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My sincere thanks to the two authors for raising this important issue. As the authors and many others would know, the problem of medicine stock-outs is not unique to Manus Province. I have known of many occasions in Madang Province when people were not able to receive, or even purchase, the medicine they needed. A friend of mine who lives near Angoram in East Sepik Province recently travelled to Madang to purchase medicine she could not secure in Angoram. Dr Colin Wiltshire has conducted research on public financial management. He explored this issue in a research report on the health sector in Papua New Guinea that was published in 2020 and is available at: https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/items/b3d0a1d0-087b-4495-8be0-a8f7faa130f9 I was happy to assist with preparation of this report and I recommend it to anyone who wants to look into these issues in further depth. Thanks again to the two authors of this valuable blog post. Amanda

It is not realistic to suggest that better MEL makes a better facility. Most facilities operate with goals that can't be measured. In my experience, the same conditions that make for better aid in general also make for better facilities. A lot of it comes down to staff and counterparts.

Mauri ...e rabwa n am articles... with due respect I feel that one important factor that you have overlooked especially in the case of Tuvalu is the land size vs population. Tuvalu has an extremely limited land area, approx 27 sq. km compared to Kiribati 811 sq.km. Land in Tuvalu cannot be sold outright because they are scarce and precious to the land owners and their families. Tuvalu current population is around 10k, and with this number the country is already experiencing signficant pressure on its scarce land, limited natural resources (water, marine & land resources etc..), housing etc. Imagine if the 6k to 7k diaspora were in Tuvalu, the population will be 17k, our situation and living condition and the pressure on our limited natural resources will be far worse. Grateful for the migration pathways provided by Australia and NZ, they ease such potential situation. It also important to note that the large portion of the 6k or 7k Tuvaluan diaspora orignated during the period when Tuvalu and most of the PIC were visa free to NZ. Those original diaspora faced significant hardship from NZ Immigration dawn raids when their visas expired. Many spent their money on lawyers and immigration advisers to regularise their immigration status. Some were fortunate, and most from the amnesties that were granted.

Actually you want to say that when children speak out for themselves and fight back against any parents, teachers or elders for anything bad or unwanted behaviour towards them, then you call it disrespectful. Children also have full rights to fight back any unwanted activities or behaviour towards them and since it's not in compatibility to your situations and thinking and not according to your whims and fancies, you call it disrespectful. Remember children don't have any liability to satisfy any whims and fancies of the teachers and principal or the school authorities

Corporal punishments should be totally eliminated from both schools and homes and anywhere else. Whenever any segment of the society were hurt and faced abuse or beating we have raised our voices and actions have been taken legally and by all means to condemn it, then if children are also facing abuse, beating, torture or oppression then at that point of time also we need to raise our voices and take stringent actions to condemn such issues of child abuse. Like for example whenever women have faced torture and oppression, they have raised their voices and actions have been taken against it, when labourers faced torture and bad conditions they have also protested, raised corcerns regarding it and actions have been taken to condemn and when people from lower caste or race have faced discrimination and torture they have also fought against, voices have been raised and actions have been taken to stop these discrimination, oppression and torture against women, labourers and people of backward castes and race backgrounds protests and fights have been done and actions have been taken to stop it, then equally if children also face torture, beatings, abuse and oppression, then at that point of time also we need to raise our voices and stringent actions should be taken to totally stop and condemn it as children are human beings of tender age. Moreover if hitting or hurting any human beings are bad and unacceptable in nature so children are also human beings that too of tender age, so it's even more naturally bad and unacceptable to hurt them.

Thank you very much for your two blog posts. You have identified an alarming recent trend. You have also helped to highlight the vulnerability of Pacific newsrooms. Thank you.

Unless our leaders decide a new foreign policy to suit the great power competition, our next diplomatic moves and strategic engagements remain abstract and baseless only to regret later.

