Comments on: Australia’s anxieties after the ‘Age of Intervention’ https://www.policyforum.net/australias-anxieties-after-the-age-of-intervention/ The APPS Policy Forum a public policy website devoted to Asia and the Pacific. Wed, 16 Dec 2015 01:31:24 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.7 By: James https://www.policyforum.net/australias-anxieties-after-the-age-of-intervention/#comment-5808 Wed, 16 Dec 2015 01:31:24 +0000 http://www.policyforum.net/?p=8239#comment-5808 There must be a case of aid fatigue pervading the halls of DFAT. I served in Bougainville many years ago and despite pouring squillions into that province we really did not enjoy too much influence. After recently single handedly rescuing the Solomon’s and Vanuatu from themselves we are still seen as pariahs and colonialists. As soon as the Chinese turn up with pots of gold however our Pacific neighbours roll out the red carpet.

We now see our aid to PNG at relatively low levels (7% of the PNG Government budget) but despite years of propping them up we are still treated like a annoying cousin that has to be taken to the family picnic. I cannot wait for PNG to knock on our door asking for assistance when they realise they are not ready to host APEC in 2018. We of course will do the right thing and spend a fortune saving them from themselves and getting no thanks for our efforts.
My mean streak says that we should let the Pacific nations become captives of the Chinese as vassal states just to teach them a lesson but that would be churlish and ultimately counter productive.
Not sure what the right approach should be – do we allow a vacuum to be filled by China or worse the north Koreans or do we continue to be browbeaten by Fiji and PNG etc in order to keep the Pacific pacific?

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