Comments

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.

I am interested to learn more about a 'workable better-managed, corrupt-free system' as I deal with a lot of under-educated or less privileged youths both male and female who come from broken homes or orphanages in giving them an opportunity to earn and second chance in life.

The program is an excellent idea and a very effective way to help both Australia and the workers’ families back in the Islands. However, there are far too many issues that must be effectively sorted out to stop the following from happening: 1) certain approved employers from exploiting the workers 2) employees from absconding I dare say that most workers who have left the program have legitimate reasons to do so. I know for a fact that and for a long time now that these workers had reasons such as the following: 1) not enough work for too long 2) not enough work hours - often less than 30 hours a week as promised 3) work related injuries and were refused opportunities to seek medical assessment 4) too many deductions 5) bullying at work by employers, supervisors or team leaders who work closely with employers 6) laborious work for very little pay 7) unfair treatment by employers The greedy approved employers continue to get away with and practically allowed to exploit the Pacific Island workers. I hereby plead with the government to employ efficient strategies to ensure exploitation of workers be stopped immediately. Comment: Having the safety net capped at $250 is a better idea rather than leaving workers high and dry like the case has been and still is. However, it is crucial that the government must have effective strategies in place to monitor, check and ensure that all approved employers are abiding by the rules and deed of agreement. Otherwise, policy reform and all attempts to improve the scheme is in vain, a total waste of money, time and energy. I could go on for days about this so if anyone is serious about helping the workers, please listen and do something about it. I am happy to be contacted.