Comments

''Eve spat...cursing the banks...'' did not warrant detailed examination and/or resolution in deficiencies to market?

Thanks for the great review. I too liked the book, though I wanted Mary-Anne to make a cameo just to tie into J's other books.

Great piece. In terms of solutions we know that political systems are a complex adaptive systems. So the solutions would probably be simpler and be focused around changing constraints. One of the most likely constraints to tweak would be the number of MP's in the system. You could start tweaking that and then let the feedback cycle kick in. Quick thought experiments: - What if you started slowly reducing the number of seats election by election? - What would happen if you got down to 11 seats, 7 seats, 3 seats etc.? The issue is it's difficult to predict what the unintended negative consequences could be so you'd need to have some way of creating a mass sensor network to provide real time feedback from the system. What would the unintended negative consequences be? What would the unintended positive consequences be? How would you mitigate against these? Just wondering if there is a way to test these out in a safe to fail experiment.

A very valid point indeed! One wonders whether it's discrimination package only for the privilege! Besides the cost of visa's vary as well.The rich countries pay less or pay nothing at all compared to the Pacific. More Pacific islanders are aware of this biased visa policy. Australia needs to play a fair game.

Great piece Terence Wood. This is very enlightening on PNG and Solomon Islands politics.

The PNG LNG Gas Agreement dated 22 May 2008 ( https://www.banktrack.org/download/png_lng_gas_agreement/080522_pnglngagreementexecutionversion.pdf) describes in Exhibit J the ‘Protocols for Social Mapping and Landowner Identification Studies’. Under the heading of ‘social organisation’ consultants are expected to ‘provide a description of clan structure, migration history, provenance and present organisation of people ... principles of group formation (kinship and descent), leadership, identity and genealogies ...’ Under the heading of ‘Mapping Results/Findings’ consultants are required ‘To provide a preliminary distribution map showing the relative positions of major groupings such as clans in the area – a ‘group to ground’ grid with an understanding of applicable land tenure principles and concepts.’ The SMLIS reporting requirements described in Exhibit J closely mirror the pre-independence colonial administration reporting practice. Conspicuous by their absence from the Exhibit J reporting requirements are any references to PNG legislation relevant to the determination of customary landownership. The Ministerial informational requirements imposed by the Oil and Gas Act are also not mentioned. Given the limited (and backwards looking) vision imposed on the consultants by Exhibit J it is understandable that they were not able to contribute in any meaningful way to a Ministerial Determination of inter-group landowner benefit sharing arrangements. The SMLIS consultants and their reports have no legislated for processual standing in an OGA sanctioned benefit sharing agreement. I think that Anura Widana’s post summarises the process of landowner identification in admirably simple and straightforward terms. I agree with Anura that identifying landowners is a joint responsibility shared by developer and GoPNG. The developer’s interest in landowner identification includes the need to engage with local companies, facilitate employment of local labour, and the OGA requirement for the developer to pay landowners compensation for entry to land, disturbances to land and occupation of land. In regard to your concerns about the Papua LNG Project the Chairman of Total was today reported as saying ‘[t]he Papua LNG Project is completing all environmental and social studies including the important SMLI (Social Mapping and Landowner Identification) studies. The SMLI process and methodology has been enhanced, and with the Department of Petroleum’s guidance and counsel, ensures that a strong report will be submitted for the vetting.’ https://www.thenational.com.pg/construction-of-papua-lng-to-start-in-2021/ The National also reported PM O’Neill’s views- ‘On landowner identification in Gulf, O’Neill said he understood that most of them had been issued with identification cards “so that they are fully identified as genuine landowners”. “We certainly do not want to repeat the mistakes of the past where even today our minister is trying to determine the real landowners in Hela and Southern Highlands.” https://www.thenational.com.pg/gas-deal-is-on/ Vailala

Congratulations on a great piece. Having worked at Rove Prison as an Advisor it is an absolute pleasure to read any good news stories coming from this amazing area. Thank you

Thanks so much for your comment Ashlee and for coming to visit our beautiful islands on your holiday. In response to your question on locally-owned accommodation you are right and more work is being done to ensure our local tourism operators are able to sustainably operate. In recent years we have been working with over 140 ni-Vanuatu run businesses to improve quality, and market visibility. You can check many of these out via the Travel Centre Network sites - Tanna Travel https://www.tanna.travel Malampa Travel http://www.malekula.travel and Santo Travel https://www.santo.travel. In the coming 12 months our focus will shift to ensure these business owners have the digital skills to promote themselves online to potential visitors. Your comment on soft adventure and eco-tourism has also come at a timely moment as we launched our new 2030 Market Development Plan last Friday, 05 April which features a statement regarding growth segments such as ‘Adventure Seekers’ and ‘Experience Collectors’. Watch this space for more. We hope to see you back in Vanuatu soon. NB: Link to 2030 Market Development Plan https://www.dropbox.com/s/9us6djp0aeu0xly/2030%20Vanuatu%20Tourism%20Market%20Development%20Plan.pdf?dl=0

The rural community fall victim to a selfish Government! Australia Aid needs to be delivered tangible to the rural communities.

