CDI Sponsors Pacific Island Engagement in ASPG Conference
& Parliamentary Attachment Program
CDI sponsored the engagement of Pacific Island parliaments in the Australasian Study of Parliament Group (ASPG) annual conference held in Adelaide, South Australia from 23 to 25 August 2007, and the attachment of two Pacific Island parliamentary officers to the South Australian, Commonwealth and ACT parliaments as part of this initiative.
The ASPG's objectives are to encourage and stimulate research, writing and teaching about parliamentary institutions in Australasia and the South Pacific in order to generate a better understanding of these institutions not only with those connected professionally to parliaments but to all people interested in the functions and purpose of their democratic institutions of government. In order to achieve these objectives, the Group conducts an Annual Conference which provides a forum for interaction between academics, staff and members of parliament, and the media. It also publishes a journal the Australian Parliamentary Review which promotes ongoing dialogue between those whose major research interests are in the area.
The ASPG is seeking to extend its activities beyond these two traditional features and to this end is promoting a number of new initiatives. The Group has decided to actively pursue a process of engagement with the parliaments of the Pacific. It believes it can facilitate the exchange of useful information on the study of parliament for research and teaching purposes to the mutual advantage of the region. ASPG further believes such an initiative can substantially contribute to the process of reform and improvement of parliamentary institutions and the legislative processes within the Australasian and Pacific Regions which can only enhance good governance and therefore the overall welfare of the peoples of the Regions.
Accordingly, CDI has agreed to support the ASPG in this goal by sponsoring the participation of Members of Parliament and parliamentary officers from Pacific Island countries in the ASPG's annual conferences. In 2006 CDI sponsored the attendance of delegations from Solomon Islands and Fiji at the ASPG conference in Wellington, New Zealand .
In 2007 CDI has sponsored the following participants to attend the ASPG conference:
-
Hon. Lawrence Belleh, Member of the Autonomous Bougainville Government House of Representatives;
-
Mr Robert Tapi, Clerk of the Autonomous Bougainville Government House of Representatives;
-
Mr Podi Kohu, First Clerk Assistant, National Parliament of Papua New Guinea ; and
-
Mr Jude Devesi, a senior officer of the National Parliament of Solomon Islands.
Mr Tapi and Mr Devesi also participated in a two week attachment program from 20 to 31 August. In a program devised by the South Australian, Commonwealth and ACT parliaments, Mr Tapi and Mr Devesi spent the first week in Adelaide and the second week in Canberra working with and learning from their Australian counterparts.
Click on these links for reporting from the CDI-sponsored participants, and more details on ASPG:
