Attempts to understand the Ok Tedi acquisition, a powerful television report on corruption allegations, plus a golfing coup for Fiji.

Following Director of the Development Policy Centre Stephen Howes’ analysis of the Ok Tedi mine acquisition, prominent PNG political commentator and journalist Martyn Namorong has given an interview with ABC’s Pacific Beat, assessing how Papua New Guineans themselves had reacted to the sudden move.

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The other big story this week was the programme by ABC Television’s Four Corners on corruption in PNG, and how the proceeds typically end up in Australia.

On the Lowy Institute’s Interpreter blog, Jenny Hayward-Jones couldn’t resist connecting the two stories:

‘A focus from serious investigative journalists on the cancer of government corruption could help galvanise action. It is particularly important at a time when the PNG Government has just nationalised the PNG Sustainable Development Fund and the Ok Tedi mine, raising questions about the use of the mine’s revenue.’

She goes on to suggest that the Australian government’s reticence on the subject of corruption in PNG could be misinterpreted to suggest a lack of interest in the issue.

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Brisbane’s Courier-Mail reports on another thrust in the Fiji government’s foreign policy offensive, with the announcement that Natadola Bay will host a major international golf tournament from 2014.