This was a December 2022 submission to the Australian parliamentary inquiry into "supporting democracy in the region." It has minor changes to the original. After reading the other submissions I made a supplementary submission pointing out they were off-topic. Most were not about democracy but were disguised grant applications.
PNG's problems stem from an unviable political structure. Having a single house of parliament consisting of single-member electoral districts dooms the country.
As Sam Koim said closing the ABC's Foreign Correspondent report of 19/7/2016, "The country needs powerful institutions, not powerful individuals." Dead right. To that end PNG must either get an upper house or (better) change to multi-member electorates ("PR"). Until it does it has no chance to prosper. The most significant single obstacle to reform is Australian "expert" conviction that PNG culture is the cause of the problems. This is not only an insult and a self-serving excuse for Australian aid failure, but it is incorrect: PNG culture is a fine basis for democratic prosperity.
Structure is everything.
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