Sean Dorney
Nonresident Fellow
![Sean Dorney](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/headshot_Sean_dorney.jpg)
Biography
Publications
News and media
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.
![Lessons from the PNG elections](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/35325325080_88559f3700_k.jpg?itok=wXQOg_hq)
Lessons from the PNG elections
Not all of PNG’s electoral problems could be solved before 2022, but a thorough examination of the lessons learned from 2017 is the way to start.
![Will the PNG election ever end?](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/34997500854_e30a864e87_o.jpg?itok=qr00oqPl)
Will the PNG election ever end?
The count in the final undeclared seat in Papua New Guinea’s 2017 national elections has resumed – more than five weeks after polling was supposed to end.
![PNG’s unreliable electoral roll](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/35221336260_32d064084f_o-%281%29.jpg?itok=GRlF6P9t)
PNG’s unreliable electoral roll
The returning officer told us that as many as one in four intending voters in Talsea were being turned away, their names not on the list.
![Papua New Guinea's election surprises](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/35797332776_3aa50e52ce_k.jpg?itok=HzaXJEwY)
Papua New Guinea's election surprises
The most surprising thing about the 2017 Papua New Guinea Election was the number of sitting MPs who were defeated.
![The Grand Chief of PNG, Somare, bids farewell](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/somare.jpg?itok=Z3wgqdwd)
The Grand Chief of PNG, Somare, bids farewell
Sir Michael speaks of failings by Australia in PNG, a mistake he made after independence, and the controversial regional payments distributed by MPs.
![Beyond the legend of Kokoda](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/kokoda3.jpg?itok=8CRNG9hT)
Beyond the legend of Kokoda
Reviewing an absorbing new collection of essays from an impressive array of former soldiers, military historians, and academics.
![Book review: PNG, Australia’s Northern Shield?](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/PNG_cropped.jpg?itok=7J9XzSLo)
Book review: PNG, Australia’s Northern Shield?
The view of Australian ministers in the 1960s and leading up to independence in 1975 was that PNG was doomed to fragment – and quite rapidly.
Pagination
Australian Financial Review
07 April 2017