Comments

Insightful read! The shift to online only discussions impacts cultural norms and consensus building in so many subtle ways. Thought provoking reflection on dialogue, and now adding it to my list of topics worth deeper exploration!

As a former AYAD I worked at the grassroots with another Oxfam in Cambodia. Not knowing or excusing the impressions that you made of other AYADs, in a great range of countries, every single AYAD in my cohort exhibited none of the unfortunate characteristics that you obviously observed. It was the chance of a life time and all of my cohort took their year and frequently many more years to have accomplished with local villagers and specific governmental representatives a level of assistance, however incremental, to be transformed into something sustainable.

Interesting read. I hope BPNG will consider such alternative options so that PNG Kina is not tight to a single point of failure. How about also tying Kina to our gold and oil volumes?

I'd appreciate help to apply for this visa to live and work in Australia.

I'm really interested on this PEV ballot. Please help me with more information.

Can a person with ATO Debt still apply for PEV?

Really interested

Thank you Michael for the back story on the group. I admire your fortitude. Yes their friendship comes shining through. There are no brigands in that group. I worked years ago in agriculture extension between Mendi and Tari. My recollection of the people of the Huli valley is one of a great warmth and sense of humour. I always felt welcome in their "haus lains." Like you I had my moments but that was in the Nebilyer Valley and around Mendi, never Tari. Regarding the impact of inequality. Exactly. To assume that a young demographic, (by some estimates 60 percent are 25 years or less) will be fine with a life of subsistence farming, fishing and gathering is beyond naive. A lack of essential services combined with an absence of opportunity has angered rural populations who have now waited two generations for promises to materialise. In my view, given the cultural paradigm and ill advised top down development trajectory of the past 3-4 decades they were always at risk of this happening . Indeed the current model of development in the absence of community empowerment has proven to be part of the problem. On an occasion when returning from Nipa to Mendi I drove past a newly painted coffin mounted on poles by the side of the road. Knowing what that mean't I was pondering the ongoing tribal conflict when a small boy ran out to see my passing vehicle. In that moment I wondered how things might be for him when he reached twenty-five. We know the answer now. Finding viable and inclusive pathways forward, especially for the young demographic is a challenge that must be met if PNG is to remain viable. In my view there is a need to rethink closely held theories of change and get behind a more bottom up people first agenda. We have the tools to do that. I agree that the nation's greatest resource has for too long been overlooked. The hope and good will so apparent in the post independence years has evaporated and time is running out.

That photo was taken a while ago but it was a day after a couple of those guys had stepped in to save my life at considerable risk to themselves. Extremely decent blokes in my view. That location is in the foothills of Mt Sisa between Mt Sisa and Komo. I would say that rather than reverting to old ways things have moved towards an unprecedented time of extreme inequality that is combined with guns and a decline in services, including law and order services. Inequality destroys the social fabric of any country and in PNG it is extreme. Resource economies do not work when profits are sent offshore and cash is allowed to distort the national economy and breed corruption. This development paradigm has collapsed.

Dr. Bal has woven this article together very well, highlighting a critical reality: Pacific Island countries are too often positioned as mere recipients of decisions made elsewhere, with little choice but to implement or follow. The ICJ has helped shift this perspective, demonstrating that change can begin with us, by us, and for the world. As he stated, “The advisory opinion must now become a tool for national and regional action.” This offers hope to many least developed and most vulnerable countries, empowering them to use legal instruments to ensure that high-emission countries are held accountable and act within the framework of the climate change verdict delivered by the world’s highest court.

The chaps hamming it up in the picture are all smiles for the camera. Dressed more appropriately for a meeting in Port Moresby they would present a very difference picture. I don’t know any of them but I am prepared to bet that individually they are decent blokes. The sad thing is that after five decades of failed service delivery coupled with a complete lack of participation in local activities that should have constituted nation building, they have reverted to the pre independence rule of law only this time with guns. In the first decade, maybe decade and a half after independence this sort of behaviour was at a much lower level, the exception rather than the rule and restricted to only a few places in PNG as people placed a great deal of faith in their elected leaders to deliver. But by the late 1980s the signs that community patience with unfulfilled promises was wearing thin was apparent. In my view the window closed in much of the highlands by the mid to late 1990s. Today youth in some of the most peaceful locations imaginable such as Milne Bay province have given up and taken the law into their own hands with a recent purge by the police resulting in the deaths of many young men. This action has left many in the affected communities seething, their trust in government gone. The writing was on the wall three plus decades ago but the warnings were not heeded by local government or partners focused upon strengthening systems that were alien and antithetical to PNG culture. The voices of the “common person” were simply ignored. Big resource developers who hid behind the letter of the law only exacerbated an already fragile situation. Bougainville needs no introduction but it is not alone. If we truly believe in the concept of a stable and peaceful Pacific family, then I would urge our own leaders to start listening to more family members. There is on old and wise saying in PNG. There are some big trees in the forest and lots of smaller ones. You have only spoken to the big ones. You need to speak to all of them.

It’s really encouraging to see a renewed commitment to transparency in our aid program, the delivery of aid will undoubtedly be better for it. When accessing the new portal again in light of DevPol’s audit being released I was also really pleased to see that the second release has included upgraded accessibility across the whole. Even on mobile I could toggle a widget. This is so important when creating and sharing data, a great demonstration of the level of commitment of the DFAT project staff involved.