BERNARD CORDEN

When politicians offer you something for nothing, or something that sounds
too good to be true, it's always worth taking a careful second look - Malcolm Turnbull

After the leadership spill, Tony Abbott was replaced by Mr Harbourside Mansion and the subsequent farewell party at parliament house with his flour gang was a boisterous affair.

Damage during the cabinet anteroom shenanigans was limited to a shattered ornate Italian marble coffee table and several shards were later discovered in ministerial offices.

BERNARD CORDEN

There are no factions in the Liberal Party - Tony Abbott

BRISBANE - The cracks under Rudd rapidly turned into chasms and provided an ideal opportunity for yet another unflushable turd on the neoliberal gravy train to seize power.

Tony Abbot, the former seminarian and surrogate love child of John Howard and Margaret Thatcher was a renowned bruiser and head kicker without a skerrick of emotional intelligence.

BERNARD CORDEN

I am not a socialist. I have never been a socialist
and I never will be a socialist - Kevin Rudd

BRISBANE - Rejecting capitalism and replacing it with an authentic democratic socialist society is much more imperative today than it was since voting was first granted in Australia over a century ago.

It is somewhat paradoxical that throughout those years most of its progressive governments have done very little or absolutely nothing to achieve their fundamental aims and objectives.

BERNARD CORDEN

Soon, if we are not prudent, millions of people will be watching each other
starve to death through expensive television sets - Aneurin Bevan

BRISBANE - Aneurin (Nye) Bevan was the visionary architect behind Britain’s National Health Service, which was inspired by the Tredegar Medical Aid Society’s scheme and established immediately following World War II.

It encountered some stubborn resistance from the British Medical Association even though it was a major piece of social reform that offered a free health service for UK citizens, irrespective of their socioeconomic status.

ALLAN PATIENCE
| Pearls & Irritations

MELBOURNE - In October 2012, Australia’s prime minister Julia Gillard released a White Paper titled Australia in the Asian Century.

The paper offered a lightweight commentary about a coming Asian century and provided a few thought bubbles on how Australia might respond to such a development.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

The late Sir Mekere Morauta - an honourable man

WAIGANI – On one special day in 1999, Papua New Guinea’s politicians made a dreadful mistake.

They decided to go with a prime minister who offered the country integrity and intelligence.

He played it cool, got elected and instituted reforms that in less than two years killed the cash cows MPs relied on.

A G SATORI

A heartfelt plea in Tok Pisin and English

Dear plaim minista James Marape
Tenkio lo yu na kavman blo yu, mi no moa nau lukim ol susa meri ya.
Mi save sitaun long asskumurere tiwai na sitaun wantaim pespuk.
Wonem yu na kavman mekim, em pisnis plo yu.
Wonem mi na ol klasrutz mekim, em pisnis plo mipla.
Mipla klasrutz laikim moa yet moa yet pespuk.
Mipla laik mekim moa yet moa yet pisnis plo mipla luksave long ol susa ya O.
Wai na, wai stret yu pasim wok pespuk.
Aiyo, nau ol poromahn ya bun na pol plo ol slek tru tru.
Ol sikaut igo lo yu.
Plis plis, bai mipla amen tru tru lo yu.
Kivim bek pespuk O pikla blo mipla O Plaim Minista
Moneiya, em faifpla tei nau nau pun plo mipla silek nogut tru ya.
Yu laikim mipla pulim pusnaip em ino moa sap moa na ko long wok.
Wonem wok yu laikim mipla mekim.  Bun slek pinis long taim igo pinis.
Nau yu kilim indai nupla wok mipla save mekim.
Oiyo, plis plis O Plaim Minista O, kivim pek pesbuk.
Em wonem? Pangu nogat moa save.  Pangu nogat rot moa.
Pun slek moa ya.  Pangu mas soim rot na iko kisim ikam pesbuk.
Mi ya AG Satori peten stlong long yu O.

