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Congratulations Kelly and Professor Stephen Howes for a comprehensive study on the 2022 budget

Honest Professionals always give a true picture of the subject of discussion, in this case the 2022 PNG Budget. Interpretation or understanding of the subject (2022 PNG Budget) would be influenced by any Political Affiliation, I would think. That is why this article is interesting. I am not an Economist, so have no idea regarding the issue. From this article, I would conclude that as always, the theory behind the PNG 2022 Budget is good, however, we have to wait for the implementation. Great article!

Thank you so much, Barry, and via some googling of you, loved rummaging through your blog site just now. You have a lovely turn of phrase.

For those readers who want to know more about the media sector in the Pacific region, you may be interested to know that there will be a webinar held soon that will focus on the issue of media freedom. The webinar will be on December 13th 2021 at 11am Canberra time. The lead author of this blog post will be one of the panel members during the panel discussion. Other panel members will include experienced Pacific journalists. More information is available at this link: https://dpa.bellschool.anu.edu.au/news-events/events/8230/state-pacific-2021-media-freedom-pacific-covid-19-era-update Amanda

Sorcery Accusation Related Violence (SARV is a major problem facing individual members of the Community in PNG. The Accusation usually involves immediate family member, people in power and standing in the community- Religious Leaders, Educated persons, and Community leaders. We should take certain steps to addressee SARV cases at the first stage of SARV which is the 'Accusation Stage'.

Great piece Gordon and although we remain forever hopeful that the age of better ODA - enlightenment will descend upon us its seems as if the default response amidst COVID is 'more of the same' - sadly.

Thanks so much, Robert. Me too! I found the book a real tonic after my experience in the salt mines. But are the guards up for it? I hope so – certainly the ghastly, defensive and passive-aggressive one I dealt with most recently would not be but I hope that's the exception rather than the rule! Best wishes Gordon

Thank you Ricky. These are very important points. This blog is based on a Discussion Paper available on line here: https://devpolicy.org/publications/dp98-forceful-evictions-of-informal-settlements-from-state-land-in-pngs-ncd-2021/ As you note, these issues and the growth of both informal and formal Port Moresby are ongoing. It is a complex issue with no easy solutions. As suggested in the discussion paper, it seems that there is a need for legislative reforms and clearer policies that protect the human rights of people who are impacted by or under threat of evictions. The roles and responsibilities of different state actors also needs to be clearly outlined. Hopefully, PNG leaders will include these issues in various policy arena.

Great read, Chris! It is indeed unfortunate that some of the SDGs seem very unrealistic to achieve by 2030. But as you said, the current situation should serve as a wake up call.

Thank you for a great blog, Gordon. And an uncomfortable read at times too! I sincerely hope we will live to see a lot more of bottom-up approaches and witness the results of the "thousands of seeds blooming" across other areas of international development assistance.

You have a point, Albert! It has become meaningless because despite how hard we stand up for what is right, our efforts continue to drown in a sea of ignorance. Corrupt PNG officials and their associates (these include regular citizens who tolerate and partake in corruption) know what shape and form corruption comes in, but they continue to ignore it. PNG has some good honest people around, but the environment is too politically saturated and compromised.

The above article is very deep and interesting which Solomon islands had to strangle with differences at the Sametime pushing forward in developments. These two cannot go well together for which I had believed one had to win and another have to lose. For start the government of Solomon islands made it through the switch from 🇹🇼 to 🇨🇳 and for two years now there are development of infrastructures established. However, the balance have to occur which the differences take its toll. Differences here is that Malaitans never agree with the switch and the worst of it is the recent raiot. The main crate of this differences here is the injection of 13 million towards the mamara housing instead of the other important and pressing problems at stake. MOREOVER, the bad characters displayed by the prime minister towards Malaitans are more than few. Therefore, it's time for balance to occur. Jesus's words have to come true because, we are Christian nation under our sovereign foundation.