Paradigms of public financial administration in the evolution of papua new guinea
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230060204 |
| Date | 01 April 1986 |
| Author | D. J. Hardman |
| Published date | 01 April 1986 |
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT,
Vol.
6,
151-161
(1986)
Paradigms
of
public financial administration in the
evolution
of
Papua New Guinea
D.
J.
HARDMAN
The
New
South
Wules
Institute
of
Technology
SUMMARY
In the evolution
of
Papua New Guinea from dependent tcrritory
to
independent entity, public
financial administration has experienced
a
series of changes. Each historical group
of
changes
may be represented by a characteristic paradigm which identifies the nature of the underlying
concepts and their essential dynamics in the context of the political, economic and social
environment. From the early days of Australian settlement, public financial administration
was dominated by the colonial paradigm as the
two
constituent territories-initially
separately and then jointly-relied almost exclusively on Canberra for the provision of funds,
supply of expertise and formation of policies. More recently, since national independence,
legislative and staffing changes have occurred in public financial administration but there
have been no infrastructural innovations in response
to
current needs and priorities.
Australian support
of
the recurrent budget and other foreign aid have not abated, while the
forms and institutions involved in public financial administration continue
to
reflect strong
metropolitan influences which militate against the formation
of
an indigenous paradigm
consonant with national aspirations, development goals and cultural values.
INTRODUCTION
The predominantly Melanesian population of more than three million in Papua New
Guinea
(PNG)
is divided into some
1000
different ethnic communities speaking
740
distinct languages. Today about four-fifths live in a multitude of scattered rural
villages based on subsistence farming, hunting, fishing and gathering. Most of the
remainder live and work in
or
near the main urban centres of Port Moresby (the
capital, with a population
of
150,000),
Lae, Goroka, Mount Hagen, Madang,
Rabaul and Kieta. Since national independence, Papua New Guineans have been
employed in
a
wide variety
of
occupations in both private and public sectors-
including
a
burgeoning public service based
on
the Australian model-as indigenous
resources have been increasingly mobilized in the quest for economic growth and
national prosperity (Downs,
1980,
pp.
116-1
18,
480).
In the process
a
modern metamorphosis has occurred.
From
a disparate and
Stone-Age clan culture, large areas with diverse customs and beliefs have become
integral parts
of
a developing society with constitutional goals and aims-a
D.
J.
Hardrnan is Senior Lecturer
in
Accounting, The New South Wales Institute
of
Technology, PO Box
123,
Broadway, Sydney, NSW
2007,
Australia.
0271-2075/86/020151-11$05.50
0
1986 by John Wiley
&
Sons, Ltd.
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