Regarding the "About the Author" "...prepared Austrade's case to Government to open an office in Tripoli and has worked on ...readiness for Australian consulting services."

It would appear there is no Austrade Office in Tripoli and perhaps no Consulate/Embassy - at the the risk of being excellent targets for militia groups to shoot at while being mistaken for Americans...

Looks like Austrade UAE handles Libya and other Arab countries.

Australian Embassy Rome handles consulate matters relating to Libya...

Smartraveller on Libya: http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/Libya :

"There is no Australian diplomatic mission in Libya. Australians remaining in Libya should be aware that the ongoing volatile security environment severely restricts the capacity of the Australian Government to deliver consular services in Libya. You can obtain consular assistance from the Australian Embassy in Rome, Italy:

"We strongly advise you not to travel to Libya due to the ongoing fighting and deteriorating security situation throughout the country. There is a high threat of terrorist attack and a high threat of kidnapping. Australians remaining in Libya should seek professional security advice and have effective personal security measures in place.

There has been a series of deadly attacks in recent weeks directed against foreigners. On 20 February at least 40 people were killed in a car bombing in eastern Libya. On 27 January 2015, nine people, included five foreigners, were killed in an attack on an international hotel in Tripoli.

Ten oil workers were killed and three foreigners kidnapped in an attack on Mabruk oilfield on 3 February 2015."

ie. Don't go there!

Fun facts about Libya

Prior to the 2011 "liberation" of Libya by the West

Libya was the RICHEST nation in Africa - it had the highest GDP per capita of any African nation.
Its people enjoyed free health care,
free education including tertiary education,
free electricity,
women had the right to work, get an education etc,
Libya had no external debt and billions in reserve, there was no interest on loans.

Since Gaddafi was overthrown by "moderate" Islamists (where do you think ISIS started?) despite being rich in oil and gas reserves (heard this before?) it is now a failed state, with two governments, with no rule of law - citizens are being attacked and killed by militias.

Who gains from this? Not the Libyans, and I guess the billions stolen from Libya by the US and EU and held in "trust" may or may not be returned at some time in the future.

This is what Western efforts of liberation look like. You would think after our efforts of "liberating" the people of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya we in the west would see how our governments and our media lie to us again and again.

It is never the people who are liberated, it is always their national resources which are liberated for the benefit of Western corporations.

Follow the money people. Wake up!

BJelly

So tragically true. The Libyan people are the all-time losers in this.

The West created the Gaddafi problem and then created the means to 'solve' it.

Now we are left with a mess of a country that was once a prosperous, well-functioning society, with a non-Western, Libyan-style tribal democracy, before the R2P do-gooders decided to 'save' it by bombing it into oblivion.

But if the author's consultancy firm can convince the Australian government to pour funds into rectifying the Libyan mess, good luck to it. It's not as if we need the money anyway. Our embattled Aussie pensioners won't mind.