Sunday, May 24, 2009
Bi-Partisan Parliamentary Committee on Asian-Owned and Operated Businesses in Papua New Guinea (please click image to enlarge)
A Bi-Partisan Parliamentary Committee on Asian-Owned and Operated Businesses in
It is chaired by Angalimp-South Wahgi MP Jamie Maxtone-Graham.
Details can be obtained by email Mr Graham on email jamiemaxtonegraham@gmail.com or visit the committee’s blog http://jamiemaxtonegraham.blogspot.com/.
Papua New Guinea heading in the "failed states" direction because of its lack of emphasis on education and health
By GRAHAM POPLE
Hi everyone
Last night I was talking to a couple of geologists who have worked in many countries in the world and we were talking about conditions in PNG as compared to other parts of the world. They mentioned Botswana in Africa (which I had always considered a failed state) as being one of the most successful countries in Africa, having pulled themselves out of the mire
because of stringent rules that have turned the country around.
They mentioned some of the reasons for this.
Education and Health were two of the areas discussed and they stated that Botswana has very efficient health and education systems. One of the reasons given for this is that politicians and leading public servants are not allowed to send their family members out of Botswana for Health and education purposes. Accordingly they have ensured that the services within Botswana are among Africa's best.
Imagine if we could do that here in PNG. If we improved our Education facilities and forced all politician's children and those of leading public servants to return to PNG we would have multiple benefits. All other children in the community would also benefit because of the improved education facilities.
Think of the money being spent overseas that would no longer be sent out of the country but would remain here to benefit the country as a whole.
Similarly if a ban was placed on people being sent overseas for medical treatment. Facilities within the country would have to be improved initially but having done that and the ban being placed on people being treated outside the country the benefits to PNG would be immense.
Like education there would be a vast saving on money going out of the country and all services within the country would improve as a consequence.
Some of the other factors prevailing in Botswana should also be looked at. The Public Service is most efficient and the penalties for corruption include execution and forfeiture of property to the State. If this law applied within PNG there would be a significant drop in corruption both within politics and the public service.
Do any of you have knowledge of Botswana or other similar states and, in the latter case, how they have improved conditions for the benefit of their people as a whole.
The 6 million people of this Nation need better conditions than they are presently receiving and if we can use the state of other nations and the history of the way that they have improved their conditions since their Independence then we should.
Input please. We all need to help our country as much as we can. If I have been given false information and if Botswana is a failed state then I would appreciate being told. But if we can use their conditions and/or other countries to improve our own country, then we should work together to do it.
Regards
Graham
Last night I was talking to a couple of geologists who have worked in many countries in the world and we were talking about conditions in PNG as compared to other parts of the world. They mentioned Botswana in Africa (which I had always considered a failed state) as being one of the most successful countries in Africa, having pulled themselves out of the mire
because of stringent rules that have turned the country around.
They mentioned some of the reasons for this.
Education and Health were two of the areas discussed and they stated that Botswana has very efficient health and education systems. One of the reasons given for this is that politicians and leading public servants are not allowed to send their family members out of Botswana for Health and education purposes. Accordingly they have ensured that the services within Botswana are among Africa's best.
Imagine if we could do that here in PNG. If we improved our Education facilities and forced all politician's children and those of leading public servants to return to PNG we would have multiple benefits. All other children in the community would also benefit because of the improved education facilities.
Think of the money being spent overseas that would no longer be sent out of the country but would remain here to benefit the country as a whole.
Similarly if a ban was placed on people being sent overseas for medical treatment. Facilities within the country would have to be improved initially but having done that and the ban being placed on people being treated outside the country the benefits to PNG would be immense.
Like education there would be a vast saving on money going out of the country and all services within the country would improve as a consequence.
Some of the other factors prevailing in Botswana should also be looked at. The Public Service is most efficient and the penalties for corruption include execution and forfeiture of property to the State. If this law applied within PNG there would be a significant drop in corruption both within politics and the public service.
Do any of you have knowledge of Botswana or other similar states and, in the latter case, how they have improved conditions for the benefit of their people as a whole.
The 6 million people of this Nation need better conditions than they are presently receiving and if we can use the state of other nations and the history of the way that they have improved their conditions since their Independence then we should.
