Comments

A thoughtful and insightful article Emma which exposes how reckless and damaging the decisions on immigration and refugees, of successive governments involving both major parties, have been to our (Australia's) reputation, our own record on the rule of law and probity, and our relationships with our closest neighbour PNG. It is hard to overstate the long term consequences to the relationships and to the way in which we are seen now by the people of PNG. In the same process we have probably done untold damage to PNG's image thus potentially further damaging it economically. Thank you.

Thanks Garth - that's a classic victory of numbers over journalist. To be (very) picky, he was being a bit selective once he got onto politics and governance. My understanding (could be wrong; worth double checking) is that WB governance indicators haven't been improving over time in recent years (same true with democratisation). (As an aside, this brings a puzzle: if governance is so important, why are other things still getting better.) Still this is a minor comment. I liked the video, thanks for sharing.

Terrence, I think <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxxx03_JHlM" rel="nofollow">this short video</a> is one of his best.

Post Courier (PC) will have to apologize to PNG about this misleading and inaccurate article. When I saw the headline on 17 January, I didn't buy the paper. Because that's what PC wanted us to do - buy the paper for extra revenue. And I suspect, PC increased the number of prints for that day compared to other days. Interestingly, the topic of 'porn' sold big that day, and it would be interesting to know the total revenue generated that day. I also agree with Issac's comments above. The data rate is very expensive, data access via 2G/3G in the highlands and many parts of this country even in the capital city like Port Moresby is very slow and unreliable at times. This makes it very hard to watch videos or download images online. Now, I am curious to know if people who type the word 'porn' actually have the patience to wait to download or watch online. Also, I'd like to know if Google Trend actually could give us data on porn (videos/images) DOWNLOADS, WATCHED, etc. so we can work on some real facts and figures. Maybe, some people type the word 'porn' and seeing that the results are taking time to load, they turn off or quit and switch to social media or other searches. Well, all PC did was to sell big at the expense of our good country. We need an apology! Thanks Amanda. PC should also publish your well-researched article. Even though you are Australian, you are a true Papua New Guinean! Cheers Stanley

Thanks Stephen. Fair point; it will be hard to enable cheaper formal sector housing, particularly at levels affordable for the majority of the urban (or soon to be urban) population without major government focus, and support from partners. It will be interesting to see what the ongoing housing work (housing profile, followed by the preparation of a national housing policy) focuses on.

Thanks Martin for the comment. I agree rural development is important. But globally urbanisation has been one of the defining trends of modern times. More movement to towns and cities is likely inevitable, including in Solomon Islands. Solomon Islands may need to accept - and adequately prepare for - this ongoing tide.

Thanks Amanda, Post-Courier owes a public apology to PNG for sensationalizing unsubstantiated materials by Google Trends to brand us 'porn searchers'. The least they could do is run your article (with your/ANU's permission) in the paper. Cheers!

Ian -- I suggest looking at the comments on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-what-are-the-facts-on-australias-foreign-aid-spending-71146" rel="nofollow">related article</a> published on The Conversation, and the responses to some of those from myself and others from the Development Policy Centre. They touch on both the effectiveness-over-time question (challenging, as you say) and your question about what was and is counted as part of Australia's aid effort.

It would be interesting (and challenging) to also reflect on the legitimacy and effectiveness with the spending over time too. Do you have comments on what is/was counted as Aid and how that has changed over time?

Gai -- Yes, the ABS Year Books were based on data from across government. Colombo Plan expenditure was included in the reported aid figures. For example, in 1969-70 the total amount of aid reported was $166 million, which included about $23 million in Colombo Plan expenditure (covering 1,635 people in training, including 949 new awards), $17 million in bilateral aid for countries other than PNG, $11 million in multilateral contributions and $115 million in budget support and other costs associated with PNG. Expenditure on the 'Commonwealth Co-operation in Education' program (only $885,000) was reported as being administered by the Department of Education and Science, budget support for PNG ($96 million) by the Department of External Territories, and contributions to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank ($6.5 million) by the Treasury. The implication is that all other assistance was administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs, though this is not stated.

Thank you Amanda for the nice analysis of the article and the issue discussed. I posted on Facebook branding the publication as media stunt to sell the paper without in-depth consideration to facts and knowledge on the subject by the journalist responsible and the editor. Such reporting continues to trashed the standard of Journalism in Papua New Guinea and the media fraternity and its role in development

Hi Amanda, I totally agree with your article, well researched and presented. Post Courier article was misleading, inaccurate and lacks proper researched skills. Thank you very much for making it clear in your Article.