Fallacy of the DFAT 'Kokoda Initiative' exposed by Covid-19

Of more concern to villagers along the trail is the loss of income for local subsistence communities along the trail because they have been abandoned by the DFAT Kokoda Initiative during their hour of need.

The current Anzac trekking period will see guides and carriers miss out on half-a-million kina in wages - campsite owners will miss out on PNG K310,000 - and village communities will forgo PNGK65,000 in purchases for food, services and souvenirs.

The PNG Kokoda Track Authority (which operates under the close supervision of the DFAT Kokoda Initiative) will miss out on a further PNGK90,000 in trek fees however this is not considered as a loss to communities along the trail as most of these fees now seem to circulate in Port Moresby - nobody is sure how much because they have never published an audited financial report!

It won't affect DFAT officials from the Kokoda Initiative however - they are understood to have been withdrawn to Australia to sit out the crisis on comfortable 6-figure salaries.

There may well be a rationalisation of trek operators as a result of the pause caused by Covid-19 however this will not necessarily affect the industry in the longer term as there are already too many low-rent operators who exploit their guides and carriers by overloading, underpaying and poorly equipping them. This is a result of the dysfunctional management system which is condoned by the DFAT Kokoda Initiative.

The Covid-19 pause provides PNG a timely opportunity to 'reclaim Kokoda' by recalibrating their management of the Trail and working towards developing it as a World class destination based on our shared wartime heritage for the benefit of their own people rather than the rent-seekers and carpetbaggers who have infiltrated the industry.

If it's to be - it's up to PNG!