then the additional aid to PNG will not continue for long,
Ludwig,
What do you think the $1.2 million/day since 1975 to New Guinea from Australia has achieved thus far ?

Hello Poirot, I was trying to make the point that this doesn't have to be thought of as dumping or exploitation. Doing so merely limits capacity to see opportunity and I think this presents a large potential opportunity to bridge the economic gap that exists between Australia and PNG without trying to rush the people of that place into changing their culture too rapidly, with all of the disruption that must entail.

Rubbish on Manus is a detail and a distraction, it's not illustrative of the broader issues. PNG has to develop or it will be ruined. That may sound counter-intuitive and it may not make Mr Haigh feel good about himself, but it's true. Resettlement of asylum seekers could be a means to achieve that and satisfy the needs of some people to move from a place where they aren't welcome to one where they are.

Ludwig, thank you. My point was that the aid can become unnecessary if the right approach is taken and that stopping the boats is not the only reason to resettle those people in PNG, although it is a good reason in itself. If asylum seekers are treated as an opportunity rather than a problem, then in quite a short while the program will yield positive benefits that will repay the cost many times over.

We have let our obligation to our little friend to the north slide and we should be ashamed of ourselves for that.

Craig,

Yes, I understood what you were saying.

"....I was trying to make the point that this doesn't have to be thought of as dumping or exploitation...."

My problem is that I "know" it is dumping and exploitation. I'm also cognizant of the common fact that when an advanced industrial nation seeks to exploit a developing country "for their own mutual benefit" it is seldom a positive move the country being exploited.

Furthermore, I don't see the rubbish issue as merely a detail and a distraction - I see it as an eerily accurate metaphor for what has already gone down there regarding Australia's detention centre.

I understand that you wish to see PNG prosper. I'm doubtful if this is the way to go about it.

PNG has to develop or it will be ruined.
Craig minns,
I agree but develop how & with who's help ? You pour thousands of Arabs into PNG & the West Papua border will shift east by 10 miles a day.
Australia needs to ask PNG whose help it desires & if it's not Australia then stop this huge aid. If it wants Australia then it has to let Australia go in as a kind of CEO for PNG. Aftyer all, I believe the australian Government is registered as a business with it's own ABN or so I was informed yesterday.

<< My problem is that I "know" it is dumping and exploitation >>

I don’t see it that way at all, Poirot. And I’m not sure why you would automatically view it as such.

It seems to me to be a pretty good idea all-round.

We’ve reached a situation where the boats have just got to be stopped. There are obviously no easy and entirely palatable solutions. So whatever we run with is going to have issues.

I agree with Craig that this policy has the potential to really help PNG.

Craig, your thoughts on this were my initial thought as well. It could be a very beneficial thing to both asylum seekers and PNG, if handled well. It could also be handled badly and, at least in the short term, be a disaster.

But yes, these are skilled people going to a country that badly needs skilled people. From the little I know of PNG's history at our hands, we have not left them with much to work with in the past and they are still suffering from it. Skills are what they need, as well as well-directed programs/projects that they can be a part of.

In the meantime, people should perhaps remember that we continue in Australia to take in a quota of 20,000 refugees per annum. These are individuals who come from all over the world where unendurable pressures exist. As I understand it, half of the quota is meant to come from Africa, where people can languish in horrific camps for years, often decades. These are the people likely to be more and more squeezed out while the $5billion smuggler trade takes over our refugee policy and reduces it to one group only, while being callously indifferent to increased numbers of drownings.

I am truly hoping that the circuit-breaker has been found and that it works out for everyone's benefit, because it really could do so. The sooner we break away from the nightmare of the last 12 years, the sooner we can return to a sane, balanced and humane system and start to educate the troglodytes away from bigotry and racism. Though that would necessitate bipartisanship, which is another story...