Dear prime minister James Marape
Thanks to you and your government, I can’t get in touch with my family and other relatives back in my village
Right now I’m sitting beneath a gum tree where I’m usually with my Facebook
What are you and the government doing with your politics?
What are me and all the grassroots people supposed to do with ourselves?
We grassroots love Facebook
We need to conduct plenty of business, plenty, and also look after pur relatives in this way
Why oh why really have you stopped Facebook from working?
Hey, now all my mates and other friends are hanging around with nothing to do
We’re sick of you
Please, we’d truly, really truly, like to see the back of you
Give us back our Facebook oh leader of us prime minister
It’s been five days now and we’re tired and demotivated
Do you think we can reach for our bush knives? That’s not how we work now
What work is it you actually want us to do? These are not the days we left a long time ago
What you’ve done is kill the new kind of work we do
Eh, please oh please prime minister, return our Facebook
What’s it about? Doesn’t Pangu know anything? You don’t seem to have direction ay more
Our bodies are tired. They’re lazy. Pangu needs to show us the way forward and give us our Facebook
I’m AG Satori petitioning you with all my strength.

MATHIAS KIN & KEITH JACKSON

Peter Tsiamalili Jr is a smart guy, but the police minister needs to avoid sweeping government decisions that throw out the babies with the bathwater.  

MATHIAS REPORTS....

Mathias Kin and Ingrid Jackson on the road to Gembogl many moons ago

KUNDIAWA – I know that people in Australia have been watching closely the recent political developments in Papua New Guinea. In recent years, there have been numerous threats by the government to ban Facebook and other social media sites.

Then yesterday, when our Facebook accounts appeared on our phones and tablets, they gave this message, "Please check your internet connection and try again.”  Since then, Facebook accounts across the country have not been working.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

PORT MORESBY - I’m working on a paper looking at possible explanations of how Papua New Guinea has survived as a democracy despite lacking strong democratic principles.

I am reminded of the introduction in Ron May’s book on the first 25 years of PNG’s independence, State and Society in Papua New Guinea: The First Twenty-Five Years.

DDA WATCH
| A branch of the Act Now! civic advocacy group

PORT MORESBY – The new corruption perceptions index (CPI) figures, released on 11 February by Transparency International, highlight Papua New Guinea’s failure to deal with widespread corruption.

PNG is classified as having a ‘high perceived risk of corruption’ which has shown ‘no meaningful progress’ in anti-corruption efforts. It is the worst ranked country in the Pacific Islands region and ranks 127th out of 180 countries globally.

IAN LING-STUCKEY
| PNG Minister for Treasury

State Owned Enterprises Minister William Duma,  Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey and Foreign Affairs Minister Justin Tkachenko,  Hilton Hotel,  Port Moresby,  December 2024

PORT MORESBY - The recent announcement of a K1.4 billion budget support loan from Australia is good news for Papua New Guinea.

The Australian loan interest of 4.2% is only half the rate of the expensive commercial loans pursued by the former O'Neill government of 8.4% plus high up-front costs in fees.

BUSA JEREMIAH WENOGO

Fifty years ago - the leaders of PNG's independence coalition: Thomas Kavali, Michael Somare, Julius Chan and John Guise

PORT MORESBY - The recent passing of Sir Julius Chan has prompted me to reflect on the life and journey of the founding fathers of Papua New Guinea, especially their work to establish a new nation.

I am reminded of the Spanish-American philosopher and essayist, George Santayana, who said: “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it”.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

Sir Peter Ipatas (PNG Business News)

PORT MORESBY - A seventh attempt to mount a challenge against prime minister James Marape got underway yesterday in Papua New Guinea’s parliament.

Acting Speaker Koni Iguan informed parliament that he had received a motion for another vote of no confidence against Marape when parliament met for its November 2024 sitting.

