By Shane McLeod

Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare is backing away from demands that Australia apologise for a controversial security check at Brisbane airport.

Sir Michael told Parliament he was very upset and angry over being subjected to three security checks at the airport.

He said he sought a diplomatic response, but with Australia's failure to apologise, the matter should now be left alone.

Responding to comments from Australia's Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, that the issue had been a matter of cultural differences, Sir Michael said he did not believe that was true.

The diplomatic stoush resulted in PNG suspending deployments under a major new Australian aid program.

Papua New Guinea's Supreme Court is expected to rule shortly on a challenge to the validity of that package, and senior Government officials have hinted that Australia may face difficulty in renegotiating if the challenge succeeds.

ECP: Succeeding or failing?

By Allan Patience

The Enhanced Co-operation Package has been operating in Papua New Guinea for about six months. It’s not yet quite at full strength, but people in Port Moresby are adjusting to Australian police officers on duty around the place.
The ECP will cost Australian taxpayers close to $A1 billion over four years. It involves some 200 Australian police officers assisting local police and boosting law enforcement resources.

Around 70 Australian senior public servants will work alongside PNG counterparts to strengthen government management procedures and international transport security. Some Australian judges and lawyers will also augment the PNG courts system.

At an address at the University of PNG last September, Australian High Commissioner Michael Potts stated: “There would be no point in providing assistance of the scale we are looking to with ECP if, at the end of it, when our officers go home, there was no skill transfer and no lasting effect on PNG.

“We are not in the business of short-term assistance, ECP needs to have lasting effect — otherwise it will have failed. So capacity-building is at its heart.”

How is it all developing? Are there real advantages flowing to PNG through this extraordinary intervention by Australia into areas of serious governance weakness in PNG? And what are Australian taxpayers getting from the deal?
Surprisingly, the ECP is proving to be more controversial than anticipated.
The judgment on Luther Wenge’s ECP court challenge is still pending. The longer this drags on, the more poisonously rumours about its legitimacy will fester. Genuine concerns persist about PNG’s sovereignty being compromised by the ECP.

The security incident involving Sir Michael Somare at Brisbane airport has become a lightning rod for calls for the ECP to be abandoned altogether. It would be foolish to underestimate the anger and humiliation felt about this incident, right across PNG.

There are other nagging doubts about the ECP, springing from a variety of Australian and PNG sources.
Growing attention is being paid to the “boomerang” nature of the funding of the ECP. While it would be naďve to imagine that aid — any aid — is simply an unconditional gift flowing straight into the PNG economy, it is time for the Australian Government to be totally transparent about how much real money will actually come to PNG from the ECP.

The ECP operation is also accused of mounting an Australian spy operation in PNG.
The fact that the Australian officers are paid higher salaries, drive shiny new vehicles, wear smart uniforms, have better resources, and appear to enjoy special privileges, is beginning to cause local resentment.
There are also assertions that Australian officers are sometimes culturally clumsy, even offensive. This shouldn’t be surprising. That is the very nature — the very real risk — in all of these forms of cross-cultural aid.

Very sensitive ways of handling them are needed, on both sides. There are a few lurking doubts about the actual personnel being recruited from Australia. Are the Australian ECP officers really capable of providing the mentoring and skills-training that the Australian High Commissioner promised would be at the heart of the ECP?

Are they being adequately briefed and trained before deployment? Is enough being done to minimise the conspicuous consumption discrepancies between the Australians and their PNG partners? Are enough Papua New Guineans being recruited locally into ECP operations?
Last December, the Australian Government’s Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) published a report by Hugh White and Elsina Wainwright entitled Strengthening Our Neighbour: Australia and the Future of Papua New Guinea.
This report suggests that, as presently configured, the ECP is unlikely to succeed.

The ASPI report shows that if Australia genuinely wants to improve governance in PNG, a larger and longer-term arrangement is necessary. And, as it notes, this “certainly cannot be done unless a lot of Australians are prepared to commit themselves to working in PNG, not for high salaries and allowances but for the rewards of the work itself in this fascinating place”.
The report deserves to be taken very seriously indeed, both by Australia and PNG.

