Cathy Neap on the Australia–PNG relationship

Jessica Collins – 4 March 2025

Episode summary

Cathy Neap, Country Manager for the National Rugby League in Papua New Guinea, speaks with Dr Jessica Collins, Project Director of the Australia–Papua New Guinea Network.

Cathy shares her experience as a change maker — what drives her, the challenges she faced, and how she views the Australia–PNG relationship. Reflecting on PNG’s half-century of independence this year, Cathy also shares her vision of what the next 50 years might look like in terms of development and women.

2024 Pacific Aid Map: Key Findings

Alexandre Dayant, Riley Duke, Jessica Collins – 27 November 2024

Episode summary

Each year, the Lowy Institute updates its Pacific Aid Map – the most comprehensive database tracking aid and development flows to the Pacific Islands region ever assembled. In this episode of Development Futures, lead authors Alexandre Dayant and Riley Duke join Dr Jessica Collins to unpack the key insights from this year’s report and explore key questions. How is the international community supporting the Pacific as it recovers from the pandemic? What role is China playing in the region? And how is geopolitics shaping the allocation of development finance? These questions and more are explored in this episode.

NZ High Commissioner Dame Annette King on the Pacific, geopolitical competition, and her time serving in Australia

Jessica Collins – 16 January 2024

Episode summary

In this episode of Pacific Change Makers, Research Fellow of the Lowy Institute’s Pacific Islands Program Dr Jess Collins speaks with Dame Annette King about her role as New Zealand’s High Commissioner to Australia.

Vanuatu MP Gloria Julia King on women, sport, and politics

Jessica Collins – 24 August 2023

Former national football player and Vanuatu MP Gloria Julia King tells Dr Jessica Collins that while barriers still exist for women in politics, sport is a great equalizer.

Episode summary

In this episode of Pacific Change Makers, Dr Jessica Collins speaks with Vanuatu MP Gloria Julia King – a mother of four, and a former national football player who is the first woman to be elected to Vanuatu’s parliament in 14 years.

Ms King pays respect to women who trailblazed before her but says, more than four decades on from independence, little has changed for women trying to make a career in national politics.

At a recent FIFA World Cup Gender Symposium hosted by Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Ms King said that “in the community, in education, in health, in sports, in football…whatever the association or institution you’re serving in, it is important that women have a place on the table where decisions have been made.”

She also says that while barriers persist for women in politics, sport is a great equalizer, irregardless of gender or ethnicity: “When it comes to football, when it comes to sports, all these barriers dissolve.”

Dame Carol Kidu

Jessica Collins – 7 June 2022

This is a special Women in Politics series for the Australia-PNG Network, in which the Lowy Institute’s Jessica Collins sits down with prominent women from Papua New Guinea (PNG) to discuss the deep-seated challenge of women’s political representation in PNG.

Episode summary

In this fifth and final episode of the series, Jessica speaks with Dame Carol Kidu, about the discrimination and disadvantage experienced by indigenous Papua New Guinean women as they seek to get elected.

Dame Carol is one of seven women who served in PNG’s National Parliament. She also managed to get re-elected twice, despite half of all politicians losing their seat at every election.

Dame Carol’s tenure as a politician is remarkable, but she said her husband’s legacy and her European background helped secure on going community support. She often heard from her community, “We don’t mind you being here, but we don’t want our own women here [in parliament].”

Dame Carol talks us through the issues that are increasingly disadvantaging women during campaigns, such as bloc voting and tribal intimidation, campaign or cell houses, violence, and financial barriers. But she offers a silver lining: “PNG is a nation based on relationships, and if you can nurture relationships, that will get you into politics.”

Join Jessica and Carol as they talk through why women getting elected is critical to PNG’s development, and as she shares her views on what women need to do to get over the line at the upcoming election.

Tania Bale

Jessica Collins – 20 May 2022

In this fourth episode of the series, Jessica speaks with Tania Bale, an urban candidate seeking election to PNG’s National Parliament. Tania shares her views on the challenges of standing for election, including the difficulties of campaigning in rural settings and how “obscene” amounts of money is spent in cash handouts to gain voters’ support.

Episode summary

This is a special Women in Politics series for the Australia–PNG Network in which the Lowy Institute’s Jessica Collins sits down with prominent women from Papua New Guinea (PNG) to discuss the deep-seated challenge of women’s political representation in PNG.

