Kokoda needs new track organisation for future

TUESDAY 22 APRIL 2008

The future of the Kokoda Track could be jeopardised unless the competing interests of various landholder groups in Papua New Guinea are resolved through a new representative organisation, an expert from The Australian National University has proposed.

PNG historian Hank Nelson has written a new briefing paper on recent developments around the Kokoda Track, which he argues is the second most significant Australian international heritage site after Anzac Cove at Gallipoli.

“The experiences of Australian soldiers during WWII along the Kokoda Track, and the subsequent surge in the number of tourists wishing to make the trek, mean that Kokoda occupies a very important place in Australia’s national identity - but it is also a critical issue for the nation’s current relationship with its former colony,” Dr Nelson said.

The researcher argues that preservation of the area in the face of a rapidly expanding tourist industry, an open cut mine and logging poses obvious problems for the future of the Kokoda Track. He says that given the coalitions of parties and individuals that make up PNG governments, proponents of mining, tourism and environment will have difficulty agreeing on any one position, and that the different levels of government add to the complexity.

“One of the most pressing problems is to create an organisation that can speak on behalf of all relevant landowners,” Dr Nelson says. “Following the publicity of recent times about new sources of revenue for landowners, the people have heightened expectations. While the interests of the different groups are not necessarily incompatible the distribution of millions of kina is at stake. As has happened in other areas of PNG, people are likely to move into the Koiari and Kokoda areas along the track – some will be returning, others exploiting new or old associations and some will be opportunists.

“Building an appropriate local representative body will be long and difficult, but knowledge of the problems and what might work is increasing. The people of the Kokoda Track have rich resources: their problems are how to build and maintain institutions that enable people to reach appropriate decisions, avoid destructive divisions, account for funds and deliver services efficiently and fairly. The development of such institutions among small-scale, egalitarian, aggressively competitive communities is a task that confronts the region at local and national levels.

“Australia faces tough tests in practical diplomacy. The more that the preservation of the track is seen to be driven by Australia, the greater the obligation on Australia to pay compensation. But if wealthy Australia is seen as the one to pay the bills then so the amount on the accounts rendered is likely to rise.”

Read the briefing paper here.

ANU Media Office: Simon Couper 02 6125 4171, 0416 249 241