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From Isabel Calvert on The Pacific Islands Forum leadership: who and for what?
Great article Sadhana. Always enjoy reading your articles - informative, succinct, insightful. Keep up the great work
From Peter Cannon on The pandemic is giving Australians a small taste of how the rest of the world lives
Luke, your calm assessment of Australia since Covid began simply reveals that we are indeed the lucky country. Our health system has been magnificent in its contribution to controlling the virus. Government leaders by and large have acted according to the wishes of the people. However, many state governments have not respected that Australia is a federation. (I have just read the latest biography of Alfred Deakin. I think he would be appalled at some comments by some state Premiers.)
The most worrying aspect of your commentary is that Australia is annually slip sliding towards greater income inequality. A wealth tax, especially on land is one of reversing this trend but political parties are not brave enough to take such a step.
From Vailala on The Porgera mine in PNG: some background
The PNG government has now reversed its position on Porgera and invited Barrick to enter into discussions with a view to Barrick re-opening the mine and resuming operations at Porgera.
What caused this reversal?
On 25 September Justice Makail in the Supreme Court dismissed an application for a stay of proceedings by Barrick NL.
In response to submissions His Honour at para 21 found that the “Respondents [the State and its agencies] are unwilling to reverse the first decision taken by the NEC and the relationship between the parties at worst has become obnoxious and broken down to the point of no return and it would not be in the interests of justice that the unwilling party be ordered to maintain the relationship.”
The judgment referred, inter alia, to the ICSID registrations by Barrick NL for conciliation and by Barrick PD for arbitration. An ICSID jurisdiction once consented to by a State is irrevocable. For a conciliation the parties must consent to a conciliation. The affected State must appoint an arbitrator/conciliator representative and when the tribunal convenes make an argument that the State does not agree to conciliate. A decision of a court is regarded as an act of State. PNG can point to Makail J’s decision in support of a refusal to conciliate. The Barrick PD application for ICSID arbitration is unaffected by the Supreme Court’s decision.
Soon afterwards the balance struck by Makail J was disturbed by the revelation that there were serious anomalies associated with the Gazettal notice for the termination of the Porgera SML and the grant of a new coterminous Porgera SML to KMHL.
On 1 October the Supreme Court (Kirriwom, Batari, Cannings JJ) ruled that Barrick NL were able to amend their appeal proceedings thereby making publicly visible direct references to the oddities and anomalies of the recent Gazette notices pertaining to the Porgera SML.
On 6 October the Supreme Court (Kirriwom, Batari, Cannings JJ) ruled that the application by Barrick NL for a judicial review of the NEC/Prime Ministerial decision to deny Barrick an application for an extension of the Porgera SML may proceed.
I think it likely that the PNG goverment began to re-consider its options. It is possible that the PNG judicial review process may have become protracted and resulted in politically embarrassing disclosures. Further PNG lawsuits may have followed. Including an action against the government for an unlawful (?) and uncompensated ‘taking’ of property by the State from Barrick NL.
Barrick is now engaged in discussions with the PNG government. Barrick has made clear that what they are prepared to offer is little different from what they offered the government one, two, or three years ago. A commercially viable (i.e both bankable for debt financing and IRR) scheme that increases returns to PNG and enhances landowner participation. No doubt PNG will be requesting some titular changes so that they can argue that they have ‘taken back PNG’ and are no longer ‘giving away free’ PNG’s natural resources to foreigners.
Vailala
From Dr Amanda H A Watson on The pandemic is giving Australians a small taste of how the rest of the world lives
Thank you for this thoughtful and thought-provoking blog post. It has sensitively and clearly raised some rather uncomfortable but useful insights.
Amanda
From Sadhana on The Pacific Islands Forum leadership: who and for what?
There is much that can be said of Pariah states and actors that support them, however this article is about PIF's leadership.
I understand merit based selection has been endorsed at communique level by leaders but hasn't been operationalized within the secretariat, and certainly not in the selection of the SG.
That said, all candidates as a friend observed, are 'qualified' in their own ways or they wouldn't be endorsed by their respective Governments.
As you say Mr Nair, and as observers we continue to hope the Pacific Way and all its wisdom, in this day and age prevails, in selecting the most meritorious candidate, able to fulfil the post COVID19 requirements of the position, with vision that brings tangible benefits to ALL the regions people. And of course that leaders live up their word of a more gender equitable Pacific leadership.
From Ashlee Betteridge on The pandemic is giving Australians a small taste of how the rest of the world lives
Great post Luke, I think the pandemic has also provided a sharp lens on persistent gender inequalities in Australia, particularly in relation to care, job insecurity and labour market participation -- again issues that women in developing countries are subjected to but at a more extreme scale.