EDDIE TANAGO PAINE
| Act Now

PORT MORESBY - A concerning analysis by community advocacy group Act Now has revealed that almost all District Development Authorities (DDAs) in Papua New Guinea are failing to make crucial information available thereby hindering governance, accountability and service delivery.

Despite each District receiving K20 million annually for service and infrastructure improvements, as of July 2024 the analysis reveals that, of 96 DDA’s across the country:

PAUL OATES

PNG defence force personnel can be sworn in as Special Constable to “exercise all the powers and authorities” of civilian police officers during emergencies. Here Police Commissioner David Manning and Acting Defence Force Commander Commodore Philip Polewara face questions at a media conference in Port Moresby early this year

CLEVELAND - A nation’s defence force can, and logically should, provide assistance to the nation’s civil power – its government.

When natural disasters and other emergencies occur, it is important to have a trained, disciplined and readily available force to provide a quick response.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

The kaikai mahn are integral to political corruption in PNG (Image by Transparency International)

PORT MORESBY – A while ago I asked followers of Academia Nomad on Facebook what they call ‘kaikai mahn’ in their language.

I received a long list of local names attributed to kaikai mahn. Just shows how popular the kaikai mahn community is.

CAROLYN BLACKLOCK
| East Asia Forum

Carolyn Blacklock (Ipsum Pacific)

BRISBANE - Political and economic pressures are rising in Papua New Guinea, with escalating social tensions suggesting a need for focused regional support.

Critics argue that given ongoing civil unrest, political instability with Rainbo Paita’s challenge to prime minister James Marape and substantial economic challenges such as a stagnating minimum wage and increasing poverty, financial aid and strategies should be directed towards supporting the PNG populace rather than bolstering the political elite.

PAUL OATES

This article was written by a reflective and analytic Paul Oates 16 years ago. It is both prescient and insightful.

Indeed, it makes me regret that an emaciated PNG Attitude, limping along at my own slow, health-restrained pace, ain’t what it used to be. But who is?

I compliment Paul on his literary output over the years.  His articles and books have made a real contribution to our knowledge about Papua New Guinea and other issues. 

Son in 2008, concerned about events and trends in Papua New Guinea, Paul has written a paper describing how these problems manifest themselves and making some recommendations for their alleviation. So here is a brief extract from ‘PNG: How to achieve a change in direction’. Unfortunately the link to the full paper has been lost - Keith Jackson

CLEVELAND - At Independence in 1976 Papua New Guinea was on the threshold of developing into a stable and prosperous nation.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Australia built up a regional government infrastructure throughout the country that provided essential law and order, education, medical assistance and all manner of essential support services in every area in PNG.

Australia then had a wonderful opportunity to bring PNG into the modern age and stand together with it as a friend and neighbour. Unfortunately, that opportunity was allowed to atrophy for want of interest. There was a mutual disregard.

In 2008, 33 years after Independence , much of the PNG government infrastructure has disappeared completely and yet the wages bill for PNG public servants continues to rise. Why is this so?

Among the recommendations I have made for securing a change in direction in PNG are:

1. Fund, strengthen and reform the PNG government infrastructure as a first priority for AusAID.
   
   
2. Reissue an updated PNG Government Code of Conduct and Ethics agreed to by government, unions and business. The Code of Conduct must be signed on behalf of all citizens by the PNG Prime Minister and disseminated to all levels. This must be encouraged by Australia as a matter of priority.
   
   
3. Issue a deadline for correct, ethical practice to commence. Offer an amnesty for people to come clean and testify.
   
   
4. Institute anti corruption tribunals and, after the deadline expires, use them to investigate and send new cases for trial to the PNG courts.
   
   
5. At the same time, improve Public Service wages, salaries and conditions of service on the premise that all PNG government employees sign performance based pay agreements specifying compliance with the new Code of Conduct.

If Australia does nothing, PNG will continue on a downhill slope to further poverty and corruption, notwithstanding increasing amounts of external aid funds.

