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I didn’t expect to be rubbing shoulders with tribal people wearing feathered headdresses and arrows through their noses, but it was market day, and that is exactly what happened.
I had been helicoptered into the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG) by an Australian-owned oil and gas producer. The company, Oilsearch, is not a household name in Australia, but it may soon be supplying large volumes of gas to the Australian market if a proposed $3.5 billion pipeline under the Torres Strait gets the go-ahead.
Oilsearch wanted to hear about my research on a gas plant explosion near Melbourne in 1998 and I was asked to present my findings at each of their widely-scattered production sites.
The company is operating in an area of PNG which has been largely untouched by western influence, apart from the impact of missionaries. Moreover, there is no effective governmental presence there. The company has therefore to manage its relations with the local people in a very careful way so as to be able to continue in business.
I was fascinated to learn something about how it does this. It has a large community affairs department and is advised by an Australian anthropologist. The department is continuously involved in negotiations with local people and the result is that armed conflict has been avoided.
The company has built schools and provides electricity and water in some areas. It even provides a policing service, by arrangement with the PNG government. These police were keeping an eye on the market during my visit, which I much appreciated given the machetes in evidence. Oilsearch also provides health care for the locals and has carried out a multi-faceted program which has succeeded in eradicating malaria from the areas in which the company operates. This disease previously killed large numbers of children and its eradication means that the population is now increasing.
The roads in the area are constructed and owned by Oilsearch, and the locals, who own a small number of vehicles, are welcome to drive on these roads, provided they comply with company safety rules. One of these is a 40 kilometre speed limit. It is enforced by a company employee using a radar gun to check speeds. Locals who offend repeatedly are not banned from using company roads — that is judged to be too inflammatory — but they are not allowed to use the roads without a company escort who is available at all times for this purpose. This situation provides a vivid illustration of the quasi-governmental role the company has taken on, as well as its sensitivity to local feelings and its need to tread gently.
Inevitably, the company’s presence has accelerated the breakdown of traditional tribal society. The payment of royalties to local landowners has played a part in undermining the authority of the chiefs. Money has also opened up new possibilities, such as travel to Port Moresby. Men are visiting the capital, contracting HIV, and passing on the infection on their return. It seems that the scourge of malaria is to be replaced by the scourge of AIDS.
My research interest is in the sociology of organisations, but during my short trip to PNG I found myself fascinated by broader sociological questions about the impact of one society on another and the ultimate incompatibility of industrial and tribal society.
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Also in ANU Reporter Autumn 2005:
Living with fire
Exploring a small world
Buried bounty
Bradman: $35million not out
Market rates physics
Learning environment
Water, water everywhere...
Real men uncovered
From the Vice-Chancellor's desk
News
The Scandinavian connection
'Superbowl' molecule to help drug delivery
World's oldest human fossils identified
Lawyer is one in a million
Agreement gives ANU vital room to grow
Earth still ringing after tsunami
Alumni
Scholarship honours memory
Engineering family success
The last word
The Asian tsunami disaster — the prospects for recovery
ANU Reporter Autumn 2005 contents
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