Back to Wallis: “Australia makes it difficult for Pacific people to come to Australia. It hosts temporary Pacific workers under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, as well as Pacific students, many of whom are funded by Australia Awards. But these programs often have culturally, economically and legally exclusionary consequences…. If Australia genuinely sees itself as part of the ‘Pacific family’ (sic), why do we throw open our door to Europeans and Americans, but not to Pacific people?”

HOW TO WIN FRIENDS & BRIBE PEOPLE

The Australian government on behalf of the Australian taxpayer coughed up some billions over the years to Australian contractors to make sure, contrary to international law, that asylum seekers were confined in barbaric conditions on Manus and Nauru. To enable this to be achieved, said contractors paid bribes in the sum of millions to PNG and Nauruan politicians and bureaucrats.

Veteran (means ‘good and reliable’) journalist Jack Waterford writes: “Perish the thought that the Australian government itself would stoop to bribe and corrupt politicians, even in such a notoriously corrupt neighbourhood…. After all, the Australian parliament has explicitly legislated to ban bribes, kickbacks and other forms of corruption by Australian companies operating abroad.”

EXPOSING CARNAGE AT KIWIROK, WEST PAPUA

Matthew Jamieson reports on recent field work by the PNG Integral Human Development Trust that has resulted in a video documentary by Kristo Langker about Indonesian rocket and drone attacks on villages near Kiwirok, West Papua. The film specifically investigates the October 2021 attack and its shocking aftermath. You can also link here to the Trust’s own report on continuing attacks and criminal human rights violations against the Ngalum-Kupel people.

GOOD LOVE-IN IF YOU HAVE THE MOOLAH

The 11th Oceanic Art Society Forum will be held on Saturday 21 October in Melbourne at a cut price $395 if you buy the ‘early bird’ ticket before the end of August. This features “a full day of presentations by a range of distinguished international speakers” but doesn’t include the “gala dinner” which is extra.

The forum will be held at the private Melbourne Savage Club, founded in 1894 and known for its extensive art and ethnographic collections. The Gala Dinner will also take place in this “bohemian setting”. For some lucky Early Birders, the program will actually start on Friday 20 October with a tour of the Melbourne Museum’s storage rooms. This “exclusive morning tour can be followed by a visit to the Alex Philips Oceanic Gallery by those who elect to receive an invitation.” You gotta be in it to win it.