Pacific and PNG Update 2013
June 27-28
Hedley Bull Lecture Theatre 1, Ground Floor, Hedley Bull Centre, Building 130
Last year we revived the Pacific Update tradition with a one-day event. This year, the Update returns as a two-day conference. June 27th is on the Pacific island region, and June 28th on PNG. This is an event not to be missed for anyone working on the region.
The keynote speech on June 28th will be delivered by the new University of PNG Vice Chancellor, Professor Albert Mellam, who will be talking on the critical subject of higher education reform in PNG.
The Update will be held back-to-back with the 25-26th of June State of the Pacific conference, also at the ANU. It is supported by the Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies Journal and by the Asian Development Bank Pacific Economic Management Technical Assistance. You can view the program here [pdf].
Note that you need to register separately for each day. Details and registration for day one, focussing on the Pacific, are available here. Details and registration for day two, focussing on PNG, are available here.
Devpolicy Annual Report 2012
Our 2012 Annual Report [pdf] is now available. Please have a look. If you don’t have time to read the full report, check out these two pages (available individually here [pdf] and here [pdf]), where we summarise our contributions in 2012 and our objectives for 2013. For a hard copy of the report, contact Macarena Rojas.
Mining and development: difficult questions
The week of May 20-24 featured big conferences in Sydney on mining and development. Michael Wulfson and Stephen Howes put out a policy brief Transparency in extractive industries: what has been achieved, and what more can Australia do? [pdf], summarised in this blog post. They argue that if Australia wants to be a leader in this area, it needs to do a lot more to promote transparency in the mining sector, including by requiring disclosure of payments listed on the Australian stock exchange – as the US and EU are now in the process of doing.
Margaret Callan gives her critical review of the week of conferences here. Her main criticism is that she “heard little about what is being achieved in practice,” perhaps because, despite all the rhetoric, little is in fact being achieved to align mining with development. Michael Wulfson adds his reflections on the week here, concluding that “conferences are good, but mandatory disclosure rules better.”
Events wrap
It has been a blockbuster month for events with the Centre hosting seven in total since our last newsletter (follow the links for access to videos, presentations, and podcasts).
The month began with the 2013-14 aid budget forum where a panel of experts provided fresh and in-depth analysis of what the just-announced 2013-14 budget means for the sector (see our accompanying blog series here).
We quickly moved on to ‘Devpolicy week’, where we hosted four events in quick succession. Paul Collier started us off discussing how the private sector can help the bottom billion. Ume Wainetti, National Coordinator of the PNG Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee, then floored us with her powerful call to action to combat family sexual violence in PNG. Her presentation is summarised in this blog. Former World Bank Chief Economists Francois Bourguignon then took us in a different direction discussing the startling trends caused by the globalisation of inequality. David Booth from the Overseas Development Institute finished the week questioning the importance of democracy based on a five-year research program that challenges the orthodoxies of good governance in Africa.
The month of May ended with a Q&A on disability-inclusive development, where a panel of leaders in the field of disability engaged in a rich discussion on the triumphs, challenges and way forward for ‘institutionalising’ disability-inclusive development.
Finally, in early June Professor John Gibson from the University of Waikato showed that poverty in PNG stagnated between the last two household surveys of 1996 and 2009/10.
Blog posts
Here is a list of Devpolicy blog posts (organised thematically) since our last newsletter, a month ago.
Blog digest
May blog digest: Problems with Australia’s volunteer program by Stephen Howes.
Aid
We have a problem with food by Ian Wishart.
The stories aid could tell by Terence Wood.
SWEDOW cows and rotting apricots: bad food aid proposals gaining support of MPs by Ashlee Betteridge.
Don’t keep the change: an update on the asylum-seeker levy on Australia’s aid program by Robin Davies.
A good news story: AusAID pushing forward on data transparency by Jonathan Pryke.
A new aid order in the Asian Century by Graham Brown, Robin Davies, Anthea Mulakala and Annmaree O’Keeffe.
Careers in development: an interview with Frédéric Jeanjean on the AusAID grad program, AYAD and working for the UN by Frédéric Jeanjean.
An ex-volunteer’s perspective on improving the Australian Volunteers program by Ashlee Betteridge.
The ODA/GNI ratio – does it reflect a government’s commitment to aid? By Angus Barnes.
The aid budget across the Tasman by Terence Wood and Joanna Spratt.
Third time disappointed AND the third largest aid increase ever by Stephen Howes.
Australia’s 2013-14 aid budget: the macroeconomic context by Anthony Swan.
Regional and country allocations in the 2013-14 aid budget by Matthew Dornan.
Global development policy
Combatting the resource curse: conferences and mandatory disclosure rules by Michael Wulfsohn.
Was it really a big week for mining and development? By Margaret Callan.
Why health services alone will not protect women’s reproductive rights by Julia Newton-Howes and Helene Gayle.
Transparency in extractive industries: time for Australia to show leadership by Michael Wulfsohn and Stephen Howes.
Pacific
Australian influence on WB and ADB loans to Fiji: the China factor by Wadan Narsey.
The power sector in the Pacific: big pay offs from limited reforms by Matthew Dornan, John Austin and Cori Alejandrino-Yap.
Australia’s ban on the World Bank and the ADB lending to Fiji by Stephen Howes.
The official evaluation of the Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme: an opportunity missed by Jesse Doyle and Stephen Howes.
In conversation with Sina Retzlaff by Tess Newton Cain.
PNG
Time for a new approach to improving governance in PNG? Try transparency and social mobilisation by Stephen Howes.
Anti-corruption on the front line: an interview with Sam Koim by Grant Walton.
Combatting family and sexual violence in PNG by Ume Wainetti.
PNG Sustainable Development Program to exit Ok Tedi by Stephen Howes.
Are Papua New Guineans stealing Australian jobs at the end of the resource boom? By Colin Filer.
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