DPA In Briefs (previously Briefing Notes)
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Publication Open Access Why Some Community By-Laws Stick and Others Slip Part 2 — An Adaptive Cycle Explanation(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2025-05-21) Forsyth, Miranda; Dinnen, Sinclair; Tuhanuku, Ali; Roberts, AntheaAs explained in Part 1 of this In Brief series, our research comprises a multi-country comparative analysis of community rule-making in Melanesia. Across the region, people are actively participating in the shaping and reshaping of order in their communities, rather than being the passive subjects of state or customary forms of governance. We have found some examples of real success — where by-laws have helped transform once violent and unsafe neighbourhoods into more peaceful and vibrant places where residents can sleep at night and commercial activities occur without disruption. We also found examples where these local innovations can contribute to normative changes, such as around the acceptability of family violence or violence more broadly. On the other hand, there are many examples of by-laws reinforcing the patriarchal authority of older male leaders, suppressing other voices, such as those of women and youth. By-laws often start as promising initiatives but then slowly grind to a halt as momentum runs out or obstacles are encountered.Publication Open Access Community Order-Making in Melanesia Part 1 –Empirical Findings(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2025-05-21) Forsyth, Miranda; Dinnen, Sinclair; Tuhanuku, Ali; Roberts, AntheaGreen Valley, an informal settlement in the midst of the urban sprawl of Solomon Islands’ capital, Honiara, was formerly known as a difficult place to live. Nighttime brawls, the sale of home-brewed kwaso and rampant petty theft regularly kept families awake and forced small shops to close before dusk. Women felt unsafe walking around, taxis and buses were reluctant to drop people off in the settlement, and the police were not responsive when called. During past episodes of urban unrest, the residents from Green Valley were often the first ones on the frontline. However, during Solomon Islands’ last major riots in 2021, the Green Valley ‘boys’ did not attend. These days, local shops stay open later and people quieten down by 10 pm. Local community members attribute this transformation to new community by-laws that were introduced around 2020. Formed from a combination of strong community leadership and processes of dialogue and collaboration, the by-laws are administered by a committee of volunteers and supported by a local ‘taskforce’ that conducts patrols every evening. Green Valley is just one of many communities we visited over the past four years as part of our research into community laws, often called by-laws in Papua New Guinea (PNG), Bougainville, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Fiji. We have found a spectrum of formality in these laws: some are broad principles prominently displayed on village billboards, some are circulated solely within the community, and yet others are ‘checked’ and signed by state officials. We view this production of by-laws as part of an efflorescence of local-level order-making aimed at reinvigorating community governance in the face of multiple stresses.Publication Open Access Vanuatu’s First National Referendum Part 2: Management(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2025-05-21) Naupa, AnnaThis In Brief is Part 2 in a series marking the first anniversary of Vanuatu’s first ever national referendum in May 2024. Part 1 describes the political significance of the referendum and its outcome. Here, Part 2 describes the referendum management process.Publication Open Access Vanuatu’s First National Referendum Part 1: The Political Significance(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2025-05-21) Naupa, AnnaVanuatu held its first ever national referendum on 29 May 2024. Part 1 of this two-part In Brief series summarises the significance of the referendum as part of the country’s political integrity reforms. Part 2 details the legal and electoral dynamics that guided the conduct of this referendum. The In Brief series provides a Vanuatu case study that can inform future studies of Pacific Islands referenda and democratic processes.Publication Open Access Fijian Foreign Policy or Australian?(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2025-05-13) Waqavakatoga, WilliamA document articulating Fiji’s foreign policy priorities and guiding its international engagements in the next decade was launched in September 2024 by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. This first Foreign Policy White Paper (FPWP) is centred on the three pillars of sovereignty, security and prosperity and shows how Fiji views the region, the world and its ambitions in foreign policy.Publication Open Access What Should Australian Aid in the Pacific Look Like after the Retreat of USAID?