If the process of ‘sweeping the dust under the carpet' continues, then potential to prevent a humanitarian disaster on our doorstep will be lost forever.

BUKA – The Bougainville Constitutional Planning Commission (BCPC) extended its consultations to Brisbane this week.

This will be the second international consultation to gather views from Bougainvilleans living in Australia.

ROB BARCLAY

ADELAIDE – Former policeman, long-term MP Peter Dutton has finally awoken from his torpor and started to make some welcome statements.

Unfortunately, he has a tendency to cherry-pick only those subjects he is interested in.

RONALD MAY
| Pearls & Irritations

Image by The Cartoon Movement

CANBERRA - In May 2023, I was approached by media sources for a comment on the cancellation of a visit to Papua New Guinea (and Australia) by US president Joe Biden.

Biden was travelling to attend a G-7 meeting in Japan and the cancellation was prompted by a domestic US crisis resulting from the failure of Congress to pass the budget.

CATHY TUKNE
| Act Now!

PORT MORESBY - The lack of proper planning at district level is a critical failure undermining the delivery of quality health and education services across Papua New Guinea.

Research by community advocacy organisation Act Now reveals that only 25% of districts have published a five-year development plan for 2023-27.

ALLAN BIRD*
| Academia Nomad

Governor Allan Bird

WEWAK - I spent five years in government as a nice flower pot, a decoration of parliament.

I disagreed with many bad government decisions. But you can only say so in caucus, otherwise you are not a team player.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

PORT MORESBY – On Monday, not for the first time, the contentious matter of Bougainville’s future was debated on the floor of Papua New Guinea’s parliament.

The most controversial issue of all is that the result of the 2019 referendum, in which 97.7% of Bougainvilleans voted for independence, was intended to be non-binding.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

Likely challenger Allan Bird and troubled prime minister James Marape. Bird is the highly respected Governor of East Sepik Province (Radio New Zealand)

PORT MORESBY - Pangu Pati, the leading coalition partner in the current Papua New Guinea government, has split.

My test for a successful change in government in PNG is when there is a significant split within the biggest coalition party.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

Rainbow Paita MP  -  one of the backroom operatives always in with a chance of running the country (Facebook)

PORT MORESBY - Rainbow Paita is the MP for Finschhafen Open and a senior minister in the Marape coalition government.

Paita’s name often floats around when attempts of a vote of no confidence occur aimed at securing the prime minister’s position.  Either he’s a candidate or a behind the scenes operative.

IAN LING-STUCKEY *
| Academia Nomad

PORT MORESBY - Once again, the opposition is trying to mislead the people of Papua New Guinea in recent statements that PNG is printing money to fund the budget deficit.

This is just wrong. The International Monetary Fund verifies this is wrong. It is a condition of the IMF program that PNG does not print money to finance the deficit.

ALLAN BIRD*
| Academia Nomad

WEWAK - I disagree with the position of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in relation to the devaluation of the kina now underway.

The IMF believes that depreciating the kina will encourage exports and assist PNG production. In fact the opposite is true.

In the last 49 years, the PNG economy has not diversified much and therefore a significant depreciation is not going to automatically result in increased production and exports.

We had a significant depreciation 24 years ago which did not result in any significant benefits. It just led to more hardship for ordinary people.

This is because PNG has not invested in the productive capacity of the economy.  It is not possible to quickly increase production.

Only the extractive sector is able to do that, but almost all of these companies are operating at peak or declining capacity.

I just saw a 10kg bag of rice increase from K50 to K56, the second price increase this year.

Depreciation is already hurting ordinary people. While some low income earners are getting a tax break, the vast majority of people in the informal sector cannot access similar assistance.

The Marape government in chasing cheap loans and having resorted to printing money may have unknowingly placed a rope around the necks of ordinary citizens.

I believe a reasonable kina trading band of around 30 US cents and 40 Australian cents is what we should be aiming for.

