Comments

Great article on a topic that is very difficult to navigate. My question is that since Australia provides direct budget support to PNG it is not clear to me how we are able to control whether or not our aid money is implicated in corruption. And our lack of transparency there has been strongly criticised by Stephen Howes.

Fascinating!

Transform, Hugo and Anouk, Thanks for your contributions on this important topic of Solomon Islands education. For me, I see PM Wale's re-casting of education as a national priority as an opening for a renewed national tok stori on Bugotu's pre-independence question, "Education For What?" If this opening is seized, our focus will not just be on schooling or its efficiencies or otherwise. Rather, we'd be mobilizing every Solomon Islander family, Church, organization and youth etc, again, and to focus on the purposes and outcomes of education (inclusive of schooling). A casual look at SI national state of (educational-social-eco) affairs does indicate some urgency for a national task beyond the issue of fee-free schooling. Might SINU and MEHRD be interested in leading the thinking on a National 'Education For What?' Tok stori (to which all of us can contribute and action)?

Congratulations Miranda on a riveting blog piece! 'What's in a name' indeed! Perhaps my next grandchild should be named after his wealthy great uncle (a confirmed batchelor).

Is there are a reason why Vanuatu was excluded from the 2026-2027 PEV ballot?

David, you have worked in the communication technology space for years. I would love read and see your work out there. Please email me and let's talk.

Hi Stephen and Finn, absolutely agree on the need to reform the WHM schemes. As a first step I would suggest revoking the third year visa altogether (for all countries but the UK since, unfortunately Canberra's hands are tied by the Morrison-Johnson free trade agreement). I do not believe the third year visa is part of any other bilateral agreement so it could be easily dispensed with. It was a Coalition-era initiative and if Labor wants to take credit for reducing Net Overseas Migration then scrapping the third visa option would make sense as a first step. If the definition of "specified work" to allow WHMs to qualify for a second visa is broadened to include any "regional work" as you propose, then I suggest this needs to be accompanied by a narrowing of the definition of "regional". (Is Adelaide really "regional"?)

I lived in PNG and noted that very little aid reaches the people for whom it was intended, as a bulk goes into ridiculous admin costs, most of which are fabricated. Agreed, security is flaky, but not as exaggerated as they make it out to be.

Agree, learn from Fiji.

Thank you, Professor Aqorau, Dr Bugoro, and Associate Professor Ride, for this excellent and timely contribution. The article rightly highlights that free education is anything but free. Beyond the direct fiscal costs you identify, resources allocated to education necessarily come at the expense of other priorities such as health, infrastructure, and public security—what economists refer to as the opportunity cost of public spending. There are useful lessons from Fiji, which has operated a free education policy for more than a decade. Under this policy, tuition fees, textbooks, and student transport are funded from the national budget at significant cost to taxpayers. While these financial commitments were anticipated, one unintended consequence has been a degree of parental disengagement from their children's education. When households no longer make a direct financial contribution, some parents may perceive education as primarily the responsibility of the state rather than a shared responsibility between schools, families, and communities. This experience suggests that policymakers should consider not only the fiscal sustainability of free education, but also its potential effects on parental engagement and educational outcomes.

I hope that with the PEV I can go to Australia to find a job.

Hello Sonya, Congratulations and it’s very inspiring. God Bless you, Could you send me some details for opening a coffee shop in Timor Leste?