(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2025-04-07) Moore, LiamThe 2025–26 budget delivered by Australia’s Labor government is one of the first tangible pieces of evidence of how Australia plans to counter the much-publicised revision of the United States’ (US’) international aid program under the Trump administration and the reduction in foreign aid by the United Kingdom (UK). As the US is only the sixth largest contributor in the Pacific — with $1.1 billion dollars from 2018 to 2022, as opposed to Australia’s $4.8 billion — this move alone ‘won’t break the Pacific’. What it will do is raise questions about what Australia should be doing in the region and how it should do it.Publication Open Access Papua New Guinea’s Diplomacy in Managing Neighbourly Cooperation: A Personal Reflection(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2025-04-04) Age, BarbaraPapua New Guinea’s foreign policy since independence from Australia 50 years ago evolved from ‘universalism: friends to all and enemies to none’, to ‘active and selective engagement’, in its first Foreign Policy White Paper (FPWP) in 1982, reflecting PNG’s strategic position as a bridge between Asia and the Pacific. In 2017 the government initiated a review of its foreign policy and endorsed the theme ‘Connecting for peace and prosperity in a changing world’ (DFA 2017). PNG will launch its second white paper on foreign policy in 2025. This In Brief proposes small state diplomacy — focused on how small states can effectively respond to and influence international affairs and contribute to global stability and development — as a broad framework for analysing PNG’s subregional cooperation. PNG’s small state approach to diplomacy is shaped by its geographic location, colonial history, limited resources and diplomatic leverage, and the need to balance bilateral relations with broader regional interests.Publication Open Access US Policy in the Pacific Islands from Biden to Trump(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2025-02-26) Firth, StewartWithin weeks of Donald Trump’s return to the presidency of the United States (US), his foreign policy diverged sharply from that of his predecessor, Joe Biden. Having thrown the US aid agency USAID into worldwide chaos by freezing foreign aid, the Trump administration reversed the decision — or at least limited its impact — when Marco Rubio, the new secretary of state, issued a waiver for lifesaving humanitarian assistance. The US remains a comparatively minor player in the Pacific Islands south of the equator, its aid to the region worth 7 per cent of all development finance in the last decade compared with Australia’s 38 per cent. Nevertheless, USAID-funded projects seem to be immediately affected, such as World War II bomb clearance on Guadalcanal and the barefoot lawyer teams working with Papua New Guinean villagers to alert them to their rights.Publication Open Access Make the Past Serve the Present. Part 2: Contemporary Russian involvement in Oceania(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2025-02-25) Szadziewski, HenrykThis second part of a two-part In Brief series moves on from the history of Imperial and Soviet involvement in the Pacific to discuss Russia’s contemporary involvement in the region.Publication Open Access Make the Past Serve the Present. Part 1: History of Imperial Russian and Soviet Involvement in Oceania(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2025-02-25) Szadziewski, HenrykIs Russia committing to the long list of external powers lining up to engage with Oceania? If so, alphabetically, it fills the vacant ‘R’ slot between Qatar and Saudi Arabia (Szadziewski 2024). Pacific Island countries (PICs) are currently managing a host of outside interests, old and new, towards their own priorities; however, partners such as Russia will not make Australia and perhaps the United States under Trump 2.0 too comfortable, even if its role is understood as nothing more than a disruptor to these traditional partners’ interests in Pacific affairs.Publication Open Access Legal Services in Fiji Part 1: Money from Nothing — Funding Legal Aid in the Pacific(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2025-02-10) Naylor, DavidThis is the first of a two-part In Brief series on legal services in Fiji, which draws on fieldwork and other data collected for my PhD thesis. It tells the little-publicised story of how Fiji’s Legal Aid Commission (LAC) has been able to grow from just three offices in 2005, staffed by a handful of employees and heavily reliant on donor funding, into a domestically funded world-class institution with more than 24 branches nationwide employing over 100 lawyers and providing legal advice to over 11,000 people each year across a range of family, criminal, and civil matters.Publication Open Access Legal Services in Fiji Part 2: Pathways to Reform of Legal Profession Regulation(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2025-02-10) Naylor, DavidIn June 2024, the Supreme Court of Fiji issued an opinion on the eligibility of former Acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) John Rabuku and Judge Qetaki to hold office, clarifying the interpretation of eligibility requirements for appointments to the judiciary and other public offices under Fiji’s 2013 constitution. In effect, the opinion means any lawyer found guilty of professional misconduct in a disciplinary proceeding may not be appointed as a magistrate or judge in Fiji nor hold various senior government roles. By finding that Rabuku was not validly appointed, the status of approximately 300 prosecutions commenced between his appointment in October 2023 and his resignation in August 2024 has been called into question. The Supreme Court noted that Fiji’s Legal Practitioners Act 2009 (LPA 2009) only has a single complaint mechanism, unlike in Australia and New Zealand. A ‘two-tier’ system could ensure that lawyers penalised for less serious regulatory breaches could remain eligible to be appointed to the judiciary and other public offices under the 2013 constitution. The LPA 2009 is currently being reviewed. Public consultations took place in 2023, and a public draft bill is anticipated to come soon. In this second instalment of a two-part In Brief series on legal services in Fiji, I draw from data collected during my PhD fieldwork in 2019 to understand possible pathways to reform of lawyer regulation in Fiji.Publication Open Access Papua New Guinea’s 2022 Redistricting Part 1: A Trojan Horse?