Input please. We all need to help our country as much as we can. If I have been given false information and if Botswana is a failed state then I would appreciate being told. But if we can use their conditions and/or other countries to improve our own country, then we should work together to do it.
Regards
Graham
AusAID consultants in Papua New Guinea
By John Fowke
There has been an exchange recently regarding the value and associated cost of consultants employed in AusAid-backed projects in PNG. Whilst such people will obviously live with difficulties and frustrations as much as job-satisfaction, it is a sad fact that a great many of them are not well-prepared by their sponsors for the tasks and the social environment they face in PNG.
It is a characteristic both of AusAid and its partners, the multinational consultancies which plan and execute projects, that examinations of project results in years following completion are filed away, the process rather than the result being the important factor. Lessons, even if they are pointed to, are almost never learned and incorporated within the next set of endeavors. In recent years the costly and largely wasteful South Simbu and North Simbu social development projects come to mind, following half a dozen similarly-wasteful efforts beginning in the Southern Highlands back in the 'seventies. Similarly we recall the 15-year-long- ( late 1980's-1990's)- three-tranche Assistance to the PNG Police program- costly and largely without result except for the enrichment of the relevant consultants. This one became "too hard," and is understood to have been converted into a housing program.
This is to say nothing of the yawning gulf of absence of " country-knowledge" which must have accompanied the planning for the lamentably-badly-implemented and yet immensely important ECP program. In so many instances the naïve fancies of little groups of highly-educated but unworldly Australian academics and DFAT functionaries are brought to bear on situations which they really do not have the maturity or background experience to fully understand. It seems to an outsider that the only product of any substance is the slow ooze of the rich, PhD-seeker-sustaining treacle which drips from the great, southern cornucopia which is AusAid.
Australians in general together with the breed described in the media as "Pacific Specialists" really don't understand just how different PNG society is from that which occupies Australia. The "Pacific Specialists" upon whose advice aid programs delivered in PNG are based obviously draw from a Western matrix for their ideas, not only because this is usually the only basis they have, but also because it is the unstated but underlying objective of all these projects to Westernize the recipient society in some measure. With only a superficial understanding of the groups of people they are working with it is natural that engagement and achievement also are superficial. PNG is a highly-convoluted maze both in a physical and a conceptual sense.
For instance, whilst there is a perception commonly held in Australia that PNG politics is a sea of corruption, it is not generally understood just how wide and deep this problem is. I was in discussion with a young AusAid official some time ago, where I made one or two of the points sketched here. His reaction was to tell me with glee of the cunning and "street-smarts" of his compatriots, who, working with Government financial controllers in Port Moresby had formed a sort of " defense league" against the plundering politicians who would enter offices as soon as they were aware of the arrival of funds into certain accounts and demand to see both the bank statements and signed cheques giving them access. My informant was overjoyed with what he described as a "Canberra ploy" where consultants showed the local finance men how to create so-called "hollow logs" - being hidden accounts where sums could be kept at will, unknown to the raiding politicians. I was quite stunned at the level of childish naivety demonstrated. Since this I have read the term " hollow log" mentioned in a press report dealing with some controversy involving public funds. One must believe that once again the Aussies have triumphed. Sad, isn't it?
John Fowke
24 Monterey Avenue,
Thornlands Q 4164
07 3488 2178
The Hunger!
From David Chard
WELCOME TO THE HUNGER
Welcome to The Hunger.
The Hunger to do something creative.
The Hunger to do something amazing.
The Hunger to change the world.
The Hunger to make a difference.
The Hunger to enjoy one's work.
The Hunger to be able to look back and say, Yeah, cool, I did that.
The Hunger to make the most of this utterly brief blip of time Creation has given us.
The Hunger to dream the good dreams.
The Hunger to have amazing people in our lives.
The Hunger to have the synapses continually fired up on overdrive.
The Hunger to experience beauty.
The Hunger to tell the truth.
The Hunger to be part of something bigger than yourself.
The Hunger to have good stories to tell.
The Hunger to stay the course, despite of the odds.
The Hunger to feel passion.
The Hunger to know and express Love.
