Partner of Choice: Australian Foreign Policy Outcomes in Infrastructure Development Programs in Papua New Guinea

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dc.contributor.authorPennington, Lucy
dc.date.accessioned2023-12-11T03:07:19Z
dc.date.available2023-12-11T03:07:19Z
dc.date.issued2023
dc.description.abstractThis thesis investigates the role of Australian national interest in infrastructure development programs in Papua New Guinea (PNG) from 2018 to 2023, focusing on the Transport Sector Support Program and the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific. These programs and the reporting they produce are overlooked and provide insight into how foreign policy narratives such as ‘partner of choice’ dialogue and responses to geopolitics manifest in practice. To investigate this, the thesis employs Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of program reporting, drawn from an overlooked set of grey literature, supplemented by interviews with practitioners and experts from the Australia-PNG infrastructure development sector. This thesis has four main findings. Firstly, Australia’s position as a partner of choice in infrastructure development in PNG is assumed as truth in formal policy. There is little interrogation of how Australia is perceived, despite aiming to take a partnership approach to the region. Secondly, the way reporting speaks about geopolitics is implicit, and the way partnerships are referred to is explicit. Yet, external media and the aid community outside the formal bureaucracy are quick to link geopolitics and aid. Thirdly, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) speaks between the lines on geopolitics in aid, leaving the aid community to interpret political objectives and determine the extent to which they are applied on programs. This is complicated by the public-private dynamic of managing contractors and the way influence is built programs by individual advisers in PNG government departments. Finally, financing matters, and the shift from grants to loans is indicative of Australia’s changing approach. It has shifted the discourse around the development relationship between PNG and Australia. Overall, ambiguity in policy narratives and the deliberate, systemic opacity of national interest in aid has resulted in inconsistencies in translating well-intentioned policy to practice.en_AU
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/309760
dc.language.isoen_AUen_AU
dc.subjectinternational developmenten_AU
dc.subjectforeign policyen_AU
dc.subjectnational interesten_AU
dc.subjectpartner of choiceen_AU
dc.subjectinfrastructureen_AU
dc.subjectPapua New Guineaen_AU
dc.subjectaiden_AU
dc.subjectAustraliaen_AU
dc.subjectDFATen_AU
dc.subjectDepartment of Foreign Affairs and Tradeen_AU
dc.subjectAusAIDen_AU
dc.subjectdeterminants of aiden_AU
dc.subjectgrey literatureen_AU
dc.subjectgray literatureen_AU
dc.subjectNVivoen_AU
dc.subjectinterviewsen_AU
dc.subjectCritical Discourse Analysisen_AU
dc.subjectTransport Sector Support Programen_AU
dc.subjectAustralian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacificen_AU
dc.subjectsoft poweren_AU
dc.subjectpoliticisation of aiden_AU
dc.subjectpoliticization of aiden_AU
dc.subjectpolitical scienceen_AU
dc.subjectgeopoliticsen_AU
dc.subjectpublic policyen_AU
dc.subjectfinancingen_AU
dc.titlePartner of Choice: Australian Foreign Policy Outcomes in Infrastructure Development Programs in Papua New Guineaen_AU
dc.typeThesis (Masters)en_AU
dcterms.valid2023en_AU
local.contributor.affiliationCollege of Arts and Social Sciences (CASS), The Australian National Universityen_AU
local.contributor.authoremailu6943967@anu.edu.auen_AU
local.contributor.supervisorBaker, Kerryn
local.contributor.supervisorcontactKerryn.Baker@anu.edu.auen_AU
local.description.notesthe author deposited 7 Dec 2023en_AU
local.identifier.doi10.25911/SF3D-BC46
local.identifier.proquestYes
local.mintdoiminten_AU
local.type.degreeOtheren_AU

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