"Economic stability is an achievement. Structural transformation is the real test. The true measure of development is not how long a country can sustain external support, but how effectively it transforms that support into self-sustaining prosperity." I found the article particularly insightful because it extends the MIRAB model beyond economics into the realm of political economy. The concept of a "stability trap" is especially compelling: remittances and aid not only protect households and public finances, but may also weaken the political urgency for structural reforms, domestic revenue mobilisation, and economic diversification. However, I believe the discussion could be taken a step further. The stability trap may also reflect path dependency, where prolonged reliance on external finance gradually shapes institutions, public expectations, and policy choices in ways that make structural transformation increasingly difficult. It also raises an important question of moral hazard: if external inflows continuously cushion economic shocks, do governments and citizens face fewer incentives to undertake politically difficult reforms? Viewing MIRAB alongside New Structural Economics (Justin Yifu Lin) suggests that aid and remittances should be treated as catalytic capital rather than permanent income support. Instead of financing recurrent consumption, they should build productive infrastructure, human capital, innovation ecosystems, digital transformation, and competitive industries. Likewise, Benefits Realisation Management (BRM) reminds us that development should be evaluated not by the amount of aid disbursed, but by the lasting public value it creates - higher productivity, stronger institutions, diversified exports, quality employment, and fiscal resilience. The comparison between Tonga and Mauritius is particularly instructive. Despite similar structural constraints as island economies, Mauritius successfully transformed itself through strategic industrial policy, investment in education, institutional quality, and economic diversification. As Acemoglu and Robinson argue in Why Nations Fail, inclusive institutions - not geography or external resources alone - ultimately determine long-term prosperity. Another dimension worth exploring is the transition from remittance dependence to diaspora investment. Rather than serving primarily as a source of household income, diaspora communities could become investors, entrepreneurs, mentors, and knowledge partners. Similarly, the blue economy, digital services, renewable energy, and climate-resilient infrastructure provide opportunities for SIDS to convert external finance into sustainable sources of productivity and competitiveness. Perhaps the article also invites us to distinguish between resilience and competitiveness. A country can become highly resilient to external shocks while still failing to increase productivity, innovation, exports, and domestic value creation. Ultimately, the central issue is state capacity - the ability of governments to transform external finance into long-term public value through effective institutions, adaptive governance, and evidence-based policymaking. Perhaps the next evolution of the MIRAB framework is not simply to explain why dependency persists, but to identify the institutional tipping points at which external finance transitions from consumption financing to productivity financing, allowing stability to become a foundation for structural transformation rather than a source of institutional inertia.

Ron and Rita were lovely people to know. Ron was a warm economics colleague at USP when we were going through difficult times. We also shared a passion for golf which we enjoyed at the rough courses around Fiji.

A true friend of the Pacific. Ron's work, among his contemporaries (Standish, May, Hegarty, etc.) have influenced my own academic and research interests. Pacific scholarship becomes poorer with your passing. Vale, Prof Duncan.

Great piece of thought! Just some side observations. We have heard of other fields of diplomatic relationships across borders and continents, not so often we heard of rugby diplomacy as the case between Aussie and PNG. In fact, it's not PNG entry into Aussie NRL, it’s only an expansion of Aussie NRL teams, not like the entry of Kiwi into NRL. The notion that PNG entry into NRL will transform and unite all PNG holds not water, we never witnessed any impact changes with the PNG LNG project or other major developments, let along rugby diplomacy. The media fantasies are only a hallucination. The approach by Aussie was a reactionary action against geopolitical and regional footprints of the Dragon in the Pacific. The rugby diplomacy will even give the Dragon more rooms to diversify its footprints in PNG and across the Pacific in a more substantial and impactful diplomacy than rugby fanfare. PNG need to understand the mechanics and dynamics of geopolitical wave and regional powerplay in the Pacific, both Kangaroo and Dragon have invited themselves to PNG shores and PNG have to grasp this opportunity in a way that will bring everlasting impact than fantasies of 80 minutes clapping and shouting in the hot sun.

A thought-provoking article. It was a pleasure for USP Journalism and the Discipline of Economics to co-host Naren’s talk on this same important topic at the Laucala Campus recently. Labour mobility, migration, remittances, and skills shortages regularly feature on the news agenda across the Pacific, especially in Fiji. Normally, the media are accused of being too negative, yet on this issue the coverage tends to be largely positive, which is fine. But is it telling the full story, or both sides of it? Concerns about skills migration and labour shortages are reported, but the focus is mainly on increases in remittances, which are seen and celebrated as contributing to economic development, as are new labour mobility opportunities and ODA, often announced through media conferences accompanied by positive messaging from the government of the day. There is little doubt that remittances and development aid have brought significant benefits to many Pacific families and economies. However, as Naren argued, there is also a risk of fostering greater dependency, creating a false sense of security, and diminishing the urgency of building long-term domestic capacity if not managed carefully. That is, constantly delaying and postponing the inevitable. While the immediate and medium-term gains are evident and welcomed, equal attention should be given to the longer-term risks and implications for economic resilience, productivity, and skills development. It is not an easy puzzle. Governments tend to prioritise pressing and immediate needs, and in doing so, longer-term strategic objectives can sometimes be deferred—or even abandoned. It is challenging because young people are attracted by higher wages and better opportunities abroad. The question is, how competitive can Pacific Island countries realistically be, given longstanding structural constraints such as geographic isolation, vulnerability to climate and natural disasters, small domestic markets, and limited economies of scale? Under such circumstances, how much local capacity-building is possible, and can it really compete with countries such as Australia and New Zealand? This is clearly an important discussion that deserves wider attention. Kudos to Naren for drawing attention to the other side of the equation, beyond the immediate benefits; to get out of the comfort zone and think more critically about the longer-term outlook.