Comments

I was one of the few Australians in the audience in New York at the launch last week. It was pleasing to see Australia, the Foreign Minister and DFAT visible, and positively so. It seems clear to me that whatever else is done re the Innovation Hub investments, Australia needs to be more visible in global fora. The week prior in DC at the USAID Frontiers in Development two-day event, Australia was noticeably absent yet our content and contribution to the global debate could at worst be equal. I am enthused Australia is contributing. I am optimistic we will also create a space of leadership through our 'new aid paradigm'.

Hi Stephen. I think the pilot idea is a step in the right direction. While there is no standard visa pathway, this can be created easily enough via employer sponsored visas and it wouldn't require any migration reform (a mechanism called labour agreements using 457 visas). Further, it's like the new migration agreements announced for Darwin will include general aged care workers, not just nurses. I believe this skill level and occupation in migration programs will be required into the future and you'll see an expansion of this "semi-skilled" occupation eligibility. I also think it's probably a good idea to start in Tonga. This appears hard enough and being located in Tonga reduces one of the major risks, matching up migrants and employers. Hopefully over time, if the pilot succeeds, it can expand with some additional emphasis on that matching process which has failed to date in the SWP. I wrote about some of the migration opportunities in response to your paper <a href="http://henrysherrell.wordpress.com/2014/05/26/generating-skilled-migration-the-australian-pacific-technical-college-and-labour-mobility/" rel="nofollow">on my blog</a>. I'm optimistic given this type of labour is very different to unskilled labour which backpackers do and employers get a lot out of a more permanent relationship. We already see it at the trades-level via the substantial number of Filipino 457 visa holders in Australia. Incidentally, I know the IOM here in Dili are currently writing a National Action Plan for labour mobility so this is obviously a major topic of interest for a range of countries in the region. Cheers Henry

In Tonga last week I was struck by the number of taxi drivers who had participated in the SWP. About half of the 16 or so drivers I met had gone to Australia under the scheme (to a range of places - Griffith and Mildura were mentioned several times). All lived in Nuku'alofa, all spoke highly of the experience, and all planned to return.

Thanks for this post Stephen, I think it raises some important points and illustrates the need to think about 'joining up' initiatives with what's going on in numerous environments. One additional point is that a primary reason for APTC adopting the 'top up' approach to provision of training is to the political ramifications of competing with national VET institutions that offer qualifications up to Cert II. And by upskilling those already in industry it avoids creating a glut of people with qualifications that can't get jobs in those areas where the private sector is too small to employ them all. The Tonga initiative is interesting on numerous levels, not least why it is that Tonga seems to be the 'preferred supplier' when it comes to new labour mobility initiatives from Australia. If, as you and Jonathan have written elsewhere, it is the case that labour mobility options are more important for the countries of Melanesia surely we would expect to see an initiative similar to this one in this part of the Pacific some time soon.

Have there been any studies benchmarking humanitarian in-kind aid against humanitarian direct cash transfers (at diff levels)? I'd be keen to see that. R

EA, you make some reasonable points. But it seems to me that for many IFC technical assistance programs that are donor-funded, the organisation's main focus is on satisfying donors rather than its local government or business clients. IFC's status as a multi-lateral agency also gives it some prestige and, I suspect, immunity from the more immediate consequences a private consulting firm might suffer if it failed to deliver reasonable outcomes for its clients. Nonetheless I agree with your point that IFC may have a different kind of skin in the game than a private sector organisation.

Joel, Thanks for the comment, and query. I've got several responses. First, we know that several hundred dollars have been set aside in this year's budget (see our budget analysis from earlier in the year), so there would be no problem finding more humanitarian aid this year. Second, longer-term, we should in my view be looking to make our aid program more focused on disasters and humanitarian responses. I don't have many sectoral or country preferences, but this would be one. We know it is an area where aid generally works, and it is underfunded, and there is strong public support. We're not going to be able to give large amounts to Indonesia indefinitely. I would be looking to the humanitarian budget to soak up the excess. In twenty years time, we might have a very small aid program to Indonesia, but we should still have a very large (and much larger than currently) humanitarian aid budget. Third, I do view humanitarian aid as a benchmark for all aid, or even for all government spending. Of course it would be great if we could actually help societies develop, but let's face it, we're often not very good at it. I think it would be useful if we always asked of any proposed expenditure: is my $x million of TA/capacity building/system strengthening/scholarships/research worth more than $x million of humanitarian aid. It's a difficult question to answer, but a useful one to ask. Regards, Stephen.

Interesting article Robin. Of interest to DFAT may be the upcoming ICAI review of DFID's treatment of impact, see TOR here: http://icai.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/ICAI-Impact-ToRs-FINAL-040314.pdf . You suggest that DFAT should consider organisational and administrative factors more when assessing performance. The imminent ICAI review will be looking at the role that DFID's processes and tools (i.e. theories of change, country strategies, the reams of documents that guide program implementation etc) play in the 'delivery of impact'. A laudable goal, but a tough gig when you don't know what the impact is in the first place!!

Well said Tom. looking forward to reading your book.

Peter, thank for your response and I couldn't agree more about your concerns regarding the need to improve people to people links between PNG and Australia. Pacific Conversations was introduced to the Devpolicy blog as a way of getting Pacific voices onto a platform that has a lot of Australian readers and I hope others will, like you, be looking out for Stella to buy and enjoy. I am also involved in the Australia-Papua New Guinea Network - you can find out more about that here: http://auspng.lowyinstitute.org/

I like to comment Tess on giving Papua New Guineans an opportunity to air their views on the relationship between Australia in many aspects. It seems government to government is working, there is dialogue between both countries however the ordinary people of both countries do not seem to know each other well. Amanda's honest expression of what she thinks about that relationship is commendable having coming from both backgrounds. From my own experiences down under, I find it difficult to come to terms with when I said I am from PNG and the wantok (the Australian friend) doesn't know a thing about where PNG is! This is ridiculous because at least on average, a PNGan knows a thing or two about Australia and yet the Australians seem ignorant about PNG, which is just above them in the north! I think Australian schools should put more emphasis on PNG in geography lessons if they want to call us neighbours. PNG is just less than 3 or so hours from Cairns or Brisbane! The positive note on this relationship at the moment is the endless trips to and from both countries in sports related travels. Other groups like womens' fellowships, youth groups, church groups and NGOs need to bring both countries together by having exchange arrangements to really filter into both countries to show that we are close friends! Amanda's Stella is a positive way to bridge the gap between both genders in PNG and Australia! To be honest I saw Stella on bookshelves and adverts but have no clue what it was until now. I will have to purchase one and read and am sure my three daughters will want to read it as we are all bookworms. I want my daughters to be someone rather than someone's tool and Stella should give them that confidence. Thank you Amanda for being honest about your country PNG, unlike others who pretend to be someone else rather than being frank about their nationality.

The Australian government would probably argue that it is spending a lot on humanitarian assistance, around $3 billion a year, in the form of off-shore processing of asylum seekers. In the view of the current government and its predecessor, this is saving lives and therefore could be considered a form of humanitarian assistance. While some of us may think $3 billion could be spent in much better ways, e.g. restoring our ODA to the target of reaching 0.7% of GNI, that has little traction with our current crop of politicians.