The politics of Australian anticorruption policy to Papua New Guinea

Abstract

By examining Australia’s response to political corruption in Papua New Guinea (PNG) – Australia’s closest neighbor, ex-colony and now largest recipient of Australian aid – the chapter highlights how donors can fail to live up to their policy rhetoric on anticorruption. This failure, it is argued, is a product of the broader diplomatic relationship between Australia and PNG. This results in a tension between donors’ stated goals (anticorruption) and the political realities within which donors operate. It shows that the way that donors negotiate this tension can be central to the effectiveness of their anticorruption efforts, particularly when it comes to political corruption. In the case of PNG, it is argued that political corruption is best fought by those willing to take political risks – risks that donor agencies are often poorly positioned to make.