Presents the outcomes of a dialogue involving twenty-two emerging leaders from Papua New Guinea and Australia, from across the business, government, media and non-government sectors.

Introduction: The Lowy Institute hosted the inaugural Australia-Papua New Guinea Emerging Leaders Dialogue on 26 November 2013. The Dialogue was convened with the support of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and was an initiative that arose from the 2012 Papua New Guinea-Australia Ministerial Forum. Twenty-two emerging leaders from Papua New Guinea and Australia, from across the business, government, media and non-government sector, participated in the Dialogue.

The Dialogue focused on four main themes: Growing the economy and attracting investment in the Asian Century; Politics and accountability – new expectations; National infrastructure challenges – new approaches; Reform and innovations in the delivery of health and education services.

Key findings:

• Perceptions of Papua New Guinea among the Australian public and business community are narrowly based. They focus on media reports on mining, crime and corruption. These perceptions could be improved by businesses better publicising their successes in Papua New Guinea, the use of creative media and increasing people-to-people links between the two countries through networking and structured collaboration.
• Social media is rapidly changing the media landscape in Papua New Guinea. Although traditional media continues to be important, the proliferation of mobile phones has given Papua New Guineans, including those living in rural or remote areas, the ability to influence what the media reports and to get their message into the public sphere.
• Australia and Papua New Guinea, although at difference stages of development, face many of the same challenges in infrastructure and the delivery of services to remote areas. Papua New Guinea could benefit from Australia’s experience in consultative infrastructure planning between governments and business and using emerging, cheap technologies to meet the health and education needs of remote communities.