Australian National University

Flaws in Electoral Roll: Report

The report stated that the 2017 elections did not improve on the 2012 elections. The 2017 observations made in all four regions and in National Capital District (NCD) with a mix of urban, rural, open and provincial electorates observed.

These include in 69 of 111 electorates with detailed study of 44 electorates (33 open and 11 provincial) and detailed observations at 945 of the 10,825 polling stations nationwide.

According to the report, “the 2017 elections witnessed a marked deterioration in the overarching election environment.

UPNG's female economics lecturer

She is now taking home to PNG not only her degree, but also the confidence to kick off her teaching career.

Shadow minister concerned with economic findings

“Economic academics from both the University of Papua New Guinea and the Australian National University say that the PNG economy had negative growth of 5.9 percent in 2015 in the non-resource sections of the economy,” Ling-Stuckey said in a statement.

“This is an extraordinary result confirming the economy went badly backwards. It would confirm what business people and the people of PNG have known for years – 2015 was a year of severe recession in PNG.

Foreign exchange shortage ‘worsening’

The UPNG and Australian National University academics reported that the Government’s response to PNG’s urgent economic crisis was to focus on fiscal correction and now, tariff protection, which is not sufficient.

According to the 2018 PNG economic survey, a limitation to fiscal correction is that it fails to provide any stimulus to exporters and is inadequate to tackle the primary problem facing the PNG economy, namely, the shortage of foreign exchange.

Negative growth in PNG’s non-resource sector: Researchers

The researchers said once the resource sector, which is made up of PNG’s petroleum, gas and mining projects, is excluded, the PNG economy contracted by almost 6 percent in 2015.

In their report titled: 2018 PNG economic survey, the UPNG and Australian National University academics said based on the latest National Statistical Office figures, it is now estimated that the non-resource economy contracted in 2015 by 5.9 percent after inflation.

Australian university develops Tok Pisin course

The online course will launch in Semester 1, 2019, and marks another milestone for the ANU College of Asia & the Pacific (CAP) in offering languages not widely taught at Australian universities.

On its website, the ANU said its Tok Pisin teacher will be Jenny Homerang, a PhD candidate at the School of Culture, History & Language.

Homerang said its inception is a “ground-breaking achievement” for all indigenous language speakers.

Researchers solve mystery of Hawaii's twin track volcanoes

The study used computer simulations to determine that the twin tracks that caused the volcanoes are due to a shift in the Pacific Plate's motion three million years ago.

Lead researcher Tim Jones said the discovery would help scientists better reconstruct Earth's history.

"We're now recognising that we see these all over the globe," he said.

"Mantle plumes have played a role in mass extinctions, the creation of diamonds and the breaking up of continents."

New website for PNG election results

The website, an initiative by Dr Terence Wood, a Research Fellow at the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University, was simultaneously launched with UPNG’s new master’s program yesterday, at the UPNG Waigani campus.

It is an open access resource that compiles PNG election results from the past four decades and contains an interactive tool that allows the user to browse and analyse election results and trends.

Slow start for Pacific regionalism

The development agenda replacement for the Pacific Plan was endorsed in July last year and featured for the first time at the leaders summit in Papua New Guinea earlier this month.

The ANU's visiting fellow, Tess Newton Cain, says while the leaders succeeded in narrowing their focus to a handful of major issues facing the region, there is still a need for more transparency around processes and more inclusion in the discussions.

Slow start for Pacific regionalism

The development agenda replacement for the Pacific Plan was endorsed in July last year and featured for the first time at the leaders summit in Papua New Guinea earlier this month.

The ANU's visiting fellow, Tess Newton Cain, says while the leaders succeeded in narrowing their focus to a handful of major issues facing the region, there is still a need for more transparency around processes and more inclusion in the discussions.