Not many Australians will know that Papua New Guinea (PNG) is the single largest recipient of Australian foreign aid – with something like $637 million in direct aid scheduled for 2024-25.
I would like to argue that PNG should in fact receive more focus, and more funding. Apart from strong geographical and historical ties, it is absolutely in Australia’s best interest to ensure that PNG develops strongly, and that the quality of life and education of its people materially improves over time.
The country is materially rich, both in terms of extractable resources and in terms of its extraordinary environment, but it faces innumerable challenges, by virtue of its geography, scattered population, vast number of languages and tribal background. For this reason, time, attention and person to person support from Australia is just as important as funding.
Additionally, if one of the challenges for Australia is a quickly ageing demographic, PNG and the Pacific Islands may provide part of the solution, but only if quality education is provided in the home countries.
