The threat (whether carried out or not) to refuse basic medical treatment to PNG residents who seek such aid in the northern border region is barely short of criminal. We should be ashamed on behalf of our stupid government.

It seems extremely reasonable, and would be relatively inexpensive, and in our own best interest, to provide targetted aid in PNG in an endeavour to eliminate TB. If about 7 in every 100,000 Australians get TB each year, as the author has stated, that would be around 1600 individuals. This, and the rise of multi-resistant strains of this infectious disease should be a warning to us all. Our lack of action in this regard at least would be an indictment on us all.

We can't fix all the problems of the world, and it is a bit naive for the author to suggest it, and Australia's wealth does rightly belong to all Australians, from mining or otherwise, but we are not so petty and so selfish as to refuse our governments the right to provide some worthwhile targetted assistance to our nearest neighbour. We have been doing so for years, and yes, some or a lot has been misused, but surely we can improve the method of delivery. (It doesn't help of course when we get some flack from Sir Michael Somare, former PM of PNG. In fact it hurt.) Still, some minor setbacks should not be sufficient to prevent us from trying to do what's right.

PNG was formerly an Australian Protectorate, but we didn't really do ourselves too proud in carrying out the associated responsibilities, and have only done worse leading up to, and since, giving PNG Independence in '75. Their problems are certainly not directly of our making, but I feel it is clear that we still bear some responsibility to this our nearest neighbour. (And we haven't done too badly exploiting some of its resources either.)

The observations of Peter Baume and Justin Denholm together with those of Mark O’Connor (OLP 21/11/11) on Malthusianism make sad yet bearable reading compared with the defensive reactions of the prejudiced readers who filed their comments.

Anyone who claims to have any form of care for himself should be able to understand that his/her welfare and health depend ultimately on the welfare and health of the community in which he/she is bound to live.

In the little Italian island in which I was born, by the end of WWII, tuberculosis spread to over fifty two per cent of the population.

Being still in my teens I escaped recruitment into the navy and probable early death just for being physically too weak.

It was then that I observed that walls were no impediments to infectious diseases and, sometimes later noted how equally pervasive were some mental conditions.

What I observed in my later days is that social institutions constrict freedom and inevitably create conditions for the birth of privilege.

Undeniably the privilege of self styled Leaders has been the cause of all ills in man.

Finally, it is to be observed that man’s great enemy is waste and unless each one of us observes the strictest of economies we are bound to choke together sooner than we think.

Saltpeter we actually did a pretty damn good job in PNG. Granted it was not quite as good as the poms did in the Solomons, but still very good.

We would have done a better job still if that idiot Whitlam had not decided to grandstand to the world, & give them independence about 20 years before they were ready for it.

I was there for independence. I watched the aid money used to buy out Ozzie plantation owners. I watched those plantations, given to the villagers go back to bush. That destroyed much of their export earnings.

I was at Bougainville when they allowed the unions & the locals, [Bougainvilleans as distinct from PNG] to destroy the mine, leading to it's permanent closure, & loss of even more export earnings, & almost part of the country.

If you don't cut your kids loose some time, & make them responsible for their mistakes, they'll never grow up, the same goes for PNG.

Yes we do owe them a bit more help, because we cut them loose too soon, but it must be limited for their own long term good.

We have enough bludgers here, without encouraging a whole country of then to our north.

Hasbeen,

I was there too, in Port Moresby '74 - '76. In my short stay I too observed they weren't ready for Independence. I did enjoy the celebrations though, the gathering in Moresby of so many different clans, very colourful and dynamic. But the writing was already on the wall.

We would have moved in different circles, and my experience more limited. What I noted most was the disconnect between the expats and the locals, the prejudice on both sides, and the lack of appropriate preparation for handover. Moresby was a melting pot, people coming from villages in hopes of getting work 'in town', when there wasn't any, so they had to bludge on wantoks. Things quickly got rough, gangs of rascals roamed, stealing, bashing (including their own), and rapes started against expats and locals. Lots of drinking warm SP. Pretty sad really, and I was glad to get out.

Perhaps the precipitous nature of the handover was partly to blame, but how long had Oz been there? There was still only limited general education and only a poor attempt get the locals really 'engaged', with the locals mostly only doing the donkey work. Hence I formed the opinion that Oz (including the expats) did not do such a great job. And who would have benefitted most from the gold, the timber, the plantations and the copper?

As PNG is not just a complex culture, but an aggregation of complex cultures, it was always going to take a lot of special understanding to apply the right sort of aid in the right way and under the right conditions. I perceive that we missed the mark quite a lot.

I believe we are obliged to continue targetted, and conditional aid, not as paternalists, but as concerned neighbours with quite a shared history. Fighting TB and AIDS would have to be high on the list of priorities.

Salpetre, sometimes its not how much is spent, but how its spent,
which is the crucial question.

Last time I checked, Australia spent around 4 billion a year on
development aid, with PNG being the largest beneficiary, at over
1 million $ a day.

But of course the development aid budget is a honeypot for highly
paid consultants and advisors, who know how to milk the system for
all that it is worth.

A closer inspection as to how money is spent in PNG, should soon
show where enough money could be made available for TB, even if at
a cost to overpaid consultants.

"Envey of the World" This is an article devoid of any real analysis.