What's the number one thing that ticks most people off in their workplace, and broader, into their lives? It's that thing that wrests control over our day-to-day. It's a lack of real autonomy to do what we must and what we can do in our jobs and in our lives. When we feel constrained against the natural flow of things it eats away at our soul-strength.
In fact, the world of work is often only made bearable by the fact of its autonomous nature. When we don't give this to people, or worse still if we take it away from them, we risk disenfranchising them completely and their performance suffers as a direct result, often affecting the overall objective--and certainly the mood of the organisation or part thereof.
I know in many ways the value of autonomy--to a great extent I've had it in my workplace environment for the better part of fifteen years or even longer. It's that quality of time and space to 'just do' the work we're engaged to do, and further to the discretionary, value-adding work we can do over and above our core responsibilities.
Autonomy in work (or of work) is a key to job satisfaction, but there are at least a couple of qualities that we, as workers or leaders, must have in order to warrant autonomy. We must be able to be trusted and also we must be able to be relied upon to produce the goods.
Trust
If we trust people why would we need to overly-supervise them? Micro-management is pesky nuisance in the workplace where people honestly go to work to do a good day's work.
Reliability
If the quality and quantity of the work is generally good and there's very little re-work, why would a person need to be constantly monitored? We'd know that a vast majority of the time they'll be fine on their own, and they'll probably seek help if and when it's required anyway.
Autonomy is Necessary in Today's World
Autonomous workers in the workplace are not only an advantage; they're a basic necessity in the context of today's 'skinny' organisational structures. There is a void of real supervision and today's organisational environments really depend heavily on trusting their employees and stakeholders to interact effectively in executing objectives and achieving planned outcomes. Relying on reliable workers is a need, not a nice-to-have.
Friday, 13 August 2010
Women's Self-Esteem For Stress Reduction, Balance, and Autonomy
In working with women for decades, I've found that self-esteem is the common denominator of many women's issues. With better self-esteem, women are more able to find balance, handle stress, and claim their autonomy.
Universally, women are considered inferior to men, and although our culture is changing, most women suffer from impaired self-esteem, even successful women. Self-esteem impacts our relationships with others and our relationship with ourselves. It affects self-care, parenting, boundaries, and communication. Self-esteem determines the way we allow others, including our children, to talk to us, and how we value and communicate our needs, thoughts, and feelings. It underpins personal integrity, our ability to pursue goals, and is crucial to effective parenting. A mother may praise her child and try to impart self-esteem, but if hers is low, inevitably, it will be revealed in her behavior, and children learn most by emulation.
Balance is an ongoing struggle for women. As individuals, as caregivers, and as earners and professionals, finding balance between our masculine and feminine sides, between the spiritual and material, between work and family, and between personal needs and those of our employers, children, parents, and partners requires self-esteem and autonomy, not to mention time, which there is always too little of. Rather than acknowledging how much they achieve, women typically are self-critical that they are not accomplishing enough at work, as mothers, homemakers, daughters, or in their personal endeavors. They feel guilty when they don't meet their own and other's expectations. The fact is there isn't enough time and energy to go around, but how we think about it and allocate our resources makes all the difference.
Women are used to stress - caring for children while cooking, cleaning, and talking on the phone. Working moms have added stress and it's a greater challenge for them to make time for themselves. According to the latest census, 55 percent of mothers (63 percent of college-educated moms) with infants work. Of mothers under the age of 45 without infants, 72 percent are in the workforce. When I returned home to my children after a stressful day practicing law, I'd park my car outside my house to meditate for ten minutes before going inside. This allowed me time to get centered and transition to parenting. Self-esteem enables women to practice self-care and to balance these competing demands, reducing stress and allowing them to be present to loved ones and any task at hand.
