Penny Wong is inspecting a septic system in the village of Batua funded by Australian aid. The foreign minister takes in the raised walkways and a surface wetland adjacent to a row of houses. The enclave sits next to a dank stormwater channel that smells like dank water smells in 30C heat.
The whole neighbourhood has turned out. Everyone has their phones up filming Australia’s new foreign affairs minister and her crew of fly-in fixers – diplomats, advisers, security. A cat lolls in a doorway. A steady-eyed preschooler flips Wong the peace sign and then hides behind her parents.