We must restrain government borrowings and improve fiscal discipline. We must live within our means.

We must also redirect spending not just on economic enablers but also on the productive capacity of the various sectors.

We must also look at tax incentives to encourage private sector investment to help diversify our economy.

We must decentralise our government structure as a means of encouraging spread of private sector investments. The engine room for growth is in the provinces, not in Waigani.

We must have a smaller central government that oversees provinces and doesn't compete with them.

We need to expand private sector investment and support private sector to grow both the economy and jobs. It is not government that grows the economy, private sector does that.

Too much government control, coupled with corruption is killing our economy.

The Marape government has borrowed K32 billion over the last five years but has only proven that it is incapable of growing the economy. Economic growth has lagged behind this government borrowing.

I hope all current and future leaders learn something from this grave mistake and not repeat it in the future.

We have a situation in our country where the government thinks it should be running businesses - and it fails miserably. We should focus on governing and leave business to the private sector.

It's time for a reset. Marape has taken PNG backwards by 20 years. It's time to take PNG forward.

* Allan Bird is Governor of East Sepik Province in Papua New Guinea and is seen as a likely candidate for prime minister after the next national election

JOSEPH KETAN
| Academia Nomad

Joe Ketan (Linked In)

PORT MORESBY - It is hard to keep track of politicians. We cannot hold them accountable for their actions if we do not know what they are doing – or not doing – with respect to their duties.

We have got to keep our politicians honest by keeping an eye on them at all times!

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

After the cyclone the flood (Generated with AI, 1 April 2024 0804 am)

PORT MORESBY – The history of disaster response in Papua New Guinea is fraught with delays, inefficiency and corruption.

Under the Public Finance Management Act, tendering processes are suspended when a disaster is declared to ensure the response is faster. And this opens the door to corruption. How?

PROFESSOR JAMES CHIN *

Prime Minister James Marape - looks good for now but feelings are he will be deposed before the year is out (Rhiannon Johannes, DFAT)

HOBART - The past several months has seen an escalation of violence in Papua New Guinea, Australia’s nearest neighbour.

Given the recent developments, prime minister James Marape’s hold on power looks tenuous, and we may soon see a change in leadership.

ALLAN BIRD
| Facebook | Academia Nomad

The police hierarchy warn possible prime minister Allan Bird of death threats even as they move his trusted police commander to a distant post (Facebook)

Allan Bird has been nominated to succeed prime minister James Marape in a forthcoming vote of no confidence

WEWAK - Am I desperate to be prime minister of Papua New Guinea? Short answer is no. But someone needs to step up and seriously address the issues which are destroying our country. Those problems will not fix themselves.

Since my nomination, I have been advised by a deputy police commissioner that my life is under threat and the police are monitoring the situation.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

John Rosso - well poised to become PNG's next prime minister as James Marape miscalculates and Opposition fails to strengthen its ranks (PNG Blogs)

PORT MORESBY - Let’s be honest. If there was a vote of no confidence in February 2024, prime minister James Marape would have defeated it.

Governments in PNG are usually destabilised from within - not without.

Leading up to the vote of no confidence, the numbers in the senior coalition partner, Pangu Pati, actually grew. So did coalition numbers overall.

A GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL *

Village in Aoke-Langalanga electorate, Malaita

MALAITA, SOLOMONS – An official in the office of the Deputy Provincial Secretary of Malaita Province has expressed great concern to me that an announced candidate for the 2024 Solomons election, Mathew Wala MP, is trying to force other highly ranked candidates not to stand for election.

Wala has announced he will contest the seat of Aoke-Langalanga and last month he invited other prospective candidates David Filia, Vincent Anisi and David Faradalolo to a meeting.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

PORT MORESBY - I’ve had readers asking me to write about the steps involved in removing a prime minister in a vote of no confidence.

