Comments

Tess, as you say, these so-called party strengthening proposals seem to be moving eastwards! Solomons was much influenced by PNG, and Vanuatu too has been discussing these issues on and off for the past decade, as well as similarly (thinking back to Serge Vohor in 2004) PNG-style inspired ‘grace periods’ during which there can’t be a vote of ‘no confidence’. These debates will not seem to go away in either Solomons or PNG, perhaps because we haven't yet had the really big crisis which a tough legal interpretation of the laws could have delivered - at least in PNG. Instead, the judges rejected key parts of the PNG law in 2010 (& before that the Ombudsman’s office decided not to enforce the law fearing the impending court challenge). In Solomons, ironically, 2007-10 Solomon Islands Prime Minister Derek Sikua tried to pass a party strengthening law, but succeeded thereby in busting up his ruling coalition. The breakaway of ministers ahead of the 2010 election included the current Prime Minister, but nevertheless he too eventually embraced the so-called party strengthening legislation after he assumed the top job in 2011. The attraction is self-evident. Its not really about strengthening parties, but about strengthening governments, even if a costly parties commission is part of the associated paraphernalia. And the ‘biggest party’ provision can be embraced by those guilty of wishful thinking, as was the case in PNG in 2002. Remember Gaston Flosse in French Polynesia in 2004: he managed to persuade Paris to amend the electoral system to give a 30 percent seat bonus to the biggest party, and then narrowly lost the election to his arch rival Oscar Temaru, who got the 30 percent seat bonus. A reform intended to ‘stabilize’ Tahiti politics in the end sparked a period of chronic instability and a phase of frequent changes of government. Watch out for something similar in Melanesia!

Terence - for sure, there is evidence of 'devil's night', entailing last minute payments to communities to capture their votes (shorn of the Christian symbolism, something almost identical is identified by Ed Aspinall in Indonesia), but there are also a lot of candidates and Honiara elites who complain a great deal about 'devil's night'. The phase is a euphemism for the short-termism of rural constituents. The candidates who complain about this imply, accurately or inaccurately, that they have been playing a long game, but are being outwitted by the unscrupulous and corrupt ‘Mamaloni men’ who nip in at the last minute to entice the unsuspecting constituents with baubles. Are villagers really so short-sighted? Or is it the case that there is in fact very little filtering down of much in the way of development to the villages, and so constituents logically try to obtain the short-run gains close to the election-time? Jon

Great to read these informative papers...

The irony is of course that the capital expense or national "development" budget, has not produced a substantial increase in the levels of development indicators, such as health and education outcomes, sometimes even a decrease. The political economy of the "development budget" is that it is much more discretionary in nature, and therefore helps elected politicians to deal with their own and their constituents "needs". At specific institutions, such as the Papua New Guinea University of Technology, the "development" budget is only 10-20% of the recurrent budget. The totality of this budget is invested in infrastructure which is there for everybody to see. Of the "recurrent" or operational expenses over 90% goes to salaries or personal emoluments. Dr. Albert Schram, Vice-Chancellor.

Perhaps Dr Narsey would like to explain what principle was involved when Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and the John Howard-led Coalition government imposed sanctions against Fiji after the military coup in 2006. Was it the same principle that Downer-Howard employed against the military coup that ended the People's Coalition government in 2001? Or did the 2001 election victory of the Laisenia Qarase-led SDL justify jettisoning principle, overlooking the overthrow of a popularly elected government, even though this election outcome was predetermined because the military commander had announced publicly that only an SDL victory would be acceptable? If the latter, how useful is the idea of principled to describe Australian and New Zealand foreign policy towards events in Fiji? If principle is so flexible that it can be employed at convenience, perhaps PM Frank Bainimarama is wise to jettison any so-called special relationship with Australia and New Zealand, including in organisations like the Pacific Islands Forum. Construct Fiji's international relations not on principle but pragmatic opportunism, just as the former colonial `masters' do.

Thanks for this commentary Jon. You will have seen from the 'Pacific Conversations' interview with the prime minister of Vanuatu that political reform with particular reference to registration of political parties is very much on his agenda and careful attention is being paid to what is happening in our neighbouring jurisdictions. Missing from this item (because of timing) is a reflection of the implications of yesterday's ruling by the High Court that unregistered parties cannot contest the elections and those standing as independent candidates may not form coalitions. The next few days will no doubt reveal more about how this will be accommodated within the electoral activities in Solomon Islands.

To improve the current situation we need to focus on the following three; 1. A system of laws/regulations, policies, management (planning, budget, resource, implementation) and continuous improvement 2. Persistent awareness and campaigns, targeting schools and institutions, and individuals 3.legislation that can be

Good to see 2015 budget to meet the development aspirations. From past experiences the stereotypical image of public sector bureaucracies in PNG is one of the bloated payrolls and inefficient, corrupt, even indolent behavior. The budget expenditures must be focused on economic growth and development. Recurrent outlays on education and health for example, are investments in human capital that can have major long-term benefits. Wages and salaries constitute a large fraction of the recurrent outlays of government but nothing feasible and tangible is shown on the ground. We can realize economic growth and development and change our living standard if our budget expenditure is focused on setting up institutions, incentives, capital investment, human capital, technological knowledge and that implies growth.

It's a great thing you are doing out there. I believe, as an educated elites, we need to start at our homes, families, tribes, and up to the nation as a whole. The root of all issues are at home....we need to go back to save this beautiful nation.

Interesting analysis - which basically once again highlights the fact that Pacific aid and the measures chosen to establish its effectiveness are fundamentally the playthings of statisticians. You would think that the question of which donors are the biggest and most important players in the Pacific would be straight forward enough to establish? Think again. The PDI illustrates this conundrum. But any list of players in the Pacific that does not have the US, France, EU, Japan and China right up there with Australia and NZ is basically flawed. An awful lot hinges on how one defines the categories used to measure donor assistance. And suffice it to say that ODA is not the only category that is relevant.

Is it wise for the NEC to mortgage the future LNG revenue on an investment that in all respect is speculative and subject to market forces? Or should it mortgage LNG revenues in investments that have a proven potential to increase the generational credit worthiness of PNG, such as investment in free education, health and infrastructure facilities. What worries me is the burden that such reckless spending of public funds bring upon the future generation who are innocent and have no knowledge nor play any active part in making decisions on where and how the LNG revenue should be spent. The complete disregard by the NEC to comply with the procedural requirements for obtaining such loans is noted with great concern. PNG leaders must know that their actions have wide and long ranging implications on the lives and livelihoods of every individual Papua New Guineans, particularly the poor and destitute who are struggling each day to make ends meet.

Very interesting analysis Jonathan. As you say the comparison with other donors outside the region is probably not very useful. The Commitment to Development Index highlights many of the key areas that are important in supporting development and I think it is very useful at a global level. However perhaps the CDI should just be a guide for a Pacific Index which might also examine additional policy areas of greater local relevance and have more appropriate performance indicators under each area.