Final question in an investigation of the Australian Army
An old friend had read the report on subordinate commanders accountable to their commander. He expressed the view that I was foolish in writing such a report as the PNG disciplined services were different to those in Australia.
He said that the PNG services were highly political whereas the Australian services were not. This may be the crux of the problem today in the periodic confrontation of the police with police and with the military.
The Australian administration set up the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) and Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) in the 1960s as pressure mounted for the nation to be independent.
Recruitment to the PNGDF was made on the basis of a formula that specified the numbers of recruits for each province. It may or may not be adhered to today.
In the 1970s, the Joint Services College was set up on a triservice basis at Igam Barracks that failed within four years with recruits returning to do full time training in the respective colleges at Bomana.
Since that time, the police and military have gone their own ways with sporadic confrontation largely caused by the misconduct of serving members often fueled by alcohol.
There has now been a return to the Joint Services College concept scrapped in 1977. There will be the same problems as before with the design of a tri-service training syllabus at the hands of tri-services training staff.
I was once a training officer at the College in 1975, the year of independence. I was given the task of designing a syllabus to the PNGDF, RPNGC and Corrective Services (CS).
It took a while to realize that the RPNGC trainers at Bomana were hostile and opposed to the concept of tri-service training.
The expatriate training officer Errol Buick once explained that they did not want their officer cadets to return to Bomana with a "search and destroy attitude" to policing.
He was saying that there is so much that police cadets have to unlearn after 12 months as a soldier. This may be an exaggeration but remains a matter to be taken into account in tri-service training
The nation is served well by a professional body of judges of the National and Supreme Courts. They are overworked with a back-log of cases mounting up over years. The Chief Justice has been seeking appointment of more judges.
The RPNGC is being weakened whenever the authority of the Commissioner ends up on the scrap heap, regardless of who is responsible.
The commissioner is the commander whose duty is to maintain overall continuity of operations of all officers and policemen despite is role being mainly administrative. He operates through loyal senior officers.
There is a protocol that existed for hundreds of years in the British Commonwealth, embraced by Australia and passed to Papua New Guinea.
Perhaps it is time for the parliament to authorize a review of the command and control of the disciplined services. What has never been written down like the Common Law has now to be set down on paper. The separation of powers is a silent matter within the constabulary.
This is the contribution of an old expatriate officer of the Australian Army who may be the last in country. He now sees that the police and military are basically different but both servants of the nation.
I was once a training officer at the College in 1975, the year of independence. I was given the task of designing a syllabus to the PNGDF, RPNGC and Corrective Services (CS).
It took a while to realize that the RPNGC trainers at Bomana were hostile and opposed to the concept of tri-service training.
The expatriate training officer Errol Buick once explained that they did not want their officer cadets to return to Bomana with a "search and destroy attitude" to policing.
He was saying that there is so much that police cadets have to unlearn after 12 months as a soldier. This may be an exaggeration but remains a matter to be taken into account in tri-service training
The nation is served well by a professional body of judges of the National and Supreme Courts. They are overworked with a back-log of cases mounting up over years. The Chief Justice has been seeking appointment of more judges.
The RPNGC is being weakened whenever the authority of the Commissioner ends up on the scrap heap, regardless of who is responsible.
The commissioner is the commander whose duty is to maintain overall continuity of operations of all officers and policemen despite is role being mainly administrative. He operates through loyal senior officers.
There is a protocol that existed for hundreds of years in the British Commonwealth, embraced by Australia and passed to Papua New Guinea.
Perhaps it is time for the parliament to authorize a review of the command and control of the disciplined services. What has never been written down like the Common Law has now to be set down on paper. The separation of powers is a silent matter within the constabulary.
This is the contribution of an old expatriate officer of the Australian Army who may be the last in country. He now sees that the police and military are basically different but both servants of the nation.
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