Seminar Series

Nic Maclellan is a journalist and researcher who has written widely on the French territories in the Pacific. He is co-author with the late Jean Chesneaux of La France dans le Pacifique - de Bougainville à Moruroa (Editions La Découverte, Paris, 1992) and After Moruroa – France in the South Pacific (Ocean Press, New York and Melbourne, 1998). SSGM has previously published his papers on New Caledonia, including: “Conflict and reconciliation in New Caledonia – building the Mwâ Kâ” (State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Project, Discussion paper 2005/1) and “New government in New Caledonia” (State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Project, Briefing note 2009/3).

Terry Brown was formerly the Anglican Bishop of Malaita (1996-2008). He retired last year and currently works in Honiara as archivist for the Anglican Church of Melanesia. He has lived in Solomon islands for a total of 19 years (1975-81 and 1996-2008). He is a Canadian.

Jon Fraenkel is a Senior Research Fellow in the State, Society & Governance in Melanesia Program, in the College of Asia and the Pacific at The Australian National University. He formerly worked at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji from 1995-2007. He is author of The Manipulation of Custom; from uprising to intervention in the Solomon Islands (Victoria University Press & Pandanus Books, 2004) and recently co-edited The 2006 Military Takeover in Fiji; A coup to end all coups?, ANU EPress, 2009.

Joe Kanekane is Director of the PNG Law and Justice Sector Secretariat, PNG. His training is in journalism, communications and marketing. A former News Director of the Independent newspaper and Media Adviser to the PNG Law and Justice Sector, Joe is President of the Papua New Guinea Media Council, Chairman of the NCD/Central Scout Association. He also on the board of the NGO group ICRAF, and the Democratic Governance Program (formerly CDS) and the Local Marine Area conservation program (LMACP). Joe’s has published widely on corruption and the media in the Pacific. His third book Success Stories in the Law and Justice Sector was published in 2006.

Fergus Hanson is a Research Fellow at the Lowy Institute and is the Director of the annual Lowy Poll. He worked for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2004 to 2007. From 2005 to 2007 he served at the Australian Embassy in The Hague. His published masters thesis focused on regional stability in the Pacific. Prior to joining DFAT he was a fellow at Cambridge University’s Lauterpacht Research Centre for International Law.

Colin Filer is Convenor of the Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program in The Australian National University's College of Asia and the Pacific. He is an expert on the social context and impact of resource development and conservation projects in Melanesia. He has engaged with the extractive industry sector as a teacher, researcher, consultant and policy maker since taking up an appointment at the University of PNG in 1983. He played a significant role in drafting the benefit-sharing provisions of PNG’s Oil and Gas Act in 1998, and has more recently drafted a number of policy papers for the PNG Government under the terms of the Mining Sector Institutional Strengthening Project funded by the World Bank in 2002-2003.

Michael Green has been a career diplomat for more than 30 years. He has served in New Zealand posts in Thailand; at the United Nations in New York; in China; in Indonesia, where he was Ambassador from 1997 until 2001; and in Fiji, where he was High Commissioner (accredited also to Nauru and Tuvalu) from 2004 until 2007. In Wellington he has worked in a number of divisions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and was for six years (1988-94) Director of the External Assessments Bureau in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Between October 2001 and November 2004 he was Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade responsible for Political and Security Affairs. He again served in Deputy Secretary posts after returning from Fiji, initially with responsibility for Australia, the Middle East and Africa, the Pacific and public affairs, and subsequently for South Asia and Latin America.

Mike Bourke is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at ANU. He is a specialist in PNG food production and village agricultural systems and has been continuously involved in research and development work in PNG since 1970. He has conducted research on aspects of poverty in rural PNG for over a decade. He has edited and written 10 books or conference proceedings and has written over 200 papers on aspects of agriculture in PNG.

Peter Coventry is currently Policy Coordinator with AusAID in Papua New Guinea and formerly worked for nearly 3 years in the Solomon Islands Ministry of Development Planning and Aid Coordination with the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI). He was educated at Jesus College, Oxford. Following time in South America with Shell and the UK's Department for International Development (DFID), Peter joined the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) in 2004. He is interested in how development assistance can be used more iteratively to strengthen recipient country systems and processes and promote reform.

