‘Action men’ in PNG politics

There are many lessons that can be learned from looking more deeply into the political campaigns of Papua New Guinea, said social media and political commentator Deni ToKunai in his presentation at the 2013 Pacific and PNG Update.

It is important to look at the language that is used in PNG political campaigns because it has an impact on how people perceive the roles and responsibilities of their MPs, ToKunai said.

He highlighted the growing use of the word ‘action’ in election 2012 campaigns, promoting the idea of MPs as project managers and creating problematic expectations among voters that their MP would directly deliver them tangible goods or outcomes.

ToKunai also spoke on the importance of the Alotau Accord, signed by the key parties during the formation of government in 2012. He also highlighted the small size of the opposition in the current PNG Parliament as a barrier to no confidence votes and the increasing power of the executive.

The powerpoint presentation is available for download here and an audio podcast is available here. Video will be available soon.

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Ashlee Betteridge

Ashlee Betteridge was the Manager of the Development Policy Centre until April 2021. She was previously a Research Officer at the centre from 2013-2017. A former journalist, she holds a Master of Public Policy (Development Policy) from ANU and has development experience in Indonesia and Timor-Leste. She now has her own consultancy, Better Things Consulting, and works across several large projects with managing contractors.

2 Comments

  • Thanks Ashlee for your blog. As far as the use of the word ‘action’ and the phrase ‘action man’, I noticed the same thing observing the 2013 elections in Jiwaka and Simbu. Deni ToKunai’s ‘project manager’ thesis makes sense to me, and fits with my observations and discussions during that time.

    A few months later I was driving down the main road of Honiara, and noticed a man sitting in the back of a flatbed truck, surrounded by other men wearing traditional attire, wearing a t-shirt saying, “Stand up for Warringah. Stand up for Real Action. Vote 1. Tony Abbott.” I’ve uploaded the photo I took here.

    How does this fit in with the thesis? Is Tony Abbott the Australian version of the Melanesian bigman? Perhaps Devpolicy bloggers can assist?

    • Thanks for your comment Marcus — it’s certainly an interesting question! I don’t know if I’m quite game enough to weigh into that debate on Tony Abbott, but perhaps some other commenters on the blog will!

      Deni’s ‘project manager’ thesis was very interesting indeed — we will hopefully have full video of the Pacific & PNG Update presentations uploaded shortly and I’ll be sure to put the link here for those who are interested in watching his excellent presentation.

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