Setting boundaries is vital to reducing stress and finding balance. Women are plagued with the dilemma of feeling guilty when they say "no" or resentful when they don't. They fear loss of the relationship or the person's esteem. Relationship loss is the biggest stressor for women, as is failure for men. The ability to feel comfortable setting boundaries requires self-esteem. When women value themselves, they are more able to claim their autonomy. Autonomy is a feeling of both separateness and wholeness that permits us to feel separate when in a relationship and complete when on our own. Many women complain that they do great when they're alone, but as soon as they're in a relationship or in the presence of their partner, they lose themselves. Some give up their hobbies, friends, career, and creative pursuits. They have trouble transitioning from an intimate weekend to the office, or they can't articulate opinions about things in front of their partner or an authority figure.
Universally, women are considered inferior to men, and although our culture is changing, most women suffer from impaired self-esteem, even successful women. Self-esteem impacts our relationships with others and our relationship with ourselves. It affects self-care, parenting, boundaries, and communication. Self-esteem determines the way we allow others, including our children, to talk to us, and how we value and communicate our needs, thoughts, and feelings. It underpins personal integrity, our ability to pursue goals, and is crucial to effective parenting. A mother may praise her child and try to impart self-esteem, but if hers is low, inevitably, it will be revealed in her behavior, and children learn most by emulation.
Balance is an ongoing struggle for women. As individuals, as caregivers, and as earners and professionals, finding balance between our masculine and feminine sides, between the spiritual and material, between work and family, and between personal needs and those of our employers, children, parents, and partners requires self-esteem and autonomy, not to mention time, which there is always too little of. Rather than acknowledging how much they achieve, women typically are self-critical that they are not accomplishing enough at work, as mothers, homemakers, daughters, or in their personal endeavors. They feel guilty when they don't meet their own and other's expectations. The fact is there isn't enough time and energy to go around, but how we think about it and allocate our resources makes all the difference.
Women are used to stress - caring for children while cooking, cleaning, and talking on the phone. Working moms have added stress and it's a greater challenge for them to make time for themselves. According to the latest census, 55 percent of mothers (63 percent of college-educated moms) with infants work. Of mothers under the age of 45 without infants, 72 percent are in the workforce. When I returned home to my children after a stressful day practicing law, I'd park my car outside my house to meditate for ten minutes before going inside. This allowed me time to get centered and transition to parenting. Self-esteem enables women to practice self-care and to balance these competing demands, reducing stress and allowing them to be present to loved ones and any task at hand.
Setting boundaries is vital to reducing stress and finding balance. Women are plagued with the dilemma of feeling guilty when they say "no" or resentful when they don't. They fear loss of the relationship or the person's esteem. Relationship loss is the biggest stressor for women, as is failure for men. The ability to feel comfortable setting boundaries requires self-esteem. When women value themselves, they are more able to claim their autonomy. Autonomy is a feeling of both separateness and wholeness that permits us to feel separate when in a relationship and complete when on our own. Many women complain that they do great when they're alone, but as soon as they're in a relationship or in the presence of their partner, they lose themselves. Some give up their hobbies, friends, career, and creative pursuits. They have trouble transitioning from an intimate weekend to the office, or they can't articulate opinions about things in front of their partner or an authority figure.
Autonomy a Key Element in Sustainable Sales Training
Autonomy is one of those words that people hear, but probably truly do not understand and especially do not think of respective to sustainable sales training. Many think of autonomy as associated with governments and that is actually half-right. The Latin origins of this word mean self and law. For this word is truly about governing oneself first before governing others.
To have autonomy suggests that there exists certain laws or in the case of individuals, values, that regulate the self. Depending upon the individual's spirituality, these values can be easily found within certain religious documents or even etched into buildings that have withstood the test of time.
However, autonomy extends beyond these values or laws. The recent economic debacle along with stories of individuals thriving by deceiving others only reaffirms that few people understand the underlying three most basic elements intertwined within this concept of autonomy. Much like the strands of DNA, these elements provide the building blocks for sustainable autonomy that leads to sustainable sales training.
