Highroads past PNG Foreign Policy Making
Photo Credit: MESSER SMITH by STELLA PAULUS As we debate the reasons for the riot in Madang, let us not stray from the bigger picture of why it happened in the first place. In order to do so we have to look at our history. Whilst Papua New Guinea was still 30 years into celebrating its freedom from the terrorism of colonialism, it was soon to learn that Australia was not going to let go of the reigns that easily. December 2003, Australia forces PNG into agreeing for the installation of the Australian Government’s Enhanced Cooperation Program (ECP) in the country. If not the Australian Government would pull the plug on the annual aid payment through what is known as AUSAID. The program enabled the direct control of PNG’s justice, economic and policing policies under which the Australian Federal Police (AFP) was introduced into the country. However, on May 13 2005, a Somare-backed court ruling found that the protection against the law enjoyed by most Australian Federal P