Instead of writing a new article, I’m reposting a blog I wrote for Australian National University’s DevPolicy Blog in 2020. It details steps involved in removing an incumbent prime minister.

KEITH JACKSON

Projection is a psychological phenomenon where feelings directed towards the self are displaced outwards towards others

NOOSA - As the Campaign for Noosa takes on the uneasy rhythm of all early political campaigns, my thoughts drift back to my first inklings that this seemingly laid-back seaside resort had Politics. So I dug out a five year old piece I wrote on Noosa Politics and blew off the dust before adding some contemporaneous notes.  Reader alert, at 2,000 words it’s quite a long read….

_________

This morning at a ridiculously early hour (OK, it was seven o’clock), I was interviewed by Tess Connery for the 2SER-FM Sydney breakfast show, a meal that now passes me by.  Tess had called upon me to reminisce about the first day of 2SER, which had begun broadcasting on 1 October 1979.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

Parliament: where no confidence votes take place
(Fantasy illustration generated by Bing AI, 27 January 2024)

PORT MORESBY – Papua New Guinea's long-serving senior minister Kerenga Kua yesterday announced his resignation from the Marape Coalition.

Since then people have been asking me whether this means there will be a vote of no confidence in prime minister James Marape.

ANDREW ANTON MAKO
| DevPolicy Blog

Economist Andrew Anton Mako delivering the 11th Henry Kila Memorial Address in Port Moresby last year (Roan Paul Business Council of PNG)

PORT MORESBY- This year started terribly for Papua New Guinea as civil riots rocked the nation.

What started as a protest by law enforcement officers (police, defence force and corrections staff) on 10 January over high deductions from their first pay of the year quickly escalated to looting and destruction of shops in Port Moresby as people took advantage of the security vacuum in the city.

RONALD MAY
| John Menadue’s Pearls & Irritations

A photo of a younger Ron May (amidst his filing system!) Ron, an Australian academic with an over 50-year association and an unparallelled knowledge of  Papua New Guinea (Australian National University)

PORT MORESBY - On 10 January, Port Moresby was rocked by riots, looting and arson on an unprecedented scale.

Rioting also occurred in Lae and several other towns. More than 20 people died and there has been extensive damage to property.

MICHAEL KABUNI

Don’t believe this front page story from The National. What prime minister James Marape fears is Man. His fear of Man is evident through various actions:

1 - The Speaker, a Pangu Pati member, convened a parliament meeting in 2020 after a legal adjournment to prepare for a no-confidence vote chaired by the deputy speaker.

2 - In the same year, Marape’s government had unlawfully convened and passed legislation to avoid a no-confidence vote while the opposition, with majority support, had been lured to far away Vanimo.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

The people will gain much power in Papua New Guinea when they vote for politicians because of merit not how much money they give away (Generated with Bing AI, 30 December 2023) AI, 30 December 2023

PORT MORESBY – We can’t blame the Papua New Guinea government for everything. Here are some other culprits.

If you look at the reforms, good or bad, in PNG, you can generally pin them on multilateral institutions, either the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank.

KELA KAPKORA SIL BOLKIN

Sil Bolkin - author, essayist & devoted servant of the PNG people

PORT MORESBY – Jesus, the only son of God, was born into a poor family in a small town. Indeed, he was born in a shed meant for animals.

God allowed his son to be born in a cowshed because he wanted the world to know His son was a gift to everyone, not just the rich and powerful.

POLITICAL DISSENT & ACTIVE PROTEST

From ‘The Emergence of Secessionism’, a chapter in ‘Papua New Guinea - A Political History’ by James Griffin, Hank Nelson & Stewart Firth. With thanks to Martin Maden’s ‘Tok Piksa’

There was a lot of political strife and active protests against the Australian colonial administration in Rabaul in the 1960s and ‘70s which saw the formation and rise of the Mataungan Association and the popular movement for independence on Bougainville (Napidakoe Navitu), where there was a similar will of the people to secede.