Australian Aid to PNG - AusAID

policing are being introduced, along with procedures to reward goodperformance and discipline. The project is also initiating procedures to recordand investigate complaints about police behaviour. More broadly, Australia’sassistance strategy in the law and justice sector is being refined to foster asector-wide approach in support of Papua New Guinea’s new National Policyon Law and Order. 19 A focus on building links between key law and justiceagencies within government, as well as encouraging greater formal andinformal community involvement, is likely to improve the impact of Australianassistance and the prospects for sustainability of this assistance.5.2.2 ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONAlthough Australia contributed A$15 million to Papua New Guinea’s StructuralAdjustment Program in 1989–90, its support for this sub-sector of governancehas only really intensified since 1999–00. Since independence, a total of A$160million has been provided, two-thirds of which (A$107 million) has been in thelast three years.BOX 5.4 IMPROVING GOVERNANCE WITHIN THE PUBLIC SECTORThrough institutional strengthening and capacity building activities, as well assupport for multi-donor initiatives to assist Papua New Guinea’s public sector reformefforts, Australian assistance for economic management and public administrationhas had a number of positive impacts on improving governance in Papua New Guinea:• Introduced constitutional changes to strengthen the independence of the publicservice, in particular in the appointment and dismissal of permanent heads.• Introduced a new performance management system to improve public serviceperformance.• Improved the functioning of Cabinet processes.• Introduced improvements in the budget preparation process.• Introduced a process of major functional and expenditure reviews, to rationaliseand streamline the work of key central agencies and major spending agencies.• Provided extensive training in different aspects of financial management forpublic sector personnel across the country, to improve the accountability anddisbursement of public funds.• Improved competency levels and performance standards within the OmbudsmanCommission, which are expected to result in more open, transparent, accountable,equitable and responsive performance by government leaders and agencies. In2001, the Ombudsman Commission made ten referrals to the Leadership Tribunal,a 100 percent increase over the previous year.• Improved productivity within the Ombudsman Commission by 30–50%.19 See AusAID Concept paper for the Law and Justice Sector Program. November 2002.The Contribution of Australian Aid to Papua New Guinea’s Development 1975–2000 39