At this stage of its deployment, there are two broad rumours about the ECP going the rounds.

The first is what we can call the “Canberra Assessment”. This scenario suggests that there is a growing fear among Australian officials that the ECP is failing.

It is alleged to be more difficult than anticipated to recruit the right kinds of personnel. The Australian officers already on the ground in PNG find living here is more difficult than they thought it would be.
It is said that some are going finish before the end of their contracts. Maybe, some are not up to the job.

Moreover, expectations about the ECP deployment have not so far been met. People are wondering when some Mr Bigs will go behind bars. Or is it all just about chasing small-fry rascals?

According to this scenario, Canberra is becoming unnerved by a looming ECP failure. Is there a fall-back plan, to enable the ECP officers to be withdrawn early?

The second rumour can be labelled the “Port Moresby Assessment”. According to this scenario, the ECP is proving too successful. Certain people are becoming aware that ECP investigations into corruption in high places are starting to close in on them. They look nervously at the arrest of politicians, public servants and police in the Solomons, because of RAMSI.

Could this happen in PNG?
These people would like to do anything to close the ECP down, as soon as possible.
There is probably a grain of truth in both scenarios. It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that, so far, the ECP looks a bit like an amateurish, quick-fix solution to something demanding far more sophisticated and sensitive diplomacy.

And what is now painfully obvious is that, after well over a century of contact, PNG and Australia still have astoundingly inadequate understandings of each other. Australia blunders on with its post-colonial concerns, seeing PNG simply in terms of its own security. There has been no searching self-criticism of its colonial record or the problems that decolonisation set up for PNG’s post-independence leaders.

PNG blunders on with its immature love-hate relationship with Australia. It loves being able to cozy up to Canberra and AusAID when things get tough. But it hates it when Australia starts to throw its weight around.
This suggests there is still a constraining colonised mentality existing among many of PNG’s leaders and people.

Both sides need to re-fashion their diplomacy and construct a completely new relationship — based on mutual respect and real understandings of each other.
This re-fashioning should begin with an international conference on “PNG in the World”, away from both PNG and Australia (perhaps in Singapore). It should be chaired by a neutral but friendly power.

The conference should discuss not only the Australia-PNG relationship at all its levels, but how PNG can intelligently and securely multilateralise its foreign aid, trade, diplomatic and security relationships over the coming decades. After almost 30 years of pseudo-decolonisation in PNG, it’s time for real decolonisation to begin.

------
* ALLAN PATIENCE is Professor of Political Science at UPNG and Victoria University, Melbourne. Allan.Patience@upng.ac.pg

The connection: Body Search, Footy Show & ECP

The body search on PNG’s Prime Minster was an insult. All of PNG was offended and insulted. Australian Prime Minister and their Foreign Affairs minister brushed it aside as a minor issue of inconvenience, simply stating it as such treatments were the norm of the day in the light of increased terrorism. Majority of PNG became more anti-Australian and felt deeply insulted by Downer’s highly provocative comments, although only a few took to the streets and expressed opinion on the papers. Resident Australians were luckier these days as we are a peace-loving people and violent retaliations were not forthcoming. We took it only to the formal channels and at the diplomatic level and seeking an apology to which, we have been granted none. If it were in the Middle East or Asia, Ausies would have dearly paid for their government’s ignorant act and inconsiderate comments. The nation as a whole was greatly dissatisfied and felt it deeply in our hearts. Obviously, there was no apology forthcoming and Australia was in no way prepared to do that. When we continued our state of displeasure, until our PM’s appeal to forgive the Australians for their unwillingness to offer a simple apology, we simply did that. The Australian government didn’t move an inch, let alone feel anything for what has been a very shameful deed.

