By JAMES KILA
MOST of the younger generation Australian parliamentarians lacked sufficient knowledge of PNG and the various issues facing the country.
This was revealed in Goroka on Monday by Dr Benjamin Reilly of the Centre for Democratic Institutions, when welcoming Pacific Islands parliamentarians to the 9th Pacific Parliamentary Dialogue in Goroka.
Dr Reilly said despite the close proximity of the two countries and the traditional ties they shared over the years, many younger generation Australian parliamentarians still lacked sufficient knowledge on many issues facing PNG.
Dr Reilly acknowledged older generation Australia parliamentarians, whom he said understood PNG better and had closer relationship with the country, its people and culture.
Dr Reilly added that such a parliamentary dialogue should foster closer working relationship between Australia, PNG and other Pacific Island countries.
Dr Reilly said the purpose of such event was to foster dialogue on some of the key challenges facing democratic governance in the Pacific region in order to make it stronger and better.
He said he was particularly pleased to have the representatives from two Pacific Islands parliaments – Fiji and Tonga – which are fighting for the most basic right, the democratic political system.
He said for Fiji it meant a return to the rule of the ballot rather than the gun and for Tonga it was about a reform process to introduce a truly democratic system of government.
“We stand with the elected representatives of both countries today in their struggles,” Dr Reilly said.
He added that these cases should not obscure the fact that across the Pacific region, democracy remained resilient.
He said the ability to address the long running and deep rooted conflicts in cases such as Bougainville, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste owed much to the resilience of their parliamentary democracy.
“We need to acknowledge the reality that democracy in the Pacific region had often not worked well as it could.
“This is the key rationale for us meeting here today – to make democratic systems work better and to enhance the capacity of parliaments to manage various societal conflicts which all other countries in the region face,” Dr Reilly said.
The dialogue in Goroka ends today.