Policy Updates

On September 5, 2024, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute reported that a World Bank study concluded that the Papua New Guinean government, Australia's largest ODA recipient, failed to provide basic services to a large proportion of its population despite revenue from resource developments and increasing ODA.

The World Bank undertook a survey of 16,000 households. This indicated 39.3% of the population was living under the Bank’s international poverty line. Approximately 61% of the population did not have access to good drinking water, and over 80% had poor access to sanitation and electricity.

On the basis of multidimensional measures, the World Bank concluded that 74.5% of the Papua New Guinean population was living in poverty. Papua New Guinea ranked as 120 out of 122 in terms of poverty, roughly equivalent to the levels of Chad, Nigeria, and Malawi.

Papua New Guinea received approximately AUD637 million (US$429 million) in ODA from Australia during FY2024/25. Total Australian assistance included grants and loans for infrastructure development, while AUD500 million (US$337 million)was direct bilateral assistance. Non - ODA budget support loans have been provided since 2019 to assist economic reform and repair.

On August 26, 2024, the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University announced its 2024 Australasian Aid Conference, to be held from December 3 to 5, 2024, at the Crawford School of Public Policy in Canberra, focusing on a range of sectors and aims to support development within the research community and promoting collaboration.

The conference is Australia’s largest annual meeting on international development and normally attracts some 600 participants, including researchers from the Pacific, Asia, and Australia.

The Development Policy Centre also planned to host a 2024 Pacific Migration Workshop on September 3, 2024. The workshop will focus on climate resilience and mobility, as well as the economic dimensions and social implications of migration.

Submissions are open until August 30, 2024, to propose possible panel events and papers.

On May 21, 2024, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, while visiting Bangladesh, indicated that Australia will provide more funding to help Bangladesh align its labor laws and other areas that would assist Bangladesh’s proposed graduation from LDC status.

Australia is also slated to provide more assistance for colleges providing technical education training.

Wong also traveled to Cox’s Bazaar, a Rohingya refugee area. She noted Australia had provided AUD860 million (US$571 million) over six years to assist with the Rohingya crisis.

On May 3, 2024, Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy announced a pledge of AUD492 million (US$317 million) to the Asian Development Funds’ 14^th pledging round, covering the period of 2025–2028.

The low-interest financing arm of the ADB focuses on grants to lower-income countries. Conroy emphasized the value of these grants to regional needs such as climate resilient hospitals and education facilities, as well is improving the systems that run them.

Conroy indicated Australia had worked with representatives from Kiribati and the Cook Islands to ensure that more funding would be received by the Pacific. An increase of over AUD500 million (US$323 million) was expected for the Pacific, compared to the previous replenishment.

Australia has also pursued arrangements to ensure access to finance for people in Afghanistan, Myanmar, and the Rohingya refugee population in Bangladesh, particularly women and girls. Australia urged the ADB and the World Bank to improve their procurement processes by avoiding approving artificially low-priced, poor-quality projects where higher prices were later demanded during implementation. Conroy encouraged tender processes to focus more strongly on quality and value for money and expressed concerned that low bid prices were discouraging a broader range of bidders from seeking work, particularly in the Pacific countries.

Australia is the second-largest contributor to the fund, behind Japan.

On February 8, 2024, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape visited Australia for the 5^th Papua New Guinea – Australia Annual Leaders’ Dialogue to meet with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and discuss, amongst other topics, ODA issues.

Papua New Guinea is the largest recipient of Australian ODA. The two prime ministers discussed Papua New Guinea’s budget repair plans and fiscal situation, with Marape welcoming budget support from Australia to assist with budget shortfalls. Marape also addressed Australia’s parliament during his visit.

They noted the importance of continued support for agriculture to improve supply and quality, especially to provide continued support for women. Marape and Albanese also discussed Australia’s assistance to Papua New Guinea’s national road network and 30-year master plan for port rehabilitation.

The leaders pledged to act in response to Papua New Guinea’s need for more reliable green energy. Australia has provided US$150 million to upgrade and repair major energy assets, including refurbishing the Ramu 1 hydroelectric power station.

