Is Twiggy Forrest serious about a major green energy investment in Papua New Guinea?

Recently the re-elected PNG Prime Minister, James Marape, called on Australian business and the investment community to play a role in downstream processing in PNG and in helping the export sector improve the trade balance between our countries.

He did so on the eve of the first visit to PNG by Foreign Minister, Senator Penny Wong, this week. By any measure the visit was a success, but the role of business and investors does not seem to have figured prominently.

It is likely to feature when the Ministerial Forum between our countries is held in November.

Minister Wong now has time to engage with business in Australia on priority areas - we have a well-established and informed Australia-Papua New Guinea Business Council headed by Frank Yourn who is widely respected in Papua New Guinea.

The Council could be productively tasked with looking at areas Australia might assist with downstream processing in PNG and areas where greater exports to Australia might be encouraged - such as importing coffee, cocoa and seafood.

But the "elephant in the room" when it comes to investment in Papua New Guinea relates to the intentions of one of our richest industry leaders, Andrew Twiggy Forrest.

It is now two years since he raised his profile in PNG and held detailed discussions with Prime Minister Marape, senior ministers, and provincial governors such as the Gulf's Chris Haiveta.

There were several areas in the "clean and green" energy sector that we know Forrest discussed.

To me the most consequential was the Purari hydro project in the Gulf Province. Purari has largely been off the agenda for a decade when Origin Energy decided not to proceed with evaluating it.

It may be that the current power situation in Papua New Guinea, and the impact of climate change, will hasten more detailed consideration of Purari as the key to securing long term affordable electricity for our closest neighbour. Beyond question PNG will struggle to secure major downstream processing investment without reliable and affordable electricity.

Today much of Papua New Guinea is enduring a severe drought. In a nation heavily dependent on hydro power that presents real challenges. Cities like Madang and Lae are being afflicted with frequent power outages and unless the drought ends soon, it will damage the important agriculture export sector, as well as households.

These centres, and much of the Highlands Region, are dependent on PNGs largest hydro power generator, Ramu. But the Ramu River and its tributaries are running dry. The availability of water to power the hydro plant is significantly diminished already.