MIPLA in Darlington, South Australia, Australia | Academic camp

MIPLA

Locality: Darlington, South Australia, Australia

Phone: +61 426 610 181

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25.01.2022 Hey SoilChild fans, Check them out!

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21.01.2022 My latest piece here

20.01.2022 An Opportunist at the cost of Papua New Guinea's future 1. Introduction I am a proud Papua New Guinean who will always stand very tall to speak boldly, loudly ...and clearly, knowing that PNG has one of the best democracies in the Commonwealth (not withholding other cross-cutting issues). With human decency, I wish therefore to make this commentary on my observations on the saga of the attempted arrest of the former Prime Minister of PNG, Peter O’Neill, officially known as Peter Charles Paire O'Neill. I hereby argue that this recent saga is a critical history in PNG’s political development with heightened evidence of corruption and power manipulation at the expense of PNG’s potential to develop and fully use its natural, human and social resources to be a prosperous country. 2. Reflection on political manipulation According to evidence available so far, O’Neill had calculated personal agenda when he entered the floors of PNG’s parliament as open member for Ialibu Pangia, Southern Highlands Province in 2002. O’Neill was trusted to a portfolio as Minister for Labour and Industrial Relations by the government when Sir Michael Somare was Prime Minister of PNG then. However, O’Neil had other ideas. O’Neill resigned to the post of Minister for Public Service, only to get dropped from cabinet in 2004. This was an opportunity for O’Neill to join the opposition just to stroll his way up to becoming the leader of the opposition. However, when he was not recognised by the Speaker of the Parliament, O’Neill defended his motives by mounting a vote of no-confidence, sadly without success. However, the man was all the more determined and didn’t give up. After the 2007 general elections, O’Neil crossed floors over to Somare camp and once again was trusted to the ministry of Public Service. We can see from this trace that, O’Neill has been on a mission for his own. He was never going to give up. No road block was going to stop him. He foresaw his green pasture on the other side. He foresaw the land of milk and honey even before he was conceived. O’Neil was never satisfied with this ministry because he knew he had to be more innovative in accomplishing his mission to the promised land. When he was again appointed as Minister for Finance in 2010, the floodgates opened for O’Neill. Somare fell ill and got hospitalised overseas. O’Neill vied for the top job and he was now on a mission with more fire power than ever before. One politician, Sam Abal probably saw what was coming or from ignorance demoted O’Neil from Finance Minister to Works portfolio when Abal was appointed to act as Prime Minister in the sick absence of Sir Michael Somare in 2011. This was empowerment for O’Neil to be more determined in his strategy to get to his promised land. In 2011, he joined a movement to unseat Prime Minister Michael Somare who was ill in Singapore. He was then elected by the National Parliament as Prime Minister with 70 of the 94 votes cast. His position was however challenged in several ways. Michael Somare was also Governor of East Sepik Province and the provincial government challenged O'Neill in the courts, and Somare himself also did after returning from Singapore. The Supreme Court ruled that Somare was the legitimate Prime Minister, creating the 2011-2012 Papua New Guinean constitutional crisis. O’Neill refused to leave his position, and the Governor General decided as a consequence to call new elections. We know that in 2012, O’Neill was asked to form government with support from not only his own party which didn’t have majority but from other minor coalitions. This coalition contained three ex-prime ministers, among whom was Michael Somare. O’Neill remained in power for the parliamentary term from 20122017. A Vote of No Confidence was mounted against the Government, which was granted after a Supreme Court intervention. O’Neill gathered the support of 85 MPs, with 21 in opposition. By the end of 2016, 25 MPs had crossed the floor and joined PNC, giving them a total of 52 MPs. Several challenges were mounted including in 2017 by Sir Mekere Mourata. However, each time, O’Neil rose to the top and won with majority. Well, by then the man had already established his groundwork. He was the father of the house, seated on the rightful throne. 2018 was different with the debate of the PNG’s natural resources on the floors of the highest house of the land. The O’Neill/Abel government was 18 moths in office in 2019 and the grace period in which votes of no confidence were prohibited was over. MPs had by then defected from the government and the most prominent among them was the minister of finance, James Marape. O’Neil resorted as before to parliamentary rules to procrastinate the vote of no confidence. He took the vote of no-confidence to the courts multiple times, manipulated the process to his own selfish image by hijacking the constitution of the land, for example by nominating Sir Julius Chan as his successor when he had be dethroned. In his defeat on the floors of parliament coupled with public pressure and media influence, O’Neil fought to the last breath for his ego. That is because he had already reached the promised land. He had touched, tasted, collated, and accumulated his milk and honey. The last fight was for the ego. 3. Conclusion: milk and honey Peter Charles Paire O'Neill’s rise to the top throne in the most important house in the land between 2012-2018 and half of 2019 was when PNG was rife entering into prosperity in terms of economic, social and political affluence. We had PNGLNG getting stronger and robust, the Asia Pacific Economic Corporations (APEC) was hosted in PNG worth several millions of international finances. We also had the 2017 earthquake in Hela, Southern Highlands, Gulf, Enga and Western Provinces which attracted billions of bilateral and multi-lateral aid. These to mention a few as to write full details of every development phase would demand a bigger article. We do not have reports of developments which the PNG public ought to know and are entitled to. From the dealings of institutional manipulation through to sell off of natural resource policy decision-making through to accountability to international bilateral and multilateral funding; O’Neill has thoroughly buried it all. He has accomplished his mission. He played his game well. He is a happy man. The recent post by the Commander of Police on O’Neill’s and his denial and arrogant fight back is his struggle for his ego. He has milk and honey that he vied for. And we PNG are the losers. Is he above the law? My war cry and it should be for all young Papua New Guineans is that once and for all, O’Neill needs to be prosecuted. And we call on him to comply with legal proceedings.

