Keith Jackson & Friends: PNG ATTITUDE

Aid budget cut will open Pacific to China

BY MATTHEW CARNEY
ABC PM

THERE ARE FEARS THAT FOREIGN AID to Australia's South Pacific neighbours could be in for a chop in Tuesday night’s budget and experts say that would leave the door open to an ever increasing Chinese influence in the region.

Australia has committed to a doubling of its aid budget to about $8 billion by 2015, but there is concern the budget could slash that target.

Professor Stephen Howes, director of International and Development Economics at ANU, says the government could even scrap the plan altogether.

"There is also speculation that the government, if it hits the pause button this year, will push back the 2015 target or that they might abandon it altogether," he said.

Regional experts fear that could give China's growing influence even more room to move.

From the tiniest atolls to the bigger island states of the South Pacific, China is throwing its largesse around.

Fergus Hanson, from the Brookings Institute in Washington, has done four reports into China's aid program in the region.

"If we take a starting point of about 2005 to the present, China has increased aid from a relatively modest amount - roundabout $30 million a year - up to around a level of around $200 million a year," he said.

"It's got quite a large diplomatic presence. There's different reports that say it's got the most number of diplomats on the ground in the countries that it covers."

What also worries regional observers is that much of China's engagement is now delivered in the form of soft loans.

Fergus Hanson says this can hamper development rather than promote it. "In the case of a country like Tonga, for example, you're talking about 30% of the country's GDP is actually accounted for in soft loans pledged by China," he said.

"One consequence could be we're pushed to help these countries get out of their debt situation. So I think that would certainly be something we'd want to avoid; having to help repay Chinese loans."

Professor Howes led the Government-commissioned review into foreign aid last year.

He concluded that the South Pacific had the highest strategic value for Australia and recommended significant aid increases.

AusAID rip-offs in PNG cost $1.5 million

BY RORY CALLINAN
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

FURNISHINGS FOR THE HOMES of Papua New Guinea bureaucrats have been ''incorrectly'' bought using $150,000 worth of Australian taxpayers’ funds and a thief has pocketed just over $250,000 from a justice strengthening project also funded by Australia.

The waste was among about $1.5 million worth of AusAID funding the federal agency admits will never be recovered as a result of frauds and irregular spending from 2004 to 2010.

This was revealed after the Herald asked the agency to detail how much had been recovered from a series of high-value frauds and whether those responsible had faced justice.

AusAID confirmed no one would ever face charges in four cases involving significant amounts of aid money dating back to 2006. Suspects in four other incidents are yet to face court despite the suspected fraud occurring in one case up to six years earlier.

However, the AusAID first assistant director general, Laurie Dunn, defended the agency's handling of the matters, saying some cases emphasised the reasons behind the programs while resourcing had been increased to crack down on theft.

Mr Dunn confirmed the agency's largest outstanding fraud still related to a load of food and equipment worth $1.2 million that was allegedly stolen by the Eritrean government.

He said the agency was continuing to push for the return of the goods but he admitted the food had been consumed.

In another case, AusAID said a suspect defrauded about $258,391 from a PNG aid program that was supposed to improve the justice system in 2006.

The suspect was sacked but was never charged after the matter was not finalised before the statute of limitations expired, according to AusAID.

Mr Dunn said there was ''not a lot more we can do''. He denied any suggestion the loss coming from a program supposed to enhance justice was embarrassing, saying this incident was ''the reason we are there''.

In another PNG program, some $155,080 was initially thought to have been stolen from a program on Bougainville in 2008 but was instead used to buy furnishings for the residences of PNG civil servants.

However, an AusAID spokesman said incorrect procedures had occurred in the situation and budget controls were tightened to prevent a recurrence.

Another PNG loss the agency wrote off involved the provision of $44,222 to a sub-contractor to provide kit homes for a hospital in Oro Province.

The agency confirmed the money had been a deposit and the Hong Kong sub-contractor did not provide the homes and refused to return the money.

Mr Dunn said it ''underscored the difficulty in recovering money in developing countries'' and then a third country.

He said since the audits, AusAID had boosted anti-fraud measures. ''We have a very strong audit process in AusAID and we have just recently increased resourcing and set up a new chief of audit program,'' Mr Dunn said.

The agency had some successes, including recovering $88,315 allegedly stolen from a financial management program in PNG in 2008.

Western Province human development is 'appalling'

DEAKIN UNIVERSITY

"IF PAPUA NEW GUINEA'S WESTERN PROVINCE was a country there would be an international outcry about their plight, given its appalling low levels of human development," says Deakin University's Professor Mark McGillivray.

PNG’s ‘poorest’ region - the resource rich Western Province - would rank just above Zimbabwe but below the Democratic Republic of Congo in terms of human development according to new data.

Professor McGillivray's analysis used the Human Development Index to create a new measure which looked at the districts and provinces in Papua New Guinea. This has not been done before.

"The United Nations Development Program's Human Development Index (HDI) is well-known and widely used in research and policy circles," Professor McGillivray explained.

"It combines achievements in health, education and income and is primarily used to compare levels of human development between countries.

"When we apply the principles of the Index to provinces and districts within PNG, we find not only huge disparities but levels of human development that are extremely low by international standards."

Professor McGillivray said based on one version of the Human Development Index Papua New Guinea as a country is ranked 121 out of 137, so down towards the bottom.

"Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe has the lowest level of human development and is ranked 137, at the very bottom," Professor McGillivray said.

"The conflict-affected Democratic Republic of Congo is ranked 136.

"Yet if the resource rich Western Province was a country it would be ranked in between Zimbabwe and Congo and as such among the three very poorest in the world in terms of human development."

Professor McGillivray said that the National Central District – the province with the highest human development in PNG - would rank 99th in the world if it was a country, between Morocco and Tajikistan and slightly ahead of India.

AusAID not delivering on 15% of programs

BY MARK DODD
THE AUSTRALIAN [Extracts]

AUSAID'S TRANSFORMATION FROM REGIONAL to global donor has led to "fragmentation" of its programs, 15% of which are either failing or ineffective, a former chief economist of the agency said yesterday.

AusAID, with a taxpayer-funded budget of $4.8 billion, needed to be more transparent when evaluating its programs, said Stephen Howes, director of international and development economics at the Australian National University.

Dr Howes was a member of the 2010 panel set up by Kevin Rudd to review the effectiveness of Australia's aid programs.

The report, handed to the government last April, made several key recommendations including the establishment of an independent oversight body to review the effectiveness of its aid programs.

"They've been slow to adapt this one and there has been little progress in terms of independent evaluations," Dr Howes said.

He said development effectiveness and not fraud was AusAID's biggest challenge.

"That's where there needs to be more focus and attention -- that's a much bigger issue," he said. "AusAID's own figures show about 15% of projects are not delivering effective results."

In response, AusAID denied 15% of programs were failing or ineffective.

"Eighty-three per cent of AusAID activities in 2010 were rated satisfactory and above," a spokeswoman said.

A Coalition government would switch AusAID's mandate back to the Asia-Pacific, where aid funds have the biggest impact, said opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop.

"I have called repeatedly for the implementation of recommendation 39 of the Independent Review into Aid Effectiveness which recommended strict performance benchmarks for AusAID that it must meet before future increases in funding are granted," she said.

"The Gillard government has failed to implement this recommendation."

Australia boosts election support to PNG

AUSTRALIAN HIGH COMMISSION

WITH THE NATIONAL ELECTIONS drawing closer, Australia has stepped up the tempo of its assistance to the Papua New Guinea Electoral Commission, the PNG Defence Force and the Royal PNG Constabulary.

Twenty-one Australian officials are now working under the direction of the PNGEC to provide a range of electoral support in areas including operations, logistics, training, communications, procurement and recruitment.

Australia has also just signed a contract to re-establish an effective helicopter capability within the PNGDF’s Air Transport Wing.  The contract will be operational by the end of May with the aim of providing three aircraft in early June in time to contribute to election preparations, and for a period of two years thereafter to assist with the full range of military missions.

In addition, the Australian Federal Police has helped the RPNGC roll out a national communications network to enhance its capacity to manage its operations during the elections.

Australian High Commissioner Ian Kemish said this support is part of an integrated package of Australian assistance to help PNG conduct the elections.

“The PNG government identified specific areas where Australian specialist assistance could make a valuable contribution to conducting the 2012 elections,” Mr Kemish said.

“The Australian government has carefully assessed how we can add value to the PNG Electoral Commission’s work, and we are pleased to play a supporting role.

“We have provided almost K25 million over two years through the Electoral Support Program, which involves the Australian Electoral Commission helping the PNGEC deliver elections, including a comprehensive civic awareness program,” he said.

Australian specialists have been deployed under the Australian Civilian Corps which is comprised of Australians chosen for their technical skills and ability to work effectively and deploy quickly into challenging environments. 

One objective of this deployment will be to help the provincial electoral offices to recruit and train some of the 20,000 electoral and polling officials needed across PNG to conduct free, fair and safe elections.

“Australia has also funded 30 community police and is working with 90 civil society organisations to increase election awareness and reduce breaches of electoral law,” Mr Kemish said.

“Australia has provided 88 computers to double the rate at which the electoral roll data can be updated and assistance through the Australian Federal Police to rehabilitate the PNG police national radio network and train security personnel.”

School's in - thanks to Cherrybrook man

HORNSBY ADVOCATE (Sydney)

POOR AND DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN in Papua New Guinea now have a basic school building to hold classes in, thanks to the fundraising efforts of Cherrybrook (Sydney) resident Dennis Perry.

