Papua New Guinea (PNG) is reaching for a golden era of economic growth, fuelled by a new round of gas, copper, gold and nickel exploration. After thirty‐five years as a nation, PNG finally has the chance for economic maturity. The challenge for the PNG political system is how much of the natural resource wealth can be legally harvested to confront the appalling problems of health, education and infrastructure that put PNG in the lowest rank of the developing world.

Can the PNG polity shift from administering scarcity to handling the boom it proclaims is coming over the horizon? And, as the de facto security guarantor across the Melanesian arc, what are Australia’s strategic interests and priorities as PNG grows? This analysis examines four areas where Australia has been both a player and a partner to discuss the dynamics of this most intimate of neighbourhood relationships.