Sharing privilege
PNG reflections from wintry Melbourne
It was cold and rainy in Melbourne yesterday. Maximum temperature of 11 degrees. My mum is 93 and is in a wheelchair and I had to take her out for a doctor's appointment. We managed, despite arriving at the clinic as it bucketed down. We waited for the rain to ease and with a bit more manual handling than usual I got her out of the car into her wheelchair and inside the clinic door without getting too wet. The appointment went to plan, was bulk- billed and an hour later we were finished, back in the car, the sun was shining between showers and we were on our way home for a cup of tea and a piece of cake.
What a contrast, both weather-wise but much more significantly with regard to access to healthcare than life in PNG.
I imagined life for mum if she was living as a typical person in PNG. Forget the wheelchair - there might be some stretches of paths in towns and cities that wheelchairs could navigate, but largely no-way. She would be confined to home. And no ready access to a vehicle for mobility. Forget the access to the specialist health services she had just received - a CT scan of her knee and injection of fluid with the aim of reducing the extreme pain she experiences with severe osteoarthritis. Forget the painkillers she relies on each day. In fact the chances of her getting to 93 would have been very low - the racing heart, pneumonia, UTI and associated delirium she spent a month being treated for in hospital last year would have almost certainly knocked her off. And forget having a spacious comfortable home to return to, with clean water, accessible bathroom and toilets, and affordable healthy nutritious food in the fridge and cupboards.
The privilege of being born as a middle class white settler in colonial Australia.
There’s no point those of us with this privilege beating ourselves up about it. We have it. But there is a lot of point in being aware of it, and using that privilege to work for a fairer, more equitable world.
That in a nutshell is why I went to PNG this month. I believe in the power of the Greens globally to create change. I have skills and experience that are valuable in helping the Greens grow. As an Australian I feel a particular connection with PNG. The tip of Cape York to the PNG mainland is less than 150 km. Sabai Island in the Torres Strait is an Australian island which is less than 4 km from PNG! And Australian colonialism has left an ongoing legacy of inequality, with the extractivism of mining and deforestation continuing.
So helping the Greens in PNG grow has a particular appeal. The PNG Greens party has so much potential. I heard so much enthusiasm from people across the country for a political party with equality, justice, democracy, non violence and the environment at its heart and members of parliament who weren’t corrupt!
I had a whirlwind trip to Lae at the end of my trip, where I met with a fabulous group of people keen to establish a Greens branch. Unfortunately the PNGGP regional coordinator for the Lae region, Jacob Nalu wasn’t able to join us - he wasn’t able to travel from his village about a three hour journey away. The road was blocked due to someone having been killed the previous week - blocking roads is a common consequence of violent incidents like this. Violence is a huge issue in PNG - but people also frequently reminded me that the media will focus on the violence and ignore all the good aspects of life in PNG. There is no doubt that PNG would sorely benefit from an integrated focus on addressing violence - empowering and resourcing community leaders, addressing inequality and lack of opportunities in an integrated way.
We had an impressive and impassioned group of people meeting in Lae nonetheless, including Susan who was standing as an independent for local council in Finschhafen, a village also about a three hour journey from Lae. Susan hadn’t known about the Greens until she was invited to this meeting and she was keen to join and get involved. Susan was one of three women standing for her single member council ward - against 127 others!
People were facing the full gamut of issues - those with an environmental focus: climate change; sea level rise, deforestation and illegal logging; corruption and bribery by mining companies to access land and resources; and social ones: gender based violence and women and children silently suffering at home, low levels of literacy, youth unemployment and access to education and the nepotism and bribery involved in getting a job or getting into college. They talked of the impact of violence on their lives and how there is little consideration of people’s democratic rights.
But what was most inspiring about the gathering was people’s enthusiasm and ideas of what a local Greens branch could do, in addition to standing candidates for election. They talked of the skills they had, of how they could hold cooking classes, sewing classes, training in health and wellbeing, life skills, parenting etc. Sharmella is a teacher who is already running such sessions informally; Cathleen, another teacher well tuned into the hopes and dreams and challenges faced by young folk; Anita was a trained accountant currently unemployed, Nickson a pastor with a local church very well connected into his local community. Such potential!
I also managed to have some time enjoying being out and about in Lae. Andrew Kutapae the PNG Greens General Secretary and his wife Cathy travelled to Lae from Mt Hagen for the trip and took me out for a walk at the Lae Botanic Gardens - which had been part of the grounds of the Lae airfield until the 1970’s.The juxtaposition of beautiful birdsong and an old RAAF DC3 was pretty surreal I must say!
And after our Greens gathering, I organised a boat trip out from Lae with a local tour company Laeabout Tours, joined by three of the people from our meeting that morning. We travelled through mangrove forests to a small village, Labu, where we toured the village and chatted to locals including the grade 3 teacher of the village school.
The tour was led by 16 year old Bethany - who had not been feeling well that morning so was having a day off school - so her Mum decided that she may as well be the one to guide us! It was her first time leading a tour on her own and she did fabulously! Bethany’s favourite subject at school was social science - and she was pretty excited meeting us all! She and Cathleen had a really good chat - I hope they stay connected with each other, and who knows we may have Bethany as a member of the Lae Greens branch at some stage!
Just before my trip to Lae I also had a quick trip to Vanimo, in the northwest of the PNG mainland, as I was travelling back from my Lumi forest adventure to Port Moresby There I had the opportunity to do some campaigning with Greens candidate for local Government Maria Yaru.
Maria is the only woman standing in her constituency against more than 20 other candidates. Maria’s campaign was facing the classic difficulties experienced by Greens candidates across the world - not enough resources! But compared to Maria I suggest don’t complain! Maria is a single mum, surviving by selling donuts and sewn goods at local market stalls. She is living in Vanimo for work, an hour and a half’s drive from her village which is close to the PNG- West Papua border. Her constituency extends just to the outskirts of Vanimo and a bus fare to take her from one place to another costs 25 kina, or Au$10. She doesn’t have a car - when we went out campaigning together I paid the 100 kina needed for a taxi for an hour and a half. The party paid for her nomination fee , but all other expenses she is covering alone. She has a small campaign team working with her- they are all surviving on as low an income as she is. We talked of the power of getting a Greens branch together in Vanimo which could organise campaigns and fundraise which she was keen to work on after the election. In the meantime good luck Maria!
So I’m home in comfortable ( if cold!) Melbourne now; knowing that my relationship with the PNG Greens is just beginning. I want to thank the PNG Greens folk - particularly Andrew, Imel and Freda- who supported my trip so well. I’m inspired by the resilience and commitment of the people I met; what they are currently achieveing agaisnt the odds and the potential of the party to do so much more.
If you are interested in joining me in supporting the Greens in PNG to grow there are two easy things you can do. One is to make a donation to the crowdfunder which is paying the PNG Greens Party office rent and covered some of the expenses of my trip ( such as venue hire and travel expenses for locals to meet with me). Plus, if you have an old working phone or laptop, the PNG Greens would very enthusiastically give it a new home. Please email me if you can help with this, or leave a comment below.
As I left Port Moresby last Friday I handed my leftover cash to Imel, the coordinator of the youth wing of the party who had been my driver in POM over the time I was there. It was going to be used to repair the party laptop which had been infected by a virus two months ago, and they hadn’t been able to afford to repair it. This is the reality of a cash strapped Greens party in the Pacific - so much potential but needing just a bit of help to achieve great things!