Category - Pacific and PNG

Pacific and PNG

Free movement of people within the Pacific: how?

The Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka is the latest to add his voice to calls for the free movement of people within the Pacific. That means the call has been supported now by leaders from Samoa, Solomon Islands and Fiji. The time for debating whether this idea should be taken seriously is over...

Pacific and PNG

The Rabuka government: a first-third assessment

Ice hockey is, almost uniquely, a game played over three thirds. You won’t find much ice hockey in tropical Fiji, but its speed and brutality certainly find parallels in the world of Fijian politics. The Sitiveni Rabuka government is now through one-third of its term. How is it going? Let’s start...

Pacific and PNG

Subnational government spending in PNG

In a previous post, I discussed how provincial revenue in PNG has performed over time, how inequitably it is distributed, and how inadequate it is given aspirations for provincial autonomy. Here I discuss how subnational government — provincial, district and local level government (LLG)...