Comments

Thank you Dr Ride. You make some very important points. Perhaps it would be good for us to look more closely at what is happening in Aboriginal Australia, Papua New Guniea, the Solomons, New Zealand (Maori) and so on as a comparative analysis, and see the changing face of culture in colonisation, with its contribution to violence within our societies. It is easy to point the finger at the rates of violence in our communities and blame culture. What is never discussed is the transgenerational layers of violence on Indigenous people, in the war zone experiences, the colonial interface of violence on Indigenous women, the intrusion into gender relationships, and the legitimisation of violence in its various forms, on Indigenous women by the colonial masters. The term 'gender-based violence has problems, from my perspective, unless we also look at the violence perpetrated during the war on populations whose countries were used to fight the war. We need to understand the trauma experienced in violent interactions, and how that is passed down across generations to now be named as culture.

I really appreciate what the oil search is doing. I am a nurse and has been working with Family Support Centre Angau for the last three years. I dont know if i can be of any use in helping with issues relating to gender based violence. I am very much interested in working in this organization

I just came back from Senegal and Mali, where chickens are everywhere. And I thought of Robyn, working to make sure they don't die off, as they do periodically just because that's what village chickens have always done. Enabling a robust chicken population in the developing world: what a formidable task! But with such a far reaching impact! And most importantly, such a long-term, relentless effort, unlike any project I've ever been involved with. Kudos to Robyn for the grit, the creativity and the dedication. The poor really need more people like her!

" I would also argue that domestic pressures ended the Sandline misadventure". No Bill treason by Singirok, the whole Australian & PNG media-press,radio,TV & Singirok&Co with help from his political opposition - encouragement of dissent & endlessly calling Sandline personnels murderers,heartless killers etc(emotive words) persuaded a lot of the general public to protests. I was in Port Moresby at that time and I sat in radio personality Roger Hauofa living room some of those evenings. Without Sir J intervention in Vanuatu it would be a divided country and a civil war would probably have eventuated with many loss of lives probably.If that military intervention ended in loss of PNG & civilian lives it could have ended his political career. More so with Sandline if a number of PNG soldiers & Bougainvillian civilians were killed, Sandline critics would have crucified Sir J. his political career would be over. Remember there was a general election coming up. Why would you Bill or anyone else risk doing something that you did not have to do that might end your career? Most people will not take the risk Sir J did what he thought would stop the fighting- his courage & conviction.

Another reason why the Samoa Diabetic Foot Clinic is effective and efficient is that the local staff invest a lot of time in following up with patients, encouraging them to return for regular check-ups and counselling. One-off treatments and poor compliance in taking medicine means patients were traditionally being lost to the health system, only returning later when they had developed more severe complications. The Samoa Diabetic Foot Clinic has significantly reduced that trend by vigorously following up with phone calls and text messages to encourage patients to return for regular check ups. This Clinic has a very low drop-out rate of diabetes patients which has, in turn, improved the effectiveness and efficiency of treatment.

H.E.O student-DWU I am doing a presentation on this Brief Policy Article today (Monday, 11/04/016) I would like to congratulate the author of the article, it was very useful. I would like to know more about the types of external and internal factors that is meant to either facilitate or restrain the current reform system of PNG.

Gulf province is no way near to other provinces because by comparing it, we have a mentality problem. others do have it but have common understanding of each other. so call big shots with the officers running the affairs of the province are not thinking for better Gulf tomorrow. services were not provided well for the last 40yrs....what a shame. colonial infrastructure are deteriorating and nothing is been replaced..

Dear Professor Howes, Your post analysis of 2016 Budget is a wake-up call for the Government. Our spending is so excessive, beyond the match of decreasing revenue. Part of revenue is serving the borrowing commitments, putting huge pressure on essential public programs and commitments including salaries. Your suggestion on expenditure reform and supplementary budget is urgent to get the economy back on track.

