THE Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary is in the spotlight again after police enforcing Port Moresby’s betelnut ban allegedly fired into a crowd, killing two, on January 23.
Resulting protests interrupted power generation, created petrol shortages, disrupted businesses, and blockaded PNG’s liquefied natural gas site for nearly a week. The incident follows a police shooting of rowdy but unarmed off-duty soldiers in December. That episode triggered a military-police clash and days of looting. The shooting of a woman during a police car-chase on New Year’s Day was also widely condemned in PNG. While Public Enterprises Minister Ben Micah threatened to invoke controversial emergency powers to defuse the current crisis, the government has instead agreed to an independent coronial inquest and flagged a review of police behaviour. Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has looked to the longer game. He asked for more Australian help during a meeting with Tony Abbott last week. He particularly wants Australian Federal Police officers to assume in-line positions in the constabulary. Port Moresby’s latest request and statements of resolve to fix the force are welcome. But if experience is anything to go by, that commitment may evaporate once the crisis blows over. Major reviews of PNG crime and law enforcement in 1984, 1993, and 2004 detailed the constabulary’s flaws and offered sensible recommendations but delivered little change. So PNG’s law-and-order situation, already under strain by the late colonial period, has deteriorated since independence. Police numbers haven’t kept pace with population growth; training is patchy; basic resources such as radios, computers, vehicles and fuel are scarce; police stations and housing are run-down; and the constabulary’s reputation for violence and occasional extortion can make community-policing — always difficult in PNG’s tight-knit societies — unworkable. Further challenges for the constabulary include growing politicisation, alleged links to high-level corruption, and misuse of weapons by reservists. Addressing these will be costly and politically sensitive. That political sensitivity is underlined by the legal difficulties concerning past Australian police assistance to PNG. In May 2005, the Howard government’s $160 million-per-year attempt to deploy 230 Australian police to assist was scuttled by PNG’s High Court decision that the legal protections our officers require to work in-line are unconstitutional. It also found the use of executive powers by AFP officers — through investigations and arrests, for example — could be open to challenge. During the July 2013 negotiations to reopen the Manus Island detention centre, O’Neill requested a significant AFP contingent to work alongside the constabulary in publicly visible roles but without legal powers and protections. But within a year he was considering winding-down this $37m-per-year, 73-person, partnership, as it wasn’t meeting community expectations. This led to an agreement, at December’s annual ministerial forum, to reposition our support to focus on crucial organisational capacity and training. Last’s week’s request is a significant extension of even that most recent plan. There’s no doubt PNG needs support. Their current law-and-order challenges are only likely to grow as socio-economic change continues apace. Rapid urbanisation, PNG’s youth bulge, and rising inequality reflect development but entail serious downsides. But PNG’s enormous potential is undercut by poor governance, crime and corruption, which impose high transactional and enforcement costs, and prevent the private sector operating to its potential. PNG’s reputation for violence reinforces unemployment and crime — harming individuals and the country in turn. This situation poses risks for our interests as well as PNG’s. Australia is served by a prosperous, stable neighbour. While that’s important for our region as a whole, it’s especially so given PNG’s proximity, location across our approaches, historical and personal bonds, trade and investment links, and expectations we’d assist if Port Moresby requests help. While the long-term need is for lots of capable PNG, not Aussie, cops, outside help remains critical today. There are many dedicated PNG police but few signs that they can turn around the force alone. Even if the constabulary receives promised extra funding, there’d be little point generating more recruits without effective supervisors, accommodation, or corporate support to perform their duties. For PNG, recent events may prove a catalyst and an opportunity. O’Neill has a chance to gain the constitutional amendment required for the in-line support mission if he moves legislation when parliament resumes in a few days — with the latest violence fresh in people’s minds. For Australia, the crisis points to the value of supporting PNG’s law and justice sector — legal services, anti-corruption, and community-based approaches as well as policing. There’s a chance to highlight this as a parliamentary committee reviews assistance to PNG and aid cuts bite. That help is necessary to protect our $500m-per-year investment in PNG health, education, infrastructure, women, governance, and Bougainville. Karl Claxton and David Connery are analysts at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra. Source: The Australain Next News Headline
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