(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2024-12-16) Haley, Nicole; Oppermann, Thiago CintraWith considerable fanfare, Papua New Guinea (PNG) entered the 2022 National General Election (NGE) with seven new electorates and eight newly defined electorates.1 This was the first time since 1977 that the redistricting provisions foreseen in the Constitution and the Organic Law on National and Local-level Government Elections led to redrawing of open electorates. The new electorates and six more approved for creation ahead of the 2027 NGE were presented as addressing the malapportionment issues stemming from demographic shifts and an electoral map that had remained ostensibly static for 45 years.2 The reform left much to be desired, creating some new electorates with populations well above or well below legislatively prescribed quotas. There was more to this reform than is readily apparent. On 22 March 2022, the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea accepted the 2021 Electoral Boundaries Commission (EBC) report, recommendations and maps, and it turns out this act did much more than establishing 13 new electorates. The report included — without comment — a new set of electorate maps for the 96 proposed open electorates, redrawing open electorate boundaries in nearly every province. Apart from this lack of transparency, another issue is that the new maps are drawn from incompatible sources, creating conflicting open electorate boundaries and some open electorates that are inconsistent with provincial boundaries. This broader redistricting was neither discussed in the EBC report nor debated in parliament. The well-advertised creation of the new electorates concealed much more far-reaching changes.Publication Open Access Papua New Guinea’s 2022 Redistricting Part 2: Sources of the Conflicted Electorate Maps(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2024-12-16) Haley, Nicole; Cintra Oppermann, ThiagoIn part one of this In Brief series, we noted that the 2022 redistricting of electorates in Papua New Guinea (PNG) was far more extensive than is commonly known. PNG’s Constitution sets out an unambiguous process for establishing the number of open electorates and their boundaries as well as the process for electoral redistricting. Based on recommendations made by the Electoral Boundaries Commission (EBC) in 2011, the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea voted to create two new provincial electorates, Hela and Jiwaka, ahead of the 2012 National General Election. This did not alter any open electorate boundaries. A decade later, based on recommendations made by the EBC in 2021, parliament voted to create seven new open electorates in advance of the 2022 National General Election and a further six new open electorates for 2027. Or so it seemed: in fact, the EBC report effected changes — some quite extensive — to 55 of the 89 open electorates established by parliament in 1977 and gave rise to conflicting boundaries for 54 seats. Several areas are assigned to more than one electorate, while some areas are not assigned to any electorate. For instance, Mendi, the capital of Southern Highlands Province, is no longer included in Mendi Munihu Open Electorate.Publication Open Access Community Peace and Safety in Post-Conflict Bougainville. Part 2: Visions and Realities(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2024-11-26) DInnen, Sinclair; Kuai, Dennis; Forsyth, MirandaIn Part 1 of this In Brief series we argued that while growing concerns with crime and lawlessness have led the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and other leaders to call for tougher policing and justice responses, there remains a critical need for continuing peacebuilding efforts. In Part 2 we discuss the ABG’s stated desire to develop truly autochthonous community and custom based policing, justice and security post-conflict. We contrast this intent with what has actually happened, particularly in terms of policing, and what is being planned as part of a new local security and governance approach following the referendum in 2019.Publication Open Access Community Peace and Safety in Post-Conflict Bougainville. Part 1: The Crisis and Its Legacies(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2024-11-26) Dinnen, Sinclair; Kuai, Dennis; Forsyth, MirandaBougainville’s decade-long conflict, known locally as ‘the Crisis’, officially ended with the 2001 Bougainville Peace Agreement (BPA). This established the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB) and set in train a complex pathway towards possible Independence that continues to play out today. However, legacies of the Crisis continue more than two decades later. One way to understand this is to go beyond the popular framing of the Crisis as having been between armed separatists and the Papua New Guinea (PNG) state and see it as one that also involved multiple local-scale conflicts between Bougainvilleans themselves. Its legacies today include individual and collective trauma, and enduring divisions and animosities that impact the wellbeing of communities and the ability of the AROB to move forward. The sons of combatants are now starting to ask questions about settling old scores. For many orphans and widows, the search for the bones of their lost ones continues to haunt them. In the first of this two-part In Brief series, we look at some of these legacies through the lens of current social order problems in the AROB. Our argument is that what today tend to be framed as ‘law and order’ issues, such as violence and endemic drug and alcohol abuse, are often linked in complex ways to the earlier crisis. Rather than relying on punitive policing responses, as is increasingly advocated, there remains a critical role for peacebuilding if underlying issues are also to be