Comments

Congratulations Satish on a terrific piece (and likewise your speech at the service today) about a great Australian.

Can I please ask what the sample numbers were and who was sampled? Perhaps the fact that we are spending $486 on a nuclear program we don't want with all money going to USA and UK, and there is very little being spent locally to address issues in this country I am surprised that you are surprised and disappointed. Deal with the issues of war we are being dragged into and the reasons so much foreign aid is needed. We are sick of handing money over when our own country is in chaos. And who is helping us - certainly not our government or any government or country. Australian tax payers are not a limitless pitt of money.

Yes, Indeed. Vale Ron, a quiet giant! I owe him a personal debt, for enabling me to re-enter the academic environment after years in development consulting and the NGO sector. I had developed an interest in economic informality, particularly as applied to PNG and opportunity presented itself around 2009 to 'sell' him on the value of this line of inquiry. I saw the potential of wider and more efficient informal economic activity to improve the reach of market-based economic activities ('market' both in the sense of physical marketplaces and in the broader economic sense), with corresponding benefits both for rural producers and urban intermediaries. He encouraged me in this work, publishing an early paper of mine in the lamentably-lost journal Pacific Economic Bulletin and nominating me as an honorary Visiting Research Fellow within the Crawford School. Over time I became more closely associated with the Development Policy Centre but I'm grateful for his continuing interest in and support for my work. This renewal of research activity was made possible by Ron's kindness in seeing some potential in my ideas. I remain enormously grateful to him.

Ron and Rita were good neighbours in the Carroll St days. Ron was a good golfing companion and very handy with an eight iron.

Thank you, Satish. Vale Ron.

Thank you for this - these are fair points worth taking seriously. On the PRF's investment model, you are right to sharpen this. If the facility disburses from returns rather than capital, $172 million generates perhaps $8-12 million annually at standard endowment rates, barely enough for administration, let alone meaningful climate response. That actually strengthens rather than contradicts the piece's central concern. On oil prices, the picture is more volatile than a single benchmark suggests. Brent touched $69-70 last week but has since risen back to $78 today after fresh Hormuz incidents. The more relevant question for Pacific states is what they were actually paying for imported fuel at activation, which global benchmarks do not fully capture. On the broader symbolism-versus-operations point, I think we are in agreement. That was precisely the question the piece was trying to ask out loud.

Ron worked with me on a number of labour mobilityand Pacific regional projects including input into some of the research on PACER Plus. He was a lovely man as you know Satish and please pass on my condolences to his family. Jim

Thank you, Satish. I had the honour of knowing, working with and learning from Ron. My condolences to his family.

A very interesting and informative study. Insecurity is a common issue daily in our contemporary societies throughout the country. Safety and security is a priority concern living in the urban centers. When people are free and safety guaranteed, they participate effectively and fully to the wellbeing of their family and society. Women and girls are ofcourse the highly vulnerable. It would be worthwhile to do further comparative studies with rural areas. What mitigation measures do people apply to address the daily insecurity?

It's important to look past the rhetoric. As I understand it, the PRF is intended to live off its investment returns. The returns from the $172 million so far pledged will be barely enough to cover its administration costs, and certainly nowhere near enough to fund a meaningful response to any El Niño. As for the activation of an emergency response to the fuel crisis, that is just too little too late. With oil prices falling to $70 a barrel, what emergency is now being responded to? Pacific like Asian regionalism is strong on symbolism but weak on operations. The reality is that, for better or for worse, Pacific countries will have to continue to rely on their own governments and on donor support when it comes to coping with external shocks.

Thanks Peter -- I agree entirely.

Through my research on the PALM scheme, I've tangentially heard a mixture of success stories and challenges for people arriving on the PEV. The challenges (including employers withdrawing contracts on arrival, access to government services, and acquiring rentals) aren't necessarily new to migration streams, especially with new systems. However, it sounds as though communities where migrants may be moving to may not have adequate support and resources in place to do so. I'm curious as to whether others have heard similar issues, if these are teething issues that can be overcome, or if there may be more systemic concerns about whether the right supports are in place?