Australia must plan for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of our legacy of independence to Papua New Guinea now

In just under three years Papua New Guinea will celebrate half a century of Independence and half a century since our colonial rule of PNG ended.

We both have a lot to celebrate and there are one or two glaring Independence errors we can rectify.

On the day of Independence, 16 September 1975, the Prime Minister, Mr Whitlam, announced our independence gift to the new nation would be a new national library. It was to cost just $2 million to construct.

When I joined Iambakey Okuk, the new PNG Opposition Leader, as his Chief of Staff in mid-1978 he took me for a drive to the suburb of Waigani. We stopped at a nondescript building, which turned out to be the National Library.

He asked me what I thought of Australia's independence gift. I was unimpressed to say the least.

Fifty years on we need to do much better!

Today Papua New Guinea is very much engaged constructively with Australia.

We need to use the next three years to build on that.

Our independence anniversary gift to PNG needs to be substantial. Unlike the mean spirited $2 million national library given to a new nation, a nation in which over 60 per cent of the population could not read or write!

Today Papua New Guinea is suffering from increased power blackouts in every urban city, including Port Moresby and Lae. Not only is electricity unaffordable it is just not being delivered reliably.

The electricity system is hopelessly inefficient, something Iambakey Okuk warned about over 40 years ago, stating then it was inevitable the whole power supply system would hold back national development if there was not substantial investment in it.

Today the power generation and distribution systems have been hijacked, with China being the latest bushranger to do so.

When I last checked the discredited Ramu Two project was still being pushed by the Chinese Embassy at a cost of around K6 billion, a project that will deliver power to but a fraction of the population at unaffordable cost to business, industry and domestic consumers alike.

There is only ONE solution to meeting the electricity needs of our neighbour.

That is the long-promised Purari hydro power project in the Gulf Province, a province that has attracted China's attention and even spending.

Fifteen years ago there was a real prospect Purari could not just deliver affordable power across Papua New Guinea, it would even help meet Australia's electricity needs with green, affordable and reliable electricity.

For reasons I never fully understood the main proponent, Origin Energy, abandoned its involvement even though there had been some interest shown by Queensland electricity generators, and even various levels of government.

Since then the project has lain dormant until Andrew Forrest expressed some interest in it when he visited PNG a couple of years ago.

I was not certain whether he was acting on his own or raising the prospect of Chinese involvement in the project as part of an interest in downstream processing industry, such as a smelter.

Whatever the reason for his interest, the Australian Government should invite him to work with the Australia and PNG Governments to deliver Purari as part of a genuine and ambitious program to deliver the whole of Papua New Guinea affordable and reliable electricity.

It might not be able to be completed in 3 years but the people of our closest neighbour will realise we want to help their leaders deliver higher living standards, more employment opportunities and real downstream processing.

Our relationship with PNG has been in the best shape it has been in for some time. The Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Marles, is making his 20th visit to PNG, partly to discuss defence co-operation and to visit the start of the Kokoda Track at Owers Corner to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle for Kokoda.

But we need to add some real substance to the ongoing relationship. Helping deliver Purari would do just that.

The cost is formidable - a decade or so ago it was around $6 billion. It is probably now closer to $10 billion.

It can't be an Australian government project alone. It may need the engagement of say the United States and Japan. It also will need substantial private sector engagement. Signing up Andrew Forrest would be a useful starting point.

We have a unique opportunity to lock in longterm good strategic relations with Papua New Guinea, delivering a serious setback to China.

China won't go away. It's sees PNG as having strategic importance in the region.

But we need to build on our current strong relationship.

There are any number of events we can jointly plan to mark half a century of PNG's nationhood. But we need one big hitting project that our nine million neighbours will see as evidence we are in their corner!

Affordable and reliable electricity for industry, business and households alike would have a massive impact. And backing Purari would deliver that!