The Operation Food For Life co-founder, who recently returned from a trip to PNG, said the new building was not state-of-the-art, but it was appropriate for the village and the setting.

The children, who are taught by a volunteer, were previously meeting under a house, Mr Perry said. Books and educational resources have also been donated.

“When you witness first-hand the smiles and happiness of both children and adults, and their lives being changed for good, they lift you and inspire you to do more,” he said.

Kamanabe village - where honey reforms gangsters

BY CATHERINE WILSON
IPS NEWS

IN THE KAMANABE AREA of the Eastern Highlands in Papua New Guinea, a village gang has relinquished crime and is striving to contribute to the sustainable future of the local community with a honeybee income generating initiative.

With a population of 4,000, Kamanabe village is situated at the end of an unsealed track leading from the main highway. Public services are limited with the nearest aid post six to seven hours away, and most people live by subsistence with few avenues to generating cash incomes.

Due to land in the village area being unsuited to growing crops, the cultivation of marijuana has flourished. This has brought in money to the community, which suffers from lack of development and economic opportunities, but its trade and consumption have also contributed to illegal activities.

Villagers afflicted with drug and alcohol abuse formed a local gang, known as raskols in PNG, and engaged in carjacking, violent mugging and extortion, targeting traffic on nearby roads.

An assessment of armed violence in PNG conducted by the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, with support from the United Nations Development Program, in 2006, found rapid population growth, limited economic and employment opportunities and inequality to be contributing factors to criminality.

According to a National Research Institute report, life expectancy in the Eastern Highlands is about 55 years, compared to the national average of 62; while male literacy is 51% and female literacy 36.5%, in contrast to the national average for both sexes of 60%.

Access to public services for many is restricted with less than half the provincial population living within five kilometres of a national road.

But a spokesperson for the police in Goroka advised that the number of reported crimes along the highway in the vicinity of Kamanabe village had significantly decreased, with no serious incidents recorded since January this year.

There is likely to be a link between this trend and the fact that Felix Masi, former gang leader in Kamanabe village, is now chairman of the Herave Youth Group, with membership comprising his former comrades who have decided to relinquish crime.

Recognising the destructive consequences of their outlaw existence, the group is now working to improve the future prospects of their community with an income-generating project involving honeybee cultivation.

"We decided to change our lives, to contribute to our community and do something meaningful with our lives," Masi explained. "The soil is not good, the land is not arable in our area, and it is not good for growing many crops. So we think honey production is a good income-generating activity."

Elizabeth Kelly, development coordinator with Strongim Pipol Strongim Nesen (Strengthen the People, Strengthen the Nation), a community development partnership program between the PNG and Australian governments, is assisting the youth group to develop the project idea and a proposal for funding.

"The group itself is made up of people who lived a life which was not wanted by the community," Kelly said. "The benefit of the project is that it will help them to earn a living, help them to look after themselves and sustain their lives.

"They feel that this project does not need a lot of land space or resources, and little labour is required," she continued, "They also see the market is there."

Although honey is not yet a major industry in PNG, the climate is very conducive to honey production in the highlands.

During the past two years, the Eastern Highlands department of agriculture and livestock and the Livestock Development Corporation, have been actively promoting the potential of the fledgling industry, especially for a sizeable domestic market.

The Herave youth group has over 100 members, who have paid a joining fee which entitles them to participate in the project, make decisions and reap the benefits.

Approximately 35 families in the village will directly benefit from the honey project. One beehive has the potential to produce 30 kg of honey and youth group members could earn up to K13 per kg.

Kelly emphasised that the idea of the project originated with and was unanimously supported by the group.

"We are just facilitating the process," she clarified. "We are helping to put it together in a participatory manner, but they will own the project. They have to be able to manage the project themselves, to sustain it."

Gender equality will also be a key feature of the initiative with husbands and wives working together.

"The group is made of men and women," Kelly elaborated. "Membership is strengthening the family unit, primarily the husband and wife. The project is owned by families and they want to see that women are equally involved in the project and respected."

"Women will learn the same skills as men," Masi confirmed. "They will work at the same tasks and also make decisions in the project."

This is an important factor in a nation where, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, women "lack equal access to education and lag behind men in terms of employment opportunities" while also facing significant challenges to achieving financial independence.

Ultimately, the chance of a productive livelihood has brought harmony to the Kamanabe community.

"It is making our people happy," Masi said. "There is no longer drug abuse, and law and order problems, and we can earn a decent income."

My four years of consistently frustrated effort

BY TREVOR FREESTONE

I am not trying to receive any credit for anything I have done but am more concerned at the complete lack of meaningful action taken by politicians, AusAID officials and media outlets which should be so supportive of rural police in PNG. The police are desperate to receive support from their own government and from Australia. Action is needed - tf

IN 2008 I WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH to visit Watabung as its special guest to help officially open a new power supply at the school. At this ceremony the police made a speech which I detail here.

The police at Watabung are dedicated officers working under extremely poor conditions. They had no vehicle based at Watabung even though they were expected to patrol the Western side of the Daulo Pass.

They were constantly criticised by the magistrate in Goroka for handwriting their court reports. Their police station built out of mud bricks in the 1960 was falling apart. Their housing was very poor.

Fortunately I was able to assist by taking them to Goroka where we were able to buy a typewriter so court reports could be prepared in a professional manner. We could not buy an electric typewriter as the Police hierarchy told us they did not have the funds to connect the police station to the new power supply.

Here is part of the policeman’s speech, which I have translated into English.

I would like to make three points.

Number one. I would like to thank Trevor for giving me something to help me with my work.

Number two. Trevor you spent a lot of time at Watabung and understand our position so we would like you to report the current situation of Watabung to the Australian Government. Tell them not to forget us. Trevor you can be the bridge maker between us and the Australian government.

Number three. The PNG government has received huge amounts of money in Port Moresby, but we don’t receive the services we need.

The police at Asaro also told me similar stories of their hardships.

On returning to Australia I have been writing to all the prime ministers, foreign ministers, local members and other politicians as well as AusAID. The response is mostly the same: ‘Thank you for your communication which will be passed onto the named recipient for action.’ Of course this is as far as things go.

Similarly I have sent stories and videos to the major news media who have shown no interest whatsoever. My requests to the Australian government and AusAID for assistance for the police always brings the response that their problems are a matter for the PNG Law and Justice sector and is outside the aid program.

Julie Bishop has responded to my communications promising to take some positive action. She also seems to be all talk for she has never made a big issue of the problems in parliament. Something I would have thought would have been ideal for someone in opposition.

I guess the reason is that the coalition when in power followed the same path as the present Labor Party and any criticism may backfire.

Ms Gillard – time to think of PNG’s rural poor

BY TREVOR FREESTONE

Trevor Freestone, who believes in backing up his views on Australia’s PNG relationship with action, has just written this letter to Australia’s prime minister Julia Gillard

ON A RECENT VISIT TO WATABUNG in the mountains of the Eastern Highlands Province I was very concerned with the living conditions in the rural villages.

The Papua New Guinea government has ignored the living conditions of its rural communities in spite of the resource boom.

AusAID also seems to have taken very little interest in the rural villages. I believe aid money should be directed towards rural communities who have little or no chance to better their conditions due to their very low or non-existent incomes.

As children receive an education they tend to gravitate towards the towns looking for work. Some find it but many don't.

Due to the poor living conditions in the villages they are reluctant to return. If living conditions were better they probably would return and live a much better life than the one they find in the towns living in poverty with no income.

My question is, now that we have a new foreign minister how does the government believe our aid money to PNG should be used?

Do you intend to direct AusAID to take a greater interest in rural communities to encourage a more balanced society thus avoiding many of the problems one currently finds in the towns.

To be an elderly citizen living in poverty in a village without clean drinking water, sanitation or easy access to healthcare should be unacceptable.

These very people were the ones who stood by us in our hour of need as neighbours and deserve better.

Please think carefully on how AusAID can help these rural villagers.

PNG Attitude will report on the prime minister’s response

University forges strong research ties with PNG

BY LAURA PACKHAM
THE CAIRNS POST

THE CAIRNS INSTITUTE of James Cook University will conduct research into human disabilities in Papua New Guinea in the first of a string of projects intended to strengthen relations between our countries.

A delegation from PNG arrived in Cairns last week to sign-off on two projects, the Nature and Extent of Disability in PNG and Community Learning Development Centres Information Research.

They are expected to be the first of 18 projects to be undertaken by the Cairns Institute across PNG in the next few years.

PNG Department for Community Development acting secretary Anna Solomon said while the country had similar learning institutions, they did not have the capacity for such research.

She said the department had identified gaps in the areas of women and children, disability and cultural change, and would work with the Institute to find the best way forward.

"We want to know the number of people living with a disability in our country. We don`t have a proper statistic," she said.

"When you talk about disability in PNG the first thing that people will look to is some sort of defect that is visible, but we're talking more than the visible, like hearing, vision and mental disability as well.

"We're looking at the non-clinical issues of disability, people's rights and accessibility to services. It's huge challenge for the country."

Institute Director Professor Hurriyet Babacan, who was the keynote speaker at the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby on Tuesday, said the project would further strengthen ties between Cairns and PNG.

"The department has set up 14 community learning centres across PNG, and intends to set up six more so communities can have input into decision-making processes and be empowered to impact on their own lives," Prof Babacan said.

"A part of empowering communities is giving information and in many parts of PNG there isn't even electricity and the internet is not accessible. How do people use information? How do they liaise with government? Is it timely and where do they get it from?"

