics is about: differing interests sorting themselves out.

It is important that what is occurring continues. One way or another, it will resolve. And it will be resolved by Papua New Guinean politicians. Not itinerant third parties.

In doing so, it is likely to rewrite the political manual on what makes national politics in PNG tick. And this is a manual desperately in need of thorough revision.

The inadequacies, inequities and sheer inanities of the Somare regime have to be flushed out of the system.

Peter O'Neill and his colleagues understand this.

They're not necessarily getting every call right, politicians never do, but they are well and truly on the way - despite the log rolling of the old guard.

Good luck to them.

[Peter Kranz]

How about an external third party seen as neutral party, discussing a deal? No axes to grind, no perceived vested interests?

[Keith Jackson]

That PNG Attitude – Lowy Institute Twitter exchange in full (Twitter restricts messages to a maximum 140 characters and spaces):
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Keith Jackson - Lowy Institute has urged K Rudd MP to get involved in brokering a solution to PNG political crisis. Real bad neo-colonial call.

Jenny Hayward-Jones (Lowy Institute) - Aus-PNG need to get past neo-colonialism labels. A Foreign Minister visiting a neighbour in crisis is simply diplomacy.

Keith Jackson - This would not be seen as diplomacy, but as interference.

Jenny Hayward-Jones - It's a fine line - depends on how it's done - but if they can't sort it out themselves, mediation has to be an option.

Keith Jackson - Agree Jenny, but not sure Australia - or any nation - would be the appropriate choice.

Jenny Hayward-Jones - Maybe a professional mediator would be better but what is the value of Rudd's connections in PNG if they are not used?

Keith Jackson – Don't want to seem mean-spirited, but not sure Rudd's PNG connections go much beyond the niceties of professional diplomacy.

[Danielle Cave]

Hi Peter and Keith, thanks for your blog post and subsequent comment.

I agree with you that at the Lowy Institute we don’t have any grassroots PNG representatives on our board of directors.

We also don’t have any China or Indonesian experts on our board – despite the growing amount of research we produce on these countries (but you will find country/regional and sector specialists on our staff http://www.lowyinstitute.org/Staff.asp).

I thought I should clarify a few basic facts - the board of directors meets 4 times a year to provide advice on the institute’s strategic direction, not on the nature or content of our research programs.

Our scholars all speak for themselves. There is no Lowy Institute view of the world (more on that here http://www.lowyinstitute.org/AboutUs.asp).

The Lowy Institute is funded by the Lowy family, Australian and other foundations and the private sector with a small percentage of funding come from government (both Australian and overseas govts) for individual projects. The Melanesia program is funded by the Myer Foundation (a family foundation http://www.myerfoundation.org.au/) which provides us with core funding and we raise funding from other sources (usually small grants) to fund research, conferences, dialogues etc.

I think we definitely have the interests of PNG and the Australia-PNG relationship at heart.

We work very hard to stimulate official and public interest in the Australia-Pacific Islands relationship and to produce policy-relevant research that is useful for government, private sector and civil society.

This year we have been lucky enough to snap up former Post-Courier journalist Alexander Rheeney who has joined the Melanesia team as a researcher for 6 months and will be working on PNG research and events.

It would obviously be great to have a full time researcher on PNG but we simply don’t have the funds, at the moment, to support someone full-time on an annual basis.

Jenny’s post on The Interpreter blog reflected her own views. I actually think that Jenny is spot-on in her comments.

Diplomacy is conducted both publicly and privately and when the foreign minister and parliamentary secretary are spending so much time travelling in regions which, arguably, are not high on Australia’s strategic interests, and not seen to be engaging at ministerial level in at least offering assistance to help PNG’s political difficulties it does beg questions about Australia’s priorities.

The ongoing discussion via twitter is also really interesting (access it via the hashtag #PNG) - I think we are only seeing the beginning of this debate, and at least in Australia, more discussion and debate on the Aust-PNG relationship is a great thing (this blog is a good and constant contributor to that).

Peter, or anyone else, if you have any more questions about Lowy research, funding, staff, who we represent, etc - please don't hesitate to ask.

[Peter Kranz]

KJ - I'd say it's more of a Donnybrook than a Derby.
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Yeah, I work in PR! - KJ

[Peter Kranz]

Wow! I've never really explored twitter before. (I'm a lapun man.)

Spose I'm gonna have to get used to this.

But I still prefer moderated comments on a blog, with some chance to stop and think before you post (not that I'm a very good example).

[Peter Kranz]

There's a history of Australian 'think tanks' comprised of vested interests seeking to influence Australian policy toward PNG. The IPA is another one.
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For people into Twitter, there's also a bit of a derby on this topic @PNGAttitude in that new-fangled medium - KJ

[Paul Oates]

Keith, I totally agree. That sort of externally imposed solution, even if it works in the short term, will not foster anything like a permanent answer to any homegrown problems PNG might face in the future.

PNGians must look to them own people to work out a way forward.

[Trevor Freestone.]

Keith, I agree with you. PNGns are very capable of solving their own problems.

Australia's politicians have never understood the importance of the Melanesian culture in government; something that should have been at the forefront of planning for Independence in the 1970s.

Even today AusAID seems to be incapable of developing a workable plan to help develop PNG at the village level so as to maximise the funds allocated.

Why then should Australia believe that they could rely on Kevin Rudd to solve PNG's problems especially when he seems to be more intent on helping far way countries rather than take a real interest in PNG.

My real concern is that due to the current political situation the elections will be brought forward, without allowing sufficient time to set up a foolproof electoral system which will prevent vote rigging and corruption as has occurred in the past.

[Keith Jackson]

As I commented on Facebook overnight, if the Lowy Institute wants to pronounce with definition on Melanesian affairs, it should get a respected PNG figure on its Board or in an advisory role.

I believe PNGns are well equipped to resolve the current predicament without a controverial Australian personality like Kevin Rudd (or any external figure for that matter) being parachuted in.