Thanks for the link Jo, I missed that article. And yes, it is so dispiriting seeing the situation worsen on every front.

This is a belated comment on “Vanuatu’s seasonal workers: where are they from?” The blog analyses an important data source for understanding the current profile of seasonal workers. Congratulations to Rochelle on unearthing it. I want to highlight though a finding I have noted from the same data source but for a different time period. This is that if the seasonal workers’ ‘usual island of residence’ is used as the indicator of current residence, then a different picture emerges of where seasonal workers are recruited from. The question of where workers are currently living when recruited is important for several reasons. One is that if workers are currently residing in Port Vila when selected, rural residents are missing out. The information on their island of origin, as reported in Rochelle’s blog, overstates the degree to which workers come from the areas more distant from Port Vila. Second, employers prefer workers recruited directly from rural areas because in the words of one employer recently relayed to me: ... rural recruits are more job focused and productive than those that live in a city area. Our workers live every day growing, gardening, building and walking - this gives them a wonderful mindset for the work on our farm, they are already used to labouring to feed their families, if they don't grow it or hunt it they don't eat. These are the best workers they are already fit and healthy. I have recently completed an assignment for the Government of Vanuatu’s National Taskforce on Labour Mobility. My report on the options for a new labour mobility policy was based on extensive consultations with key stakeholders, such as recruitment agents and workers as well as employers and government officials involved in overseeing the recruitment and briefing of workers. I too was given access to the two databases called the Employment Services Unit Seasonal Workers Monitoring Sheet for the Seasonal Worker Program and the Recognised Seasonal Employer Scheme respectively. I focused my analysis on a category called ‘usual island of residence’ included alongside ‘home district’, ‘home island’, ‘home village’ and ‘province’. My analysis of the 2018 profile of SWP workers (January to October 2018) shows that Efate (which is where Port Vila is located) is given as ‘usual island of residence’ of two-in-three SWP workers (67 per cent). This compares with the one-in-three share (33 per cent) Efate has of the total population aged 15 and above. However, for the RSE, the pattern was very different. For the same period, Efate's share of workers recruited for the RSE was the same as its share of the total population aged 15 and above. This substantial difference shows that SWP labour hire firms and their recruitment agents are more likely to recruit from Efate (notably Port Vila). RSE employers, on the other hand, are more likely to recruit directly from areas beyond Efate. As we have discussed, I look forward to combining our analyses to look into these issues further.

As with Stephen’s blog of 14 February, I’d like to suggest another angle – the delineation of responsibilities between DFAT, managing the Government’s foreign-policy relations including development assistance, and Efic as the Government’s agency providing commercial finance to support Australian exporters and overseas direct investors. It’s clear that the amending legislation will take Efic into an enlarged sphere of operations, and I agree with Stephen that the Australian Government has an associated responsibility to ensure the interests of the countries in which Efic helps to finance infrastructure projects are respected. But it’s not clear how much of this responsibility should lie with Efic and how much with DFAT. DFAT’s supplementary submission to the Parliamentary Committee’s inquiry described (in section 7) how DFAT and Efic will cooperate in assessing projects proposed for AIFFP financing. DFAT noted that assessments of the development merits of projects will be undertaken by DFAT and the AIFFP Board, while Efic will provide technical and expert financial advice, portfolio management and operational support, and “contribute to a rigorous due diligence process which incorporates a careful assessment of credit risks, country risks and environmental, social and technical risks.” That submission does not refer to the infrastructure financing enabled by the amending legislation but separate from AIFFP projects. In respect of these other projects, Efic would be required by its legislation to undertake a similar due diligence process. But this does not fully correspond to Stephen’s question, whether the policy framework in the country concerned is such as to afford confidence that projects approved, whether publicly or privately financed, will be genuinely in the country’s interests. It strikes me as likely that DFAT will be consulted at the stage when Efic has identified a project which is prospective in the way described in the Explanatory Memorandum, being in Australia’s interest by promising future commercial or financial benefits or a strengthening of regional relationships. Whether such consultation between Efic and DFAT should be prescribed in legislation is debatable, but in my opinion it would be wise for Ministers to insist on it as proper practice.