Prof Babacan said the projects would encourage co-learning and involve some 47 JCU researchers over the next two to three years

Australia supports a 'watershed' PNG election

BY DANIEL FLITTON
THE NATIONAL TIMES / FAIRFAX

AUSTRALIA HAS STRUCK A DEAL with Papua New Guinea to help smooth a "watershed" election this year with hopes of encouraging political stability in the troubled Pacific nation.

Australia's high commissioner to Port Moresby Ian Kemish told The National Times that he expected the election to be a historic sign of generation change — a shift that has also been evident in tensions over recent months between Prime Minister Peter O'Neill and ousted rival Sir Michael Somare.

The support package will include two Australian army helicopters to ferry local officials to polling booths across the country, some 30 computers to help clean up the electoral role and the injection of senior Australians into the PNG election commission to act as advisers.

Australian Federal Police have also completed a new $2.5 million communications network for local police to respond to any outbreaks of trouble.

But Mr Kemish said no Australian police are to be deployed to PNG to provide a "bobby on the beat" after PNG rejected moves by the previous Howard government for police co-operation.

"You can really say now the country is at a political watershed," Mr Kemish said. "This election in June to July this year will be historic — people have said that before, but it will be this time around."

Mr Kemish said the transformation of the PNG economy was often underestimated, with a resources boom in natural gas expected to leap by a massive 25% in 2015.

"There [are] no real ifs or buts about that, it's in the nature of these projects that the gas is already sold when you commence the project," he said.

Mr Kemish said prime minister Julia Gillard and [former] foreign minister Kevin Rudd had played an important behind-the-scenes role in recent weeks as concerns over PNG spiked after an attempted military mutiny.

PNG politics have been plagued by instability since the high court ruled in December that Sir Michael was the legitimate prime minister after earlier being removed from the job during a life-threatening illness.

The confusion led to an episode where PNG had two prime ministers, two governors-general and two police chiefs.

But Mr Kemish said there was a remarkable calm in the country despite the upheaval, with the courts and the bulk of the police and army all resisting immense political pressure to intervene.

"PNG has a way of holding itself together but we do have to be watchful and not take anything for granted," he said.

Neo-colonisation, AusAID and 'sustainable mining'

BY MARTYN NAMORONG
THE NAMORONG REPORT

NO FOLKS THIS AIN’T NO PRANK. AusAID actually think you’re fools - but hopefully you’re not.

AusAID pays millions to consultants who come up with the term “sustainable mining”.

Actually, maybe they didn’t have to pay millions, because BHP Billiton, the Australian [outfit] who destroyed the Fly River after “sustainably mining” Ok Tedi, created the PNG Sustainable Development Company.

I bet they must have secretly wished to call it “PNG Sustainable Mining Company”, since it is the largest shareholder of Ok Tedi Mine.

Here is a quote from the AusAID webpage regarding “sustainable mining”:

Many of Australia's developing partner countries have substantial natural resources and are engaged in mining. Australia can provide these countries with the expertise they need to build a sustainable mining sector, making better use of revenues, improving socially and environmentally sustainable development, and growing the economy.

Those of us in Papua New Guinea who aren’t colonised by AusAID mining consultants keep looking at the Watut disaster, the Fly River disaster, the Panguna disaster and laugh at the AUSAID’s bullshit about “socially and environmentally sustainable development.”

But this is no laughing matter coz AusAID seems to be in control of the mostly AusAID-trained Papua New Guinean so-called elite who run this country.

Australia says it can provide expertise to build a “sustainable mining” sector.

I bet we should ask the Bougainvilleans how the Australians were “real experts” at Panguna.

The Australians certainly provided assistance to the PNG government to crush the rebellion on Bougainville so that Panguna could be “sustainably mined” by Anglo-Australian miner, Rio Tinto.

The page also states that one of the ten objectives of the Australian government is to:

…improve incomes, employment and enterprise opportunities for poor people in both rural and urban areas, including the development of sustainable mining industries to boost overall economic development.

Well we all know whose incomes will be improved, and by that we mean the Australian mining companies and AusAID consultants.

By now we all should realise the obvious: AusAID represents a separate legal entity called the Commonwealth of Australia while its “development partner countries” are separate legal entities.

AusAID consultants, including those involved in so called “sustainable mining”, are paid to represent the interests of a separate legal entity called Australia and therefore cannot give independent advice to any foreign government.

It’s like a lawyer representing the miners giving legal advice to a landowner company (a separate legal entity) about the mining contract that same lawyer drew up for the miners.

That lawyer cannot possibly give independent legal advice to landowners if the miner is paying the bills.

There is inevitably a conflict of interest situation that therefore arises when AusAID consultants provide so called “sustainable mining” technical assistance.

The Australian government is known to act in Australian mining companies’ interests as they did on Bougainville.

I hope the Papua New Guinean sheeple who work under AusAID “sustainable mining” consultants are proud of their patriotic selves. AusAID “sustainable mining” consultants just “help” provide:

….technical assistance for the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund to receive and manage anticipated revenues from the LNG project…

You can read more about AusAID’s “sustainable mining” here… but please don’t buy this Aussie crap!

PNG, Australia sign zero-tolerance agreement on aid

AUSTRALIA NETWORK NEWS

PAPUA NEW GUINEA AND AUSTRALIA have signed an agreement of zero tolerance to fraud in the multi-million dollar AusAID program.

Australia's international aid agency AusAID provides more than $480 million in aid each year to improve PNG health and education.

But the program has been plagued by fraud and corruption on both sides, affecting the delivery of services.

PNG National Planning Minister Sam Basil has told Radio Australia the zero tolerance initiative aims to address those concerns.

"Some people have termed it corrupt, or even boomerang aid," he said. "So I think we are now stepping into the right direction."

Mr Basil is confident the new agreement will ensure corrupt officials from both governments are held responsible and prosecuted.

"I know that it will build confidence of PNG citizens and the recipients of the aid money and expatriates of Australia that we are doing something about corruption, to address the claims that have been made by the public of both countries," he said.

Martyn Namorong to speak in Australia - maybe

BY KEITH JACKSON

PAPUA NEW GUINEA BLOGGER, buai seller and former medical student, Martyn Namorong, has been honoured by Deakin University in Melbourne by being invited to present a paper at a forthcoming conference on PNG.

Martyn has been asked to be part of an expert panel who will present on the subject of Youth sub-cultures: identity and land rights in contemporary PNG at the PNG in Transition Conference to be held on the university’s Geelong campus.

But there’s a problem. (There’s always a problem!)

Not only will PNG’s leading (and most courageous) public voice on social issues have to find his own way to the conference (a somewhat daunting task if you’re flogging buai in the markets of Koki and Badili), he’s going to have to stump up the necessaries for air travel, accommodation and expenses.

And, to add insult to injury, the university types who organise these things want Martyn to unfold $250 for the conference and the conference dinner, even though he’s their guest.

Here at PNG Attitude we’re seeing what can be done to identify funding for Martyn’s trip but, as you might expect, we may need to call on the assistance of readers if the other channels don’t come up with the readies.

The conference is hosted by the Alfred Deakin Research Institute in partnership with the Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs, Richard Marles.

We’ll keep you informed.

By the way, if Martyn’s visit to Australia can be arranged, with the help of readers we’ll also be seeking to organise speaking engagements in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.

Email me here if you believe you can assist.

Médecins Sans Frontières returns to Bougainville

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS/MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES

  

MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES (MSF) is again working in the Autonomous province of Bougainville after a 10-year absence.

The humanitarian organisation has established a base in Buin, in south Bougainville, soon to be expanded to five other centres.

The comprehensive care project features a maternal health program and a specialised tuberculosis ward. Teams work along side the health authorities to help build the island's local healthcare capacity.

Australian support for PNG's 'watershed' election

BY DANIEL FLITTON
THE AGE / The National Times

AUSTRALIA HAS STRUCK A DEAL with Papua New Guinea to help smooth a "watershed" election this year with hopes of encouraging political stability in the troubled Pacific nation.

Australia's high commissioner to Port Moresby Ian Kemish told The National Times that he expected the election to be a historic sign of generation change — a shift that has also been evident in tensions over recent months between prime minister Peter O'Neill and ousted rival Sir Michael Somare.

The support package will include two Australian army helicopters to ferry local officials to polling booths across the country, some 30 computers to help clean up the electoral role and the injection of senior Australians into the PNG election commission to act as advisers.

Australian Federal Police have also completed a new $2.5 million communications network for local police to respond to any outbreaks of trouble.

But Mr Kemish said no Australian police are to be deployed to PNG to provide a "bobby on the beat" after PNG rejected moves by the previous Howard government for police co-operation.

"You can really say now the country is at a political watershed," Mr Kemish said. "This election in June to July this year will be historic — people have said that before, but it will be this time around."

Mr Kemish said the transformation of the PNG economy was often underestimated, with a resources boom in natural gas expected to leap by a massive 25% in 2015.

"There are no real ifs or buts about that, it's in the nature of these projects that the gas is already sold when you commence the project," he said.

Mr Kemish said Australian prime minister Julia Gillard and foreign minister Kevin Rudd had played an important behind-the-scenes role in recent weeks as concerns over PNG spiked after an attempted military mutiny.

Mr Kemish said there was a remarkable calm in the country despite the upheaval, with the courts and the bulk of the police and army all resisting immense political pressure to intervene.

"PNG has a way of holding itself together but we do have to be watchful and not take anything for granted," he said.

New lease of life found in Bougainville

BY LETITIA ATKINSON
TAURANGA SUN (NZ)

THE HEAD OF ROAD POLICING in the Western Bay of Plenty is back on home soil after spending six months in Papua New Guinea.

