Foreign advisors sent packing

PORT MORESBY – Papua New Guinea’s government has removed more than a dozen foreign advisers working in government departments, a move that was foreshadowed several months ago.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) has confirmed 15 adviser positions in the departments of finance, transport, treasury and justice ended on December 31.

But it said another 18 Australian public servants remained in their advisory positions and a few new liaison officer roles were being established to maintain relationships between PNG and Australian Government departments.

PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill first revealed the plan for the ban on foreign workers in Parliament in July last year.

Paul Barker, executive director of PNG’s National Institute of Public Affairs, told the ABC’s Pacific Beat programme that some advisers had short notice as they had only recently been recruited.

“It hasn’t affected everyone – there are some people retained in areas to do with law-and-order and justice, but certainly it’s affected people in a wide range of activities,” Barker said.

“Some of the people in the police and Australian Federal Police programmes have been retained and the new law and justice programme has commenced.”

He said it was also a time of transition as some major programmes were winding down to end in mid-2016, leading to a new governance facility that would merge several programmes together.

Barker said there was some merit in what the PNG government was trying to achieve but a number of government institutions still needed technical assistance across the board.

“Certainly in the educational training area but also in the governance area because frankly a lot of government institutions in PNG are working very poorly and they’re in desperate need of support,” he said.

“But one of the worries – what are the motives for this shift?

“Certainly there are concerns the motives may be that there are some players within the government of Papua New Guinea who do not want too much accountability and who don’t even want the strengthening of some of the government mechanisms.”

But Barker said he doubted the change would impact on relations between PNG and Australia too much.

“The two countries have lived next door to each other for a very long time. They know how important that relationship is, they’re certainly not going to get tripped up over this particular issue.”

- ABC