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Whilst the article does make brief mention of corruption, it studiously avoids the giant, stampeding elephant that dominates the room containing all the problems that the author describes: Papua New Guinea is one of the most corrupt of all the world’s nation states. The author is disappointed in the Australian pubic for not taking enough interest in PNG. Yet what is far more important to the interests of the people of PNG, is the fact that the Australian government fails (at least openly) to acknowledge the immense corruption that exists at the top of the state apparatus. Papua New Guinea is a kleptocracy and the people that the author is trying to help need, more than anything else, their country not to be a kleptocracy anymore. I understand the diplomatic considerations that have historically subdued open acknowledgment of this problem, however I submit that this problem is now so acute that it must be faced openly. Oil Search, and by extension, the Oil Search Foundation, is in a compromised position in that regard because of its links to the PNG government. The result is that OSF simply bypasses the state to become a sort of quasi-state with Peter Botton at the head of the Hela provincial health system. The problem here is that the proposed solution to PNG’s problems relies on the neocolonial and paternalistic benevolence of multinational resource companies. Where are the Papua New Guineans in this article? Another problem with this approach is that, while the efforts of OSF are laudable, they rely on the personalities that are behind the leadership of the parent corporation: Oil Search. ExxonMobil (studiously not mentioned in the article) does not have an ExxonMobil Development Foundation doing good work in PNG. In that regard ExxonMobil and Oil Search are chalk and cheese, and the reason is that corporations are cultural institutions run by actual people with individual personalities. Peter Botton, being mortal like the rest of us, will not be around forever and neither will his benevolence. This model of development is both highly unusual in PNG (no other Provincial Health Authority has a multinational MD as chair, and none is ever likely to), and ultimately unsustainable. What happens when the gas runs dry, as it eventually will? This approach, successful as it is in the specific areas in which OSF operates, cannot work. In the absence of a functioning state, Oil Search has taken it upon itself to act like a state. Outside of the Oil Search anomaly the private sector cannot and will not act like a state. This approach has not prevented the spread of polio and TB that now threaten Australia’s bio-security. If the Australian state thinks of PNG as anything more than a site for a detention centre, or a geo-strategic military base, then it can and must call out the government of PNG for all its crimes against its own people.

Great information. Can you provide the 2007 and 2017 election results?

Thanks Stephanie for the eventful piece of firsthand experience working with Australian aid and in PNG. From the account of your shared experience, a few points become obvious regarding development in PNG. Firstly, the fact that PNG has weak institutional capacity and development is slow and cannot cope with the growing population. This has been demonstrated in a number of international development indicators including corruption indexes. Secondly, Australia needs to show interest in development for PNG, not only by increasing the aid or on the premise of sustaining a strategic fortress of an Australian neighbourhood. Many independent commentary and research papers documenting Australia aid to PNG and development outcomes point out more development failures than successes of the aid program. It is about time the Australian government refocused on this issue. Over time the bilateral aid goes from direct PNG budgetary support to budget and program alignment to direct service delivery. From 2015, the aid program has moved towards integration, strategic policy dialogue and partnership building. During these transitions, one thing that had never changed is the business model of aid delivery. With other development partners, we find this business model very evident and the outcomes results in successes. This is the selective engagement in the development program. The Australian aid technocrats need to take another look at the Australian aid delivery business model in PNG and provide appropriate and relevant to local context advice to help improve the outcomes of the aid program. Although many outcomes have been achieved, more can be done with greater innovations and business techniques. Over AUD $500 million annually in aid funding to PNG represents about 15% of PNG’s annual budget and this would best work with a new business model. At this value an overall achievement of 30% development outcomes in health, education, law and order, infrastructure, gender, governance are possible - a great story to tell. Moving on into late 2018, we began to see the increased engagement of the Chinese Government in PNG through the One Belt, One Road Initiative. At the expense of this engagement, it would greatly weaken what PM Billy Hughes said in the 1920 Paris Peace Conference on Australia and its neighbouring northern islands. The recent announcement by the Australian Government of a Pacific development fund (as a counter strategy to Chinese influence in the Pacific) and increased relationships between Australia and the Pacific countries, including PNG, would not make much difference to development issues in PNG. In your own words, “creating partnership” through selective engagement in development program would result in “large-scale changes” for PNG.