Senior Sergeant Ian Campion embarked on his second deployment to the country in June and returned to New Zealand on December 23, just in time to spend Christmas with his family.

“I have been fortunate enough to have two deployments in Bougainville,” says Ian.

“So the first of those was between August and December in 2010, and then last year I was in Bougainville.

“My role on my second visit was as an advisor to the Northern Regional Commander of the Bougainville Police Service.”

Ian says part of his work was around capacity building and training, but also coaching, mentoring, advising and general police work, in addition to administrative processes and policies.

“I enjoyed both deployments; the work that I did (on my first deployment) was very different to the position I held the second time in that I was advising the Northern Regional Commander, as opposed to my first posting there, which was capacity building and training with the traffic units in the three main centres.

“It was quite different, but I really enjoyed every minute of the deployment.

“Some of my highlights were visits to schools way up in the rural sectors.

“There was one particular school that from the end of the road we walked another two hours up into the mountains – that was probably one of the most memorable occasions.

“The kids are just like sponges, they’re so keen to learn.

“They want to hear about other parts of the world and they are very interested in what we’re doing there.”

He says the reason for visiting schools was to deliver messages about keeping safe, not only near roads, but also in the village environment.

“Building confidence and that the police are there to help.”

Rotary’s goodwill mission to remote PNG villages

BY KIRRILY CARBERRY
COOMA-MONARO EXPRESS

THE COOMA (NSW) ROTARY CLUB is continuing its goodwill mission to small villages in Papua New Guinea by collecting an enormous amount of donated goods that will be despatched in a few months.

The club has been helping the people of PNG for about seven years undertaking one of its biggest projects, to restore and deliver more than 200 bikes to the students in the village of Kemabolo in 2010.

But the club’s members haven’t stopped there. Now they are collecting computers - and they have about 120 already - sporting equipment including 130 basketballs, medical supplies and children’s books.

About seven pallets of goods will be shipped to PNG in April to a number of different villages and projects.

Rotarian Chris Adams has played a major role in coordinating the projects in PNG and been on a number of trips with other members. These include one in 2007 to construct a new water tank in a village and in 2010 to deliver the bikes.

On Friday he and wife Kim picked up a pallet of about 70 computers from Snowy Hydro.

“It just started as one project but there are so many avenues to help the people of PNG,” Mr Adams said.

As part of the shipment the village of Kemabolo will receive bicycle parts, sporting equipment and medical supplies.

About 30 computers will be donated to the Kokoda Track Foundation which builds schools in villages along the Kokoda Track.

Another 20 computers will be sent to Buk Bilong Pikinini, which just built its eighth library in Port Moresby.

The computers have been donated by various government departments in Canberra but the biggest donor has been Snowy Hydro.

Cooma Library has donated hundreds of picture books and junior fiction books to be sent over while the Canberra Capitals basketball team donated the basketballs through a scheme where they invited people to bring in their old basketballs and they gave out new ones.

Later this year Rotary is planning another trip to PNG where it will build a computer room at Kwikila High School and build a dam at Gamoga.

Dr Frankish fulfils dream to return to PNG

BY TARINA WHITE
THE CAIRNS POST

A LONG-TIME MAREEBA (NORTH QUEENSLAND) DOCTOR has sold her general practice to fulfil a lifelong dream to volunteer her medical expertise in isolated and impoverished regions of Papua New Guinea.

Dr Merrilee Frankish has started a six-month volunteer assignment in PNG with the medical aid organisation Australian Doctors International.

Dr Frankish worked in PNG as a medical student 30 years ago and saw first-hand the nation that has the worst state of health in the Pacific region, ranking lower than Bangladesh and Kenya on the UN’s Human Development Index.

She vowed to return one day to offer her medical skills.

With her youngest child starting university this month, Dr Frankish decided the time was right to return to PNG to help raise the level of health care.

"PNG is Australia’s nearest and poorest neighbour. All my life’s work seems directed towards this choice," said Dr Frankish, whose medical qualifications include public health, tropical medicine, obstetrics and surgery.

Malaria affects more than 44% of people and TB and leprosy are also widespread, but they can be eliminated with drugs and regular care, she said. "It’s very sad that people don’t have the opportunities that we have in Australia."

Dr Frankish will work in New Ireland Province, home to 160,000 people with just seven doctors, all based at the provincial hospital in Kavieng.

Dr Frankish will work with a team of provincial and district health staff who specialise in dentistry, community health education, disease control, and water and sanitation.

She will travel to outlying health centres to treat patients – many of whom have never received a doctor’s visit – and train rural health workers.

Strathfield youth citizen leader to lend a hand

BY OLIVER MURRAY
Village Voice (Sydney)

A VISIT TO PAPUA NEW GUINEA inspired Strathfield teenager Matthew Nicholl to continue to help Australia’s nearest neighbour.

The 18-year-old was named Strathfield Council’s Young Citizen of the Year at Australia Day celebrations last week.

The former St Patrick’s College student led a group that raised $96,500 to build a library for children in PNG.

Last Saturday Matthew flew back to East New Britain where he will spend six months teaching English and helping build the new library.

When he first visited Papua New Guinea it was part of a St Patrick’s College program where old school computers were donated to local schools.

“It was a big eye-opener when I went there last time,” Matthew said.

“St Pat’s had a program where they collected old computers from schools in Sydney and fixed them so they can be re-used over there.

“Going there made me aware of what schools can do to help. We can be so wasteful over here and we don’t know how lucky we are as well.”

When Matthew returns from the South Pacific nation, he plans to study advanced science at University of NSW.

There are better alternatives to mining and oil palm

 

SELF RELIANCE, REAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, SHARING AND CARING for others in the community, keeping control of its land and its own destiny, using its resources wisely and protecting the environment are all key concepts that are driving a better, brighter future for the people of Sausi village in Madang Province.

They are also the foundation stones of Papua New Guinea’s Constitution as set out in its five National Goals.

Sausi is a community which resisted oil palm monoculture and has instead developed its own forms of co-finance and development.

Relying on small-scale cocoa production, rice farming, fish breeding, peanut production and other cash crops, village cooperation is showing how communities can keep control of their land and use their own resources to build a better future.

Source: Papua New Guinea Mine Watch

Rotarians delighted by positive response to books

BY COURTNEY GARNHAM

CHILDREN IN A HIGHLANDS VILLAGE have access to a pile of new books after a visit from the East Maitland Rotary Club.

A small team of Rotary members visited the Nondugl community in the Simbu and were able to give the village some much-needed supplies for the school and the health clinic.

While there, the group realised the benefit their donation was to the community and believed they could do much more.

They are now filling their second shipping container with needed goods to take to the village in March.

The group wants to fill the village library with books and train a local on how to manage the library.

Rotarian Geoff Hicks said seeing the children’s reactions when they received the books was priceless.

“They were the first books those children had ever had,” he said. ‘They were just absolutely fascinated with the books and the pictures in them.”

Mr Hicks said it was a grounding experience to be able to help the Nondugl community. “It actually was very humbling being there but we really feel we have made a difference,” he said.

“We want to improve the education and health standards of the village. We don’t want to interfere with their cultural life, they will still live in their thatched houses and grow their own vegies.”

Source: The Maitland Mercury (NSW)

Rich companies bag $1.8bn in foreign aid

BY STEVE LEWIS

AUSTRALIA'S BOOMING FOREIGN-AID PROGRAM is delivering handsome profits to a group of seven corporations that have raked in $1.81 billion in taxpayer-funded contracts.

But the lack of scrutiny of their profits is under challenge, as are the huge sums given to agencies such as the World Bank, which receives $450 million a year.

Coffey International, which boasts to shareholders how the Gillard Government is "spending more" on foreign aid, booked $353.4 million in contracts, including $31 million to try to weed out corruption in Papua New Guinea.

Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd has pledged to spend record sums trying to tackle poverty in some of the world's poorest countries. However, the increased spending is causing resentment among some of his ministerial colleagues who question how wisely the money is being spent.

Overall, the money being paid to private-sector corporations - known as "managing contractors" - has dropped to around 20% of AusAID's budget. However, aid experts are questioning the checks and balances in a program that is growing faster than any other area of the federal budget.

Stephen Howes, part of the high-level review of Australia's foreign-aid program, wants a "greater level of scrutiny" of the aid program - particularly given the large increases in funding.

Coalition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop demanded Mr Rudd "urgently" announce how he planned to better measure the aid program's performance benchmarks recommended by the review.

"With some organisations awarded contracts involving hundreds of millions of dollars, it is essential that aid programs under their management are scrutinised for accountability and effectiveness," Ms Bishop said.

Source: The Adelaide Advertiser

Making AusAID smarter: a role for universities

BY JOEL NEGIN

OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS and with increasing momentum, AusAID has shifted from essentially being a project-focused contract manager to an agency that works more at the policy level on sector programming.

Whereas AusAID used to fund managing contractors and NGOs to deliver discrete pieces of development activities, they now interact with multiple international agencies, with developing country governments, and with other partners on sector policy issues.

For example, there has been a reduction by half of the amount of Australian aid spent through contractors. Phrases such as sector-wide approach, harmonisation, pooled funding, and aid effectiveness are heard more often than ever before.

The Independent Review of Aid Effectiveness highlighted the importance of these changes and the substantial impact of this momentum on how AusAID operates.

As AusAID (along with a number of other development agencies) has made this change, they have run into a challenge: their human resource capacity. After years of building generalist staff who specialised in contract management and who did not have sector specific technical skill, AusAID must question whether they have found themselves without the skill set needed for the new type of work being undertaken.