Then comes the Footy Show. PNG has been a footy favourite dating back to the days beyond colonialism. Not a single highlight has been made about PNG footy until for whatever reasons, they have decided to do it after a major national insult. I see it simply has another foreign insult; an attempt to play psycho with our native, genuine, and traditional Melanesian minds in attempting to change the perspective we have of Australians as a result of their continued ignorance. Whoever came up with the Footy Show was brilliant enough to win the minds of PNG back, but I must say that it all came out public and the real intentions and feelings of them were revealed when someone mentioned about man-eating PNGans in the highlands. Very Good. We appreciate that and that is what we have been and we are proud of that, whether they dislike it, fear it or whatever they think about it. But to them, once again, it undid the purpose for which the Footy Show was put up. I must mention that not a single focus has been made about footy in the major centres previously, let alone the big jump they have made to the great remotes of the highlands.

Then comes the ECP issue. Mr. Beazely’s statement of ECP ruling as a way of payback for mistreatment of Sir Somare could be true but the constitution and the court of PNG cannot be truer than the outcome of the ruling. They have simply upheld the integrity of the nation, regardless of whatever state we are in. But ECP is a programme that is ill-conceived without proper consideration of the law and that is what the court has revealed. Or do we blame the court for doing so? All recommendations for amendment of the constitution to accommodate for immunity must be denied. We cannot disfigure the integrity of the nation as our cultural and social heritages have been a source of mockery and insult already by foreigners.

The way to go forward is firstly for Australia to apologise (if they want to because we don’t require that anymore; we simply have forgiven but not forgotten), and to work along a more viable partnership development approach as per that recommended by Prof. Allan Patience on The National - Monday 16th 2005. Stop playing phycology games of Footy Shows and HIV/AIDS promotion tours. We know the hidden motives behind such. Come out clean and be genuine in what you have to offer in assisting PNG. Consider a more regional approach that encompasses, integrates and works parallel with your existing institutions and working with them; such as universities, hospitals, police, footy clubs, etc. This is the way forward; a corporate uplifting of such institutions in performance, manpower, equipment, quality and quantity of services. Reconsider our visa and travel arrangements and establish trading and relocation of man-power between similar institutions for the purposes of improving performance. I must also ask why Australia continues to ignore PNG in terms of offering temporary work visa arrangements which it has with other countries who are less friendlier and distances apart.

A simple illustration of what the ECP should look like is this: ECP can incorporate Aussie Footy Clubs to partner with clubs in PNG and by doing so, over the long run, a constant uplifting of performance, manpower and material support and upgrading of fields is maintained. Under the ECP programme, footy becomes a major boost in the urban and even in the rural areas. The core issues to be addressed are training, expertise, experience, quality and very importantly, a major focus on improvement in all aspects of the game. Strategic planning would involve such concepts as a major footy club in Ausie being a partner team with another major club in PNG. A standard upgrading package could be planned for all the major clubs but the onus, responsiblitiy and the dertimentaion should be for the Ausie partner club to oversee that its PNG partner club gets the maxium out of the ECP programme. Other arrangements such as selection of best players in their partner-clubs to play in feeder clubs in Australia and eventually into the major games are possible and positive outcomes for both countries. This in effect is the dream programme for any footy club in PNG: to get maximum support in terms of training, exposure and material support. Apply a similar concept and arrangement with more in-depth strategic planning in all aspects of public and private sectors of PNG and this nation will be well-advanced in a very short period of time. We simply don’t want a few handover of second-hand jerseys and balls and a few footy campaigns that do nothing but merely seen as crowd cheering and crowning events for one-time visitors. Where are such ideas and concepts as these in the ECP programme? ECP should be brought to the drawing boards again and seriously consider a partnership approach that will have impact and tangible change towards the relationship of the two countries.

Not only PNG has to do her part but Australia must consider changing a great deal of foreign policies in relation to PNG so as to accommodate for a ECP programme that has impact over a long period. If Howard is serious about doubling his government’s support for the ECP, my simple advice is for him is to sit down and re-consider the ECP along the above lines. We don’t want a ready-made package that is full of sound and fury signifying nothing. Rather, we want an ECP that aligns us on the same level with Australian institutions and the differences that occur are what really the concept of ECP should be dealing with as its working ground. And this is the way to go forward.

--------MIOKS Thoughts--------------
pongai1@yahoo.co.nz


Note: This article was posted at http://www.niugini.com/wwwboard/messages/37664.html

Good suggestions - if only the Australians can start to have faith in us.

who cares of australia. they can f' off.