The Hunger to know and express Joy.
The Hunger to channel The Divine.
The Hunger to actually feel alive.
The Hunger will give you everything. And it will take from you, everything. It will cost you your life, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.
Welcome to The Hunger. Its day has arrived. It will never go away. You have been told.
Hi Malum
I found this on the net http://gapingvoid.com/ and it reminded me of you.
Welcome to The Hunger.
The Hunger to do something creative.
The Hunger to do something amazing.
The Hunger to change the world.
The Hunger to make a difference.
The Hunger to enjoy one's work.
The Hunger to be able to look back and say, Yeah, cool, I did that.
The Hunger to make the most of this utterly brief blip of time Creation has given us.
The Hunger to dream the good dreams.
The Hunger to have amazing people in our lives.
The Hunger to have the synapses continually fired up on overdrive.
The Hunger to experience beauty.
The Hunger to tell the truth.
The Hunger to be part of something bigger than yourself.
The Hunger to have good stories to tell.
The Hunger to stay the course, despite of the odds.
The Hunger to feel passion.
The Hunger to know and express Love.
The Hunger to know and express Joy.
The Hunger to channel The Divine.
The Hunger to actually feel alive.
The Hunger will give you everything. And it will take from you, everything. It will cost you your life, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.
Welcome to The Hunger. Its day has arrived. It will never go away. You have been told.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Another comment on AusAID
By JASON NITZ
"I would have to agree with David. I was astonished to read of the prices for basic living expenses in PNG especially when you consider the over living experience. As David has explained rent is high as are basic services. It's akin to the wages miners are earning in the Pilbara - $150K may be a lot but when you pay $1000\wk rent, it's not that great."
AusAID comments
By DAVID WILLIAMS
Malum,
One observation I have been forced to accept regarding the salaries paid to AusAID personnel, is that they are not the only ones on this sort of money. Have you looked at the United Nations salary and allowances scales for PNG? Have you asked what the USAID and NZAID or JICA people are getting? The difference is not enormous.
It is also worth looking at some other realities ... a public servant in
Now look at an internet package ... if you take the 5Gb wireless service from Daltron your are up for K1200 + 10%GST/mth (A$550-650 or thereabouts) - the SAME package is available in Australia for a mere A$39.95/mth from Telsta's BIGPOND service.
Add in the cost of a motor vehicle when the AusAID family arrived for their 2 year tour - K100,000+ for a new 4WD + on-road costs & taxes - split over the two years that's K50000+/yr (A$23500 or so), with arguably a chance of recouping some of that when you leave ... but the same vehicle in Australia would be about 30% cheaper, and you'd have 4-5 years to pay it off with finance, rather than just 2 years.
Now mate, these are just back of a napkin calculations, but they do take a dent out of the fat paycheck all the same.
Now consider that to get these families to come here, you have to dangle a big enough carrot to get them to leave the safety, comfort and lavishness of urban Australia - with its shopping malls, picture theatres, sporting venues, clubs, etc, etc ... the cold hard reality is that if AusAID and other development agencies, didn't dangle the huge carrots they do ... nobody would come at all.
What you have to factor in next mate, is that even if that AusAID guy or gal works there butt off here, and provided the relevant PNG counterparts with the very best advice in the world, the most practical and implementable solutions ... what really are the chances that anyone will listen or even read the report?
Next to none.
And you can trust me on that because I have a wealth of experience in providing advice to at least one government Department, and having had nothing but the sounds of crickets come back at me.
My report on the antivenom problems here has been on the Health Secretary's desk since the day he arrived in office - it was on his predecessors desk for 6 months before that. Action taken = NONE.
My reports of corruption were formally handed to the Police Fraud Squad in mid-2007, complete with documentary evidence. Action taken = NONE. Nine years of advice to PNG Health that blacksnake antivenom was not needed, and that continued use could result in patient deaths ... yet as recently as 2 weeks ago, health centres in Mekeo and Gulf had in-date stocks of this product in their fridges... And I could give you many more examples.
I encourage you Malum to be ferocious in your reporting and commentary, but I also urge you to look beyond the sound bites, and be balanced and fair in what you say.
Cheers mate
David
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