There is no question that if we are to improve the quality of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea we need to rethink the aid relationship. This is, of course, easier said than done, and has already been attempted a few times. But especially in light of changes in the PNG economy, it needs to be done again. A particular focus has to be increasing the capacity of PNG government officials, rather than simply implanting Australian officials in the PNG bureaucracy because we do not think their officials are up to the task.
Prime Minister Peter O'Neill earned shrill headlines in Australia in August 2015 following a statement on how he believed the aid relationship could improve. He was said to have plans to "boot out Australian officials" working for his government and that he would "turf out all foreign advisers by the year's end'.
The full statement, in fact, should be welcomed by Australia as it indicated a determination by PNG to take greater control of tackling its problems. "As a developing country we don't want handouts," O'Neill said, "we don't want Australian taxpayer money wasted and we don't want boomerang aid." His complaint was about how much money never reached its real purpose.
"Development assistance has become a billion dollar 'industry' where so much of the goodwill ends up in the pockets of middlemen and expensive consultants," he said. '" wonder if the people of Australia realise how much of the money they give to help Papua New Guinea and other countries is actually paid to middlemen and lawyers." He said that rather than having advisers who worked for their own governments he wanted to move to a model in 2016 "where our partners will be welcome to fund positions within our government. These staff can then work and report through the Papua New Guinea government system and we will deliver their salaries through arrangements with the donor countries." He predicted this would help strengthen PNG's government systems from within and gradually wean PNG off development assistance.
O'Neill also forecast a change to the policing assistance given by Australia."We have had a policing partnership program in place for a couple of years now and I think all parties agree, the benefits are limited due to restrictions placed on the Australian police," O'Neill said.
"We have Australian police officers who are committed to strengthening law enforcement in our country, but they are frustrated by the bureaucracy that means they cannot do hands-on policing. I cannot imagine being a police officer who is told that if they see a crime being committed, he or she has to stand back and watch. We would like to recruit foreign police into line positions within the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary so they can lead by example and pass on their knowledge and skills."
There are signs that the government is shifting to a greater focus on capacity. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has pushed for the creation of a Pacific Leadership and Governance Precinct in Port Moresby to improve the training of PNG public servants.
Back in the colonial era, Australia had a highly regarded training institute in Sydney called the Australian School of Pacific Administration (ASOPA). It ran tertiary level courses for people recruited to work in PNG, including the kiaps and teachers. In 1970 it started training Papua New Guineans when Australia realised there was going to be a serious shortage of well-trained and qualified indigenous people to replace the Australians. My sister-in-law spent 10 months there in the mid-1970s doing a management training course. This new Governance Precinct that Australia is funding is, in some ways, ASOPA resurrected. The aim is to build leadership and management skills across all levels of the PNG public service.
In a press release issued for the launch of the precinct in November 2015, Julie Bishop said, "The institutions involved in the precinct will work closely with the public and private sector to foster the ethical, practical and intellectual framework to help build the leadership qualities and skills of government officials."
Papua New Guineans are also seriously underrepresented in Australia's Seasonal Worker Program. This program allows companies to recruit Pacific Islanders to work in Australia's horticulture, accommodation, aquaculture, cane and cotton industries. The Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme was introduced in 2008 and ran until mid-2012.
Although the modest cap on the pilot program was 2500 workers, the numbers who came in to take up short-term employment fell well short of that, at 1534. Of those, 1250 were Tongans while only 82 came in from PNG. A permanent scheme is now in place allowing Pacific Islanders to work in Australia "for a single approved Australian employer for a period of between 14 weeks and 6 months". The cap on numbers for 2015-16 is 4250. New Zealand has a similar seasonal labour scheme which is working much better and takes twice as many Pacific Islanders.
Read more: http://www.afr.com/news/world/asia/papua-new-guinea-coming-to-terms-with-australias-colonial-past-20160216-gmvhqr#ixzz41fIqskvh
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Tuberculosis in the Torres Straits
The work that the Australian Government has done through AusAID in Papua New Guinea, specifically in the South Fly Province, has now reduced the risk to Queenslanders and indeed all Australians of contracting extremely drug-resistant TB.
"A number of years ago, the Queensland Government made the decision to wind back the clinics that were being held in Saibai and Boigu, two small islands in the Torres Strait very close to Papua New Guinea.
"Those clinics were set up to provide services to Papua New Guinean nationals who had TB. They would come across the short gap of ocean, across to Australia to access these services. Unfortunately, we know that those types of services are not the best services to put in place for people with TB.
