Comments

Thank you Michael for this piece of writing. Something to muse upon and observe as events unfold by the day.

Thanks Michael, interesting insight into the political events leading up to the next elections. The main political event now on agenda is the validity of the election of PMJM. Everyone is looking forward to the Court's ruling. Once the Courts nullified the election, the Speaker would not hesitate to recall Parliament to elect a new PM. On the whole, there is this 'eleventh hour call' that eventuates when a major decision of the Courts is reached - take the 'slip rule' in the former PMs case.

Wow....am part of the Fijian Teachers Association Womens Network...a network where 74% of its membership are women. Forgive me but we teachers have so much at work and we join or are elected into FTAWN but these issues you talk about here holds true for some affiliations we have. I am also a member of the FTUC Womens committee voicing grievances in the workplace but somehow we get cut off within the union walls which is kinda like contradictory to its functions and values but was on the verge of a...confrontation (just kidding, but dreamt about it, lol) when this popped up on my notification...this...this...is major...affirmation that ours, maybe minute in scale is all part of a bigger picture. Much appreciation to all the ladies who have stepped up and are representing all of us here. Yes we need to network, we need to stand up and be counted, together... I salute you all. Keep up the good work and do remember us at FTA and FTUC...we want to be included in this good work.

great work thank you for sharing

Thank you Moses Sakai Well written reflecting the quality information researched.

Following the court case described in this blog post, the Minister for Communications & Information Technology, Hon. Timothy Masiu, seemed to be concerned about the ability for mobile phone users in rural areas to register their SIM cards (see https://www.abc.net.au/radio-australia/programs/pacificbeat/png-plans-to-deactivate-all-unregistered-mobile-phones/11884872). However, he has since then said that March 31st is the deadline for the registration of mobile phone SIM cards in Papua New Guinea (see http://www.looppng.com/png-news/minister-clarifies-sim-deactivation-89854). My understanding is that this will mean that unregistered SIM cards will be deactivated on April 1st. This will not be an April Fool’s Day joke for those affected. Amanda Dr Amanda H A Watson

Wendy your concern for literacy in the Pacific is well founded. You mention literacy through the formal school system. Another aspect is adult literacy. One of the more successful forms of Australian development assistance in PNG is the Church Partnership Program. It includes a significant adult literacy component. For example, the program run by Anglicare and the Anglican Church in PNG reaches across all dioceses and into even the most remote communities, with around 2,000 learners enrolled each year. Only a small proportion of these adult literacy learners progress each year to formal education or formal employment but a large proportion utilise their new literacy and numeracy skills for purposes like weighing produce and calculating change at the local market, involving themselves with their children’s schooling, involving themselves more in community activities and texting distant family members. Most of the adult literacy schools in the program have been built by local volunteers using locally sourced 'bush materials'. Such local contributions suggests high value is attached to adult literacy. Not a lot of good news coming out of the Pacific re climate change or literacy but some initiatives are going okay and literacy is definitely highly valued at grassroots level.

There are some interesting points in time in this article. There is some validity but I will take hold opinion until I look into it further. Good article, thanks and I want more! Added to my Feed as well.

Thanks for these thoughts Wendy. Parents, even if uneducated, need to see value from investing in their children's education. My mother never went to school and my dad dropped out after Grade 3, but all my siblings completed tertiary education even on a very modest family-income. We were lucky as my poor parents invested in us so that we could earn more than them. Such an incentive remains only when education provides employable skills, and when jobs exist: pre-school is the first rung of this long ladder to opportunity. And without the opportunity, there is little incentive for any (poor) parent to send their children to any school.

A very timely and astute blog by a researcher highly experienced in this field. Australia can do much to support early learning in pre-school age children in our Pacific neighbouring countries including through increasing financial support. We should do it. Part of the challenge in tackling the need for urgent action on climate change is having an informed voting public. Education is critical for an informed voting public. And the best place, as the blog points out, to start education is in the very early years. With support at home being so limited because of the disadvantage parents have faced it is right for the government to step up. Similar issues face First Australian 0 to 5 year olds - some of whom in remote communities have not held a pen until they start school. Let's work together and pressure the Federal Government to invest in early childhood education in areas that have the highest need - in the Pacific and here in Australia.

So much THIS! Thank you for this articulation. I was chewed up and spit out of the UNICEF system through a Developmental Evaluation, ironically in which they were supposedly interested in identifying the "deep systems" that were keeping them from a more child-centered approach. . . their inability to even contract effectively with me in an adaptive/responsive manner was painful. As a women-owned small business in the field we trip on these types of systems all the time and find our strategy and human-centered approaches are engaged to as dressing on top of predetermined wholes that just give us latitude to scratch the surface. This is a discussion long overdue. Thank you.

Good question. I haven't been able to find an authoritative statement of how the assumed funds are to be used but it is the case that Australia is focusing on infrastructure, particularly on the undersea, high speed telecommunications cable linking us to PNG.