addressed. While new priorities are emerging, we contend that peacebuilding should continue as a major focus for Bougainville’s policymakers and external donors.Publication Open Access Building Micronesian Climate-Proof Food Security through Intergenerational Collaboration and Community Model Farms(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2024-11-18) Puas, Gonzaga; Golightly, James; D'Arcy, PaulPacific Island nations are some of the most vulnerable nations on Earth to the negative consequences of global warming. Despite the diplomacy of Pacific nations at global forums on climate change mitigation, commitments made at these forums consistently fall short of the scientific agreed minimum global reduction of anthropogenic carbon emissions needed to avoid irreversible damage to planetary ecosystems. Ocean acidification levels in the Pacific are already more than 100 times greater than the maximum safe limit. Fish such as tuna and corals are sensitive to even one degree of variation in average water temperature, while crop production is extremely sensitive to changes in rainfall and temperature. Food security is a mounting concern in nations where the majority of citizens rely on subsistence farming for sustenance (Vandenbroucke et al. 2015). In response, many Pacific Island nations are at the forefront of promoting low-emission, cost-effective energy and climate-resilient, healthy and locally grown foods. This In Brief discusses the results of a recently completed Climate Change Adaptation Project on the island of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).1 The FSM economy is distinguished by US Compact of Free Association funding, a rich tuna fishery dominated by foreign vessels, high migration rates to US territories, and declining traditional farming knowledge among younger generations as a result of wage employment stemming from Compact monies (Puas 2021).Publication Open Access Community Governance in Melanesia: The Impact of Long-Range Leaders(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2024-10-23) Forsyth, Miranda; Dinnen, SinclairIt is becoming increasingly hard to understand local level governance in Melanesia without attending to the role played by ‘long-range leaders’. We use this term to refer to members of a village community who are living permanently or periodically outside their community, usually in a larger town or city. Unlike their Polynesian and Micronesian neighbours, few Melanesian countries (with the exception of Fiji) have significant overseas diasporas, so we are concerned primarily with incountry long-range leadership. Long-range leaders can be elites such as politicians, businessmen/women or senior bureaucrats. In some contexts, they can simply be individuals with a regular pay-packet living in an urban area. Their leadership claim may stem from their standing in the village including customary title, or status gained through education or employment. In recent fieldwork in Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea (PNG), we have become increasingly struck by the profound influence exercised by such leaders.Publication Open Access Addressing Criminal Deportations to the Pacific Islands(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2024-10-01) McNeill, HenriettaIn the last decade, criminal deportations from Australia, New Zealand (NZ), and the United States (US) to Pacific Island countries (PICs) have substantially increased, driven by domestic politics securitising migration and crime. Deportations have raised regional concerns, including fears of potential transnational and domestic criminal activity if there is no formal reintegration support for returnees. Deporting states are key development and security partners to PICs, and should bear responsibility for the consequences of their deportation policies. Most people deported to Samoa, Tonga and Cook Islands for criminal activity are males aged 25–35.1 Returnees have been prosecuted, sentenced and incarcerated for their crime(s) in the deporting state, and would otherwise be released as free — if it were not for their non-citizen status. Each deporting state has different criteria and thresholds for criminal deportation, although there are shared features of the overall process. Key problems around criminal deportations are a lack of support prior to deportation; poor information sharing; a lack of financial support for reintegration; and the diplomatic repercussions of deportation policies. This In Brief discusses each of these problems, and summarises policy recommendations for Australia, NZ and the US as major deporting states based on a recent extensive study into criminal deportations to PICs (McNeill 2024).Publication Open Access Deepening Men’s Engagement with Supporting Women in Leadership Part 2: Approaches for Male Allyship in Bougainville(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2024-09-24) Masta, MercyThis is the second instalment of a two-part In Brief series drawing on the authors’ doctoral research conducted in Melanesia between 2016 and 2019. Part one discusses how men are essential to women’s leadership success in the Pacific, especially in elections. However, shifting men, particularly those with societal privileges, from passive supporters to active advocates or allies for women’s social justice can be challenging. In this piece, I explore effective strategies for engaging men in supporting women’s leadership and combating violence, drawing on interviews with male allies from the Nazareth Centre for Rehabilitation (NCfR) in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. I observe NCfR as a model of successful approaches to fostering male allyship and advancing gender equality by selecting allies, providing training and dedicating spaces for men.