PNG: New faces, same team

The formation of a ruling coalition under Prime Minister Bill Skate brings to an end the post-election bargaining in Papua New Guinea. Now that the basic shape of the government has been decided, the focus will shift to forming an effective administration. The country's relationship with Australia will be just one of the challenges facing the ruling coalition.

Prime Minister Skate will have to deal with three Herculean tasks if he is to succeed. First comes economic reality. PNG has not been able to benefit from or become part of the booming economic dynamism around it despite bountiful natural resources. Policies relating to Port Moresby have continuously changed and a stable platform for investment and job creation has yet to be built. The bloated public sector is grossly inefficient and is used more as a vehicle for patronage rather than as an efficient method of delivering services.

Second is Bougainville. Moving the peace process forward will be a major test. Though there have been too many false dawns, the auguries are nonetheless more encouraging than they have been for some time. The Bougainville rebels are inclined to talk and perhaps to deal. A new government with an imaginative and determined interest in peace may be able to accelerate the recently revived peace process. Certainly it should eschew what it cannot achieve, namely a purely military solution.

The third challenge is corruption, which has become a significant impediment to PNG's development. PNG needs to develop a transparent political and financial culture which greatly reduces corruption. The PNG army risked much to stop the Sandline deal going ahead so it may feel some resentment that the authors of that deal have apparently done well in the new government. But the army should respect the constitutional process. All of the politicians in Skate's administration were elected by the people and deserve a chance.

-- The Australian