Aussie aid

Aussie aid

There is one foreign policy challenge that Australia faces
largely alone -- Papua New Guinea. It is a responsibility that
has cost tens of billions of (Australian) dollars in development
aid since Australia relinquished its colonial authority 30 years
ago. And it has been money poorly spent.

But therein lies the problem. What looks logical and necessary
from Canberra takes on quite a different hue in Port Moresby and
beyond. Put politely by a senior PNG official, cultural issues
are frustrating cooperation. Put more plainly, there are open
tensions over the manner in which the program is being rammed
down people's throats.

Australia is counting on the same new, muscular approach to
its post-tsunami aid program for Indonesia. Canberra insists
Australian officials also walk that money through, with similar
risks they will trip over nationalist sensitivities on the way.
The PNG stand-off highlights just how difficult it is going to be
to get this new policy stance right.
-- The Sydney Morning Herald