Australia threatens PNG with Sanctions

Australia threatens PNG with Sanctions

news.smh.com.au

Foreign Minister Bob Carr has threatened to consider sanctions against Papua New Guinea if it abandons plans to hold mid-year elections.

PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has pledged a full, free and fair election for late June but is facing calls - including from his own deputy - to delay.

Senator Carr on Wednesday significantly hardened Australia's line on the government's plans.

"It is absolutely vital that Papua New Guinea, that the government of Prime Minister O'Neill commit unequivocally to this election," Senator Carr told Sky News.

The failure to hold elections would create a "shocking model" for the Pacific, he said.

"You've got Australia placed in a position where we'd have no alternative but to organise the world to condemn and isolate Papua New Guinea," he said.

"We'd be in a position of having to consider sanctions

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PNG used to be a dominion of Australia, which is the reason Australia and PNG have always had quite strong relations.
But I think Carr, is not in a position to threaten PNG with sanctions, especially since he only came to be foreign minister a week or two ago.

Anyway I do find this both shocking and disturbing, that Australia is willing to sanction one of our "friendliest" neighbours.
Either this is another development to a world war, or Australia just grew a spine?

news.smh.com.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

We're pretty rough on PNG and we have no respect their shambles of a democracy. Our people feel close, but their gov't doesn't really work. They have a small army which is in the power play. That's why Australia is pressing them.. for the stake of that countries stability.

The sanctions sound like a weak copy cat scenario to what the US has done a lot of and that ius to provide aid, and then take away when you need to pull the strings.

I just posted in a thread about Australian / US special forced doing ground work in Uganda.

This was a media release.

They talk about a few hundred people. PNG would have 1000's of operatives present. It has more resources than Uganda. A LOT more!!

reply to post by squandered


Thats exactly right, Australia sends hundreds of millions if not billions in aid to PNG, they are literally puppets of Australia.

We have absolutely no right whatsoever to act with malice towards PNG.

Perhaps our government has forgotten the assistance our troops received in WWII from the locals in PNG. If it weren't for "the fuzzy wuzzy angels" our boys would have had a lot less medical attention, guidance and overall assistance...potentially leading to the loss of PNG and ground/air bases given up to the Japanese to make their move on our main land, who knows?

Absolutely disrespectful. I'm getting more and more frustrated and almost ashamed to be living in this crime scene we call Australia. Although, I love it dearly.

I respectfully disagree with a couple of the above posters. Last year PNG came perilously close to being a failed state. I think Carr is putting pressure on them to ensure they don't allow this to happen. Indonesia is only hours away from Port Moresby... they already have West Papua.

There is probably some hidden and non-obvious tit-for-tat reason for this proclamation.

It's pleasantly surpring to see one of the traditional "white-people democracies" standing up for democracy for once instead of actively subverting it.