Comments

Great discussion. Is it possible to restructure the entire government system so that Judiciary to be a superior authority over Legislature? Thus guiding them in legal specialties. Since the so called MPs are legally not educated and also they are not supposed to pass laws that are not in the best interests of the people. For instance, the current political situations.

Dear John Conroy. I've no real comment or question on your two posts except to express appreciation on the timeliness of the REMINDER to Papua New Guineans on the value of Fisk's 'Subsistence Affluence'. So much land and time wasted with misguided views on how to become affluent on the available land. My immediate plea is that whenever, and if by some weird or miraculous chance, you land in PNG please deliver a lecture/seminar at UPNG on this or, even better find a chance to speak to the various Ministers for agriculture/subsistence farming including the NEC. PNG ancestors thought like Fisk when using the land and sharing the bounties with all and sundry.

Thanks all. I'm not a Dr. - not yet. Not sure about the deference of the councilors and presidential elections, but I'd assume that the continued deference is unconstitutional as they constitute the third level of government.

Thank you very much Dr. Kabuni with respect for such a very powerful and insightful analysis into the issue itself.

Hi Joelson, thanks for your comments. You’re right - the sample is very small and not representative. We didn’t talk about the specific rights that the Counter-Terrorism Act potentially violates due to Devpol blog’s word limits. However, I provided a more detailed analysis elsewhere. If you’re interested, here’s the link: https://www.benarnews.org/english/commentaries/pac-png-terrorism-03312025033326.html?

That's an insightful read. Thank you, sir

Firstly, this is a very interesting article and provides a useful glimpse into the reactions of many people, mostly young people still in studying at Tertiary Institutions or Universities around the country. I don't believe it's fairly representative of all the people that currently reside in Port Moresby or across Papua New Guinea. Although this article was good. It lacked clarity in terms of specifics such as, "citizens rights" - which one's? The Right to Freedom of Speech should be carefully outlined and referenced should also be made of the UN Conventions on Human Rights.

Good insight! I commend your efforts in putting together this informative piece.

Hi Bernard, thanks for your comments/questions. I will email the approval from the UPNG SHSS Chair of Research to you if you're interested. UPNG SHSS is better placed for it, and I am a staff member there. It's a blog with word limit and we had to cut a lot of paragraphs out and did not include it. I do not understand what you meant by credibility in this sense: is its ethics you referring to, is it sample size, is it the fact that it was survey, or is it a reference to 'online survey'? The sample is small, and we make no claims that it is representative. And our intention was not to shape policy-making. In fact the 'policy' (Counter-Terrorism Act 2024) on which this whole shutdown was based on was passed last year, ironically without "consultation" with the broader community.

I strongly think the current Prime minister must step down for the good of Papua New Guinea’s future.

Is the data from the online survey credible? There is no mention of ethical clearance from the ANU ethics committee? I don't think data collected without ethical clearance should be presented to support your stance on a public platform if you intend to influence policy-making. If you do have ethical clearance then please mention.

Hi Fiona, we didn’t ask where they were participating from, but we did ask about the level of education. Looks like the participants were mostly students and professionals/working class. We therefore think there was limited participation from rural based FB users.