Marape also noted Australia’s assistance in completing new solar farms in Bougainville and West Sepik, Papua New Guinea. Separately, small energy projects in Papua New Guinea are being funded by Australia through the Pacific Climate Infrastructure Financing Partnership. Australian ODA has also been provided to improve education and support health services aimed at tuberculosis and malaria, as well as MNCH.

In May 2023, the Australian National University’s Development Policy Centre announced the dates of its annual series of conferences focusing on development, particularly in the Pacific region.

The 2023 Pacific was scheduled for June 13-14, 2023 in Fiji. It is co-hosted with the University of the South Pacific’s School of Accounting, Finance and Economics. The Update conference is a major forum for discussing economic, political, social, and environmental issues in the South Pacific.

The 2023 Papua New Guinea update was scheduled to be co-hosted with the School of Business and Public Policy at the University of Papua New Guinea on August 17-18, 2023, at the Waigani campus of the University of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby. The conference was announced under the theme of resilient and diverse development, and the program topics included climate change, gender equality, health and the impact of COVID-19, and education.

The Development Policy Centre's annual 3-day Australasian AID Conference was scheduled for December 5-7, 2023 in Canberra, in partnership with The Asia Foundation.

On March 7, 2023, the Development Policy Centre at Australian National University announced the dates of its two 2023 Update conferences on development.

The Centre announced that the Pacific Update conference will be held on June 13-15, 2023, at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji. The Pacific Update conference is the main forum for discussing economic, political, environmental, and social issues in the region. The conference will be co-hosted with the School of Accounting, Finance, and Economics at the University of the South Pacific.

The organization also announced a call for conference papers with a deadline of April 3, 2023. Possible topics include education and health, economic development, social protection, poverty reduction, climate change, environment, social inclusion and gender equality.

Separately, the Centre announced that the annual PNG Update conference will be held on August 17-18, 2023 at the University of Papua New Guinea on the Waigani campus, Port Moresby. The conference will be co-organized by the Australian National University and the School of Business and Public Policy at the University of Papua New Guinea.

In February 2023, the Australian DFAT published submissions to the Australian aid policy review released in February 2023, revealing widespread calls for reform of Australian ODA to education.

One proposal from the Australian Technology Network of Universities called for the inclusion of Australian universities to assist entrepreneurial growth in partner countries.

This position was echoed by the Lowy Institute, an Australian development think tank, which called for reform and innovation in education assistance to Southeast Asia. In particular, the think tank urged Australia to focus less on international students as a market opportunity and prioritize capacity-building in the region.

Offering solutions, the think tank argued Australia should provide more scholarships for long-term studies, become more active in technical education, and assist partners in developing necessary skills for the ongoing industrial revolution in many Southeast Asian countries.

Moving beyond scholarships to Australia, proposals also argued that development cooperation programs should also prioritize improving partner countries' own vocational and technical education systems.

On February 3, 2023, the Lowy Institute launched its IPDC to focus on emerging and developing economies in the Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, and South Asia.

The center will cover six key themes:

• Climate finance and decarbonizing development;
• Post-COVID-19 recovery and growth;
• Globalization and regional integration;
• Technology and the digital economy;
• The intersection of security and development; and
• The future of international development finance.

The IPDC was established with multi-year funding from DFAT.

The Lowy Institute also announced plans to launch a new ODA map tracking flows into Southeast Asia in 2023.

In January 2023, the Australian government published 213 submissions to its 'Aid Policy Review'.

The submissions were part of a public consultation by DFAT on Australian ODA and invited stakeholders at all levels to submit commentary on Australian development policy. The review was announced in anticipation of the creation of a new Australian development policy, which is scheduled to be completed by May 2023.

DFAT also appointed an expert panel to guide the review of international development policy. The diverse group includes former Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, and Doctor Robert Glasser, formerly the Secretary General of CARE International and head of the UN Office of Disaster Risk Reduction.

An associated Development Finance Review has been delayed and is expected to be completed in early 2023. The government has not indicated if the Development Finance Review will be publicly released.