IS AUSTRALIA TRULY PAPUA NEW GUINEA’S FRIEND?

By Paul Amatio

Opinion on this is divided. I was once naive enough to think that Australia was the one and true friend that we have who can be counted on to provide good guidance, helpful advice and strong admonition if we strayed off the path they had set for us. As a good friend, they would have respected our right to explore other options and ways to ensure that we all advanced in the same direction even if we shoes differing paths to the same outcome. But then, in those days, I did not understand the differing views as to the national interests and long term outcomes and aspirations of different countries, especially an Anglophile society like Australia that has historically viewed blacks as second or third class people.

Looking back into history, I realised that Australia’s geopolitics centers around that of the USA. As a nation, it is willing to sacrifice even its own citizens if it will further the interests of the USA - always. It is also not in Australia’s interests to allow PNG or any other Pacific Island Nation to become too strong or independent politically, economically or socially. That would weaken its own position of being able to hand out money and indirectly influence outcomes and directions in its favour.

The following cases are just a few of the examples that justify my position of doubt about Australia’s true motives and its willingness or desire to see any form of good and strong governance anywhere in this region.

1. Money laundering and the Australian proceeds of crime legislation – Australian law on this is very strong and there are numerous cases of the AFP and Australian police in the states using the law to raid and confiscate properties that were purchased or gained through illegal means. Yet when other countries have asked Australia to use the same law against PNG (and Pacific Islands) politicians, businessmen, crooked lawyers and fraudsters, it has been totally unwilling to act. Why is this? My understanding of the Australian legislation is that if a person commits a crime which would have been a crime in Australia and then hides in Australia or remits the proceeds of that crime to Australia, they become subject to Australian law and are to be treated and dealt with under the same legislation. This was evident in the recent Cocaine Smuggling Plane Crash Case. Yet this law has never been applied against persons who have remitted significant amounts of much needed hard cash from the Pacific Island countries into Australia? So misappropriation and stealing from other countries and taking them to Australia is not a crime?

A good friend would not allow thieves and criminals to benefit and hide under their roof!

2. The overlooking, disregard and disrespect for PNG Judiciary – this was evident and clear in the 2011 Somare/O'Neil political impasse case.

Australia decided and made it clear that it was going to recognise the illegal government of Peter O'Neil as the legal and legitimate government of PNG after and in defiance of and with total disrespect and contempt for the findings of the Supreme Court of PNG that O'Neil was not the legal and lawful PM of PNG. Why did it do that?

For two reasons. (a) It wanted the Manus Refugee Processing Centre to be established and remain. Somare was strongly against this on many rounds. (b) It was not in Australia’s interests to have a strong and vibrant nation in PNG as that would make it harder to manipulate. It knew full well who and what Peter O'Neil was – a failed businessman, a failed executive and a totally dishonest, corrupt and unscrupulous politician. And it knew that with O'Neil as PM, it would have its Manus and it would see the long term disintegration of good governance in PNG.

And as history will witness, that was the beginning of the end for PNG. It is true that we did have crime and public corruption in PNG during the Somare years but never ever was it on the scale and magnitude of when, during and after the O'Neil years. And the current government and PM have been able and apt students of Somare and O'Neil and have chosen, it seems, to follow in the latter’s footsteps rather than the formers’.

Australia effectively destroyed the very fragile foundations we had then of good governance and ethical position against corruption allowing it become so firmly entrenched in our systems of governance and business that it will now take several generations to clear out.

3. Education – the Outcome Based Education (OBE) Theory was tried in Australia and found to be unsuitable for many reasons.

One of them was cost. And yet, an Australian consultant was seconded to the PNG Department of Education under an AusAID program to introduce and implement the system in the PNG education curriculum. This curriculum destroyed the base for advancement to high school and higher education institutions and destroyed all other avenues of further education are guaranteeing production of a semi-literate graduate. PNG simply did not and does not have the financial capacity to experiment with or roll out an OBE type education system. And yet, Australia’s consultants and experts destroyed an entire generation of young PNGeans education and we have many of our young people semi-literates in English.

