Prospect of mutual benefits in lively ties with PNG
AFTER a few years when Australia's closest neighbour, Papua New Guinea, seemed to have drifted far from our thoughts, in recent weeks the relationship has intensified immensely. Prime Minister Peter O'Neill last month spent a week "down south", during which he delivered three especially stimulating and constructive speeches about the economic relationship with Australia. Before coming, he had barred economist Ross Garnaut, one of Australia's leading public intellectuals, from entering PNG. Garnaut consequently quit the chairmanship of PNG's biggest- earning company, Ok Tedi Mining. Partly as a result, O'Neill became embroiled in a fierce debate with BHP-Billiton. And the Australian government's new Pacific Solution for asylum seekers has been thrown into jeopardy by a legal challenge from PNG's controversial opposition leader Belden Namah. What's triggering such willing events? They emerged as separate skirmishes. But the context has magnified