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Hi David, Thanks for your comment. My guess is no effect. Vote buying is already illegal, meaning the behaviour on Devil's Night is also already illegal. But illegality hasn't stopped it in the past. So it's hard to see why it would now. One reason might be that it might be easier to police the presence of campaign teams in villages buying votes, rather than actual vote buying itself. That sounds plausible. But even then it might just shift Devil's night one evening earlier. Short story: I'd be surprised if the new law had much effect in this area. Then again, I am going into this election expecting to be surprised. Terence

Thankyou for your very interesting comments and profiles. I am a intending candidate for the local level government elections ' June 2019 seeking financial assistance. Is there any organisations that you know of who assist women candidates in such situation, my address or contact is given below: Konebaru873@gmail.com

A wonderful read Terence, Just wanted to know your take on the issue of "Devil's night", the night before polling where candidates and agents have allegedly garnered more votes by giving money to voters. With the Amended NPEP Act 2018, there will be a 24 hour campaign-free period meaning there should be no devil's night or atleast that is the intention of that piece of legislation. Do you think this will have any effect on the outcome or results of the elections?

Excellent article. Australia should similarly focus on areas of expertise like agriculture, mining, renewables, engineering.

It is an excellent analysis. A lucrative contract awarded to a relatively small and unknown company to provide security and other services to a highly sensitive international human rights case in Manus has a lot to say. Many learned persons along the corridors of powers in PNG and Australia and even many analysists understand the many reasons why such an arrangement is done to make it look more legitimate. In any case, doing it to appease others in authority at the expense of human rights is not the right strategy to undertaken. The PNG PM’s Chief Secretary writing to Paladin Company for a donation of K20 million to PNC Party at the eve of vote of non-confidence in PNG Parliament says a lot, drawing back to why and how the initial contract was awarded. PNG PM’s office may be in the knowing as well.

As our Pacific partners continue to feel the impact of climate change, Caritas Australia is urging the federal government to focus on stronger Australian climate policies, funding to help our Pacific neighbours adapt to climate change, and grassroots aid.

Hi Luke, Good to hear from you. I'll be in Wellington in early May if you're about. The 'how' question is the big one, I agree. In OECD countries patronage politics was put paid to by the rise of social movements which then became political movements. (At least that's my slightly simplified read of the history.) Broad political movements can overcome many of the collective action problems which make clientelism otherwise inevitable I think. So, the rise of such movements would seem a pathway for Solomons. The trouble is (a) not all social movements are positive & (b) it took industrial revolutions to bring such social change to Europe. Which begs the question, given industrial revolutions aren't on their way to small island states any time soon, what might have a similar transformative effect? Plausibly, social media? Plausibly new cohorts of the middle class studying together and becoming the building blocks of new social movements? Or plausibly something different. I can't say for certain. But there is an appetite for change, which is encouraging, hence my final sentence, which I'll concede is part prediction and part aspiration. Looking forwards to talking more. Terence

Thanks for the blog Terence. You mention that "one day all of this will change" - what I am most interested in is 'how'?

It is very important to keep the heat on this outrageous sum of money for a less than laudable outcome, and with a less than transparent process. A factoid that needs to be known by the Australian public, is that this single contract, which will not benefit one human in PNG, is about the same sum as the whole Aid budget Australia now spends on PNG. The health system in PNG could benefit immensley from targeted programs with Australian support, but money which could have saved and improved a large number of lives, will now line the pocket of a single life in well-off Australia.

Thanks Chris and sepo for your kind comments. Chris, I agree: CDFs are definitely a double edged sword. This is likely why the incumbent turnover rate remained nearly 50% in most of the elections after the CDFs were introduced. And yet, in 2014 incumbents did remarkably well. Candidate numbers provide some cause to think they will do so again this year (although see caveats in the article). If it turns out CDFs have suddenly become a single-edged sword all of a sudden, the interesting question will be why? (The boring answer might be that they've become so large even inept MPs can use them effectively.) I also agree: outsiders miss the micro-politics most of the time. This is why we're left using blunt instruments such as candidate numbers (which reflect the micro-politics) when we try and make predictions. It will be a very interesting election. Thanks for your comment.

Thanks for encapsulating the realities and challenges faced by nations and development partners regarding bolstering grassroot economic activities through market access, training and so forth. I totally agree that in cautioning against 'market-based interventions, while delivering promising results, often have too narrow a focus on macro forces and are targeted too high at a system-level change, and in the process, they can neglect to build the productive capacity of the most marginalized so that they can participate in markets. As development practitioners, we must ensure that those currently excluded from the market system are not, at the end of the project, still excluded from a market system with improved functionality." We have seen shortfalls in many development projects and part of the problem lies with what you have identified above. Our company Skyeye Ltd is due to launch a Digital marketplace for Samoa in July 2019. We have come to the table to offer a tool that all participants across industries can utilize to gain great market access complete with an online payment gateway and transportation service provision. The system is designed to be inclusive to raise the level of financial independence for women, youth and persons with disability. Whilst our goal is clear cut, we are finding ourselves in dialogue with development agencies and the public sector to help fill the gaps in areas that have been overlooked and neglected in the hope to empower players at all levels to bring their supply to the table and operate as businesses in their own right. So much to be said but I'll stop here for now. Thanks again for sharing. *Skyeye Ltd won the GSMA Australian Aid Award with a project submission - MAUA.

Visa and migration for small countries are better and economical.