As the weather warms up in Canberra, Parliament House becomes a refuge for migrating bogongs. In late 2006, in search of a cool spot, this Bogong settled in to watch the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee do its best to come to terms with the South Pacific. We can’t seem to get it right. The rest of the developed world sees the South Pacific as the responsibility of Australia and New Zealand – both strategically and developmentally. What is our record to date?
Well after 50 years, we have got riots in Tonga, an imminent coup in Fiji, ‘whitefellas behaving badly’ in Vanuatu, a state of virtual anarchy in the Solomons and finally PNG – at least in parts – endemic lawlessness with no solutions in sight. Hundreds of millions of dollars of aid money has been spent, with all forms of training, military cooperation and political bonhomie – but very little to show. In fact it is getting worse.
Meetings like the one held in Canberra don’t even touch on the fact that unrest and frustration become breeding grounds for violence, anarchy and eventually terrorism. But there is a way forward. An integrated market – one with goods, services and labour is a simple answer.
Look at it this way, only 20% of high school graduates in Tonga find a job, but Australia is desperately short of all manner of skilled and even unskilled workers. Pacific islanders have strong cultures and a record of repatriating a part of what they earn. Cultural and family ties are often strong enough to take them home when they are financially independent by Island standards.
And even if it is not, the numbers are miniscule in terms of our total migrant intake and even by the standards of the 40,000 skilled workers now coming to Australia every year in the S.457 category. Opening up to the South Pacific would create activities of substance for the aid program – it would make sense to offer skills to school leavers and others before they arrive on our shores. This kind of integration would, over time, strengthen representative institutions in the island states giving a more educated and traveled population a more considered voice in political processes.
Finally, this solution can be staged over a period of time. The process might begin with the smaller states such as Kiribati, Samoa and Tonga. If it works well in the first three years then Fiji, Vanuatu and the Solomons could follow. Because of its size and complexity, PNG might be the last off the block.
As a footnote, Bogong ran into the Fiji High Commissioner in the Parliamentary Committee Room and asked him if he was proposing to raise working visas with the Committee. The answer was NO. He had done so with other Committees and it was not going anywhere. Why? Well it could be because the PM had voiced what Bogong understands to be his personal objection to the idea at a South Pacific Forum last year. So the integrated market at this stage is an idea whose time has not yet come. Sad really, because it is inevitable. Let’s hope there is not too much more violence and misspent aid funds before it happens.
Tags: Region - Asia Pacific