The Aid Review and other stakeholders highlight the need for skills such as high-level negotiation capacity, stakeholder management, diplomacy and sector policy design.  These skills are critical to success and risk management as AusAID staff interact with government ministries, multilateral institutions and other development partners.

This is not a critique of AusAID individuals but rather an institutional shift from recruiting and training staff for one purpose and the significant change needed as the agency’s work changes.

Importantly, this static situation is not confined to AusAID — educational institutions have also been slow to provide the training for this new skill set.

Tackling the PNG paradox through enterprise reform

BY MEKERE MORAUTA

This article presents extracts from a transcript of a speech by Sir Mekere Morauta, PNG’s Minister for Public Enterprises, at the launch of the Development Policy Centre and CARE report “Rural Poverty in Remote Papua New Guinea: a case study of Obura-Wonenara District”

THE REPORT DOES NOT PAINT a pretty picture. It shows life in rural and remote Papua New Guinea as it really is: malnutrition; unsafe drinking water; poor health and consequently low life expectancy; very little education; unsatisfactory shelter and clothing; little access to income-earning opportunities; unavailability of services beyond the most basic level.

The point I want to make is that life in these places does not have to be this way.

We have had ample opportunity since 1975 to improve our way of life, yet apart from the first few years of independence, we have not done so.

In the last eight years the country has enjoyed massive flows of revenue from oil, copper and gold projects, but virtually none of it has been translated into services and benefits for rural people.

I call this “the PNG paradox” – rich in resources, but poor in services.  Plenty of money, but little to show for it.

For nine years we had one government, so-called political stability, at a time of unprecedented revenue flows to the government.  What did the money and political stability bring to the people or rural PNG? Clearly, something is missing.

What is the missing link between money, political stability and poverty and lack of services?  We have to find an answer to this question. Otherwise, the enormous additional wealth expected from PNG LNG will only aggravate the paradox.

It is clear that the way we are managing resources is not producing positive results. Doing things the way we have always done them has failed the nation, and the result is social indicators that are among the worst in the world.

What is stopping us change our way of managing our resources? One of the reasons is that we are frightened of reform. We are scared of change.  My view is that what we should really be afraid of is the status quo.

The CARE-ANU report provides us with some detailed statistics about the poor quality of life in many areas of PNG. It focussed on 262 families living in the Yelia Local Government Area of Obura-Wonenara, but its facts speak for many, many other places across the nation.

I know many families from this part of the country, and I also know that for them, nothing much has changed since independence. That is why we need reform. Reform is urgent.

It is not always popular because it changes the status quo and may deprive those benefiting from the status quo; it carries risks because it introduces an element of the unknown.

Here’s a big question: where is AusAID?

BY MARY KOISEN

AS A PAPUA NEW GUINEAN, personally I have not benefited from any aid from Australia.

When we had no water for years growing up in Hohola, where was AusAID.

When I went to primary school at Eki Vaki and shared a single desk with two other students, where was AusAID?

When we shared one textbook among the 30 of us in class, where was AusAID?

When we couldn't use the school toilets because it was beyond a child's ability to figure out how I was going to put my bum on all that stink, where was AusAID?

Mate, this was almost 20 years ago, and even to this day, it hasn't changed.

And the question begs - where is AusAID?

Let me tell you where it is.  It is paying the dumb consultants they send to this country to create models for six months and then leave for the next consultant to come back and create yet another model overriding the previous one.

And there are just no real results.

We don't need these consultants sitting in whitewashed walls pushing paper.

What we need is hands-on individuals who are out there with the people: building wells, schools, desks, new facilities and getting the local people involved.

Practical wisdom. That's what is needed.

PNG 'dragging chain' on development targets

A FORMER INTERNATIONAL aid chief has accused Papua New Guinea of slowing down progress in reaching United Nations international development targets for 2015.

Several Pacific nations are expected to be highlighted as success stories at an international aid meeting that will address the UN's Millennium Development goals in South Korea.  But PNG will not be among them.

More than 2,000 delegates from around the world, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and United Nation's Chief Ban Ki-Moon, are attending the fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness.

Former AusAID deputy director-general Annmaree O'Keeffe says parts of the region are making large strides in meeting the millennium development goals, while others are lagging.

"There are some parts of the Pacific, notably Papua New Guinea, which is really dragging the chain on meeting the millennium development goals, " she told Radio Australia.

Source: Australia Network News, 29 November

Do indigenous peoples benefit from development?

BY STEPHEN CORRY

WHAT'S DEVELOPMENT FOR? That may be straightforward to people who don't have water or food, or sewerage in urban areas (faecal contamination is the biggest, easily preventable, manmade killer).

But, although millions still lack such basics, they form only a tiny part of what passes for development these days. The duplicity of politics and business ensures much else – arms, for example – is shoehorned into the same category.

What should development mean for those who are largely self-sufficient, getting their own food and building their dwellings where the water is still clean – like many of the world's 150 million tribal people? Has development got anything helpful for them, or has it simply got it in for them?

It's easy to see where it has led. Leaving aside the millions who succumbed to the colonial invasion, in some of the world's most "developed" countries (Australia, Canada and the US) development has turned most of the survivors into dispossessed paupers.

Take any measure of what it ought to mean: high income, longevity, employment, health; low rates of addiction, suicide, imprisonment and domestic violence, and you find that indigenous people in the US, Canada and Australia are by far the worst off on every count – but no one seems to heed the lesson.

These are the consequences of a dispossession more total in North America and Australia than almost anywhere on Earth. The colonists were determined to steal tribal lands, and unquestioning about their own superiority. They espoused politico-economic models in which workers produced for distant markets, and had to pay for the privilege.

The natives, using no money, paying no taxes, contributing little to the marketplace until forced to, were "backward". At best, they were to be integrated to serve colonist society.

Colonialism set out to take away their self-sufficiency, on their own territory, and lead them to glorious productivity, as menials, on someone else's. There's little point in calling for retroactive apologies for this because it's not confined to the past: most development schemes foisted on tribal peoples today point in exactly the same direction.

Australia provides K400,000 for victim identification

AUSTRALIA’S HIGH COMMISSIONER in Papua New Guinea, Ian Kemish AM [pictured with other officials], yesterday opened a course on disaster victim identification at Bomana Police Training College.

He also handed over K400,000 in equipment to support DVI efforts.

Through this training the Australian Federal Police is investing in the capacity of PNG agencies to respond to the community impact of natural disasters, transport accidents and other events involving loss of life.

The training has significant value to police and law enforcement authorities in assisting in the proper conduct of investigations.

The training, which is taking place through this week, is being delivered by AFP training team members Steve Sargent, Rod Anderson and Mardi Southwell.

This is a return to PNG for all three. They were each involved with the response to the crash of an Airlines PNG aircraft near Kokoda in August 2009.

AFP and RPNGC have worked in close partnership on a number of other DVI responses in recent times, including in the aftermath of the plane crashes on Misima Island in August 2010 and last month’s crash near Madang.

Australia is also working with the PNG government in beginning to rebuild the RPNGC.

The rebuilding focuses on core police functions, with the RPNGC partnering the AFP in key areas.  The partnership is designed to increase the RPNGC’s level of service to the community.

Source: Australian High Commission, 21 November

One of the big development mysteries of PNG - literacy

BY JIM POLLARD

LITERACY IS ONE of the biggest development issues in Papua New Guinea. Yet it’s hard to get a precise picture of the national literacy rate and education levels.

More than one-third of the seven million population – most of whom live a traditional subsistence lifestyle in rural villages – are unable to read and write. Among older people, as many as half may be print-illiterate, perhaps not surprising in a country with little history of writing.

Nicholas Nembo, a project manager with PNG’s National Literacy and Awareness Secretariat, spoke about the issue during a visit to Bangkok last week. He and six colleagues visited Thailand for training sessions at UNESCO, which is helping PNG set up a website in a bid to boost literacy levels.

“There has never been a national literacy survey [in PNG],” Mr Nembo said. “Our estimate of 56% [literacy] is based on a question in the national census in 2000: ‘Are you able to both read and write with understanding a short simple statement in your day to day life?’ but there were no follow-up questions to explain about those who voted ‘yes’.

“Therefore it’s really unknown. The 56% may not be the real literacy rate – it may be lower.” Latest literacy surveys carried out in five province supports the supposition that literacy rates are lower.

While the figure of 56% is low in world terms, it’s important to recognise that PNG is a unique society with extraordinary geographic and cultural features.

The challenge of teaching people a common tongue is far more difficult than people in other lands might imagine. The country has well over 800 languages – only half of which have developed written texts. 

PNG joined the path to modern development “late”. Literacy work and non-formal education was started by missionaries over 140 years ago, but PNG only became self-governing in the mid-1970s.

And it faces all the difficulties of a fledgling democracy – a relatively small domestic economy, law and order problems, bureaucratic inertia, political corruption, as well as high HIV, malaria and infant death rates, etc. 

Given this, the thought of achieving literacy rates similar to those in more developed nations is a somewhat daunting prospect.

Aside from UNESCO and the national government, a swag of aid, church and civil society groups are working hard to boost education levels, as well as trying to determine literacy levels.

The rate of participation in primary schooling is improving, but it remains low and below that of most other countries in the region. 

PNG looks unlikely to achieve any of the Millennium Development Goals set by the UN for 2015. But UNESCO is hoping that by focusing on literacy will pay off in the long-term.