This produced a school age population that was unfit for institutions of higher learning. And many of the drop outs resorted to bribery and corrupt means f securing selection to these institutions which further degraded and undermined our future business and government leaders. Remember that a person who practises corruption initially and succeeds at it will continue doing it to achieve their aims and goals to the detriment of the institution(s) and country enhancing and systemising corruption and poor governance.

As they say, if you want to destroy a country without a war, destroy its education. Australia has aided, abetted and actively facilitated this in PNG most admirably.

4. Police Force Enhancement Program – as a former police officer, I am yet to see the tangible and justifiable benefits of having the AFP operating on PNG soil.

What have they achieved in terms of enhancing policing capability and capacity – nothing. Their “station of excellence at Waigani is a joke. Our police information technology systems are still in the stone ages. All police barracks and stations throughout the nation are in a state of disrepair and condemnation. Just one of those VXs they’re running around in would fix and renovate two police stations in rural PNG or build 3 houses for policemen/women.

Do we actually have any Criminal Information Database? NO! Do we have a reliable system of intelligence and data collection, analysis and dissemination? NO! Do we have a database that can provide accurate and reliable and actionable information for the Commissioner based on the Monthly Crime Returns submitted to PHQ? NO!

What have they achieved? They have successfully destroyed or corrupted the Police Training Syllabus at Bomana instead of upgrading it resulting in producing poorly trained and ill-disciplined police officers. They have destroyed the RPNGC Constabulary Standing Orders by replacing it with the Administration Manual which is essentially a copy paste of the Police Force Act. They have successfully amended a very good piece of legislation called the Police Force Act Chapter 65 replacing it with a poor edition called the Police Act 1998 which is essentially a copy of the Police Act in many respects. They have totally neglected to update the Police Force Regulations which supports the Act. They have successfully advised a downsizing of the RPNGC citing “leaner, smarter” which has resulted in the police to population ratio being three times under the UN mandate. They have managed to infiltrate into all aspects of police operations, administration and finance under this current commissioner resulting in the marginalising of senior officers. They have not advised the commissioner properly on ethics, morals, and institutional strengthening resulting in officers who being placed in positions which has degraded the image of the RPNGC.

A good friend would not allow or permits its friend to undermine the rule of law that then weaken its internal law and order situation upon which underpins investment (foreign and domestic), good governance and strengthens the rule of law.

5. The PNGDF – Australia under former commander Peter Ilau pushed for the downsizing of both the manpower and resources of the PNGDF.

This led to a situation where we now have a military that is not compatible with the size of the country’s land mass or its population. Recent recruitment drives have seen a manpower base dominated by entrants from one region and province, many of whom don’t meet the minimum requirements nor would they match any fit and proper person test which makes one wonder at the processes and evidenced by the recent investigations resulting in suspension of senior military officers.

The military also lost a lot of its reserve weaponry under Australian “advise” which has not been replaced to date. Our air surveillance capacity has not been upgraded leaving too many gaps in our surveillance and monitoring capacity that is not being closed. Similarly our maritime surveillance and monitoring. The token patrol boats are not enough to cover the maritime borders.

Hence the “leaner smarter” concept has been a dismal failure here as well.

6. Covid 19 – in the days following the declaration of a Pandemic, our “friend” appeared to have swallowed the bait, hook line and sinker. It then, without considering all sides of the situation (very un Australian), started to prophesy that PNG people would drop dead like flies from Covid. Dewspite this not happening, they then encouraged and fostered untested gene therapy injections on our peoples.

So in effect, we became their and the West's guinea pigs.

A true friend would have pulled back and asked: WHY AREN'T THESE UNHYGENIC, OVERCROWDED, FOREVER TOUCHING AND GROPING PEOPLE NOT DROPPING DEAD LIKE FLIES IN THE STREETS?

So if you think Australia is your friend, think again.

My next post on this will be on how Australia can prove it is a true friend and try to restore and repair the damage it has done to this country under the guise of “friendship”.