In this fourth episode of the series, Jessica speaks with Tania Bale, an urban candidate seeking election to PNG’s National Parliament. Tania shares her views on the challenges of standing for election, including the difficulties of campaigning in rural settings and how “obscene” amounts of money is spent in cash handouts to gain voters’ support.

Tania is one of the few women endorsed by a political party and says her endorsement for a national capital district (NCD) seat, along with three other female party colleagues endorsed for the remaining NCD seats, is unprecedented and historic.

Tania’s view is that the endorsements will resonate for years to come and that they send a powerful message to the citizenry of PNG. Yet regardless of endorsements, Tania believes her electorate is ready to elect women to the currently all-male parliament — a silver lining for women who are trying to represent their communities.

Join Jessica and Tania as they talk through the challenges of getting elected, including Australia’s role in supporting “home grown” programs that reflect PNG’s unique characteristics.

Damarise Bonga

Jessica Collins – 6 May 2022

In the third conversation as part of a series on women in politics in Papua New Guinea, Jessica Collins speaks with Damarise Bonga, a female candidate in the upcoming 2022 national election. Damarise shares her experience of running unsuccessfully in a prior election, and talks about the broader challenges for women trying to represent their communities in parliament.

Episode summary

This is a special Women in Politics series for the Australia-PNG Network, in which the Lowy Institute’s Jessica Collins sits down with prominent women from Papua New Guinea (PNG) to discuss the deep-seated challenge of women’s political representation in the country.

In this third episode, Jessica speaks with Damarise Bonga, a female candidate in the upcoming 2022 national election. Damarise shares her experience of running unsuccessfully in a prior election, and talks about the broader challenges for women trying to represent their communities in parliament. She says a fundamental issue lies in how people (both men and women) perceive leadership in PNG, and how this continues to be a significant barrier to balanced representation in the country.

“In politics, in PNG it’s quite different … They think that the Parliament is … hausman in Tok Pisin, meaning that it’s a house for man. And that’s kind of bias, you know.”

Join Jessica and Damarise as they talk about how women can be more successful in future elections, including Damarise’s views on all-women political parties and decentralising women’s political leadership development programs.

Theresa Meki

Jessica Collins – 8 April 2022

In this special Women in Politics series for the Australia-PNG Network, the Lowy Institute’s Jessica Collins sits down with prominent women from Papua New Guinea to discuss the deep-seated challenge of women’s political representation in Papua New Guinea in the lead-up to its national election.

Episode summary

In this special Women in Politics series for the Australia-PNG Network, the Lowy Institute’s Jessica Collins sits down with prominent women from Papua New Guinea discuss the deep-seated challenge of women’s political representation in Papua New Guinea in the lead-up to its national election.

In this first episode, Jessica speaks with Theresa Meki – an expert in Papua New Guinean women’s political representation – about the experience for women trying to enter politics in the country, where no women are currently serving in the national parliament. They discuss the realities and challenges of campaigning, including how vote-buying and clientelism, traditional obligations, reciprocity, patriarchalism and legacy candidates contribute to the uneven playing field for female candidates.

Theresa tells Jessica there have been years wasted in between elections to work on the problem. “We only talk about women when it’s election time … And I think that’s the issue. There was a whole five years that more things could have been done.”

Join Jessica and Theresa as they take you through these issues and present ideas on how to change the nature of women’s political representation in Papua New Guinea.

Vagi Hemetsberger

Jessica Collins – 21 April 2022

In this special Women in Politics series for the Australia-PNG Network, the Lowy Institute’s Jessica Collins sits down with prominent women from Papua New Guinea to discuss the deep-seated challenge of women’s political representation in Papua New Guinea in the lead-up to its national election.

Episode summary

In this second episode of the series, Jessica speaks with Vagi Hemetsberger, co-founder of the Seven Sisters Foundation, which aims to provide long-term support to women seeking office in Papua New Guinea. They discuss what help Papua New Guinean women need to get elected, and how issues such as money politics and security put them at a significant disadvantage.

Vagi argues that partnering is vital if women are to improve their political representation in Papua New Guinea. “We want our men and women to … be a part of the solution”, but, she adds, women’s civil groups and policymakers also need to work strategically and collaboratively, “because we’re stronger together”.

Join Jessica and Vagi as they take you through these issues and present ideas on how to change the nature of women’s political representation in Papua New Guinea.