Source: UNESCO Bangkok, 21 November

Fraud hits aid – but 99.998% of funds get through

BY ANDREW TILLETT

WORKERS TRYING TO IMPROVE Papua New Guinea's justice system were among 32 contractors sacked by Australia's foreign aid agency for fraud or for botching projects, new figures show.

During the past five years, AusAID has torn up the contracts of two organisations delivering programs.  The rip-offs and bungling cost taxpayers more than $200,000.

Figures published in Hansard in response to questions from shadow foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop showed that most of the sackings occurred in PNG, Fiji and East Timor.

And the problems were not just with low-level staff such as clerks. Managers were among those who lost their jobs.

The Law and Justice Program in PNG had a clerical staff member sacked in 2006, with another local staff member terminated a year later.

One person hired for the "electoral support program" in PNG resigned in 2008 after being told his contract would be torn up.

An AusAID spokeswoman said the cases of fraud or mismanagement cost taxpayers $218,500, with almost $171,000 recovered so far.

She said AusAID's fraud controls were effective, with 99.998% of its administered funds going to intended recipients.

Regular audits were conducted of contractors, while police were called in when Australian law had been breached. Companies and non-government organisations blacklisted for fraud were banned from bidding for new contracts.

"AusAID has a zero tolerance policy towards fraud in the aid program," the spokeswoman said.

She added that the organisation investigated all reports, sought to recover money, prosecuted offenders and ensured probity.

Source: The West Australian, 15 November

O’Neill asks Vatican for more foreign missionaries

THE PRIME MINISTER of Papua New Guinea, Peter O’Neill, wants more foreign missionaries to work in the country.

He’s told the Vatican’s diplomat to PNG, Archbishop Francisco Montecillo Padilla, that churches have contributed enormously to PNG by delivering services to remote areas that the governments failed to provide.

Mr O’Neill said churches remain at the forefront of service delivery and their contributions are huge.

He said there had been many dedicated foreign missionaries in the past and his government would like to see them return to help with social services.

Mr O’Neill said the government’s poor record of service delivery was underlined by the fact that, despite a windfall of revenue in the last six years, there was very little to show for this on the ground.

He said a government/church partnership in service delivery would deliver a lot of benefits to the people.

Meanwhile, church leaders in PNG are calling for an end to hostilities that started last weekend in Lae, saying bullets will not restore peaceful conditions to the city.

Morobe Lutheran Church leaders called on Lae's citizens to treat their Highlands neighbours as "brothers and sisters" and not to take the law into their own hands.

Source: Radio New Zealand International, 8 November

UNDP reports on ‘low’ PNG human development

BY DON WISEMAN

THE UNITED NATIONS Development Program says that, despite some impressive rankings in a new report, the Pacific faces a future of rising sea-levels, water shortages and diminishing fish stocks.

Nine Pacific nations are ranked among the 187 countries in the UNDP’s 2011 Human Development Report.

Two countries in the region, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, which are ranked 142 and 153 respectively, form part of the low human development category.

The report, which is subtitled Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All, stresses that disparities in health, education, income, and gender must be addressed.

Another factor is the need for global action on energy production and protection of eco-systems.

In PNG and Solomon Islands, the Report deplores the natural resource depletion, principally the forests in both countries.”

Source: Radio New Zealand International, 3 November

Australia needs innovation in effective aid delivery

BY JULIE BISHOP

ACROSS THE WORLD there is an ongoing debate about aid effectiveness - how, when, where, for whom and for what outcomes, the aid dollar should be spent.

In Australia, the Independent Review of Aid Effectiveness published a report in April with a number of recommendations to improve the Australian aid program.

The review pointed out that while the Australian government is spending about $4 billion a year in running a substantial aid program in many countries across the world, the Australian people also contribute about $800 million each year to non-government organisations for aid work, and many Australians volunteer their time and skills overseas.

It noted that the challenge is not to just to spend more money, but to spend it effectively.

In order to achieve greater effectiveness, and efficiency, in our aid program, there will be a real need for innovative thinking, creative ideas and an openness to new approaches.

This can mean building on current practices by doing some things differently, as well as initiating and implementing entirely new approaches by doing different things.

Take health and medical services in developing countries, which can often be difficult to deliver because of poor infrastructure and support services, particularly in remote locations.

The scale of providing health services in Papua New Guinea for example, is evidenced by the fact that it is reported that only 33 dentists are located in this nation of more than 6 million people.

………

The [federal] government has thus far failed to put in place the performance benchmarks against which the aid program and AusAID's performance can be judged.

Australians are generous people but support for the foreign aid budget can only be maintained if people are confident that taxpayer funds are being spent on the right aid in the right quantity being delivered in the right way to the right place at the right time.

Julie Bishop MP is Australia’s Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/blogs/the-bishops-gambit/innovation-in-effective-aid-delivery-20111102-1mudy.html#ixzz1cWDIJD5q

Source: Sydney Morning Herald, National Times, 2 November

What is development? Our source: the sacred land

BY MARTYN NAMORONG

“Greenpeace is delusional and RH is reckless.  What’s new?  I did a lot of tree hugging in the past and it didn’t get me anywhere” - Nou Vada, law student

WHEN A YOUNG KID in law school posts such comments on Facebook, they need to be taken seriously.  Nou Vada is the most intelligent and articulate young Papua New Guinean I’ve come across (sic).

I don’t know his reasoning behind the comments but they do express a perception and perhaps confusion amongst many Papua New Guineans that green groups are anti-development.

This perception arises from the reality that environmental activists have become synonymous with headline grabbing protest activities. Thus the impression that the public gets is that the greenies just want to stop all sorts of projects.

Indeed, resource exploiters regularly dog-whistle the public with ‘anti-green’ clichés such that many now subscribe to that view that all green groups or non-governmental organizations want to stop development..

I suppose, in any case, both sides may have some merit to their arguments.  Personally, I wish to visit the Constitution of Papua New Guinea to find out how it expresses Papua New Guinea’s development agenda.  And perhaps a law student like Nou may articulate it better than a buai seller like me.

Papua New Guinea’s development agenda, regardless of what the Greens or the Capitalists say, is set out in its National Goals and Directive Principles as expressed in the Constitution.

In a film by Scott Waide, lawyer Ganjiki Wayne states that the writers of the Constitution weren’t so much interested in physical and structural development as in the integral development of the individual.

It was a somewhat spiritual rather that material development that the founders of this nation were interested in.

This concept of development is expressed in the First National Goal and Directive Principles regarding Integral Human Development. The development model envisaged by the founders of this nation is indeed found in Goal Five - Papua New Guinean Ways. Goal Five specifically calls for any activity whether social, political or economic, to be consistent with the ways of Papua New Guinean societies.

ABG convenes summit on development issues

THE AUTONOMOUS Bougainville government has invited all Bougainvilleans to a development resource summit that runs in Arawa for three days from today.

The summit will discuss resource development issues that have affected Papua New Guinea and Bougainville, including land, minerals, oil, gas, fishing, forestry, agriculture and carbon trading.

The topics for discussion include the conduct of multinational enterprises in respect to human rights in resource development, UN conventions on the rights of indigenous people and the property rights of indigenous people according to customs and traditions.

The summit will also address recognition of customary land, resource ownership and rights, the types of types of contracts for the extraction and development of resources and the fair sharing of benefits from resource development.

Guest speakers include constitutional lawyer Peter Donigi, who is president of the Mama Papa Graun Party.

Source: Papua New Guinea Mine Watch, 25 October
http://ramumine.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/abg-to-hold-three-day-resource-summit-for-all-bougainvilleans/

Christian trek carries a tonne of aid to the Mamusis

LAST WEEK, Christians in Papua New Guinea carried their neighbours' burdens -- literally.

A couple of months ago, the Mamusi people suffered severe damage from mudslides triggered by heavy rainfall.

News of the disaster reached Jan and Annette Wols, missionaries with New Tribes Mission.

"Believers from five different language groups and missionaries in the region as well as some in other parts of the world have responded to the news by giving and helping," wrote Jan.

The result was 63 packages of supplies. Canvas tarpaulins and food were all donated to help the plight of the Mamusis. The weather left the mountains of the region soake, however, and the only way to get the supplies to the Mamusis was on foot.

Neighbouring Ata church leaders jumped at the opportunity to help their neighbours. Dozens of believers from the Ata church carried the 63 packages--which totalled more than 900 kilos--on their shoulders for the 9-hour walk over steep, muddy terrain to get to Ata village.

After another full day of hiking, the group reached the Mamusis. The people were still in shock, and few spoke when they received the aid.

For two months, the Mamusis had lived in rough conditions after many of their homes, gardens, and meeting houses were damaged or destroyed.

Source: Mission Network News, 25 October

More Australian policing aid to PNG

BY DONALD HOOK

AUSTRALIA WILL increase its support for the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary but there will be no front-line policing by the Australians. 

It was made clear at a meeting of prime ministers in Canberra last week that no Australian police would be on the beat in PNG like they were in the failed Howard Government deployment in 2005.

The PNG Supreme Court ruled that such a deployment was unconstitutional and the 115-strong Australian police contingent was flown home. 

Under what’s termed the next phase of the PNG-Australia Policing Partnership, AFP officers will work in senior strategic roles.  No numbers were mentioned and final details will be determined in further talks between the two governments.

Australia also will provide a range of training and support services to improve the capabilities of the PNG police.

Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard agreed to give help needed for next year’s parliamentary elections in PNG.  This will include planning, police communications, command and control mechanisms, and the training of PNG police officers. 

Ms Gillard congratulated PNG on the impending first ever deployments by the PNGDF to a United Nations peacekeeping mission.  Australia has provided training to PNGDF members who will serve in South Sudan and in Darfur.  

