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