Mr HOLLIS (1:12 PM) —This inquiry into Bougainville, titled Bougainville: the peace process and beyond , was difficult in that the situation and personnel in PNG and Bougainville were constantly changing. In the middle of this year the peace negotiations were conducted against a backdrop of acute political instability at a central government level which culminated in the sudden resignation of then Prime Minister Skate in July. The Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade encourages the new Morauta government to keep Bougainville firmly on the national agenda.

To say that most people in Bougainville want peace is stating the obvious. I do feel that there is a genuine desire for reconciliation. The people are tired of war and destruction and of the waste of life and personal property. Many are conscious that at one time Bougainville was the most prosperous of the PNG provinces. Today they see the infrastructure of the island in ruin. The healing process will take a long time, and it has been put to me that, until the grieving commences, which it has not as yet, there can be no real progress towards lasting peace.

Other speakers have highlighted different aspects of our inquiry and especially our visit to Bougainville. The question of aid and how it is directed—whether there has been too much emphasis on large projects and whether priority should be given to village type projects—is difficult as conditions, not the least of which is the terrain, make the question of aid to Bougainville extremely complex. But there should be a maximum involvement of Bougainvilleans in all phases of aid projects.

I want to highlight the work of the peace monitoring group which, in my view, has made an outstanding contribution to the peace process in Bougainville. It is ironic that, at this time as we are reporting on prospects for peace in Bougainville, Australian forces are in a neighbouring country, Timor. Just as Bougainville has been plagued by war and there has been no quick solution to the conflict, so I believe there will be no quick solution to the Australian presence in Timor.

The peace monitoring group consists of Australian, New Zealanders, Fijians and Vanuatuan defence, police and civil personnel. Its mix of nationalities and experience has made the peace monitoring group a unique organisation, with each nationality and occupation bringing a range of cultural backgrounds and skills to the group. For example, it was put to us that in many cases it is easier for the Bougainvilleans to relate to the Fijian and Vanuatuan personnel than to the others but, as Australia is the main contributor, it is the Australians who have had the major impact. Different from other peace monitoring groups, the personnel are unarmed and a difficult situation must be negotiated.

I was immensely impressed with the dedication of the Australian personnel I saw there, given their understanding of the complexities of the situation and their maturity of approach. It made me immensely proud of the defence and civilian personnel of the peace monitoring group. The trying conditions on Bougainville, the delicate political climate and Bougainville's isolation have made being part of the operation a challenge for every member. It is a challenge that all have risen to.

No comment would be complete without noting the tremendous role the women of Bougainville played and continue to play in the rehabilitation process. The committee agrees that the effective participation of women in all phases of the peace process is essential. One area that I was particularly interested in was this: as Bougainville rebuilds, so also there will be a need to rebuild such things as archives. At one time Bougainville had excellent libraries and archival resources.

Australia holds many records of administrative archives, reference collections and artefacts and I was pleased with the recommendation that funds be made available for rebuilding the archives and library collections of Bougainville by locating relevant material held in Australian collections and either copying the records or making them available to the Bougainvillean authorities in some other ways. It must be stressed that the future of Bougainville is a matter for negotiating between the Papua New Guinean government, the people of Bougainville and their leaders. We wish them well in that process. In commending the report to the House, I wish to place on record my appreciation of the work of the committee secretary, Cliff Lawson, and the secretariat staff, who all did an outstanding job in assisting the committee with its inquiry and in assisting us to bring down this report to the House today.