Aid effectiveness and Australia's new interventionism in the Southwest Pacific

Abstract

The year 2003 marked a significant change in Australia's relations with the island Pacific, including Papua New Guinea (PNG). Since gaining independence in the 1970s, the island states of the Southwest Pacific have been left to control their own political and economic affairs. While providing substantial amounts of bilateral aid, Australia has been sensitive to charges of neo-colonialism and interference with national sovereignty. All this has changed, however, with the Australian Government's adoption of a distinctly more robust and interventionist stance under Prime Minister John Howard. The primary objective is to enhance security and stability in troubled Pacific states. Although poverty reduction continues to be the broad goal, the Australian aid program is being gradually calibrated to reflect this changing approach. In practice, this also entails the deployment of growing numbers of Australian personnel in key government agencies in recipient countries.