A Breath of Fresh Air

The Prime Minister of our nearest neighbour, the Hon Peter O'Neill, Chief Minister of Papua New Guinea, spoke in Sydney yesterday at the Lowy Institute, with a refreshing candour, an admirable holistic overview of his country's needs and opportunities and a plan for its future.

The theme of Mr O'Neill's speech was 'PNG in the Asian Century' but he ranged much wider in his address and during the following question time. 

We are not accustomed to a political leader willing to concede mistakes and admit problems. PM O'Neill was a breath of fresh air as he spoke of his desire to unite his diverse nation and to provide them with desperately-needed infrastructure so his people can find their share of the region's prosperity. 

He is a quietly spoken man, with an understated strength of character and sense of purpose who has already impressed many with his negotiating ability: he has managed to secure a commitment from his parliament that there will be no motions of no confidence for the next two and half years. Something our PM can only dream about.

In his quiet way, PM O'Neill is seeking a change in the relationship between our countries: he wants an equal partnership and he wants a far greater say in the way our international aid is delievered to his country. In particular, he wants more of the aid spent to improve PNG's roads, ports and other transport infrastructure. There is method in his approach.

Around 80% of PNG's seven million people live in rural areas, with little or no infrastructure. Their future is severely hamstrung by the difficulties in getting their crops to markets or getting all manner of improvements (schools, hospitals, supplies) into their regions.

All those who work in PNG and who wish her well will be looking with interest at the Australian Government's response to PM O'Neill's entreaties.

The Professor changes his tune

Despite what the revisionist historians try to tell us, the men of Kokoda safeguarded our nation’s freedom during our darkest hours. Indeed, if Gallipoli was the birthplace of the Anzac spirit in World War One, then Kokoda was surely its Second World War equivalent.

Recently, a group of experts met at a talkfest at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. It was called ‘Kokoda ... Beyond the Legend’. News reports of the two-day event quote Professor David Horner and other military historians there as attacking what they call the “excessive mythology” of the Kokoda campaign. They say the Japanese never intended to invade Australia and Kokoda was not the battle for Australia. 

Interestingly, Professor Horner seems to have dramatically changed his viewpoint down the years. Here's what he said (on videotape) in an interview he gave me for the doco "Kokoda ... The Bloody Track", in 1991: "Combined with the Guadalcanal campaign, the Kokoda campaign marked the turning point of the war in the South-West Pacific. No longer would the Japanese be able to pose a direct threat to Australia."

and again: "In terms of the direct affect on Australia, Kokoda was the most important battle fought by the Australians in the Second War. And, in its general importance to Australia, Kokoda ranks right up there in importance with the legendary Gallipoli campaign.”

Back then Professor Horner saw the Japanese as posing a direct threat to Australia, extinguished by the Diggers fighting on the Track: “It was a daring gamble by the Japanese, which might well have come off had it not been for the heroic rearguard fighting of the Australians in the mountains.” He seems to have a polar opposite view today! 

A few simple facts point to the Japanese intentions at the time: Firstly, when the Japanese invaded Rabaul and then Papua, they had already invaded Australian sovereign territory. Indeed, the whole of the Kokoda campaign was fought on Australian territory. 

Secondly, when they landed at Gona and until they reached Ioribaiwa, the Japanese aim was to capture Port Moresby … otherwise, why were they evacuating their wounded forward down the track and widening the track as they went to accommodate their subsequent horses and supplies and why were they carrying Australian invasion currency? 

Thirdly, in 1990 I interviewed 17 Japanese Kokoda campaign veterans in Tokyo and Kochi (for the same doco for which I interviewed Prof Horner). It was a substantial representation of their survivors … and, without exception, every one of them thought they were coming to Australia! 

Fourthly, as Capt Bede Tongs MM of the 3^rd Battalion, pointed out after listening to the Canberra conference: the Australian Diggers on the track fought, and died, believing they were defending their loved ones in Australia.

And what a price they paid. At Isurava, Brigade Hill, Mission Ridge, Ioribaiwa, Templeton’s Crossing, Eora Creek, Oivi-Gorari and the beachheads at Buna, Gona, and Sanananda, the jungles were sewn heavily with Australian blood, as so many proud battalions were whittled down to almost platoon strength.