One of the great disappointments for me personally of the domestic pandemic response in Australia has been that we have not taken the opportunity for transformational changes in the economy that could improve some of these situations while providing stimulus (for example, reforming the messy childcare subsidy system and providing some level of free childcare nationally, or deeply examining the aged care system, or looking at longer-term and broader changes to work practices in light of the WFH options 'tested' during the crisis).
I really hope we can transform our approach to the region and development assistance as well, and issues such as climate change which are impacting us all. Surely the pandemic goes to show that we are all vulnerable to 'global public goods' issues, albeit to varying degrees, and it is in our best interests to act globally on such issues. However I'm not so sure as there seems to be an unnerving rush to return to business as usual on so many fronts.
From Michael on Three issues that will shape PNG politics from 2020 to 2022
Hi John, the Speaker is responsible for ensuring that the parliament standing orders are adhered to. In this case, he should have notified Peter O'Neill that the nomination had already closed, and that he shouldn't withdraw himself as the candidate.
Initially when Namah pursued the case (after Pruaitch switched to the government), Marape's lawyers argued that violation of standing orders is not a matter for the courts to decide, and they were right. Standing orders are non-judicable. However, because vote of no confidence is provided for in the constitution, the court ruled that it was not a violation of mere parliamentary standing orders, but a potential violation of the constitutional provisions on vote of no confidence. The matter will return to court soon.
With the latest developments, it will be an interesting to watch. If Namah is replaced in December, the court will retrospectively rule on the case. But if Namah succeeds in overcoming a vote of no confidence in December, and the court later rules that his election was unconstitutional, the PM seat becomes vacant, and Marape has to defend it for the second time.
From John Kalau on Three issues that will shape PNG politics from 2020 to 2022
Interesting to know all this and big thanks to you Michael. I really don't know much about politics but one thing I see not right is how where the decision is made without proper protocols being followed. Why was James Marape nominated as Prime Minister and Pruaitch argued that Peter O'Neill's withdrawal after the nomination was closed was in violation of Parliamentary Standing Orders and sought a Supreme Court interpretation of the legality of the prime minister's election. Whose mistake was this? Likewise we see the same situation with Namah's appointment as the opposition leader challenged.
Do we have protocols misplaced?
Were these protocols made clear before vote of no confidence been in process?
Who made the decision for Marape to be Prime Minister without consulting the standing orders?
From Michael on Electoral reforms at UPNG: student elections back and working well
No. PNGEC only runs elections for universities/unions etc upon request. (The benefit of PNGEC running the elections is that the people get to know how the system works in elections. Invalid ballots is still a big problem during elections in PNG.)
From Michael on Electoral reforms at UPNG: student elections back and working well
Hi Alois, yes the sample size (160) is very small. It may not give us the views of majority of UPNG students, but it does give us the views of 160 students. Because the students are getting ready for exams (some are sitting for their exams this week) I kept the survey open for just a week.
From Robin Nair on The Pacific Islands Forum leadership: who and for what?
Thank you for the article, If it was not for the Pandemic, the agenda of the December Meeting of PIF (Virtual) would have been no doubt more substantial. PIF has no issue with its own relevance, quite the contrary. The December Meeting is chiefly to appoint the next SG, a position which becomes vacant in January. It is the most important agenda item.
I do not believe it is correct that "as a general rule, Fiji is disqualified from holding the position as it hosts the Forum Secretariat". It is however true to say that Fiji has been circumspect over the years in putting forward a candidate and has stepped back in the interest of regional solidarity, although it has had qualified candidates.
This year, Fiji has decided that it possibly has the best candidate in Ratu Inoke Kubuabola to lead the Forum in its most challenging period, with regional PICs suffering the challenges of a post COVID recovery, securing the well-being of the Blue Pacific, and of course to manage the present state of the increasing and competitive geopolitical interests in the region. Ratu Inoke has the singular reputation of leading Fiji internationally as its Foreign Minister from almost an international pariah state to a position of international leadership positions. He would bring his enormous skill and experience for the job.
Sub-regional rotation is always a factor to be considered but the region has always opted for merit as the primary principle. It has never adhered firmly to rotation in the past as the primary factor, as can be seen from the nationalities of former SGs, with Melanesia twice (both from PNG), Polynesia 4 times and Micronesia once (Kiribati).
Fiji is committed to preserving the integrity of the PIF membership.
I am confident that the Pacific Way will prevail in choosing the candidate of best on merit once again.
From Michael Boylan on PNG on the border: too close to ignore, but what to do?