Elizabeth Reid is a development practitioner and Visiting Fellow at the Gender Relations Centre, RSPAS. She works on social development, in particular on the HIV epidemic and on gender, mostly in the developing world. Her practice is informed by the principles of feminism and social justice and oriented towards the strengthening of social and ethical capital. Her current work has a particular focus on PNG but also encompasses work in India, Africa and elsewhere. Her recent writings include reports, training materials and articles, most recent articles being Reading as a Women: Understanding generalised HIV epidemics, South Pacific Journal of Philosophy and Culture (forthcoming), and Pacific Gender and Aid Effectiveness Case Study Report: Gender and the Paris Declaration (Co-author), NZAID/AusAID, February 2009.

Asenati Liki is a Pacific Research Fellow with the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program (SSGM) at The Australian National University. A Samoan of Melanesian ancestry, Asenati’s research interests are in gender and development, population mobility and social change in the Pacific. She lectured previously at the University of the South Pacific (2003 – 2008), the National University of Samoa (1999 – 2001), and the University of Auckland (2002).

Jone Baledrokadroka is a former colonel and Land Force Commander of the Fiji Military Forces and is a visitor with SSGM Program. During the 2000 coup he led the military pacification campaign that restored stability in Fiji.

Ciaran O’Faircheallaigh is Professor of Politics and Public Policy at Griffith University, Brisbane. He has published numerous articles and books in the fields of public policy, resource economics and resources policy, negotiation, impact assessment and Indigenous studies. He has worked for over 15 years with Indigenous organisations on negotiation of mining agreements, and has acted as an adviser or negotiator for the Cape York, Northern, Central, Yamatji and Kimberley Land Councils. He is currently advising the Kimberley Land Council on negotiations in relation to natural gas development in the Kimberley.

Colin Filer is Convenor of the Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program in The Australian National University's College of Asia and the Pacific. He is an expert on the social context and impact of resource development and conservation projects in Melanesia. He has engaged with the extractive industry sector as a teacher, researcher, consultant and policy maker since taking up an appointment at the University of PNG in 1983. He played a significant role in drafting the benefit-sharing provisions of PNG’s Oil and Gas Act in 1998, and has more drafted a number of policy papers for the PNG Government under the terms of the Mining Sector Institutional Strengthening Project funded by the World Bank in 2002-2003.

Joint seminar with Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program

Scott Flower is a PhD Scholar at the Crawford School of Economics and Government, ANU. Prior to departing for fieldwork to PNG in 2007, Scott authored ‘Muslims in Melanesia: Putting security issues in perspective’, Australian Journal of International Affairs, (2008), 62: 3, 408-429. Post fieldwork, Scott has written a book chapter titled, ‘The history of terrorism and its analysis in Melanesia: Implications for security and policy’ in Brawley, S (ed) 2009, Doomed to Repeat: Terrorism and the Lessons of History, New Academia, Washington D.C.; and ‘The Struggle to Establish Islam in PNG (1976-1983)’, Journal of Pacific History (reviewed and forthcoming, 2009).

John Samy - Extensive development and management experience in the public sector (15 years) and with multilateral international financial/development institutions (19 years) at the national/regional/international levels covering economic policy and planning; public policy analysis and strategy development.

is a journalist and researcher who has visited New Caledonia in the lead up to the May 2009 elections. He has written widely on the French territories in the Pacific and is co-author with the late Jean Chesneaux of La France dans le Pacifique - de Bougainville à Moruroa (Editions La Découverte, Paris, 1992) and After Moruroa – France in the South Pacific (Ocean Press, New York and Melbourne, 1998). SSGM has previously published his discussion paper on New Caledonia: “Conflict and reconciliation in New Caledonia – building the Mwâ Kâ” (State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Project, Discussion paper 2005/1).

Hank Nelson is an Emeritus Fellow in Pacific and Asian History and Chair of SSGM.

is a Fellow in the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program. He has been working with successive Bougainville governments since 1981, has lived in Bougainville (and other parts of PNG), and has published widely on Bougainville, the Bougainville conflict (1988 to 1997), the Bougainville peace process, and long-term peace-building in Bougainville.

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Alan Rumsey is a Senior Fellow in the Department of Anthropology, RSPAS, ANU. He has been doing research in the Ku Waru or 'Hapwara' region of the Western Highlands of PNG since 1981, with particular focus on verbal art, language and local politics.

Robert Norton is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Anthropology, Macquarie University, Sydney. Has researched on politics and ethnic conflict in Fiji since 1966, as well as field studies of social and political change in Samoa and Tonga.