Comments

What an insightful piece, brilliantly written and extremely informative.

Luke, nice outline of Australia’s advantages and responsibilities in this difficult time period. Here in the United States we struggle with a president who has lied, given up governing while people die and is a fascist wannabe. It is disheartening to say the least. Jan 20th can’t come fast enough. Uncle Steve.

Thank you for this informative article. As a Research Affiliate at the Burk Museum, University of Washington, I am interested in installing small scale solar powered internet access capability in the PNG highlands as a way to involve landowners and stake holders in training and education related to research projects in Archaeology. It sounds like you are passionate about this subject and I will follow you the best I can to learn more.

Thanks Stephen, that brings back great memories. I had the great honor and pleasure of working with Fred on his paper in Kiribati back in the 1980s. I still have a hard copy (“limited edition”). And of course, Fred was right both then as he would be now. Sadly, the plethora of earlier efforts are missed or ignored by many a development agency that has no time to pause. Whatever became of literature searches? Also, sadly, the search for fresh projects washes over the need for perennial attention to building the less attractive core functions of government; policy formulation, public finance management, and public service delivery that project performance depends on.

It all sounds very familiar. I think these days improved donor coordination might mean that they are a bit more aware of what other projects are doing and try to avoid too much duplication, but small countries are still swamped with good ideas that they have little hope of implementing effectively.

Thanks Stephen, Good memories. When my wife and I started working in Laos in 1970 we worked for ADAA which after a couple of years changed its name to ADAB. I still have our original appointment documents and copies of our (and earlier) project reports. Happy to pass them on if anyone is interested. Best wishes, Bill

Thanks Jim, That's a good point. I have a forthcoming paper on aid fragmentation in the Pacific based on Lowy data, and -- when I did the analysis with a colleague -- I was astounded how many donors were in the Pacific. Nevertheless, Australia (in particular) and NZ are still dominant. And our dominance, combined with fewer alternatives, needs to be factored into decisions. Thanks again. Terence

Terence - As someone who has worked in Africa and the Pacific, there is an additional point that would argue that the Australian (and New Zealand) focus on the Pacific is particularly important relative to an increased focus on least developed countries. While you make the correct point that Australia and New Zealand are the largest donors in the Pacific, you also need to recognize that the actual number of bilateral donors in the Pacific is very modest relative to the number of donors in most LDCs. In particular, the absence of European donors in the Pacific creates a dependence on Australia and New Zealand support which is markedly larger than the dependence of nearly all African states on individual bilateral donors. In my work in East Africa, donor coordination typically involved over twenty bilateral programs, providing a level of bilateral support and options of donor approaches which exists nowhere in the Pacific. While this dependence has a variety of costs and benefits, it also needs to be an important factor in the aid strategies of the two dominant donors in the region.

I note the elephant in the room in the form of China has not been mentioned. Not sure how the scale (real and potential) and its ‘cold war’ with Australia will pan out in this context, with leverage that China can bring to bear. Good that NZ has generally not bought into it, and PNG is fence sitting in relation to both China and Pacer, maybe less fence sitting with China.

First things first, with the current global meltdown, our leaders should be mindful of the financial capacity to be a government that is financially independent and not forever dependent on overseas governments, donors and other financial institutions for funds.

I remember my first year in Pom, I was held up by youths (unwise of me to walk up 6 Mile Saraga street at night). Two young girls, who probably live in that suburb, scolded the boys and the boys left. Most times you get help from other PNGeans. And it’s a general rule the pickpockets get bashed by the crowd.

Dr Grant Walton, Thank you for this carefully-worded piece. I read it with some hesitation but I was pleased to find that you had handled this rather difficult topic sensitively. I would agree that the experience of men is different to that of women. I would also agree that PNG women suffer the most. This piece has reminded me of cases when PNG people helped me too. The cases that come to the fore of my mind were during the few years that I lived in Madang, a coastal province some distance from Port Moresby. I can easily recall at least three occasions when a stranger aided me in a public place, preventing theft or other difficulties. Thank you again for this piece on a very challenging subject. Amanda