From Radio Australia 

Land alienation is a problem not just in Papua New Guinea but across Melanesia, and it has the potential to have a catastrophic affect on Melanesian society, according to one of the region's most experienced anthropologists.



Kirk Huffman, a former Director of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre and a Research Associate at the Australian Museum says, when it comes to land, even well-meaning investors and aid donors in Melanesia have the wrong model of development. 



By Joshua Arlo*

Women and children from the Rempi area of Madang fear eviction as the government presses ahead with plans for Papua New Guinea's first Special Economic Zone.

Together with their men, the women met to air their grievances about the government sanctioned US$300 million Pacific Marine Industrial Zone which promises to bring in 10 new fish canneries and about 30,000 jobs. 

Acting Deputy Police Commissioner operations Fred Yakasa again gave us a stark reminder of corruption in Papua New Guinea when he said on Tuesday that a mammoth 50% of its budget annually is lost to fraud. This works out to a whopping K4 billion a year, which Yakasa bluntly said had gone into the hands of corrupt public servants and senior bureaucrats, many of whom he alleges have invested these gains overseas.

The middle class in PNG seems to be preoccupied with a debate over whether the country should continue to look South to Australia and New Zealand for assistance or whether it is better to look North to China. 

But, prompted and encouraged by Australia, China and Prime Minister Somare, they are asking the wrong question and thus they continually miss the answer to the question they should be asking which is how can PNG lift itself above its current problems and find a better way forward?