Thank you Stephen for the PNG budgetary analysis and pointing out some of the causes, why the economy is currently facing huge budget difficulties. There are also other major contributing factors that had huge impact on the budget and cash flow surplus situation in PNG as well for the last 18 months or so. Briefly, the following will give you a heads up. • Huge borrowing from external and domestic funders-estimate debts has gone up to over K25billion (over the limit of 35% under the Fiscal Management & Responsibility Act) with some due for repayment which the country is unable to repay and has gone into co-financing to repay, increasing the debts. • The projection of expected revenue annually is higher that the country’s revenue, some expected revenue has slipped off unaccounted, therefore, there is huge unfunded commitment around the country, the recent claim about the economy is being affected by external shock like the low world oil prices is an unreasonable excuse. • Lately in the last 12 months, huge spending goes into projects that have no benefit to the nation, or of little impact as far as socio-economic development is concern. • Many of the economic decision made by the government in the last 2 years or so is outside the annual budget limit, therefore the true picture of state of the economy is not declared, thus kept to few individuals who take a band aid approach creating one problem to the next. • Huge corruption in PNG, starting from the highest levels down to the customer service counters is an ignorant issue in PNG. Because of this it create opportunities for private sectors to creep in with their sweet fatty bucks. Talk to someone in PNG and its mindboggling what you can hear. • The INA and TI in PNG are critical of the country’s economy as well as other institutional issues, but something is still missing to make the heads turn, good leadership. • As you pointed out, budget cuts to churches and delay in salary payments, there are a host of other things as well, schools are currently closing early for break because TFF money is not coming in, and DSIP funds for some district have not been paid for the last 3-4 years, free health services policy existed on paper, outstanding state contribution to public servants superannuation and the list goes on.. • While the problem continuous to increase, the government seen fit to increase funding to small impact projects, million kina projects to foreign companies that have dubious records of professional experiences and even some were black listed by international system like WB. So the concern on PNG budget difficulties are not an error in budget figures but a host of other unwritten issues that underpins the difficulties as well. Thank you

While are a number of success indicators of the TFF policy as identified in the report, there are so many other problems also associated with the implementation of this policy. Some of them are discussed in the report and others include the following: • There wasn’t a review done on the Provincial Education Act (PEA) for each Province which encompasses among other principles the use of national and provincial grants to schools and how the TFF policy will be implemented. Previously, Provincial Education Board (PEB) determines much of the funding to schools in each Province depending on the needs on the ground, however, under the TFF policy, funding is provided directly to the schools bypassing PEB and PEA, so accountability which previously provided by PEB on school funding as per the PEA can no longer be in effect. • When there is no or limited accountability at the schools, the possibility of mismanagement of funds is very high. So far there have been reported cases of TFF funds being misused or thieved. • Under the TFF, funding is provided on the basis of enrollment list received by the National Education department, and not on the basis of needs and evidence about a particular school. The paradox is that, a school with big enrollment list does not imply that it requires huge funding to operate, or a school with small enrollment list has less problems and needs less funding. When you go down to the schools and see the situations there, it is totally different and much critical in the remote schools. • When the TFF policy was introduced, no detail preparation and induction provided to the schools on how to plan, manage, use and report on the funding. Teachers are trained to teach, not to be budget officers or accountants. School board of managements is a mere part time role played by local leaders with not so much aptitude on managing funds. Either a full time non-teaching staff is employed to do the book keeping and the procurement side of school needs or outsource such role which will involve a cost. Previously these roles were played by staff at the PEB office. • The TFF policy is interested in sending money directly to the schools, and not investing in upskilling the teachers at the schools to absorb the increase demand in the school as a result of the TFF policy. Teaches are stressed out with increase enrollment and demand for resources and teachers time, however, with better upskilling, teachers can meet the demand by delivering quality teachings. • Also as pointed out in the report, the needs in the schools and especially in the remote school, the cost of delivering a single improvement like a new classroom will cost more in the freight of building materials than the cost of the new classroom itself. That’s why PEB plays a key role in the management of TFF Policy. Thank you

Thank you for your further comments, I usually followed your PNG socio-political and economic commentaries over the last few years and I read the useful insights and matter of facts information you articulated on PNG. We also have INA, NRI and others that offer useful suggestions and warnings. However, some people in PNG were ignorant and complacent in their own little world and over-indulged in their amusement that not providing the right leadership in governing the institutions and the resources of the country. As you expressed, some act of personality that bluntly restricted you from traveling to PNG. It is personalities that sometimes make people and institutions work different in PNG. Thank you again for the invaluable commentaries.

As members of the rich world, we must be increasingly aware of the exploitative practices that are sometimes employed in relation to migrant workers. The establishment of supplier codes of practice such as GlobalGAP are an important part of a fair free world economy. That New Zealand has ten times more suppliers who have signed up to this code than Australia is worrying and embarrassing – Australia is well behind on strategies to maintain ethical practice. We as consumers should avoid buying from or investing in the big supermarket chains that use unethical practices, as <a href="https://www.australianethical.com.au/news/why-we-dont-invest-coles-or-woolworths/" rel="nofollow">Australia Ethical Investment explains</a>. It is also important to consider what these opportunities represent for a labour surplus country? Timor-Leste participates in the seasonal workers program with Australia, and they also have an agreement for a temporary workers scheme allowing young Timorese to go for 3-5 years’ work in South Korea. Research into the experiences of young Timorese workers returning from South Korea found that the income and remittances were only part of the benefits sought by workers. These workers were looking to develop their skills and knowledge to develop their own businesses when they returned to Timor-Leste, particularly in relation to improved agricultural practices. A well run program which supports the workers not only while overseas but also on their return can have substantial benefits for the local economy, and for the goodwill towards the recipient country.