"The best service you can offer someone with TB, particularly in a third world country, is the World Health Organization auspice service of DOTS -- direct observed treatment. The reason that is the best service is that then you can make sure that the patients are receiving their treatment every single day for the full course that is required. If that doesn't occur we know that there is a real risk that drug resistance can emerge. And indeed extremely drug resistant TB could emerge.
"So by putting in place a DOTS auspice program into PNG itself, you can reduce that risk. And that's the work that the Commonwealth Government has been doing through AusAID now for the last year. They have been setting up treatment services within the villages and they've also enhanced the service that's available at Daru -- the referral hospital for that part of Papua New Guinea.
"They've put in place a sea ambulance to take patients to Daru if they've needed, but more importantly they have got services available in the actual villages where the people live. So they don't need to travel across the Strait, through to the Torres Strait to obtain services. In the past those services, although very well intentioned of course, meant that at some times people wouldn't be able to make the trip and would miss out on their drugs for that period and there would be issues with it.
"So now with the new process in place I am confident that we are reducing the risk to Australians from obtaining TB. We have had very, very few cases over the years of TB within the Torres Strait itself. Torres Strait people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who live in those communities, of course can continue to access TB services as can any Queenslander. So I am confident all of these changes will actually reduce the risk to those people and to all Queenslanders.
"Benefits of the Direct Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) for treating TB
"The World Health Organization recommends that wherever possible the DOTS program should be utilised -- direct observed treatment. That is where health workers actually monitor people taking their drugs every day during the treatment. Most sensitive TB regimes last around six months, so it's important that the people take the drugs every day for that six-month period and DOTS ensures that happens.
"It's always much more difficult if you ask people to come to a clinic every six weeks or so, to pick up their medication because they mightn't be able to make the trip for whatever reason. Indeed we had some times when the border was closed and it was difficult for people to access the drugs. Also that they mightn't be aware of the importance of taking the drugs every single day if there isn't someone there to remind them. Which is why WHO recommends DOTS for all third world countries."
Will Torres Strait become asylum backdoor to Australia
The plan to send all new arrivals to Papua New Guinea was supposed to stop the boats, but there are growing concerns that instead it could simply provide a new route for people smugglers.The Torres Strait, off the northern tip of Queensland, is a strip of ocean where only four kilometres separates Australian territory from PNG.
In the last few days, two boats carrying asylum seekers have been apprehended while crossing the Torres Strait. The Queensland premier Campbell Newman claims the trickle could turn into a torrent, but the home affairs minister, Jason Clare says, the numbers don't bear that out.
7.30 sent reporter Matt Wordsworth to the Torres Strait islands to investigate.
The Torres Strait is a sea bound paradise. Turquoise water spills over coral reefs and sandy beaches. But, for years this sparsely populated frontier has also been a well known smuggling route for drugs, guns and people. This is what passes for a customs checkpoint on Australia's northern most island and the frontline with Papua New Guinea.There are no scanners or sniffer dogs here. The checkpoint is the boat ramp where names are recorded and quarantine staff look over cargo for signs of pests and disease.
Due to centuries old family links, the Australian Government allows PNG villagers from 13 settlements along the coast free movement in the region and these villagers make the seven kilometre trip every week to bring their goods to market.
DIMAS TOBY, TORRES STRAIT ISLAND REGIONAL COUNCIL: The population is about 300 but throughout the year it fluctuates.
MATT WORDSWORTH: But it’s this proximity that has the local councillor, Dimas Toby, worried about the Federal Government's PNG solution.
DIMAS TOBY: Mr Rudd made that proposal and the decision of, you know, the processing and detention centre down at Manus Island. This is the doorway for internationals to come in. We've had in the past that came through individuals and in a group.
MATT WORDSWORTH: Each year it's estimated that there's about 50,000 crossings from Papua New Guinea to Australia.
So just how close is our nearest neighbour? Well, we're floating above the international border with Papua New Guinea. At about 3.5 kilometres that way is the mainland of PNG. Just over three kilometres that way is Boigu Island, and that's Australia. So all you need for this international journey is a tinny.
Local journalist Aaron Smith says it's not only Boigu Island that has reservations about the PNG solution.
AARON SMITH, TORRES NEWS: A lot of the regional leaders up here are concerned. You know, we have a pretty porous border up here. One of the treaty villages on the island is Saibai, about four Ks from the PNG mainland. That border has about 26,000 crossings a year just to that one island and a significant percentage of those are not legal immigrants, mostly PNG people. But there are concern that that will be a back door into the country.
