“There has to be a careful discussion, not a complicated and academic one, but working through the issues until both sides are clear about what it is they are prepared to argue about,” he said.

“Even then it still has to go to the national parliament which has the final say over whatever the outcome of the referendum might be.

“But there are quite practical issues that need to be addressed.

“Would Bougainvillean university students still have access to mainland universities? Would people be able to move freely around the world - there are all sorts of arrangements, free association between formally independent entities which allow for certain kinds of freedom of movement, shared institutions and so on.”

Prof Wolfers said the Bougainville Peace Agreement does not state that Bougainville has a right to independence “but that doesn't stop people saying that they have”.

He said the referendum (due next year) on Bougainville’s political future was “a very contentious insertion into the agreement [and] there is even a provision in the Bougainville Constitution [that] in certain, very limited, circumstances it might be possible not to hold a referendum, but it is extremely unlikely that that would ever be the case.

“I haven't heard anyone say, in Bougainville, that it shouldn't go ahead, but as a matter of law there's that possibility,” Prof Wolfers said.