A historic meeting of the management committee of the Papua New Guinea Association yesterday decided to ask the Association’s membership to agree to extend and reprioritise the organisation’s objectives to give pre-eminence to strengthening the Australia-PNG relationship.

After a vigorous but amicable discussion, the 15 members of the committee present voted unanimously to a set of seven objectives, which will be put to a vote of all 1,600 members at a Special General Meeting to be held in April 2009.

If members agree to the changes, and a great deal of informal support for them already has been expressed, the first objective of the PNGAA will become “to strengthen the civil relationship between the peoples of Australia and Papua New Guinea”. Other new objectives will formalise the Association’s activities as a publisher and give it a role in providing “appropriate financial, material or intellectual assistance to projects of benefit to Papua New Guinea” whether on its own or in conjunction with other agencies.

While all the Association’s existing activities will be maintained under the new objectives, the additional functions will provide the PNGAA with a role that will take it far beyond its origins as an organisation for retired expatriate PNG officials.

They will become the focal point of energetic efforts within the Association to recruit new members whose interests lie in the current Australia-PNG relationship as well as in the historical relationship.

The new objectives which will be put to the membership are:

(1) To strengthen the civil relationship between the peoples of Australia and Papua New Guinea;

(2) To foster and encourage contact and friendship with Papua New Guineans and promote friendly association among members;

(3) To foster and maintain an interest in contemporary and historical events in Papua New Guinea;

(4) To provide appropriate financial, material or intellectual assistance to projects of benefit to Papua New Guinea as an Association individually or in conjunction with other agencies;

(5) To publish journals, magazines, newsletters, websites, books and other media to inform and educate people about Papua New Guinea and to provide a means of communication among members of the Association and others;

(6) To encourage the preservation of documents, historical and cultural material related to Papua New Guinea, including the production and recording of oral and written histories;

(7) To continue to safeguard and foster the retirement conditions of superannuated members of the former services in Papua New Guinea.