United States and Australia damn PNG's rotten political practises
PAPUA New Guinea is entrapped by deeply corrupt politicians who have enriched themselves on resource revenues and Australian aid programs, according to United States diplomatic reports. Australian government officials are reported as saying that generational change in PNG politics following the eventual departure of the ailing founding father and former prime minister Sir Michael Somare is a "false hope" . They describe the PNG government as a ''totally dysfunctional blob'' . The damning assessments of Australia's nearest neighbour and former trust territory are contained in confidential US embassy cables obtained by WikiLeaks and made available to The Saturday Age. In a 2008 briefing the US embassy in Port Moresby noted that resource revenues and Australian aid have served "more to enrich the political elite than to provide social services or infrastructure. There are no large-scale local businessmen, but numerous politicians are relatively well off&