Event: Lowy Institute Paper Launch, The Embarrassed Colonialist

Join us for the launch of our newest Lowy Institute Paper, The Embarrassed Colonialist by Sean Dorney, published by Penguin Australia.

The 2015 Lowy Institute Poll shows that 77 per cent of Australians believe Australia has a moral obligation to help Papua New Guinea. DFAT Secretary Peter Varghese has said that “perhaps more than any other single relationship, the state of our relationship with Papua New Guinea is seen as a barometer of Australian foreign policy success.” But since the colonial era people-to-people relations have faded and in 2015, the year Papua New Guinea celebrated 40 years of independence from Australia, the official bilateral relationship was troubled.

Come along to the official launch of Sean’s book to hear about why and how we need to start learning more about Papua New Guinea and treating it as an equal – not as our unfortunate illegitimate child. Papua New Guinea is a country worth having as a good, solid, friendly neighbour. Australia needs to embrace its history in Papua New Guinea, both good and bad, and build a new partnership with its nearest neighbour. 

Sean Dorney is a Nonresident Fellow at the Lowy Institute. After reporting on the Pacific (with a particular focus on Papua New Guinea) for over four decades, Sean left the ABC in August 2014. During his time with the ABC he won a Walkley for his coverage of the Aitape tsunami and was both deported and awarded an MBE by the Papua New Guinean Government. He is the author of Papua New Guinea: People, Politics and History since 1975 and The Sandline Affair: Politics and Mercenaries and the Bougainville Crisis.