Comments

""Learning and adaptation" should be a very good step. Going through the financial narrative I learned that it will be hard to achieve the inclusive growth as recommended by UN 2030 Agenda because the Big Financial Actors although having issues new rules of the game, the didn't adapt the strategy. Why? There is more than one reason, the prevalent one is in the fact it should be lessened the dominant role of the finance in the economy. By the way, it is very strange that in changing time, economists, commentators and analysts don't use the theory of change. We did id: THE THEORY OF CHANGE APPLIED TO FINANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT http://reader.ilmiolibro.kataweb.it/v/1252660/the-theory-of-change-applied-to-finance-for-development_1268103

"DFAT had to a large extent delegated responsibility for the Pacific to AusAID". You would expect me to disagree, and I do. DFAT worked hand in glove with AusAID and I have the very best recollection of the collegiality of my AusAID colleagues. But just during my tenure of the job in DFAT, DFAT was the lead agency on our two big Pacific initiatives - RAMSI, of which it supplied the head, and the Enhanced Cooperation Programme in PNG. DFAT was lead agency on Forum issues, managed the response to the coup in Fiji and the riots in Tonga, and at an earlier stage than the above led the drive to get Bob Dunn into the SPC. We wrote the paper on compacts which formed the basis for Mr Downer's speech on that subject and was translated into PM Rudd's approach to the Pacific. We did initial work on labour mobility but that didn't get as far as we would have liked because of reluctance at the top levels of government. I could go on (and on), but you get the picture. In short, DFAT did not delegate responsibility for the Pacific to AusAID, although, as I hope I've made clear, we worked very closely with AusAID.

Thanks Moses for this article, an interesting read. I don't like the idea of the death penalty and appreciated some of the points you raised on why the death penalty won't deter crime.

I would like to thank Dek Joe Sum for this initiative for our UPNG students for the 2019 ANU-UPNG Summer School. It was a wonderful job and I would pretty much appreciate it so much. On Behalf of my two colleague mates back in our National High school (Wawin), I am so grateful for your kindness. Next, I am pretty much sure NID was a new project implemented in PNG under Organic Law that all citizens should register under Civil and Identity Registration office for PNG citizenship. However, it is not easy dealing with a new project. It will need more time for them to get it done. University of Goroka (UOG)

Sorry if I oppose your ideas. However I would suggest that if more machines for NID are available, it would be quicker and make it easier for NID officers to issue the NID as quickly as possible. Nevertheless, we are [working] with NID technicians to fix and do maintenance on broken machines; hiring technicians overseas to fix the NID machines would waste lots of time.

Really informative and insightful article, thank you.

Thanks Ian, great quote. You would think that, with England being home to influential conservative thinkers such as Burke (for a time) and Oakeshott, as well as writers of beautiful conservative prose like Lewis, people like Johnson might have acquired an aversion to radical change. Not in the world of aid, it seems.

Fiji needs to let their locals back into the country. My friend is currently stuck in the Philippines for over 3 months and is trying to come back home to Fiji. The government should make it a priority to get their citizens back home and then make them quarantine for 14 days or more if required.

Indeed the University of South Pacific was saved this time by its regional character. If it had been a national university, the Council would have been controlled by a single government, and then a whistleblower would have been given the usual treatment. Rolling out protection for whistleblowers and other anti-corruption measures is an urgent matter across the region. In PNG, the government of Peter O'Neill took control over the University Councils, and harassed, arrested and expelled two foreign Vice Chancellors who had been exposing mismanagement, and corruption. Word spread quickly, and international coverage (including this blog) was intense. Now PNG universities are unable to hire anyone with work experience at a world-class university, and all improvements in their academic quality and learning environments have stalled. Meanwhile, the political fortune of Peter O'Neill has changed and his cronies appointed in the university management and councils are politically unprotected. They are still there until somebody will make them leave. Hopefully the Pacific Region will learn from these cases how institutional autonomy of universities and academic freedom of (foreign) academics on the one hand, is intrinsically linked to improving academic quality on the other. Meanwhile, the process at #USP still has not come to an end, and it is imperative that those who frivolously attacked an honest Vice Chancellor are removed from the University council as soon as possible.

All very true. Based on these experiences, the UK Government may wish to heed the advice of British academic, CS Lewis, who said in another context "Take care: it is so easy to break eggs without making omelettes".

Well said. As a former undergraduate from USP I did my master's at ANU, Canberra. I had the opportunity to attend the USP Council meetings while with AusAID. Governance is the main issue in the Pacific islands and I recall the late Mr Siwatibau, his leadership that drove USP in those days. Unfortunately the same could not be said during Professor Chandra’s rein. Now a new VC with strong governance ideology is seen doing his job very well. It may not be good news for certain government officials. Great vision in their judgement by the Council. Well done!

Thanks Abby for your enquiry. Much of the information in the survey is commercially sensitive, at least for the time being. We may be able to share it on FinDev Gateway at a later date and will advise at that time.