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Constituency Development Funds are a two-edged sword - they can work against against an incumbent who uses them badly or indiscriminately,and challengers can make a great deal of promises. The micro-politics of each constituency (and polling stations) are very complex and largely hidden from view of outsiders - and thus making electoral prediction inherently difficult. Always a pleasure reading such clear and concise analysis, Terence.

Earlier this week the Post Courier and The National newspapers published reports that the Petroleum Minister Dr Fabian Pok had signed the ministerial determination for the landowner beneficiary lists for PDL1 and PDL7. The signing took place at Para Primary School for PDL7 and Yuni for PDL1 landowners on 9 March. The Mineral Resources Development Corporation (administrator of the landowner beneficiary trusts) will shortly be visiting PDL1 and 7 to assist beneficiary landowners to open bank accounts for receiving their benefit payments. At the signing Hela Governor Philip Undialu said ‘I will talk to Bank South Pacific to open branch or agency or have ATM machines in Hides PDL7 and PDL for people to access their cash component of the benefits.’ All the people involved, Minister Pok, Governor Undialu, other Ministers and MPs, Department of Petroleum personnel, landowner leaders and the thousands of beneficiaries are to be congratulated on cooperating to bring to an end an extraordinary and unnecessarily long period of uncertainty and confusion. That the long years of waiting gave rise to feelings of frustration and anger is very understandable. That so many people have now put these feelings behind them and moved towards the future earns my respect. The National reported on 14 March that Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika intends to strengthen the Village Court system. The Village Courts have shown that they have the capacity to breathe life into the PNG Constitution by addressing issues such as the rights of citizens, gender equality and fairness and joining these large issues with customary practices at the base level of the village. Broadening and deepening the capacity of the Village Courts will make a substantial contribution to law and development in PNG. Vailala

Excellent analysis. The point can be extended to Fiji where, although there is no Australian `Gulag' the desperation to rebuild relatons with the Bainimarama government is stalling further political reforms to what is a limited militarised democracy. At the recent election, Australian officials were seen by opposition parties as little more than cheerers for the government, including when aid programs are easily coopted as government programs.

Readers of this note by Stephen Howes and the subsequent comments may be interested in previous writings on the state of UPNG: http://www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/articles/good-and-bad-aid-pacific-tale-two-universities and here http://www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/articles/destroying-capacity-cautionary-tale-papua-new-guinea and allan patience here http://johnmenadue.com/allan-patience-the-serious-under-development-of-papua-new-guineas-university-system/ . For more than a decade people with actual undergraduate teaching experience at UPNG have been analysing and calling for reforms to PNG's tertiary education system. While it is welcome that the spotlight is now on UPNG, the problem is much deeper than corruption and disputes over senior appointments. The malaise began in the 1980s and will not be corrected by a bit of tinkering with these processes. The focus on such matters as the VC and Council now draws attenton away from the real crisis, that undergraduate education in PNG is of such a low general standard that the effects permeate all education in the country and many other aspects of the society.

Good stuff Andrew!

Truth in every single word. As a Solomon Islander I was devastated that the spillage continued to be ignored by the national media and the responsible government authorities. If it was not for social media and Australia's push our poor people in Rennel would have no help at all. Its heart wrenching that politicians remain silent and are not even ashamed for being an accessory to the disaster. Thanks Daniel for the beautiful piece.

Great read.

Your article is of great quality. It's great to see articles with sincerity like yours.

Post script: I've just received data on candidate party affiliations. People don't vote along party lines in Solomons, but parties can serve as vehicles of patronage, and loose building blocks of allegiance in parliament. After the 2010 election, a new law was passed designed to strengthen parties by making it harder to change party affiliations. In the 2014 election this law had the unintended consequence of prompting 31 of the 47 sitting members who contested in that election to stand as independents, so they could have more freedom to switch sides during government formation after the election. I'm not aware of any subsequent changes to party law since 2014. As such, I was expecting most sitting members to stand as independents again. But this isn't the case: only 13 of the 48 sitting members contesting their seats are standing as independents this time round. Most sitting MPs are at least nominally affiliated with parties. The two biggest parties in terms of sitting members are: SIDP - with 13 sitting members and 22 candidates in total. Kadere party - with 8 sitting members and 13 candidates in total. The biggest party in terms of total candidates is the United Party (29 candidates, no sitting members). I'm still confident that voters won't start voting along party lines this election. But parties look like they will have more impact on post election negotiations to form government than was the case in 2014.

Today, if they cannot yet offer free education for all, they must develop a formula in which parents and the state allocate costs. Parents must pay what they can afford, and the state fills the rest. This formula may include private sector contributions to subsidize the scheme through corporate scholarships. Only parents who cannot afford to pay for tuition should be exempted from paying for something.

Thanks Daniel, good article, we are just planning a trip to get back there and record a follow up piece to 'Ripples in Rennell' . How far will these Ripples Reach?

Interesting and though provoking read. In my opinion, companies will never achieve shared value while focusing on Corporate Social Responsibility. CSR is virtually impossible to separate from philanthropy - the idea that we have loads and we should give because it's a good thing to do. For companies to bring fundamental local improvements, they really need to understand that it is in their best interest; they need to understand the business case. Shared Value is a step in this process, but I still think it's not far enough. I think we need to start talking about Shared Purpose - what are we trying to do together? That gets the company away from saying, "oh we built some schools and therefore we've created value." With Shared Purpose, the company needs to start with the community and understand both what they want and what they need, and then understand how that dovetails with their own business' capabilities.