Comments

This is how journalism should be in this country. Factual and unbiased. An interesting read worth sharing.

Hope your people will recover the situation ASAP

I agree with you

Looking at the statistics, us getting our first case through the Indonesian Border is high and I think if a significant portion of our security forces, immigration and health team are posted there, it should at least give us some bit of confidence. Thanks to the local MPs and Governors there who joined hands to fight the virus. Our founding fathers were so wise to have one International Portal of Entry in Jacksons Airport which we are at least good in screening our inbound travelers unlike America and other developed countries who are struggling to monitor and screen people coming inform all ports of entry. Our first imported case should have been easily detected because the guy was coming from Spain a densely infected country at the time of his travel. We could have quarantined all on board right there and then upon arrival. ... My fear is if we have local transmission even what we borrow from IMF or WB might not support us progressively to fight this virus with our own pressing needs to be attended to and a mildly deficit budget, man may the GOD of Heaven help us. Thanks for the day of prayer and fasting.

Thanks Peter, I don't have any data regarding donations to overseas NGOs unfortunately. I'm not using tax data. But overseas organisations don't have to report to the ACNC (the source of my data) nor to ACFID, the other data-source I use at times. Like you, I've donated to overseas NGOs in instances. My guess though is that such donations are not a large share of overall aid NGO donations from Australians. I have two reasons for believing this. 1. People like you and me, with a direct knowledge of development issues, and beliefs that lead us to donate directly to overseas NGOs at times, are a very small slice of the Australian population. The bulk of donations come in response to NGOs reaching out to the public. In Australia almost all of this reach is from Australia-based aid NGOs. 2. Donations in Australia are dominated by a few large organisations. I'm not aware of any non-Australia-based organisations that would be analogous in terms of size. All the really big INGOs have Australia branches/chapters/affiliates. Having said that, it's easy to imagine that in a globalised world, with easy internet access, direct international donations will be on the rise. It would be a fascinating topic for further study. Terence

If the government can spend millions of kina on THIS COVID-19 pandemic swiftly, then they can spend even more on killer diseases like TB, Aids, MALARIA, etc. Wow so frightening.....

I wonder how PNG could manage to gather all of these 25,262 people entered the country since January 7 for testing. What if 100 plus of them are with positive result, then we may think that thousands of people in PNG may have been infected already. It will be very hard to control off. This is an incurable disease and spread widely very quickly so please the government must do something to prevent further spreading. I am so glad with the government for quickly taking up appropriate approach in declaring a state of emergency (SOE) and lockdown of PNG for 14 days.

A very large percentage of the virus illness is spread by people who do not yet display symptoms or have it unknowingly and have very minor effects. Our only hope here is "social distancing " where everyone adopts the attitude that they may already have the virus in their body and everyone around them may be infected, and all surfaces outside the home may have the live virus on it...so you have to wash your hands or use a hand sanitizer many times a day. Trouble is that people do not do this until a lot of people are sick. Then it is too late for many who will die. Traffic between the islands is still going on, in crowded boats. We are in trouble, like most of the world, but most in the islands here do not think the virus will affect us. THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT BEING SUCCESSFUL at providing awareness or restrictions.

Our government can be commended for approving SoE after 1 person confirmed hoping that all provinces are making it their business to make sure the 14 day lockdown preventive measures are adhered to. It's now every one's responsibility to avoid being infected and to stop its spread. However, it's super important to pray for God's intervention in this contagious global Pandemic.

Michael thanks so much for your blog. Sharing insights of PNG political matters, from your viewpoint, is useful for me. But one question I have. Can you write something about Bougainville? I am sure it is an agenda that will also change PNG political landscape.

Thanks Terrence. Noting that your article and the figures relate to donations to Australian NGOs in the aid field, do you have any figures about donations to overseas NGOs? These would not appear on tax returns as they are not tax deductible. For example I also donate to the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (HQ in Malta - operating among the displaced Rohingya and in Yemen), Skatestan (HQ in Berlin - teaching girls to skate board in Afghanistan, among other countries)) and the Malala Yousefzai Foundation (HQ in USA). They also provide regular updates of outcomes.

As a PS - there are references here http://genderinstitute.anu.edu.au/afghanistan-first-women%E2%80%99s-empowerment-centre-0 and here https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/womens-rights-in-afghanistan/2997980 Both in 2011 and not really available to the average voter.