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18.01.2022 I am doing this talk -- come along if you can

16.01.2022 Episode 2 on this series: Education our only weapon to change a person and a society Introduction... Every now and then I frantically try to make a post to provoke educated discussions. This morning I would like to take to the stage a very significant, if not the one significant issue raised by Jenny Mangobe in this forum earlier. And that is Education! Those of us pursuing a career in writing can see many things we can say about education. And I dont have the luxury of time or this space isnt the perfect place. So for the purpose of this blog, let me take you to what Nelson Mandela had to say about education. Mandela is a great man. He had wisdom, charisma and grace to forgive those who subdued his freedom and right. I am using present tense as we know his legacy lives on in our world history today. Mandela taught us that education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. What did he mean? Our education system has failed us Spending time in Australia has taught me many things. One thing I have learnt is that education in Australia is a basic human right. As such, it is legal for every child to be at school. There is no drop out within the education system. This means every child is enforced by law to start early childhood learning and complete year 12. Then they can chose whether to study at university or to do some other courses. And there are many opportunities and options to do that. Schools are well resourced and teachers have university degrees. As you will be aware, Australians now take center stage at the global level in many disciplines. Australian scientists, chefs, entrepreneurs, inventors, economists, journalists and more contributing to a changing face of our world today! I am not trying to compare the Australian system with our system. I am hopefully trying to make the picture clearer. Because we know Australia is only third on the human development index UN to Norway and Switzerland. What is important to note however is that PNG has the potential to invest in education as the only tool where our country can grow into an economically viable, healthy country. Regrettably, we take education for granted with the way we set up our systems, distribute our resources, teach our children and reward our teachers. Education is a basic human right for all individuals regardless of where they are in the world. I argue that our education system in PNG has deprived our right and our children's right to gain the education we deserve. If you take a stand back and thoroughly look at the way our children learn, you will suddenly discover that the education system has pushed our young, potential children who have the ability and the capability to be leaders in our society and at the global stage roam the streets. Our school system has a number of drop outs allowing children to fail exams, return to the community, become farmers, marry, have children and the cycle goes around. In PNG, what paid employment can anyone get with year six or year eight or year ten or year twelve certificates? I doubt there is any! The multinational multi-million dollar developments such as oil and gas projects have opened up roads and access to nearest towns and cities. Our young children develop the tendency to explore city life perceived to be better than village life. Obviously with no proper education, your dreams for better life are suddenly chartered. You are therefore obliged to steal, vandalize, involve in law and order issues, drugs and alcohol issues and finally end up in jail or contracted with HIV or the like, the list continues. Then we the people, the families, the loved ones and the government of the day blame these so called people because they are bad and evil. All humans are the same regardless of sex, gender, age, actions or behavior because we all have a soul! So we have created bad people in our society with the way we establish our education system!. Way forward I will be talking about my vision for education in PNG, starting with Hela Province in my next blogs. For now lets see what you think.. Shila Yukuli Paia PhD Candiate Flinders University of South Australia

