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Dear sir, I totally agree with your article and let me make few comments. The Prime Minister has taken a bold step in making such a comment amongst many comments. This one comment: Papua New Guinea to be a "Richest Black Nation" it requires collective efforts and total transformation attitudes from all citizens of this nation. A lot of things must happen first to allow to create a environment conducive to say and enjoy this phrase "Richest Black Nation". You correctly describe the nature precisely. In order for economic growth and development to take predominant cause, behavior and attitudes of the citizens must first be transformed and that requires every bonifide contribution. We have a real attitude problem in PNG and that in itself is already a hindrance to development. For example: Law and order issues must be reduced to zero levels; corruption deals must be eliminated completely, every citizens starting from the top to the bottom take responsibility and ownership of services and properties; etc etc.. The social aspect of peoples lives must transform and stronger and penalties for those who break laws. It must start at the top and come down. When we talk about corruption, it must be addressed at the top and draw down to the bottom. It's not happening in this country. When leaders are found guilty in some of their leadership or jobs they quickly use the legal system available to protect their interests and can not humbly accept that they are guilty. I totally believe that those nation which you listed as rich black nations have high GDP growth, could be rated less behavior and attitudes issues from the citizens. We claim to be a rich nation, which I personally agree, but it's this attitude problem that is the hindrance to prosperity.

How qualified is your Wikipedia source?

I am confused. Is PNG considered a melanesian or black nation. If black then can everyone with a little extra melanin call themselves black? We can have black India, Solomons and Indonesia.....

Tourism is a growing industry in Papua New Guinea but needs new innovative strategies to be developed with Government to make funding available.

Very interesting indeed. Thanks for sharing this. I have had few light bulb moments too as to how Social Protection in the Philippines (4Ps)could forge a stronger link to the government's Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP). Probably market experts from Universities and private sectors could step in and offer their expertise.

A welcome note of realism. Setting realistic targets within a 5 or 10 year time frame seems the way forward. Elsewhere, I have argued that Vision 2050 is possible to achieve, but this is quickly becoming ever more unlikely (https://albertschram.blogspot.com/2018/09/a-trojan-horse-as-birthday-gift-for.html#more). Regrettably, disastrous economic policies followed in the past, and persistent high levels of grand corruption make achieving this goal ever more unlikely. What the new PM James Marape needs more than anything else now is a strong economic team. PNG has lots of excellent economists, which have left the country or been sidelined by Peter O'Neill and his cronies. Get them back, and listen to them!

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TFF is a poor policy put forward by the PNC party to lure parents support. TFF policy is responsible for overcrowding in schools, lack of disciple, and other related issues in the schools. It leads to poor performance by students. TFF compromise the quality of Education. Govt must leave the responsibility of fees to the parents so they become responsible to their kids fees. Govt can subsidise can a certain % of fees.

Great analysis Stephen. I was an O’Neill supporter in his early years. His vision for PNG and early action orientation (such as Taskforce Sweep) really lifted PNG. Implementation and teamwork were key problems. My experience was that he was too ready to listen to convenient but ultimately bad advice – some of it from foreign advisors. As you indicate, he missed making the fall in oil prices an opportunity from adversity to embrace needed policy changes – his current legacy could have been so different. Even on the positive side of the ledger mentioned above, I have some doubts. On tuition-fee free (TTF) education, the K600 million almost certainly could have been better spent in strengthening the training and numbers of teachers, improving education facilities and introducing targeted scholarships. If the measure of TTF success is lifting school enrolments, there are serious doubts whether the policy had any impact on previous trends. Specifically, student enrolments were increasing at some 100,000 per annum from 2004 to 2011. After an initial positive response in 2012, with reports indicating a particularly positive impact for female enrolments, it seems student growth has slowed relative to the pre-TTF period of 2008 to 2010 (figures from PNG's 2015-2019 National Education Plan page 19 Figure 2). For K600 million, probably an education policy failure and just an indirect cash payment to parents. On boosts in aid funding from APEC and from political stability, we probably need more time to tell. There will also be great difficulties in separating any “O’Neill” impact from the broader trends of Western countries increasing financing levels due to concerns about China’s growing influence in the region and the ADB’s general massive step-up in assistance to the Pacific region. Thanks again for a timely and insightful reflection. And of course, Peter O’Neill is still the leader of the PNC which is the largest coalition partner in the new Marape Government – so Devpol’s blogs may still have much more to say about Peter O’Neill! I think there is some wisdom in the view that previous Prime Ministers should not remain in Parliament (whether in PNG or Australia).

David I think the rubric you have constructed does go part of the way to "define a change" in your case example "the change" the Australian government agency and their counterpart agency achieves. A number of nuances and more tangible measures are possible by taking a longer-term perspective instead of a 4-year funding and M&E cycle. I am not sure about the right term but "partnership" does not fully capture what is really going on. Partnership assumes there is some equitable exchange of "expertise" or "skills" may be it is actually about "building Government to Government relationships" beyond one that is by DFAT and the emphasis is on 'relationship or friendship'. Many elements of which are evident if one returns 10 years later ! Like the 'good will', "long-term relationships", "respect for the Australian partner agency" and the "value-add" that was provided. These are not easy to measure in time limited evaluations. Please note the views expressed are my personal, I have worked in government and non-government sector in Australia over 20 years and in international development over the last 10 years.

Waste management in our homes, communities, Provinces and PNG as a whole needs collective effort. First of all, it has to start from home...