Canberra urged to invest in PNG education

BY ROWAN CALLICK

ECONOMIST ROSS GARNAUT and former Papua New Guinea prime minister Rabbie Namaliu had to wait 17 months for their 57-page review of the dire state of PNG's public universities to be released.

It finally saw the light of day last week when PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill flew to Canberra on an official visit on 11 October.

With government spending per student at about 7 percent of what it was at independence 36 years ago, the report urges Canberra to spend up to $30 million a year for a decade to rehabilitate PNG's public universities.

"The focus of our report is on the necessity of raising the quality of the universities," Professor Garnaut said.

And while there is huge pressure for expansion, this should be resisted until many other issues are addressed, he said.

The report says PNG's resources-boom revenue -- the country's economy is growing this year by about 9 per cent -- should create "an opportunity to repair run-down services" such as higher education.

But the strategy must justify making a large investment for a small proportion of the population, "while more basic needs, including access to basic education, health and transport services, are not yet available in many parts of PNG".

Although PNG is "desperately short of skills for development", it says, "poor-quality expansion is unaffordable". So "rehabilitating or replacing run-down existing assets, and restoration of quality, should precede any investment in expansion".

The review says repairing and expanding the "badly run-down" six national high schools -- whose former high quality and status have collapsed in recent decades -- to improve the quality of intake to universities is essential for other outcomes.

Scott MacWilliam, who taught at the University of Papua New Guinea from 1983-85, said, after a recent visit, he found "there is limited internet access, little research and publishing, a library with most of its collection utterly outdated and what remains easily stolen or mutilated, inadequate housing for national and expatriate staff, and deteriorating buildings with little basic maintenance carried out".

A crucial role can be played by Australian universities, Professor Garnaut said, through "twinning" arrangements and other means of long-term close association across the range -- not only teaching and research but also administration and financial management.

The Group of Eight universities began a program of collaboration last year with UPNG, in which Australian academics in sociology, political science, journalism and computer science teach and mentor, their costs covered by AusAID and the Go8.

Source: Higher Education Supplement, The Australian, 19 October

WWII ammo to be rendered safe on joint mission

AUSTRALIA’S PARLIAMENTARY Secretary for Defence, Senator David Feeney, has announced that more than 150 personnel from the Australian Defence Force, New Zealand Defence Force and Papua New Guinea Defence Force will begin Operation Render Safe, an explosives ordnance disposal activity aimed at unexploded World War II ammunition in PNG this week.

Operation Render Safe will be conducted from 18 October – 4 November in Rabaul, and will involve the identification, assessment and rendering safe of unexploded ordnance.

Senator Feeney said the operation was vital to providing a safe environment in Rabaul, which relies heavily on international tourism.

Operation Render Safe will also involve clearing unexploded ordnance from the Kokoda Track.

“Unexploded ordnance such as torpedoes, grenades, bombs and projectiles are regularly discovered in very public locations such as domestic yards, the local police station and along the shoreline,” he said.

“These remnants of war are an enduring and unpredictable threat to the safety of locals and tourists and we are pleased to play an active role in making the Rabaul area safer for all.”

Royal Australian Navy Commander Scott Craig, Commander of the Combined Joint Task Force 663, said the operation would be bolstered by Australia’s HMA Ships Gascoyne and Diamantina and New Zealand’s HMNZ Ships Resolution and Wellington, providing important underwater surveying capability.

“The cooperation between the three participating nations will provide a great service to the people of Rabaul as well as provide defence personnel an opportunity to work side by side,” Commander Craig said.

“Working closely with local communities to recognise and identify items of unexploded ordnance will be a key part of the operation.”

Source: Senator David Feeney’s Office, 18 October

Case study report: Rural poverty in remote PNG

BY CATE ROGERS

ON TUESDAY the Development Policy Centre and CARE Australia launched a joint report on a case study of rural poverty in remote Papua New Guinea.

The report draws on data from a baseline study conducted by CARE for a project that seeks to build the capacity of people in these communities to gain access to the services and facilities that will help secure their livelihoods.  The data paints a bleak picture of a vulnerable population, with very few resources to fall back on when illness or other shocks hit.

Yelia Local Level Government Area is in Obura-Wonenara District in Eastern Highlands Province. Part of the district is accessible only by air, with the remainder having limited road access. Villages are spread out, with groups of up to three households separated by a 20-30 minute walk. The closest markets are in Menyamya, which is a two day walk away from some parts of Yelia.

In Yelia, the majority of households live within 60 minutes walk of a health facility. The schools that are available in the district are community schools that go up to Grade 6.  One of the four clusters surveyed had no school. Here parents said that they would send their daughters away so they could attend school. The other clusters had access to schools but often without qualified teachers or classroom materials, and with overcrowded classrooms.

The limited amount of research on poverty in Papua New Guinea, spanning the early 1970s to the early 2000s, suggests that Obura-Wonenara has consistently been amongst the most disadvantaged districts in the country. But what does disadvantage mean in Yelia?

Well, for starters it means that there are more children and old people for families to support than on average.  The dependency ratio of those surveyed was 94 per cent for children, rising to 102 per cent if older age groups were included. In simple terms, ratios this high mean that in a subsistence environment a lot of effort must go into meeting the basic needs of the family before it is possible to try to accumulate a surplus.

Amongst the population surveyed, there was very little education. Seventy one per cent had no schooling at all. Of those who did access schooling, men had slightly higher rates of schooling then women. The literacy rates showed that only 19 per cent of women and 36 per cent of men could read.

The data on nutrition, if representative, raises the possibility that this population is chronically malnourished.  Fifty eight percent of those surveyed had eaten two meals in the day leading up to the survey and 25 percent had consumed one meal.  Meals mainly consisted of sweet potato (the staple), followed by banana and taro.

Over 90 percent of the households surveyed had not consumed animal protein and three quarters had no vegetable protein.  Overall, the data suggested that diets had limited variety, lacked animal and vegetable protein and essential fats. Children with mild or moderate malnutrition are between 2.5 and 4.6 times more likely to die then their healthy weight range counterparts. 

Donor support secured for rural health project

BY IVY MUNGCAL

AUSTRALIA, THE Asian Development Bank and other key donors have teamed up in a massive project to help Papua New Guinea improve the quality of its rural health system.

The donors are supporting an $81.2 million rural primary health project, which aims to refurbish 128 health centres, build 32 community health posts and provide housing for 224 health workers in rural communities.

Australia is providing a $40 million grant and the ADB a $20 million loan for the project.

The OPEC Fund for International Development has also committed $9 million, while the World Health Organisation and the Japan International Cooperation Agency are respectively providing $1 million and $1.2 million worth of in-kind grants.

Aside from funding for the project, Australia said it would provide an additional $24 million dollars to purchase medical supplies for rural health centres and posts.

Source: Devex, 3 October
http://www.devex.com/en/blogs/the-development-newswire/papua-new-guinea-secures-donor-support-for-rural-health-system-project

Chinese say PNG relationship yields “sweet fruits”

BY KEITH JACKSON

THE CHINESE ambassador to Papua New Guinea has said that China-PNG relations have set a good example for cooperation between the countries.

Ambassador Qiu Bohua was speaking at a reception in Port Moresby to mark China's National Day.  Prime minister Peter O'Neill and president of the Bougainville Autonomous Province, John Momis, were among the guests at the function.

“Thirty-five years ago, the PNG Government made a far-sighting decision to establish diplomatic relations with China,: Mr Qiu said. “Since then, the bilateral relations have made significant progress on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.”

“We highly appreciate that the PNG side always adheres to the One China policy and supports China's peaceful reunification.”

The ambassador said that trade between the two countries has been booming.

“PNG has become China's biggest trade partner and investment destination among Pacific Islands,” he said.

“Our people-to-people exchanges have been widening, effectively promoting friendship and mutual understanding. Our cooperation in international and regional affairs has been intensifying, sharing more common interests and similar concepts.”

Mr Qiu said that, even though China is still a developing country, it has been providing aid to the best of its ability to PNG.

“During the past years, the Chinese government has spared no efforts to support and assist PNG with the implementation of a dozen aid projects,” he said.

These included the Sir John Guise Stadium, Wawin National High School, Goroka University, Mt Hagen Agriculture Technical Cooperation, and medical teams working in Port Moresby General Hospital.

“Over 200 PNG students were granted Chinese government scholarships to undertake degree studies in China,” he said, “and around 400 government officials and technical personnel were invited to China to attend various programs of different sectors for capacity training purpose.”

Mr Qiu said that 2011 is another fruitful year for cooperation with projects including the Usino Junction-Yamagi Road, Phase II of Mt Hagen agriculture technical cooperation, the Distant Education Network, the Integrated Government Information System Network and the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone.

“We are also looking forward to the groundbreaking of the International Convention Centre project in Port Moresby,” he said. “All these are the sweet fruits yielding from the long-term stable and friendly bilateral relationship between China and PNG.”

Mr Qiu described the controversial Ramu Nickel project as a good example of bilateral cooperation.

“The project is a win-win for our two countries. It is my firm belief that with the smooth running of Ramu Nickel, the confidence of foreign investors in PNG will be boosted, and the bilateral economic relations between our two countries will be further lifted to a higher level,” he said. “We hope to see the first production soon to put new vigour into the PNG economy.”

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, 7 October
http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/wjb/zwjg/zwbd/t865398.htm

Julie Bishop says PNG must abandon reliance on aid

AUSTRALIA'S DEPUTY Opposition leader and shadow Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, has called for Australia to help Papua New Guinea move away from reliance on foreign aid.