15.01.2022 Episode 1: A Reflection on Freedom and Development 44 years on Sirakura Kone Members of the forum, Background ... We have celebrated our 44 years freedom over the last weekend in colour and culture and energy. As true Papua New Guineans with dignity and identity. Diverse in language and culture but a united one people. So we should be very proud and stand tall amongst our neighbours, fore’s and adversaries alike. I anticipate in writing reflections, critiques, perceptions and analysis on issues significant for discussions on this forum. This I begin my first episode as I reflect on our celebrations and how far we have come so far. A bit of a tribute Recently a line over coffee by a friend made me rethink everything that is PNG. My friend said to me that if anyone wanted to see, feel or experience freedom, they had to go to PNG. I suddenly remembered our country-people at the Western Papuan boarder, or the Rohingyas in Myanmar or the indigenous Australians. And I wonder, we could have had a different history compared to what it is today. For freedom, we owe it to our founding fathers, The Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, Sir Peter Lus and others who sat under that tree in Lae of Morobe Province that day in the 1960s and decided that we didn’t need a German New Guinea, nor a British Papua; but a united Papua New Guinea! So they took us to self-administration and on to political independence with peace and unity on the 16th September 1975. Yes we have corruption, poverty, morbidity, mortality, short life expectancy, illiteracy, slow growth and low and order issues to mention a few. But hey, let us celebrate with pride and that we have our land and we run our own country! Reign PNG! Socio-economic issues an overview But, as not only a Papua New Guinean, but a woman from the highlands; I am inclined to ask is celebration of freedom enough? In the 21st century, the world has become closer, fairer, advanced, educated and affluent than ever before. How far have we come as a nation over the 44 years of freedom? And how far have we as individuals made impact towards nation building? Exactly 3 weeks and 6 days (10th October 1975) after gaining political independence, PNG became a signatory to the United Nations Security Resolution 375, which happened to be the day that I was born! In a cold, lonely cave, small for dates, a girl first born child to a chief’s daughter. Opportunity to access primary school, learning resources and school fess were almost restricted to our boys in the village and family more than us girls. Paying high school fees for a naïve, immature teenage girl was a big risk for the clan. Walking for a few days to the nearest high school, with one borrowed dress and eating one meal of plain brown rice daily for the next four years; high school was the place where dreams became almost real. As ambitious and adventurous as I was, I dreamt to pursue a career as a nurse and eventually a medical doctor. Inevitably such a dream was short lived due to the cultural obligations for family and children. To be a submission female in all spheres of professional, social, family and economic life is to be quite through all forms of suffering, need, pain, violence (if you like). SoilChild overview To cut the story short, a particular day in 2009 was another new beginning. For a woman to make her voice heard is cultural crime and therefore to be disowned by her loved ones is the acceptable thing that pleases everyone. Well that was when SoilChild was born (https://fulcrumaid.com.au/proje/three-plus-papua-new-guinea). I have been very privileged to live, work and study in Australia the last 12 years of my life. In an affluent society, I eat good meals, sleep on a good bed, enjoy everything that makes me happy. To my surprise I couldn’t be comfortable with these comforts. That 2009 day was the beginning of a fire that burns in me, pushes me to take more and bigger risks, to cry louder, more angrier (righteous anger), beg more and go an extra mile in the rain (sorry bit poetic!). SoilChild is my calling because I see myself on an impossible mission. It is my branding of my story and the stories of many other children in the rural majority and growing urban squatter settlements of PNG. SoilChild is grounded in the belief that all children and individuals are of value and worth; and every part of their story is of value. SoilChild believes that every person is equal, with no discrimination to sex, age, gender, social status and disability. SoilChild believes that every person being equal and of value can use their story to build a good life, to access distant education, health care, make money, sleep on a good bed, eat a good meal, enjoy life and live a few more years than 57 which is our average life expectancy. And SoilChild is a vision that focuses to interrupt a poverty that is not just having not enough money. Poverty therefore is a form of voicelessness, powerlessness, suppression, disadvantage and denial of opportunities and access to individual right to have a choice and freedom, to learn, to grow and to be productive to lead a good life. This form of poverty is rooted in basic services disadvantage, socio-cultural construction of personhood, identity and status; and an unequal distribution of resources and power. This form of poverty is intergenerational. SoilChild integrated basic education SoilChild believes that the primary school as a gateway to formal education can be a friendly space where both the school catchment community and the school itself are sharing resources and learning together. To re-learn socio-cultural attitudes, to learn to tell, value and use individual stories, strengths and agency. To learn how to dream to be self-reliant, how to make money, how to be health literate, how to be peaceful and a good steward. And how to be a leader who can design and implement projects to escape poverty. Our Dauli Dem library is a model in Hela Province, completed under TX Funding in 2019. By the beginning of next year, we envision to fully resource our library with computers and books where this vision can be implemented. Into the future, we dream for our model to be replicated elsewhere in Hela and in PNG. Please do watch this space for more episodes on this and our other projects. Dankeschön (Thank you in German) Yukuli Paia PhD Candidate Flinders University of South Australia 23rd September 2019