Had the Japanese invaders been able to roll over the Australian defenders along the track - as they originally planned - and been able to capture Port Moresby, do you seriously think they wouldn’t have reconsidered plans to isolate, subjugate or take Australia?

Australians owe an eternal debt to the men who fought in the Kokoda Campaign … those still with us today … and those who have left us ... men like Bruce Kingsbury, John Metson, Charlie McCallum, Butch Bisset, Claude Nye, Mocca Treacy, Tom Fletcher and so many more who sleep at Bomana War Cemetery in Port Moresby. Those heroes neither sought nor received recognition for their bravery.

As, a Kokoda veteran, Colin Blume, once told me: “Anyone who turned up to those hellish battles should have got a gong!”

AN OPEN LETTER TO PNG & AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTERS

AN OPEN LETTER

To         PNG Prime Minister, The Honourable Peter O’Neill and

            Australian Prime Minister, The Honourable Julia Gillard

Please reinstate the PNG-Australia Policing Initiative and create a police academy in PNG.

Last week’s murder of student Rex John at Laloki on the outskirts of Port Moresby is a wake-up call for PNG and Australian leaders.

It highlights the urgent need for the reinstatement of the PNG-Australia policing initiative (under which Australian police helped their PNG counterparts with training, mentoring and the creation of structures for governance).

Rex was travelling to Moresby last Monday to collect his academic gown for his graduation the following weekend as a Community Health Worker. A gang of cowardly thugs attacked his bus, bashing and stabbing the passengers with bush knives and machetes. Rex died of his wounds that evening.

Rex John’s needless death robbed his father and nine brothers and sisters of a loving son and brother. It deprived his village of Naduri of Rex’s hard-won skills as their first-ever Community Health Worker. And it denied PNG the benefits of a fine young man who hoped to serve his nation in the same timeless, selfless tradition of the revered Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels.

Rex had showed the way to a better future for his nation. He was one of those quiet achievers who are the essential foundations of a healthy and sustainable society. Rex was one of the 1 out of 100 kids who start school in PNG and who make it through to Year 10. He was one of the even smaller group who make it through to tertiary studies. Rather than being motivated by making money or becoming a Big Man in politics, Rex was determined to help his family, his community and his country by serving them as a qualified Community Health Worker.

Rex had done all the hard work. He had won a scholarship with the Kokoda Track Foundation, studied diligently and had passed his exams. He was looking forward to his graduation last weekend and to being posted back to his village of Naduri, bringing, for the first time, desperately-need medical skills to the community he loved. 

PNG’s ‘Vision 2050’ Plan targets seven ‘key outcomes’. One of them is improved law and order: “Improving the law and order situation is essential to laying the foundations for socioeconomic growth and establishing investor confidence. Adequate budgetary allocations to the RPNGC [Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary] and the broader law and justice sector is necessary to combat law and order problems.

Last year’s Australia-PNG Ministerial Forum recognised that … “Deterioration of law and order hinders development and disrupts delivery of government services and business. It inhibits the effectiveness of development assistance; it has a serious negative impact on investor confidence and on the quality of life of individuals.”

Prime Ministers, it is time for decisive leadership. It is time for a positive response to the growing levels of violence.

PNG’s leaders must act immediately to bring Rex John’s killers to justice and they must redouble their efforts to fight against the violence that dishonours their capital city. For, until Papuan New Guineans can walk the streets of their capital without fear, PNG’s leaders cannot hold their heads high.

Australia’s leaders must also act to help our nearest neighbour to combat the deleterious effects of the violence plaguing Moresby and other PNG cities. For it is to our lasting shame that no two neighbouring nations in the world have a greater disparity in poverty and wealth (as measured by the U.N. Human Development Index) than Australia and PNG. 

Please join together to reinstate the PNG-Australia Police Initiative as a matter of urgency to prevent the loss of any more precious lives like Rex John.

Patrick Lindsay, Chairman, Kokoda Track Foundation

REX'S DEATH IS A CRY FOR HELP

Last week’s murder of student Rex John at Laloki on the outskirts of Port Moresby is a wake-up call for PNG and Australian leaders.

