BY KEITH JACKSON

OVER THE LAST couple of days you may have been witness to a little family spat on PNG Attitude.

It occurred between some of our most prolific – and I dare I say, most valued - contributors. The General, the Admiral and Moses.

The General is Bruce Copeland. He never attained such rank in his Army career, Major was as close as he got. When he puts his mind to it, Bruce can write like a dream; but he can bore like a woodworm when he doesn’t put said mind to said it.

As the editor, I never know whether I’m going to be delighted or despairing. Life around Bruce is such a rich tapestry of verbal conflict.

The Admiral is Reginald Renagi – a real family favourite of many of our readers. Reg never got to be an Admiral, of course, but in the PNG Navy he got a lot closer to it than Bruce ever came to being a General.

Reg writes about how things might be. Every society needs its Reg’s. Yes, they can frustrate because the goals they espouse are often beyond us; and because they rarely tell us precisely how to attain them.

But we need people like Reg; people who are willing to write, to let us know what those goals ought to be. Quibble not with the idealist; it is a necessary role.

And who is Moses? My curmudgeonly mate John Fowke is Moses. John had laboured up the mountain and, in doing so, had discovered some profound truths.

And having discovered them, he now labours down the mountain - when he must have thought his labours might have been over - to share those truths and ensure they are heard. Heard just doesn’t mean listened to. It means acknowledged. And acted upon.

Few of our readers would appreciate just how hard John works at this. If all our aid agency workers laboured as conscientiously, as intelligently and as passionately, PNG would be a far better place. So would Australia.

Over these recent days I have had to exercise the editorial axe with a gusto that I profoundly dislike. I much prefer an open debate, untrammelled by some so-called editor. But the conflict was getting a little close to the bone. A little too personal.

What readers may not appreciate is how our contributors go offline – and use emails between each other – to resolve issues that may cause personal offence. I didn’t invent that recourse, but I think it’s a damn good system. However, sometimes it doesn't work. The public forum is too tempting.

Not that readers object to a bit of conflict (after all, the mass media thrive on it and yesterday readership on PNG Attitude surged to 30% higher than average), but there is a fine line in here somewhere – where personal conflict turns us off instead of switching us on.

PNG Attitude is not a physical property. It is information. If you gave PNG Attitude a shovel, it could not dig a hole. If you gave it an SP, it could not drink it. If you gave it a million kina, it would probably waste it. Just like AusAID.

Do not expect PNG Attitude to solve many problems. But expect it to raise them, debate them and espouse solutions to them (which it cannot give effect to, even where they are half sensible).

There is only one issue PNG Attitude, as an entity, ever wanted to – and continues to want to – address. The issue of the long silence that existed for too long between ordinary Papua New Guineans who live in PNG and ordinary Australians who live in Australia. People like us.

[I'll write another time on how Australians let down the relationship after PNG's independence.]

That silence (which denied a truly fraternal friendship and deep knowledge, one of the other) is beginning to recede - a little. Subscriptions to our free newsletter (now numbering well over 600 subscribers) are evenly divided between the people of our two countries. And the readers of this website are representative of our two countries (and also a significant representation beyond).

People who are in jobs where they can effect solutions also read this website and its accompanying PNG Attitude newsletter [free, monthly, email here]. But there are many of us who can only occupy the sidelines and cheer. Or wail.

That said, we’re all vital to the task – as some patriot once said: They also serve who only stand and wait.

But – General, Admiral, Moses – we particularly need you, and are in your debt.

We thank you for your knowledge, strength and passion. And we thank you mostly because you give a damn.