The United Nations Human Rights Council recently voted on a resolution supporting China’s draconian national security law that has effectively crushed free speech and freedom of assembly in Hong Kong. The resolution was carried with …
As China works vigorously to increase its influence in the region, it is stepping up its efforts to undermine Australia’s influence in Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific, and Australia is unprepared to counter …
Papua New Guinea’s legal system, especially its supreme and national courts, is a true success story. The PNG judiciary is competent, is unaffected by political influence, and resolutely upholds the constitution and the fairness of …
The Australian government must take very seriously the threat to the Manus Island joint naval base project outlined recently by a senior minister in Papua New Guinea’s government. The fact that the man concerned—Foreign Minister …
On 9 May, a senior inspector of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary was brutally murdered in suburban Port Moresby. His alleged assailants were a small group of drunken off-duty members of the PNG Defence …
Australia’s ‘step-up’ program in the South Pacific may already be having an impact, at least in Papua New Guinea. The program was developed to enable Australia to work with other nations, including New Zealand, the …
The Papua New Guinean government’s extraordinary decision to effectively nationalise the Porgera Gold Mine may open the door for the People’s Republic of China to step up its aggressive push to acquire mining interests in …
Australia’s Pacific step-up, introduced in 2016 and significantly upgraded in November 2018, is widely seen as the spearhead of our response to China’s growing influence in our region. At its heart is a record $1.4 …
Australia will inevitably be called on to play a leading role in the economic and fiscal rescue package Papua New Guinea desperately needs. The amount required to prevent PNG from becoming a failed state is …
Papua New Guinea faces its most critical economic, fiscal and social crisis since independence in 1975. This dangerous mix is largely unrelated to the coronavirus sweeping the world, despite attempts by some PNG leaders to …
One of the questions frequently asked about Australia’s closest neighbour, Papua New Guinea, is whether a military, or other, coup is possible. Over the 40-plus years of my association with PNG, my view has been …