Australia needs to rethink Papua New Guinea aid. People need power and water, not governance workshops

A woman washes clothes between stilt houses at Hanuabada Village in Port Moresby. ‘Australia’s priority for aid to PNG should be infrastructure. Everything else is just a Band-Aid.’ Photograph: David Gray/Reuters

As the Australian prime minister tours Papua New Guinea with the backdrop of growing Chinese influence in the region, it is the perfect time to evaluate and potentially reset our aid policies.

There have been no shortage of good intentions when it comes to aid for PNG, our closest neighbour, since its independence in 1975. However, for most, the country is poorer than it was when I was here as a child and the fact that only 13% of the population has access to regular power perfectly encapsulates this collective failure.