MATT WORDSWORTH: Those fears were realised on Saturday when two Somalis were detained on Boigu Island. They were flown to Cairns where they will be sent to Manus Island. Just a day earlier, another two suspected asylum seekers were intercepted off nearby Saibai Island. It takes the total number of irregular maritime arrivals in the Torres Strait to 10, already matching last year's total. In 2011 there were one, in 2010, there were none at all.
AARON SMITH: There's not a racquet going on, as far as I've heard, it's more just opportunist people that are really keen to get out here and live in Australia.
MATT WORDSWORTH: This Customs boat crew is the frontline of defence against illegal entry to Australia through the Torres Strait.
Gary Donn (phonetic) is a senior officer normally based in Cairns.
It's a big patch to cover for the two boats in service, about 50,000 square kilometres.
So how often would you do a patrol like this?
GARY DONN, SENIOR OFFICER: (Inaudible) ... at least once a week. We try to prefer to do overnight patrols because it's a more efficient way of using our staff. But they will ensure the vessel goes out somewhere at least every week.
MATT WORDSWORTH: And how many boats like this have you got?
GARY DONN: There's four of them in Australia. One in Western Australia, one in Darwin and one in Gove and there's one here at Thursday Island.
MATT WORDSWORTH: It doesn't take long to locate an international visitor.
GARY DONN: Matt, I just talked to that bloke on the radio. He first pulled into Cairns a few days ago, he's now heading off to Darwin, with a Belgium registered vessel, his English language isn't real good but it's been cleared in the Cairns, we don't have a great deal of more interest in him today.
MATT WORDSWORTH: So let him go?
GARY DONN: Yeah, the details he's given match with what we've got on our system so all's fine.
MATT WORDSWORTH: Alright.
Customs has just 13 staff in the Torres Strait with another six available at short notice in Cairns. There are two helicopters and two boats. But it puts the Queensland Premier at loggerheads with Canberra.
CAMPBELL NEWMAN, QLD PREMIER: The idea that 13 officials are enough to police 270 odd islands and thousands of square kilometres of sea area is preposterous. So, Kevin Rudd, if he wants the PNG solution to work, he needs to essentially properly close the border and make sure that only people who are legit can get across.
JASON CLARE, HOME AFFAIRS MINISTER: I know Premier Newman has been trying to scare everybody up here. Let me give you the facts. The fact is that last year 10 people crossed from PNG to across the Torres Strait and 10 people have made that same journey this year. The difference now, is that everybody that crosses the Torres Strait, without a visa, will get flown to Manus Island. No one will be processed here, no one will be settled here. That's the difference.
MATT WORDSWORTH: To make matters worse, Councillor Dimas Toby says there's also been cutbacks in recent years.
DIMAS TOBY: We've experienced that over the last couple of years that there has been cut back on customs from Thursday Island. There's been cutback on fisheries and...
MATT WORDSWORTH: Does that mean fewer people or fewer patrols?
DIMAS TOBY: There's fewer patrols, but I think if you're really looking to asylum seeker problem I think we really need to step up on security and give Torres Strait region the assurance that, you know, we're safe.
Australia PNG joint border patrol
Sean was invited to be part of a joint patrol to Sigabaduru village involving Australian Customs, Australian Federal Police (AFP), Queensland Police, Papua New Guinea Customs, PNG Immigration and PNG Police.
Here's his account of the journey:
The village of Sigabaduru is on the southern coast of Papua New Guinea's Western (or Fly River) Province and is less than three kilometres from the Australian island of Saibai. We went there in quite speedy tenders launched from a patrol boat, the Australian Customs Vessel Holdfast Bay. Unlike Saibai which has a wharf, electricity and running water, Sigabaduru - a village of 850 to 1,000 people - has no electricity, no running water and no wharf. That meant wading ashore.
Once on the beach Grant Smith, the Australian Federal Police officer who was in the team, handed over his gun to his PNG counterpart, a policewoman who held it until he was ready to return to Australian territory.
Sigabaduru is one of the villages covered by the Australia PNG Treaty whereby PNG citizens are allowed traditional entry into a number of Australian islands in the Torres Strait, free from the need for visas.
About 50,000 visits are made to Australian islands like Saibai each year by Papua New Guineans covered by the Treaty. In fact, the day before we crossed over to Sigabaduru I ran into one of the men from that village, Nope Nama, who was on a shopping trip to the supermarket at another Australian island just off the PNG mainland, Dauan. He bought some rice, flour, sugar and fruit juice. He was back on the PNG mainland before nightfall.
The idea of the joint cross border patrols is to maintain relationships with the communities and the trips provide the authorities in both Australia and PNG with invaluable intelligence. The local people on both sides of the border know each other extremely well and so the Torres Strait is not the easy access route to Australia by potential asylum seekers or others that one might assume.
