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Timor-Leste also provided aid to the three Ebola-affected countries in West Africa that are also g7+ members.

Thank you Tess and Ashlee.

Hi Garth, there's a <a href="http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/iaps/documents/project/inoue.pdf" rel="nofollow">paper here</a> summarising Timor-Leste's ad-hoc humanitarian aid. I know it has given support to Guinea-Bissau for elections and so on (though some of that was technical assistance, not necessarily cash aid). Because of its critical role in establishing the g7+, the Timor-Leste government sees scope for fragile states to help other fragile states and so on, and is very keen on south-south cooperation.

Some information about PNG aid to Vanuatu and Solomon Islands here: http://news.pngfacts.com/2015/05/pm-oneill-bilateral-meeting-summary.html

What a remarkable man. Vale Anthony Clunies-Ross.

Do you have any idea of the size of these Stephen?

Papua New Guinea has made numerous pledges in the last few years, particularly to other Melanesian countries but also to the Pacific region as a whole.

PNG and Timor both run aid programs. Vietnam provides aid, at least to Laos.

I wonder what this means: The Treasurer then argued that we were sending aid to countries that were “in some cases, providing aid themselves” With the exception of Indonesia which has given small amounts of aid (eg. <a href="http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2012/07/25/Indonesia-emerging-aid-donor.aspx?COLLCC=2365339945&amp" rel="nofollow">see her</a>e) does anyone know any countries that receive bilateral aid from Australia that could be called aid donors? Pakistan perhaps?

Thank you Busa and John for this article. Some of the issues currently seen from the 'buai ban' reiterates the importance (or not) of the informal sector. The chief problem with the Informal Sector Act 2004 appears to be the lack of enforcement. Aligning certain legislation with national policies is critical, but unless an enactment is properly administered and enforced, there's little to be gained in terms of reform. Perhaps the sensitivity surrounding informal sector economy may have restricted a functioning enforcement mechanism. Another issue that is often missing in discussions concerning informal sector is the influx of foreign entities engaging covertly in informal economy. Under the Act, the informal sector is reserved for Papua New Guineans. However, what is increasingly happening in the country, especially on the streets, is that people are being used as conduit to sell store items from shops. They call them 'street-sellers' and most of them are teenagers, even some are under-aged to be engaged in labour. This 'street selling' may have fall under informal sector economy, but authorities failed to realise that it is part of a pervasive and exploitative business venture. Foreign companies that are using these conduit to sell on the streets are exploiting a gap in the informal sector legislation that does not extensively regulate the supplier of goods on informal market. The present reform needs look beyond its narrow scope of policy and institutional orientation to take into account these concerns that borders on human rights, corporate illegality and economic sustainability.

Lovely to read, and such a generous tribute.

I have long admired Joel's work on Africa. I look forward to entering the debate more fully when I am free to do so after my return to Australia in September. However, I want to put a little balance into the Security Council/Africa discussion. I know for a fact that the increase in aid to Africa was decided long before the 2007 election. Kevin Rudd and I had our first discussion of this question even before he was leader and I became Shadow Minister. On another matter, the emphasis on mining was a direct result of requests from African governments. We would articulate our priorities and then they would regularly ask us to add mining to the list. So we did and I believe it was a good idea. More from me on all this after I return.