Comments

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

I will take this opportunity to highlight two programs that connected PNG and indigenous Australian creators. The first was the Ninti One work on indigenous/creative intellectual property, mentioned in this article. The second was Laikim Sista, a women-led SME program facilitated by The Difference Incubator that connected indigenous businesswomen with PNG businesswomen. It was a truly fantastic program, and long-term relationships were built. We now have one woman-led coffee company supplying coffee to an indigenous Australian retailer, and other connections continue. These were wonderful programs and show just a fraction of what could be done with more indigenous participation in development cooperation.

I am samuel Toroitich from hardwork 32 years of age married with two twins and looking for work. I have a bit of an idea on farming - plz help get a job there.

Congratulations on your review of this very important initiative. As part of the research team on the Western Sydney Uni (Whitlam Institute) research, the perspective of Pacific islanders from Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu on the absent relationship between themselves and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was an eye-opener for us. It's been similar for lots of people to whom we have presented the research. It is notable that no-one among our 150 research participants (representing a cross-section of government, private sector, civil society and grassroots) seemed to be aware of the IPP, despite the fact that many felt deeply the dissonance between Australia's white face and what they know of its Indigenous population. Especially in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu there is a strong sense of kinship across the Coral Sea that does not find expression in our bilateral relations. So there is clearly huge potential for the IPP. If it were better known in the region I suspect there would be a strong demand for it, both with Indigenous led assistance, and mandating significant Indigenous representation in the design and delivery of programs. Expansion beyond the aid program to other commercial and cultural relationships would also be welcome. Among all of the rhetoric of the Step-up this could be a valuable contribution to deeper and more respectful relationships between Australia and its Pacific island neighbours. Our Pacific Perspectives research found that Pacific islanders don't think that Australians are very good at negotiating the cultural gaps between us. A prominent Indigenous presence can only help.

Grant you have put a beautiful and worthy of consideration caveat to it drawing from your experiences and thankyou so much.

Hi Elias, A very good piece and suggestion to address crime. The informal built settlement around Garden Hills estate is providing a safe haven for the petty criminals. I resided in the informal built settlement for 2 years, 2016-17, when working for the National Research Institute. There were other lower to medium income earners living in the area, and it is still providing affordable homes for many Papua New Guineans. The first impression I got after walking from Moni Plus building was the great divide between the formal built settlement on the right and informal built settlement on the left. The disparity is so obvious as you go further up the hills and toward the informal built settlement. The road leading to the settlement is impassable at times and water supply runs in particular locations with only few households fortunate to have full access. Another thing that struck me was, Foreigners were renting and operating trade stores and engaging locals. I wondered why the locals are not doing it themselves and I realised people from the same clan, tribe, origin tend to live together and it is hard to resist when they ask for dinau (credit). Moreover, the cultural expectations dictates that well-to-do people contribute more, which leaves them vulnerable to make losses. There are a handful who basically live on a hand-to-mouth basis and sometimes they sacrifice meals to allow their children to go to school. There are very resilient people who are actually making ends meet, however the overwhelming conditions outweigh positive initiatives to address crime. My landlord is a church elder who advocates for peace and so I was sheltered safely under his care. But, I often go out of my way to spare the child a candy, the drunkard a cigar or buy greens from the mama, though it is sold at a marked up price. Sometimes, I hoped the Internal Revenue Commission should factor the cultural/social obligation to lower the salary and wage tax as we are paying double. However, there is no guarantee that bad things will not happen to good people. This is where the police must beef up operations at the bus stops, especially in the morning and afternoon to ensure smooth transition of commuters. In the long term, the informal built settlement must be properly arranged so that people who can live in the city must be allowed to live.

Hi Grant, A worthy piece of advice from your experience which speaks volumes about PNG as a human society. No society is immune to crime, POM is no exception. But the rate and manner in which it has happened painted a bad image on the society and its people. The rate can be described in the context of where there is no police. The ratio of police to person is alarmingly big, 1:1500 person compared to the recommended 1:500 person. Even if a case is reported and suspect apprehended, the chances of seeing it to completion is very low. This points to the challenge of arresting crime where there is no police, jungle justice often creeps in. This leads to the second point on the manner of crime. The victims of crime are often targeted on certain people only. In a complex society as PNG, retaliation attacks are common and people do not attack and harass anybody. When I went to high school, one of my teachers used this common phrase when we got into trouble: "be at the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing". I think this holds true and the fact that we continue to live as a country speaks a lot about the very minimal police service we have and the same is quite true for other basic services where there is no doctor, nurse, teacher...

In my own work, I’ve generally found that the confidence often demanded in designing assistance must be matched by the humility of all the unknowns: https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/27518/strengthening-pacific-fragile-states.pdf And you’ve probably come across the arguments for iterative design: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2102794

Dear Gordon, you make a number of good points. At the same time, current policy settings in the Australian aid program combined with contractual and accountability requirements inevitably results in preprogrammed projects. To try and break out of this impasse, I wonder if we need to be considering the political economy of adaptive management. Government and managing contractors are both benefiting from the status quo. Regards Scott