Comments

Hi Sharon, this is great and very interesting analysis. A couple of other things that could contribute to the high % of Australian companies winning - tenders have a requirement for demonstrating the benefit of their proposal to the national interest, as well as an Indigenous Participation Plan. International companies can struggle on these elements compared to Australian companies. The new emphasis on localisation and requirement for localisation statements/plans in tenders also supports companies that have an existing footprint in key Indo-Pacific countries. Australian companies have also been stronger at capturing some of the expertise that has left AusAID/DFAT, so can put named personnel on their bids that already have a strong/known reputation among those assessing proposals, and significant regional experience. International companies in general don't have the same level of Pacific expertise. It would be interesting to see if there's a difference between contracts awarded in the Pacific, and S&SE Asia, for example? On a hunch I feel like there'd be more diversity of suppliers in S&SE Asia, but the contract values smaller on the whole. But I think the big reasons you've identified are more significant, these are just a couple of smaller elements that might contribute. Also a note for your table on changes/acquisitions, AECOM became DT Global in 2019, then DT Global acquired Cardno in 2022, at the end of the financial year. I'm guessing in the 2021-22 figures you've combined Cardno and DT Global? Might be worth clarifying. And as Darian pointed out, Scope now part of Palladium.

Hi - thanks and important analysis. Note that Scope Global was integrated into Palladium effective from 1 March 2022, so you may need to update the 2021-22 column to combine the two entities, and perhaps clarify in the body of the article? Separately, it may be worth clarifying that the Alinea contract volume reflects the pass-through of a large amount of funding to NGOs under the Australian Humanitarian Partnership? A final comment: it would be interesting to examine the various ownership structures of these for-profit aid contractors to understand where and how financial benefits flow. Most are not publicly listed companies and are private shareholder vehicles.

Great job, Sharon. This is an important topic. An interesting follow-up would be to look at the levels and changes in profitability of these firms over this time, as these are quite large structural changes in the market.

Very informative. I hope the high resources revenue continues.

Well that is very interesting, Assik. I am aware of two new FMAs in Western Province being executed in 2020, but I had not heard of these two in Madang Province. We shall have to keep an eye on the SGS annual reports to see if and when logs start to be exported from these concessions. Once that happens, we will know that the timber permit conditions included no requirement for downstream processing.

Hi Stephen Thats right ... and I'm also wondering if for some of the applicants its more from a climate related risk that protection is being sought. Not that the current Immig guidelines specifically mention that. No doubt the details of individual applicants are confidential but still I thought there might be some sense of the trends out there in the public domain. Greg

Hi Greg, Are you asking whether the successful applicants are successful on the basis of fear of persecution because of race or because of religion or because of of political opinion, etc? If so, I'm afraid I don't know the answer. I don't think that information is published, but others may know more. Regards Stephen

Im curious ... what is the basis upon which the initial Protection visa in these Pacific cases has been made and is being considered by the Aust govt ... and leads to only a 2% success rate? Is there a basis more common than others? Im thinking the pre-reqs for an application such as spelled out by Home affairs: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/refugee-and-humanitarian-program/about-the-program/seek-protection-in-australia/australia-protection-obligations

Lynmah, Here is a link to the most recent information on how applicants can register for the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme. However, it is important to note that approved employers make the final selection of workers, based on their work requirements. https://www.palmscheme.gov.au/workers

Although communicable diseases dominate the morbidity and mortality basket of developing countries, the damage caused by non-communicable diseases cannot be underestimated. The writers have amply shown the necessity of dealing with NCD in developing countries. Governments, international organizations, and donors should be aware of the stupendous task they will face as the quantum of NCD increases shortly. What amplifies the challenge is the larger populations in developing countries and the poor health infrastructure with them to deal with it. For example, a primary health center can provide fever pills but can not deal with stroke or diabetes. The invisible numbers report is an eye-opener. Timely investment in health infrastructure is imperative to deal with the problem.

It would be interesting to see the data on how many women are being employed to meet quotas per se. I would be surprised if it was significant. However, what Emmanuel says about young men expecting the reward of employment, social status and marriage for completing an education rings true. From an outside perspective this may appear to smack of male entitlement, sexism and arrogance. From an insider perspective it goes to the core of traditional gender, cultural and family expectations. His observation that some young men turn to criminal activity because of the shame of not meeting their elder’s expectations is correct. In part out of frustration to get what they may perceive to be their rightful piece of the pie and achieve the status they crave. I view this as the inevitable outcome of a clash of values. In PNG, face and social status matter. All to often education is perceived to be a pathway to wealth, status and power when in reality it is generally no such thing. Education is also a great leveller. It places boys and girls, men and women on an equal footing where academic performance is the benchmark and naturally some girls out compete their male counterparts. In a society where traditionally men have ruled, such outcomes do not sit well with some. I suggest the matters Emmanuel describes are symptomatic of bigger problems. You cannot expect youth to remain quiescent in the face of increasing inequity and lack of economic opportunity where education and basic health services are largely absent. Ultimately, it is an absence of vision and the failure of leadership to invest natural resource wealth in people that has driven the outcomes Emmanuel describes. If the failures of leadership witnessed over the past four plus decades are not reversed these issues will get worse.

Anecdotally speaking, the PNG workforce is almost going to be dominated by women due to gender quotas. Crime rates rise in the country when capable, energetic, young men are left out on employment because of gender quotas. There are many factors that make a young, capable, smart man turn the wrong direction just because of not being rewarded with employment, social status and marriage at the end of his education.