Comments

An interesting and informative post. The notion that George Speight led the 2000 coup is misleading; it was the armed CRW soldiers who led the unsuccessful putsch on 19 May 2000. Speight had become thier mouthpiece and subsequently, leader. Bainimarama and RFMF carried out the actual coup on 29 May when he asked Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara to 'step down'. He was accompanied by the then commissioner of police, Isikia Savua, his son-in-law and former military commander, Ratu Epeli Ganilau, and Sitiveni Rabuka. The fact that the elected PM, MP Chaudhry and his government side were held hostage for 56 days had to do with the prevarication among the security institutions of the country. The prominent role of the military in Fiji's civilian politics and the fact that Bainimarama and Rabuka are the top contenders for political power in the country is covered in my 2021 (b) “Fiji: The Militarization of Politics in a Small-Island Developing State” , Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics (March), Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1817.

The West does not understand that Mr Bainimarama is trying to set Fiji on the road that leads to a successful multicultural democracy Thanks to him the country has been turned away from political conflict that was likely to have turned into a civil war. He should be supported by Australia and the West in general.

I think Annabel has raised an important issue. I agree that a HRBA has an important role to play in PNG - noting your picture is taken in front to Koki village. It is fair to say that some program providers do focus effort on the poor and disadvantaged. Save the Children, Family Health, Plan, Care and Red Cross among others come to mind. However, I would suggest the present DFAT allocations suffer from a lack of balance. The annual assistance budget appears to be disproportionally directed at governance and infrastructure at the expense of human capital development. If we accept that access to basic health and education services constitute human rights, then a population of 9 million people starting 4 km from our northern doorstep are increasingly missing out. Access to basic health and education services and economic empowerment are parts of the same picture that I feel Australia must pay more attention to. If our current efforts effectively fail to address the needs of the sixty percent of the population who are under the age of 25 then I fear for the near-term stability of our closest neighbours. The cracks in the edifice of nation building have been widening for the past two decades and the appalling episode that passed for assistance during the era of the Manus arrangement has been a disaster for Australia’s reputation throughout the region. With a new administration steering the ship there is an opportunity to reset the focus with greater attention to supporting human capital development as part of a HRBA. I sincerely hope this is the case from now on.

The national goverment had failed to conduct national population and housing census 2020 to know the exact population of the country. By law census should be conduct every ten years prior to election. The population census will set the base for common roll update to know how many eligible voting population are in PNG at the moment. However this very important process has been miss out where electrol commision rely heavily on 2017 common rolls and base thier estimate population growth using census 2011 outdated data. That is why a lot of citizens has been missed out of voting thier leaders. Therefore we have to correct that by starting at the basic, get the population census done so the goverment can stock take of the population make inform decision base on facts and figures rather than estimates.

The PLS is a brilliant program but it needs to be restricted to other areas apart from aged care for reasons highlighted above plus many more that exist and would surface down the line. Happy for a chat should you require further details and insights on the other potential issues I memtioned.

What great contribution. Thanks for sharing this important information!

Thanks Katao - I think it is important to look at this holistically, i.e. what is the revenue minus the cost. Lets say a farmer normally earns per day 20 kina per unit of coffee minus 5 kina for imported goods (e.g. pesticides, food) and 5 kina for domestic goods (e.g. food etc) - then at the end they will have 10 kina in total (20 minus 5 minus 5 = 10). With a change in the exchange rate of say 20%, their coffee revenue will increase by 20% from 20 to 24 kina, and their imported goods costs will also increase by 20% from 5 to 6 kina, and their domestic goods costs will be unchanged. Meaning that they will earn 13 kina in total (24 minus 6 minus 5 = 13) - so they are 3 kina, or 30 per cent better off in total once everything is taken in to account. This is a totally hypothetical example obviously, and it only affects exports farmers.

Well written piece. There are two more factors based on personality and tribal politics that will ensure Marape remains for the full term. Maybe the research team can do further research. Firstly, I call it the 'support of the big 4', these 4 MPs will cause instability if they move to the opposition anytime between now and 2024. The big 4 from my perspective are; Kramer, Bird, Maru and Juffa. They are outspoken and influential party leaders. Secondly, I call it the 'Hela-Opene political alliance', MPs from Hela and Enga are brothers according to traditional folklore. Engan MPs like Lino who recently became leader of the People's Party will remain loyal to a Marape because he is from Hela.

You are most welcome and take care.j

Thank you for your comment John.

Well stated, i agree on your statement as a citizen of Papua new guinea.

1. How much is paid per fortnight? 2. How much will be declared for food? 3. How much will be declared for room rent? Please answer all my question above.