“There must be a firm focus on self sufficiency rather than aid dependency,” Ms Bishop told Radio Australia.

“With the revenue from resource projects in PNG set to boost its economy, Australian aid will play a comparatively lesser role in PNG's development.”

However, Ms Bishop said that, on a recent visit to PNG, “it was apparent that the social development issues are immense” and that “delivering health and education services to some is particularly challenging.”

She said that PNG is at an important juncture in its development.

“It's on the verge of this mining and resource boom that should generate significant income with the potential to radically alter the course of its economic and social development.

“Mining and resource companies are already active participants in the development field, not only are they building new infrastructure; but also providing basic medical facilities and schools.”

Ms Bishop said that often mining companies’ networks are more efficient than government but that they reach further into the remote areas than the government does. She said churches and NGOs will also continue to play an important role.

“My point is while Australia must continue to support PNG; we should take a long term view and work to a more economic partnership model than just an aid donor, aid recipient model,” she said.

Source: Radio Australia, 3 October
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/201110/s3331247.htm

Rudd slaps down opposition whining on PNG

BY EOIN BLACKWELL

AUSTRALIA’S FOREIGN MINISTER Kevin Rudd has taken a swipe at the federal opposition over its past dealings with Papua New Guinea during the final leg of his two-day visit to Australia's closest neighbour.

Mr Rudd on Saturday dismissed comments from coalition counterpart Julie Bishop about rebuilding the relationship between the two nations based on an economic and strategic partnership, instead of one based aid.

"The opposition says those sorts of things," he said in response to a question in Port Moresby on Saturday.  "We've been dealing with each other as development partners since I became prime minister of Australia.

"I find it a little bit ironic that the opposition begins to lecture this government about how to deal with Papua New Guinea."

Within three months of becoming prime minister, Mr Rudd visited PNG as his first official overseas trip, while former prime minister John Howard waited "three or four years" to visit the former Australian territory.

Mr Rudd says he did not discuss the Manus Island detention centre in any great detail during talks with PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill and Foreign Minister Ano Pala.

"Neither the prime minister or the foreign minister particularly discussed Manus because as you know it is now subject to a decision by the Australian High Court, which the Australian parliament will consider its response to," he said.

During a speech at the Lowy Institute in July, Ms Bishop said the opposition would rebuild Australia's relationship with PNG if it won government.  She said Australia's development assistance to PNG, estimated to be $482 million in 2011-12, had declined as a percentage of PNG's gross domestic product.

"With the revenue from resource projects set to boost its economy even further, Australian aid will play a comparatively lesser role in PNG's development," she said.

Resource projects - such as the massive Highlands- and Port Moresby- based liquefied natural gas projects are expected to contribute 9% to the country's GDP in coming years.

However, as many as 80% of PNG's estimated seven million people still live subsistence-based lifestyles, cut off from much of the limited health care in the country.

Earlier Mr Rudd pledged $64 million to improve health in PNG.  During a visit to Moreguina village in Central Province on Saturday he said the package was part of an $80 million Asian Development Bank health fund.

He also pledged additional funds to assist delivery of drugs to health centres across the country.  "A big challenge in PNG is health," Mr Rudd told villagers who had gathered at the health post to see him.

"Making sure little babies are born safer, making sure that when they are little kids they get vaccinations.  I understand the health problems in Moreguina."

He said the ADB had launched a program to improve health and refurbish about 3000 clinics and health centres across PNG.  Australia would provide half the funding.

He also said an additional $24 million would go towards delivery of medicines to those clinics.  "We want to boost the health of 1.2 million people in PNG."

Source: AAP/Sydney Morning Herald, 1 October

O’Neill committed to UN development goals

PRIME MINISTER Peter O'Neill pledged in New York on Saturday that PNG would continue to work hard in order to achieve all of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations.

"Our government remains committed to achieving the MDGs, and we are now scaling-up progress in all relevant sectors," O'Neill said while addressing the UN General Assembly.

The MDGs are a set of eight international development targets that UN member states have resolved to meet globally by 2015.

"We call on all our development partners to complement our efforts to achieve the MDG targets in line with national development plans and policies," Mr O’Neill said. "I believe other developing countries will support our call."

According to him, PNG has made strides in three of the eight MDGs - promotion of universal primary education, reduction of diseases, as well as gender equality and women's empowerment.

Source: Shanghai Daily, 25 September
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.asp?id=18656

AusAID spent $3M pursuing football world cup

BY KEITH JACKSON

ON FOUR CORNERS tonight, ABC reporter Quentin McDermott investigated the strategy employed by Football Federation Australia in its failed effort to win the right to host the 2018 or 2022 world football cup for Australia.

Amongst other matters, the program raised serious questions about the role played by AusAID in the World Cup bid.

Four Corners claimed that around $3 million of AusAID money was paid to Pacific countries to pursue a single vote in Australia’s favour, which didn’t eventuate.

In an early response to the program, AusAID denied that this money had been spent to prop up the bid.

But Four Corners produced documentary evidence contradicting AusAID’s denial.

The expenditure seems to have been endorsed by former prime minister Kevin Rudd.

That aid and development funds can be applied to such tawdry ends poses issues that the Australian government, and Kevin Rudd in particular, should be called upon to address.

Pacific islands accuse AusAID of coercion

BY DANIEL FLITTON

AusAID HAS BEEN ACCUSED of strong-arm tactics in the south Pacific by seeking to unfairly influence tiny island neighbours in a free trade deal, leaked documents reveal.

The confidential documents show Pacific island countries could abandon trade talks at a regional leaders' forum next week unless Australia stops pressuring the funding of Pacific trade negotiators.

Canberra has tried to sell the talks on closer economic relations in the region as a development measure rather than a simple trade deal.

But the documents show Pacific nations believe any deal will not significantly improve their economies ''unless it results in greater integration of labour markets.''

The main sticking point in the talks is funding for an independent chief adviser to guide Pacific island nations in their negotiations - a position Australia and New Zealand agreed to pay for in 2009.

New Zealand has already signed a $NZ1.3 million deal to continue paying its half for the position, known as the Office of the Chief Trade Adviser and based in Vanuatu.

A leaked draft contract between Australia's aid agency, AusAID, and the trade adviser proposes $1 million in funding be split into $125,000 tranches, with the money to be released every three months subject to ''satisfactory progress'' in the trade talks.

In lengthy comments on the draft contract the trade adviser's office told AusAID the clause was ''totally unworkable'' and demanded it be stripped from the contract and earlier plans for two $500,000 payments be reinstated.

Pacific nations are adamant the trade adviser office should be legally independent and not threatened with budget cuts.

Source: The Age, 28 August.  Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/pacific-islands-accuse-australias-aid-agency-of-coercion-20110828-1jgnv.html#ixzz1WTaClvH1

Are Kiwis showing us how to do it - again?

BY PHIL FITZPATRICK

NEW ZEALAND is only a small country but it has a big heart.  It also seems to sit a lot more comfortably in the South Pacific area than Australia. 

Perhaps this is why it seems to get some things right while Australia stumbles.  For instance, the Kiwis have happily hit their stride with a Pacific Workers Scheme while Australia is still bogged down in red tape.

Perhaps we can learn something from their activities in Papua New Guinea.  They seem to get more bang for their buck.

The following is lifted off their modest NZAid website.  They seem to have nailed the problems precisely, worked out what they can do and, in their modest way, got on with it.  Note the lack of spin. Decide for yourself.

Development challenges

Poverty is pervasive and income disparity is growing, despite several years of macro-economic improvement.

The recognised need to achieve broad based economic growth is restricted by deteriorating infrastructure and poor service delivery to rural areas.

Widespread law and order problems pose a threat to locals, constrain investment and inhibit the growth of the private sector.

PNG has the highest rate of HIV prevalence in the Pacific, which carries serious implications for society and could reverse development achievements made in recent years.

Gender inequality and violence restrict the ability of women to participate in economic, social and political life and is a root contributing factor to many development challenges in PNG

 

Dev't never faster; benefits need sharing

A CONFERENCE in Canberra has heard that the pace of political and economic change in Papua New Guinea has never been faster.

“There's a lot of things coming to a head,” says Matt Morris [pictured], a former economic advisor to the PNG government, now deputy director of the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University.

“On the economic front the big issue is the investment in the LNG Project, which is expected to come on stream in 2014 and will bring huge revenues into government. So a key issue now is basically how to put the economic foundations in place now so that those resources are well managed.

“And then obviously with an election coming up next year and a new government, the window of opportunity for getting through some of the key reforms is very narrow indeed.”

Mr Morris said that, while the PNG economy is expected to grow about 9.3% this year, “a lot of these economic benefits are not being shared broadly throughout the population...”

“There [are] lots of stories in the papers and the media about financial abuse, particularly with the development budget and the trust funds, with a lot of secrecy over how state owned enterprises and other assets were being managed for people, and just generally not seeing services getting through.

“I think that's why there needs to be some fairly concerted action now to improve the way that resources are used so they do translate into better services. And the recent announcement of tuition free education is a good way of getting benefits out to ordinary people.”

Mr Morris said that while PNG “is a very complicated country”, there are some positives that give reason for optimism.

“One is the resilience of PNG and the ability of PNG to adapt to very rapid change. I think the other one … is the massive growth in mobile telecommunications across the country.

“From ten years ago when very few people had mobile phones, they were very much a luxury item, there's about 75% coverage across the country.

“It’s a sign that rapid progress can be made.”

Source: Radio Australia