Stephanie this is a good broad-brush overview of aid in PNG. You've noted the importance that the Australian and PNG governments attach to engaging the private sector in development. Another key actor in development is the Church. Churches of various denominations have strong grassroots linkage and high levels of community trust. Some have been in the communities for over a century. When natural disasters strike, they will often be the first responders and will remain in the community during the recovery phase and long after. They provide services like health and they build local capacity through programs like adult literacy. Some international donors keep local churches at arms length because they 'speak a different language' but the churches are a key institute for bridging the cultural gap between international donors and local people. No broad-brush analysis of development in PNG is complete without acknowledging the current and potential role of churches.

We travel to Timor regularly so it was interesting to read of the housing program; we also would like to connect with any Timorese here in Perth

Mike & Brendon thanks for some guiding comments. I hope DAL and its Minister have taken note, seriously. I will concentrate on the subsistence sector, in my comments. The MASP & PNG Rural Development Handbook were cutting edge work then and remain so now. We need to delve into each Farming System to have recorded all the varieties, their atributes, food uses, cultural agronomic practices in local language and english. Research needs to focus on these farming systems to determine the major limiting factors within each. And suggest or do applied research to determine 'solutions'. It's not about maximising production, but having reliable production that results in sufficient food being available on the plate every day, day in, day out. I feel too much emphasis is put on dimdim breeding to maximise yield (& subsequently the need to increase putting into the system what the plant is taking out of it in doing so). We need to research and collate all the experiential agriculture/horticulture knowledge that is still in existence in each of the 287 unique food-cropping systems and in each of the 850 languages. We are in the digital age so it can be done. And that is just the beginning.

150 tons of garbage per day from Port Moresby can be converted in to 500 KW Power per Hour and the investment is just about €600,000. Amny business person interested in setting up thios project may contact mizun@ymail.com and i will explain all the aspects of the project. Best wishes, Mo

Hi Stewart, The counting process this time seems to be different from 2014. The provisional results available on Wed night/Thursday morning, which gave Fiji First and PM Bainimarama a lead, came from the polling places phoning their tallies into the FEO central. Now all the votes - minus those of the 22 stations where voting was halted due to rain, and won't be open again until tomorrow, Saturday - are with the central FEO. These are being counted but not necessarily in the same order as the results were phoned in previously. Attempts to compare how parties are going using the current counting by comparing the results with the earlier tallies are fraught with difficulties. Eg. one rumour going the rounds in Suva is that SODELPA is now leading because the results from Vanua Levu, which are expected to favour Mr Rabuka, and from areas around Bau, which might favour Ro Teimumu Kepa, have already been counted giving SODELPA an early lead. I have no way of knowing what is actually occurring and am taking FEO advice that final results won't be available until late Sunday and probably even Monday. Until then rumour and speculation rules. Regards,

Yes it's preemptive and anticipates the election result but the provisional tally in Fiji's well-run elections is also accurate. I may be a percentage point out, especially if SODELPA does well in the remaining 20 percentage of the vote, but the overall result will not be changed.

Devpolicy, please correct this erroneous and preemptive call on the outcome of the Fiji elections- as at the release time of your blog, the final count is still in progress, with only 20% of the polling stations counted. The figures used are from the provisional count, which until verified, remain just that, provisional!

Most importantly, on her watch Australia lost PNG to the Chinese. The lessons of the Kokoda campaign have been forgotten. Most current troubles in PNG are caused not by the public actions of Chinese Communist Party stooges (official and companies), but by the covert actions. Kickbacks of 50% are the rule not the exception on all contracts. Any building is done with Chinese workers only, and badly. We have seen it in Africa, and are seeing it everywhere in the Pacific.

Completely agree Jemima, thanks for the comment. Even as someone who watches a fair helping of trash TV, not a fan of this. Seems like they really threw the baby out with the bathwater when ditching Australia Network, when it probably just needed to be better resourced and thought out. For those of us who put a lot of work into preparing submissions for reviews, it's also incredibly annoying when they are ignored. Or when a very similar topic comes around again a few years later with no lessons learned or concrete action from the first time it was investigated. In this case, the reviews you mention haven't even reported back and they are already being sidelined. A new and expedited way of wasting our time it seems.