Liam Daly, the Australian Customs and Border Security team leader for the Torres Strait, told a village meeting in Sigabaduru that the Australian agencies involved in the patrol had a variety of interests.
"We're interested into [sic] the movement of people into Australia, the movement of people out of Australia," he said. "Things like drugs, guns, money movement - that kind of stuff."
The AFP's Grant Smith told the people how much Australia had appreciated information Papua New Guineans had provided in the past.
"I just want to say we really value the relationship we've established with your village here," he said.
"And because we're so close. PNG and Australia are so close here these Cross Border Patrols which are led by Customs, it's really about us working together across that border so that both communities are safe."
There was one complaint from the other side. Koeget Salee, a retired school teacher from Sigabaduru, said that his people had assisted in reporting people trying to illegally enter Australia - but it was expensive for people in PNG to do so. He said that if he was reporting some suspicious movement to Saibai, he had to make an international phone call on his mobile even though Saibai was in full view just there across the water.
One issue that I reported on quite extensively when I was the ABC's Port Moresby correspondent in the 1990s was the trade of guns from Australian to the Torres Strait and marijuana from the PNG side. Although there was mention of it during the Sigabaduru village meeting, it appears the trade has declined somewhat. One of the reasons, I was told, is that hydroponic marijuana grown in Australia has taken market share off the PNG Highlands grown variety.
I asked the Queensland Police officer in charge in the Torres Strait Patrol Group about the trade.
"I wouldn't say that it doesn't occur," Inspector David Lacey said.
"Certainly our intelligence indicates that it is not as prevalent as perhaps it was in the past. I think one of the reasons is our continued cross border patrols with our federal counterparts.
"We have a very good connection of networks on the islands these days with the Movement Monitoring Officers employed by the Federal Government attached to each of the outer islands.
"Also we have Torres Strait Islands Police Support Officers currently on the islands so that network of contacts, I think, significantly reduces the amount of activity that goes on, specifically with regards to large-scale importations."
Inspector Lacey said a big part of the Queensland Police job in the Torres Strait these days is to do with search and rescue operations because the waters on both sides of the border can be quite treacherous.
Sigabaduru is one of the villages covered by the Australia PNG Treaty whereby PNG citizens are allowed traditional entry into a number of Australian islands in the Torres Strait, free from the need for visas.
About 50,000 visits are made to Australian islands like Saibai each year by Papua New Guineans covered by the Treaty.
In fact, the day before we crossed over to Sigabaduru I ran into one of the men from that village, Nope Nama, who was on a shopping trip to the supermarket at another Australian island just off the PNG mainland, Dauan.
He bought some rice, flour, sugar and fruit juice. He was back on the PNG mainland before nightfall.
The idea of the joint cross border patrols is to maintain relationships with the communities and the trips provide the authorities in both Australia and PNG with invaluable intelligence.
The local people on both sides of the border know each other extremely well and so the Torres Strait is not the easy access route to Australia by potential asylum seekers or others that one might assume.
Liam Daly, the Australian Customs and Border Security team leader for the Torres Strait, told a village meeting in Sigabaduru that the Australian agencies involved in the patrol had a variety of interests.
"We're interested into [sic] the movement of people into Australia, the movement of people out of Australia," he said.
"Things like drugs, guns, money movement - that kind of stuff."
The AFP's Grant Smith told the people how much Australia had appreciated information Papua New Guineans had provided in the past.
"I just want to say we really value the relationship we've established with your village here," he said.
"And because we're so close. PNG and Australia are so close here these Cross Border Patrols which are led by Customs, it's really about us working together across that border so that both communities are safe."
There was one complaint from the other side. Koeget Salee, a retired school teacher from Sigabaduru, said that his people had assisted in reporting people trying to illegally enter Australia - but it was expensive for people in PNG to do so.
He said that if he was reporting some suspicious movement to Saibai, he had to make an international phone call on his mobile even though Saibai was in full view just there across the water.
The joint border patrols also keep a watch on illegal fishing.
One issue that I reported on quite extensively when I was the ABC's Port Moresby correspondent in the 1990s was the trade of guns from Australian to the Torres Strait and marijuana from the PNG side.
Although there was mention of it during the Sigabaduru village meeting, it appears the trade has declined somewhat.
One of the reasons, I was told, is that hydroponic marijuana grown in Australia has taken market share off the PNG Highlands grown variety.
I asked the Queensland Police officer in charge in the Torres Strait Patrol Group about the trade.
"I wouldn't say that it doesn't occur," Inspector David Lacey said.
