As a regional power, it’s important that Australia publicly demonstrates its commitment to the rule of law in the region.

So it is heartening to see that on the back of a media investigation into PNG money laundering (which has gone viral on PNG social media sites), Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has spoken out about Australia’s role as a destination for PNG’s dirty money.

In a recent Fairfax media article, she is quoted as saying:

We take very seriously allegations that the proceeds of crime in PNG and the proceeds of corruption can be laundered in Australia…We are working closely with PNG to ensure Australia is not a safe haven for the proceeds of corruption.

Of course, these words need to be matched by action – specifically investigation into the transnational flow of corrupt funds – but Bishop’s response is welcome. It was also good to see Bishop saying that Australian authorities recently recovered $574,000 of ‘misused’ aid money.

Still there’s more that needs to be said (and done) about political corruption in PNG. We are still waiting for Australia to publically condemn the defunding of Taskforce Sweep. And Australia should be speaking out about Peter O’Neill’s refusal to submit to an arrest warrant, which was issued last year but is still being contested in the courts.

Australia doesn’t need to become the Pacific’s morality police (there’s plenty of corruption here), but as Stephen Howes and I argued in August last year, it should speak out when there have been flagrant attacks on anti-corruption institutions and legal processes in the Pacific.

Let’s hope that Bishop’s recent statement is just the beginning of a more meaningful conversation about corruption in PNG, and between PNG and Australia.