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Power theft, blackout (the sudden stop of electricity supply without being informed), fluctuation etc are the long term issues as we all know. When will those issues come to an end?

Thank you, Australia Government, I deeply think that this opportunity is a great opportunity for me and my family

Thanks Stephen. I'm reminded of a useful insight from Roderick Beaton's Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation - "If you cannot trust anyone to whom you are not related either by blood or by marriage, then you can rely on them only if you can bind them to you by an equivalent obligations. ...those who honour their obligations are the most respected members of the community. ...its a self maintaining system....on the one side it entails giving of gifts and other other bestowal of patronage. In the context of modern, democratic and accountable institutions, this pre-modern system has become known as 'corruption'. In the absence of these institutions, or where they remain weak and underdeveloped, it is a mechanism for survival"

I think from the third sentence in the second paragraph nails it. Clear and simple. What we call governance others might call culture and in a place like Papua New Guinea that’s a gulf way too wide to bridge. Only in a parallel universe far away is there a PNG public service supported by an elected legislature that shares our ideas of governance and equity. Our government can continue to throw money at the system it bequeathed in 1975, but I doubt it will make an iota of difference in the end. What happens at the level of executive government or a government department should be none of our business. If we continue to push for different outcomes our relationship with our closest neighbour will fracture completely and other actors with a different world view will step in. In this paradigm economic and human capital development is always local and has to be driven from the bottom, not the top. If you think economic empowerment at the lower tiers of society is important for greater resilience and a better life, then work with those who have community support and are already successfully doing this. If you want to support human capital development, support the entities that work on this at community level and have the undoubted respect of the communities they serve. Only then will those that have continually missed out on the fruits of “development” be in a position to demand the changes from within that we have failed to achieve from without. Since that might sound like interference in an independent state, set up a mechanism to buy fresh food produced at community level for sale in the Australian market and support it to grow into an economic platform to empower 10 or is it 15 million people who currently have little agency or prospect of same over the lives they lead. You may wish to continue to glad hand the big men that sit in parliament and on the boards. But know the power they enjoy comes from you – not their own people. They are without exception the creation of your system. You the policy planners have the means to change that.

Just looking at these numbers now and, although I don't disagree with your overall point, I wonder about the metric: Haiti scores better than FSM and the Marshall Islands. The Democratic Republic of the Congo scores better than Kiribati, Tuvalu and PNG.

Very true Facebook is not the big issue! But it is something that there is data available for. Agreed on shortcomings of income class and population data. Improving big issues is first order and improving data can help with that.

Experiences of life are better motivators, the boost it gives cannot be worn nor drained out easily. Keep reaching up, the bottom is too crowded, continue climbing. Blessed testimony, to GOD be the glory.....👏

Yes Roland, statistics, half truths and damn lies. Classing PNG as a lower middle income country is far from instructive. 75-80 percent of the population are subsistent farmers/fisherfolk. Only a fraction of them live in an area with network coverage or have the means to buy and top up a smart phone. To add a bit more perspective, the population is estimated to be between 10 and 17 million. Nobody actually knows. And 0.35 - 0.4m are in formal employment. Don't think FB is the big issue.

Indeed it would be interesting to look into the possible factors of PNG's unexpectedly low use of Facebook. Thank you for mentioning these suggestions, I think you are onto something to see if there is a relationship between inequality and Facebook use - I might look into this. I also like the idea of looking at data prices and special packages. I wonder what other aspects other than internet access impact on people's Facebook use - maybe peer effects from people around them?

Possibly one of the reasons that FB usage in PNG is so low is an indicator of the extreme divergence in income distribution. The rich are very rich where the majority, both rural and urban do not have enough money to buy smart phones. Most rural people have dumb phones, and generally have very little credit on them. The middle class can often afford a cheap smart phone but credit is expensive, even with Digicel’s special FB price.

Thanks for this analysis, Stephen. A complementary article could also consider the priorities of those aid Budgets over the years and whether these have changed. Especially to the extent that DFAT's aid programs actually address ending poverty around our world. I would really prefer to see that the expenditure in the aid budget achieves results.

I am interested in this programme. Please kindly consider my request.