Comments

Great to read a clear and direct overview of the situation at the University of the South Pacific. I have been saying for a while that stronger language by Australia and New Zealand, major contributors to USP, two years ago would have made all the difference. Today, there is still no clear end to this saga. I also pointed out some parallelisms between political interventions at the PNG University of Technology and UNRE in 2018 by Peter O'Neill's aspiring autocratic government, see https://bit.ly/usp3dralbert. Recent coverage in The Guardian of the conviction of Rex Paki, the former Chairman of the PNG University of Technology' s commercial arms by a Singaporean court, reminds us that we are playing with the big boys in international organized crime, not just a few dishonest university council members or staff, see: http://bit.ly/rexpaki. Possibly, this also explains the extraordinary extent the government of PM Bainimarama in Fiji is going to avoid any real investigation in mismanagement, misappropriating of assets, bribes and kick-backs. His bait and switch tactic now to make it about the promotion of a wife of an opposition politician, lacks any credibility. If it were a simple row about a few promotions and travel reimbursements, the Vice-Chancellor Pal Ahluwalia's whistleblowing would not have turned into a saga lasting over 2,5 years. It would grace Australia if it would clearly take the side of VC Pal, who after all is a citizen. From experience of being deported 4 times from PNG for exposing corruption at the PNG University of Technology, I know how stressful it is to be kept bungling, in particular since the process can drive you to personal bankrupcy.

I'm a student at sonoma Adventist college and my parents are subsistence farmers and cannot afford for the income. They have paid already the 50%of the total fee .and I was advised that there is HELP so I kindly ask for your help

Thank you very much for this blog post Dr Kama. You mentioned that Papua New Guinea's constitution ensures the independence of institutions such as the Ombudsman Commission, the Constitutional and Law Reform Commission, the Public Prosecutor and the Auditor General. This makes me wonder about the case of the upcoming Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). Does the constitution need to be amended to include mention of the ICAC? Thank you again, Amanda Dr Amanda H A Watson

Concerning the home country concern about 'brain drain': abundant examples can be found to show that, in the longer run, any brain drain will reverse itself to some extent. The return of Indian IT experts from Silicon Valley to India's thriving IT centres is a well-documented example. Many returning skilled workers will to come home with levels of skill and experience far higher than they could ever have achieved at home, given the limited range of employment opportunities in their countries of origin. They may also return with capital to fund start-ups, or they may even have been remitting capital for years to set up the conditions for self-employment on their return. It may take time for such benefits to appear but if graduates of APTC training are unemployed at home after graduation the case of 'circular' migration to high-income countries in the Pacific region is strong. From the viewpoint of Australian employers, the many elements of cultural familiarity they find in the Pacific workforce are a strong positive. Policy measures, applied at both ends of the exchange, can be devised to realise the benefits of such migration.

Arun, thanks for your comment. Unfortunately, APTC graduates in hospitality are not eligible for a temporary skills shortage visa. Only APTC graduates can access this visa if their occupation is on the medium term or short-term skill shortage lists.

I have been reminded that the Timor book I am thinking of was called 'Hello missus'...

Another one to add to the memoirs is 'The Ponds of Kalambayi' by Mike Tidwell -- a Peace Corps volunteer memoir from the country then known as Zaire (now DRC), but one that my development studies lecturer in the US assigned us as a course reading. It's from the 80s but it definitely gave some interesting insights into working with local communities. One genre of aid worker memoir that I find particularly curious though is the sexcapades ones - 'Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures' being the most notable, but Timor-Leste had its own version that was more chick lit comedy romance, I can't remember the name of it now but the cover was some kind of silhouette with a UN peacekeeper hat. This microgenre seemed to be an early 2000s thing though, when publishers were clearly very open to book pitches like 'it's Sex and the City but in a different place!' I think we have become more woke now?

Another first person aid memoir you could include here is my book, 'Where are you this time?', stories about delivering technical assistance in places from Kosovo to Afghanistan, Somalia, Kazakhstan and the Philippines. (Available as an ebook or paperback on Amazon and other online retailers.) I've also been surprised that there are so few memoirs from this field of work. There are so many interesting stories to tell and I would encourage everyone to have a go at telling them.

Sustainability expert Jeffrey Sachs, outlined that Australia can limit its carbon footprint by moving from coal mining to building it's tourism sector. Maybe, the APTC graduates could provide that much needed hopitality workforce the sector desperately needs (specially Western Australia).

Oh dear, my apologies, I should have looked at that first. Thanks Stephen.

Hi Juliet, yes it is all in the Discussion Paper linked at the bottom of the blog. The gender dimensions are particularly interesting, and we're hoping to write a separate blog on this - so watch this space.

Thanks for the blog. Was there any sector- or sex-disaggregated data available for analysis?