| Papua New Guinea accuses Australian diplomat of spying |
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| World Affairs Talk | |
| Tuesday, 12 June 2007 | |
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The finance department officials are carrying out a through investigation into the matter after primary investigations suggested that the accused Australian copied official documents and placed those to Canberra once a month for the last two years or so. The accused official was working as one of several advisers, deployed under Australia's Enhanced Cooperation Program since 2004. The Australian High Commission rejected its affiliation with the spying activities. The High Commission further claimed that no files or papers from the PNG Department of Finance had been brought to its premises. Both political and economical situation of the Papua New Guinea are unstable. The crime rate in 2006-2007 has soared, corruption has gone out of control and essential services including health care and education has not reached the majority yet. According to the World Bank, 70% of the population lives in poverty. Australia for long has been behaving like regional guardian and has been keeping an eye on Papua New Guinea as foreign relation between the countries in the recent years increased tremendously. Over half of Papua New Guinea’s development budget is made up of donor funds and Australia by far is the largest and most influential player. Papua New Guinea received a total of $367.4 million in development aid from Australia in 2005-2006. Australia also deployed police officers and civil servants to support Papua New Guinea’s local equivalents in number of occasions. Papua New Guinea has three levels of government - national, provincial and local. The National Parliament is a 109 member unicameral parliament elected for five year terms by general suffrage. The Prime Minister is appointed and discharged by the Governor General on the proposal of Parliament. The Cabinet, the National Executive Council is appointed by the Governor General on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. Australia has to keep an eye on all levels due to its high aid involvement in the country. Share & Bookmark             |
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 16 June 2007 ) |
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