It highlights the urgent need for the reinstatement of the PNG-Australia policing initiative (under which Australian police helped their PNG counterparts with training, mentoring and the creation of structures for governance).

Rex was travelling to Moresby last Monday to collect his academic gown for his graduation the following weekend as a Community Health Worker. A gang of cowardly thugs attacked his bus, bashing and stabbing the passengers with bush knives and machetes. Rex died of his wounds that evening.

PNG’s National 'Vision 2050' targets seven ‘key outcomes’. One of them is improved law and order: “Improving the law and order situation is essential to laying the foundations for socioeconomic growth and establishing investor confidence. Adequate budgetary allocations to the RPNGC [Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary] and the broader law and justice sector is necessary to combat law and order problems.”

Last year’s Australia-PNG Ministerial Forum recognised that … “Deterioration of law and order hinders development and disrupts delivery of government services and business. It inhibits the effectiveness of development assistance; it has a serious negative impact on investor confidence and on the quality of life of individuals.”

It is time for decisive leadership. It is time for a positive response to the violence. PNG’s leaders must act immediately to bring Rex John’s killers to justice and they must redouble their efforts to fight against the violence that shames their capital city.

One immediate response should be for the PNG and Australian Governments to join together to resinstate their joint policing initiative. It will provide PNG police with practical training and mentoring to better equip them to handle the growing violence and corruption. This should be followed by talks to establish a national police academy to provide a system under which overall police skills and standards can be lifted. 

For, until Papuan New Guineans can walk the streets of their capital without fear, PNG’s leaders cannot hold their heads high. 

---

LET US HONOUR AN UNSUNG HERO

In the early hours of last Monday morning in Port Moresby the terrible price of the random violence that plagues PNG’s capital was laid bare for all to see and a nation lost a precious piece of its future.

Near Laloki on the city’s outskirts, a gang of cowardly thugs in a mini-van forced a PMV off the road and bashed and stabbed its passengers with bush knives and machetes, killing one and leaving another in a critical condition.

The murdered young man, Rex John from Naduri village about halfway along the Kokoda Track, was travelling to Moresby from his teaching college at Veifa’a to pick up the academic gown he hoped to wear to his graduation as a Community Health Worker this coming Saturday.

Rex was travelling on the bus with his friend and fellow Community Health Worker student, Jackson Fred from Efogi village on the Track, who was also to graduate this weekend. Jackson was also stabbed in the attack but is recovering in hospital.

Both Rex and Jackson were studying on scholarships from the Australian-based not-for-profit organization, the Kokoda Track Foundation (KTF). After graduation, Rex was to be posted back to his home village where he would serve as Naduri’s resident Community Health Worker, giving his community access to basic health care for the first time.

Rex John’s needless death was a tragedy in many ways. His father and nine brothers and sisters were robbed of a loving son and brother. His village of Naduri lost Rex’s hard-won skills as their first-ever Community Health Worker. PNG lost a fine young man who hoped to serve his nation in the same timeless, selfless tradition of the revered Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels.

Why was Rex John a hero? Because he showed the way to a better future for his nation. He was one of those quiet achievers who are the essential foundations of a healthy and sustainable society. Rex was one of the 1 out of 100 kids who start school in PNG and who make it through to Year 10. He was one of the even smaller minority who make it through to tertiary studies. Rather than being motivated by making money or becoming a Big Man in politics, Rex was determined to help his family, his community and his country by serving them as a qualified Community Health Worker.

Rex had done all the hard work. He had studied diligently and had passed his exams. He was looking forward to his graduation this weekend and to being posted back to his village of Naduri, bringing, for the first time, desperately-need medical skills to the community he loved.

The Kokoda Track Foundation will honour Rex John by creating a Community Health Worker’s Scholarship in his name and by seeking permission to name the Naduri Aid Post after him.

Rex’s death must not be in vain. He must not become another nameless casualty of the guerilla war waged by the thugs against honest citizens.  

All Papua New Guineans must condemn the cowards who snatched Rex John’s life away.

And PNG’s leaders must act immediately to bring Rex’s killers to justice and they must redouble their efforts to fight against the violence that shames their capital city.

For, until Papuan New Guineans can walk the streets of their capital without fear, PNG’s leaders cannot hold their heads high.