"Certainly our intelligence indicates that it is not as prevalent as perhaps it was in the past. I think one of the reasons is our continued cross border patrols with our federal counterparts.
"We have a very good connection of networks on the islands these days with the Movement Monitoring Officers employed by the Federal Government attached to each of the outer islands.
"Also we have Torres Strait Islands Police Support Officers currently on the islands so that network of contacts, I think, significantly reduces the amount of activity that goes on, specifically with regards to large-scale importations."
Inspector Lacey said a big part of the Queensland Police job in the Torres Strait these days is to do with search and rescue operations because the waters on both sides of the border can be quite treacherous.
A Papua New Guinean man whose daughter died in a
Queensland hospital has been told by bureaucrats he will have to use a
dinghy to get himself and his daughter's body home.
Petru Aniba
made a mercy dash from his home village to the Torres Strait in February
in the hope of saving his 14-year-old daughter Marthi, who was
suffering tuberculosis.She eventually died in Cairns Base Hospital. Her father too had tuberculosis and has only been released from quarantine.
Queensland Health officials said they would only fly the man and his dead daughter as far as the Torres Strait.
His friend Robert Slade says Mr Aniba travelled from his village to the Papua New Guinean township of Daru, and from there canoed to Saibai Island in the Torres Strait.
"Then from Saibai he was choppered to Thursday Island, then from Thursday Island he was flown down to the Cairns Base Hospital," Mr Slade said.
"Unfortunately, his daughter Marthi passed away on February 24 and then Aniba was put into isolation for a few months because of tuberculosis.
"He came out of isolation about, roughly, five weeks ago and has been waiting for him and his daughter to be able to be repatriated back home so he can bury his daughter.
"Queensland Health were prepared to send him and his daughter back to Saibai, but unfortunately from Saibai he would have to organise for his brother-in-law to bring a dinghy over from Daru to Saibai, which is an eight-hour journey in a dinghy and uses approximately 80 litres of fuel."
Mr Slade says Mr Aniba would have to take his daughter's body on board the dinghy without any refrigeration.
Outrage
The situation has outraged Warren Entsch, the Liberal MP for Leichhardt."How could we do this in this country?" he said.
"When this fellow basically takes a huge risk, he's seriously ill himself, comes across to our borders looking to try and save his 14-year-old daughter, as any parent would do, we say 'right, we'll dump him on Saibai and he can find his own way home and he can take the body of his daughter with him'.
"It is just heartless."
A Queensland Health spokeswoman says the department does have a policy of returning people to their point of entry.
Mr Entsch described that policy as "bloody bullshit".
"They know where he came from. That's a bit like saying 'all of these that are coming in illegally in the boats, well, we've only got to take them out and dump them back on Ashmore Reef'," he said.
Mr Entsch has launched an appeal to raise $15,000 in airfares for Mr Aniba.
But late Friday, Queensland Health released a statement saying it was prepared to provide whatever assistance was required to ensure Mr Aniba and his daughter's body were safely repatriated to their home village and that cost was not an issue.
Cairns District chief executive Julie Hartley-Jones said staff had met Mr Aniba on Thursday to discuss the best way to get him and his daughter home.
She said he asked to be flown to Saibai and for Queensland Health to provide fuel for the boat trip back to his home, which the department agreed to pay for.
However, she said Mr Aniba had since indicated he was reconsidering his options.
"Regardless of this, Queensland Health stands ready and willing to do everything possible to ensure Mr Petru and his daughter's body can be safely returned to their home village in PNG," she said.
Widespread dilemma
The case raises a more widespread dilemma in the Torres Strait.Many PNG citizens are making the desperate trip to Australia for medical treatment, suffering from conditions such as tuberculosis, cholera and meningitis.
The tuberculosis clinic of Saibai is the only one in the Torres Strait but has run out of federal funding.
That has prompted an appeal from medical professionals like Professor Ian Wronski, James Cook University's head of medicine, who says tuberculosis is a re-emerging disease.
"Bit by bit it will re-establish in the Torres, it may well be there now," he said.
"Naturally people from PNG move it into the Torres Strait and people from the Torres Strait move it into the Cape, and we'll see tuberculosis re-establish itself in Australia."
Queensland Health Minister Geoff Wilson was not available to talk about the Aniba case but earlier addressed the issue of the tuberculosis clinics.
"Health services to PNG nationals are the responsibility of the Federal Government, but rest assured the Queensland Government's made its views well known to the Commonwealth," he said.
"Only as of yesterday, I spoke with Nicola Roxon about that at the conclusion of the Health Ministers Council there in Melbourne."
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