05.01.2022 The Honourable Katrine Hildyard Member for Reynella, South Australia 1. Introduction I would like to write about my experience in meeting with the Honourable... Member for Reynella, Katrine Hildyard this morning. This leader is extraordinarily unique, different, down to earth, decent, yet elegant, available and accessible in every way. Here are why. 2. Always available If you look into her social media page, community groups, social events, gatherings, funerals, rallies and more, you will begin to wonder how such a very busy member of parliament can possibly make time to be available everywhere every time! I am blown away myself! I am actually dumbfounded. There is absolutely nothing and no one insignificant to her. She has time for everything and everyone! Never in my life have I come across someone in such control in the political space. Not only that. A member who is genuinely a decent individual. 3. Always accessible In Papua New Guinea (where I come from), member of parliaments are not accessible to voters. Their offices are not located in the electorates. Rather their offices are located in Port Moresby. That means electoral population only get to see their member of parliament during the next election. That also means the Port Moresby office is guarded with tight security. There may be more than half a dozen security personal you are required to pass through to reach your member. That is if you are lucky. Oh and you can only access the member if you are someone special. Special is someone who is known to be popular because they own business or educated or favoured for some reason by the member. It is sad and sickening to my stomach. This morning I met with Honourable Katrine Hildyard in her office here in SA. Her executive secretary made the appointment for 11:30am. No security checks! Her office at Reynella was open. I was respectfully led to the conference room, offered a glass of water. The honourable member walked into the room at 11:35am. Lighting up the room with her cool authority, 360 degree smile, looking gloriously beautiful in her bright red dress. She began to apologise repeatedly for being ‘very late’ to meet with me. She carried so much human decency, elegance and cool authority! She cared so much! She was so genuine and modest! She made me feel elevated with her stamina and presence. She is a goddess! So powerful with the way she creates such space! So calm and relaxed! 3. The meeting The honourable member asked gently how she can help my project Soilchild. She didn’t waste time. She is a straight shooter. She told me a million ways to take Soilchild to another level. I will cover this in my next episode on this incredible, inspirational and unique member of parliament. 4. Here are two photos her secretary took of us. She complimented me repeatedly for what I am doing in the world. She complimented me for how good I look. I am dumbfounded and in tears as I walked out of the room. 5. Conclusion Watch this space for the next episode. Celebration of #Katrine#Hildyard#incredibly#amazing#