Comments

A very significant observation and eye opening perspective of the ongoing geopolitical activities and events that are even worst than the impacts of Climate Change on our small island states. The so-called BPB initiative is but another rolling out of the primitive concept of the Doctrine of Discovery, which I believe the Pacific Island Leaders Forum is established to quell. May God help our (seemingly) being "belittled" leaders forum in their deliberations on this obviously Pacific sovereignty threatening development.

This comment on the PNG elections is very welcome as it opens a view on meaning in PNG electoral behaviour. Scholarly attention to PNG elections has concentrated too much on party formation and electoral systems. The result may be trivialising PNG politics and one looses then sight of the very big stakes involved. There are however some moot points: (a) It is not true that policies are only in this election important. IMF conditionality was crucial In the election struggle of 2002 between Mekere Morauta and Michael Somare. The election was won by Michael Somare who made peace with the IMF but the reform agenda of Morauta was jettisoned. It therefore probably was the most fateful election in PNG history. Mekere Morauta has provided an alternative vision on PNG in all the years following that defeat and this had little effects in elections and the coalition formation after elections. This has not been researched. (b) The search for meaning in PNG politics is not necessarily a quest for sophisticated policy debates. In my experience there are two widespread concerns in the population of PNG. First, the country is robbed from its raw materials by outsiders. Second, PNG is a rich country but it is very poorly governed. In past electoral research such issues are not raised. If I am right and these are salient questions then another question is whether opinions in this line are linked to candidates and the choice between camps of the candidates. This is a wide area of interest that has not been probed into. ( c) Political economy is another approach to PNG politics that needs to be developed in conjunction: how important are elections. Mekere Morauta has demanded attention for the increasing role of non elected actors in PNG policy making.For example: Dairi Vele is chairman of the State Negotiating Team on reopening of Porgera mine. Vele has a long history of government involvement with natural resources projects under various governments.

Thanks for the information and reports presented has been educational eyepener. I believe most PNGIan reading and following your article will understand more insights into our NGE.

Thanks for your perspective on this initiative.

However, the PIF is not in a position to decide on each country's roads, telephones, and other infrastructure or security requirements, and each country's sovereignty should take precedence over security. When I launched the Micronesian Maritime Security Initiative in 2008, the Australian government tried to block it because of the Bikerawa Declaration, but the three Micronesian nations were outraged that the Australian government would ignore their sovereignty!

A great read - both the book and your analysis. I believe you are correct that the reality about bargains is that they exist in a spectrum between development and rules. Politics is constantly changing partly being driven by the masses as you also point out. The problem is also on the other side as Development Partners do not have either the mechanisms / tools or, I feel, the human resource capacity, to work in such an environment. Arguably the merger of aid agencies into foreign affairs Ministries made this worse. In such a complex and dynamic environment the need for flexible tools, risk based approaches and specialized local knowledge is paramount - sadly this combination is extremely rare in the Pacific region and where it has been seen it is usually relatively short lived as such approaches by definition will occasionally lead to outputs that DPs might not necessary see as in their short term political interest. Since all politics is ultimately local the fact that short term outputs might not be aligned to DP political interest will outweigh the fact that long term outcomes may well be in the national interest of the DP. This might then explain why there are so few examples of any successful aid interventions, especially in the Pacific - it might also help explain the few interventions that did work.

Any information on the illiteracy background of the cohort population of study. Do they understand the conceptual definition of the selected preferences. In order to form an opinion.

Thanks Richard. You’ve shed light by highlighting most of the issues preventing many Papua New Guineans benefiting from the SWP. PNG has to come up with a strategy that can work better.

Cameron Hill has suggested the report of the team which I led (finalised in March 2019) should be published. In my admittedly biased view, much of the material, analysis and recommendations in the report is still relevant enough for that to be worthwhile. I should at once note that the report was in several parts the work of others – a team of six from Dalberg Advisors (some of whom had worked on the genesis of FinDev Canada) and Andrew Tyndale, Chair of Inspire Impact and a leader in Australian impact investing. Since Cameron Hill has made thoughtful observations about the objectives, governance and accountability of an Australian DFI, I might add that we recognised the within-government aspects of providing large amounts of development assistance in forms other than grants which need careful consideration – budget treatment, implications for the ODA cap, relations with PM&C, Treasury and Finance, and relations with other development assistance. Therefore, as well as making the case for new forms of finance, we compared the pros and cons of several institutional options including a new DFI, and we suggested a sequencing of design decisions which could draw on experience after implementing the decisions of November 2018 on AIFFP and EFA. I therefore hope that, whether or not our report is published, the envisaged review can make use of the work done on it.

I would vote for a party that commits to giving PNG and Solomon Islanders a right to live and work in Australia - ie, permanent residence in Australia. Perhaps on condition of reciprocal rights given to Australians to live and work in PNG and SI.

Stephen Howes is correct in saying there's been no public discussion of whether giving DFI functions to EFA is the best way to go. But there has been an inquiry, in 2018-19, which DFAT commissioned and in which it invested substantial resources. DFAT has not published the resulting report. Some elements of it remain relevant to our current situation, including whether the best kind of inquiry to make now, under the Government elected in May 2022, is one led by DFAT.

Thanks, Abbie. Looks like there will be lots of opportunities to put this strong case to the new government between now and the replenishment. Be interesting to see what comes out of the G-20 Health Ministers Meeting and the Global Health Security Conference over the next few weeks.