A sea of troubles? New Zealand’s public sector neighbourhood

The 37th Pacifi c Islands Forum (PIF) witnessed some painful political infl ammation in 2006. Its October annual heads of government meeting, held in Fiji, saw Australian prime minister John Howard face a Melanesian wall of resentment. This was instigated by a row that erupted over former Solomon Islands attorney general Julian Moti, an Australian lawyer facing extradition over child sex charges, who was sheltered by Solomon Island prime minister Manasseh Sogavare and his Papua New Guinea counterpart, Sir Michael Somare. With Australian impatience and willingness to assert aid conditionality, the temperature rose sharply. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer claimed that taxpayers deserved a far better return for what had been invested in the region. (Currently, Australia provides more than A$300 million annual bilateral assistance to Papua New Guinea, and its outgoings to the Solomon Islands since 2003 are treble that amount.) A decision by the Howard government to stop a visit to Australia by Prime Minister Somare was widely viewed as a setback to neighbourly relations.