ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the way the Australian aid programme, TI PNG, the Coalition and the OC PNG were shaped by and responded to political corruption in PNG. It examines the ways international agencies have engaged with politics, showing that while they often stick to their technocratic and apolitical principles, they can occasionally challenge political power in ways that run counter to official policy statements. The chapter discusses local agencies, the OC PNG and the Coalition, who are far more connected to and shaped by national politics than their international counterparts. These connections, or lack of them, significantly shape responses to political corruption. For local actors, political power and corruption are often critiqued strategically when the threat of retribution is mitigated, or when critiquing the state provides a path to political office. The chapter explores how these responses reflect the mainstream and alternative views on corruption, and what this means for the effectiveness of responses to political corruption in PNG.
