“This will be a good shared project with the Noosa end being convened on a voluntary basis by Keith Jackson, who has a long association with PNG,” he said. “The project will encourage young people and community leaders in our respective regions to engage with each other.”

Projek Wantok (Project Friendship) will establish a voluntary committee in both Simbu and Noosa which will include elected members of the respective governments and leaders in schools, business, the arts, the environment, churches and women’s organisations.

The committees will initiate and manage collaborative activities and promote them within the respective regions.

The objectives of the relationship are to:

Encourage contact and productive engagement between individuals, organisations, churches and schools in our respective regions.

Extend the hand of friendship across our cultures and provide the peoples of Simbu and Noosa with a strong connection to a different culture.

Promote the Papua New Guinea - Australia relationship at a citizen level.

Provide support to our counterparts in Simbu where this is feasible.

Indicative projects may include linking Simbu and Noosa rugby league through an information exchange, undertaking a comparative study of the role of government in the community in each region, establishing inter-school links, providing support for existing Simbu welfare programs, Noosa businesses mentoring emergent Kundiawa tourism personnel, mounting a Simbu art exhibition in Noosa and encouraging literary exchanges and conducting a comparative study of women’s equity issues and domestic violence in each region.

For the most part, this project will be managed by email communication and similar virtual means with occasional face-to-face contact between individuals or organisations if deemed desirable and if funding is available.

It is not intended that the project will impose financial obligations on either government. Publicly advertised grants, corporate sponsorships and private donations may be sought where funding is required.

In the first instance, Projek Wantok will be established for a period of one year with a review by both governments to determine whether it is delivering the worthwhile results that would warrant its continuation.

* Centre of government