Element #1
"Know yourself" to quote Socrates is the first element. When you know the why of the decisions you make, you can make better sales decisions. Better decision making leads to improved autonomy where you truly accept responsibility for your success and failures. Of course, there exists numerous challenges about knowing yourself from first being truly honest with yourself and then finding the best "know yourself" tools. Sometimes, you may even require external help from a friend, mentor or even a sales coach.
Element #2
The power to choose who you want to be is the second element. Your awareness about whom you are allows you to determine if this is who you want to be. You have the choice to choose the person that you want to be. This choice is 100% yours. Now if you choose to blame others such as clients, the competition or even fellow employees then you have made the choice to be the victim of life. On the other hand, you can choose to embrace being the Victor and always moving forward, closer to your dreams and goals.
Element #3
The third element is action by creating the person you have chosen to become. Just choosing to be a Victor
is only one step. You must take decisive action to become an antonymous individual who knows what behaviors (think sales skills) are necessary to demonstrate being a self-governing individual.
To have autonomy suggests that there exists certain laws or in the case of individuals, values, that regulate the self. Depending upon the individual's spirituality, these values can be easily found within certain religious documents or even etched into buildings that have withstood the test of time.
However, autonomy extends beyond these values or laws. The recent economic debacle along with stories of individuals thriving by deceiving others only reaffirms that few people understand the underlying three most basic elements intertwined within this concept of autonomy. Much like the strands of DNA, these elements provide the building blocks for sustainable autonomy that leads to sustainable sales training.
Element #1
"Know yourself" to quote Socrates is the first element. When you know the why of the decisions you make, you can make better sales decisions. Better decision making leads to improved autonomy where you truly accept responsibility for your success and failures. Of course, there exists numerous challenges about knowing yourself from first being truly honest with yourself and then finding the best "know yourself" tools. Sometimes, you may even require external help from a friend, mentor or even a sales coach.
Element #2
The power to choose who you want to be is the second element. Your awareness about whom you are allows you to determine if this is who you want to be. You have the choice to choose the person that you want to be. This choice is 100% yours. Now if you choose to blame others such as clients, the competition or even fellow employees then you have made the choice to be the victim of life. On the other hand, you can choose to embrace being the Victor and always moving forward, closer to your dreams and goals.
Element #3
The third element is action by creating the person you have chosen to become. Just choosing to be a Victor
is only one step. You must take decisive action to become an antonymous individual who knows what behaviors (think sales skills) are necessary to demonstrate being a self-governing individual.
Extend Your Laptop Autonomy - The Basics
Year after year, the performances of our laptops continue to make extraordinary leaps forward. The capacities of calculation and of storage evolve in a phenomenal manner. Yet the laptops autonomy while improving does not progress the same manner. In five years, average autonomy of our notebooks was multiplied by two. Despite these advances, the nomadic user wants more. Is it possible to extend the autonomy of his laptop? Which components do have the biggest influence on performances? What can you do to extend to extend your laptop autonomy?
In contrast to what one could sometime think, the battery builders do their best to maximize autonomy. It's a consistent fight in between autonomy progress and more energy demanding laptops. Despite the manufacturers' efforts, it is presently difficult to obtain autonomy any higher than four hours on a standard notebook. This value remains comparatively weak facing the current needs. It is therefore important to maximize all avenues to ensure that your laptop autonomy is at its best. To guide you in this venture, we will approach the different solutions of economy of energy. To start, we will enumerate the basic principles that it is important to respect. In other articles we will review other important elements tied to your laptop battery, how you can adjust Windows, special software and additional peripherals.
First things first, let's review some basic autonomy savers.
1) Make sure that your laptop doesn't overheat
When in use, the ventilation orifices must not be obstructed. An overheating would induce inevitably a growth of the electric consumption. If the laptop is old, it will be able to be wise to clean these gates. Remove papers and other items that maybe on the laptop keyboards (if you are using a separate keyboard). At last, note that to obtain an optimum autonomy, it will be necessary to avoid using or to store your laptop in a surrounding too cold (less than 45F/10°C) or too hot (more of 85F/35°C).
2) Use the right drivers, and to update them
As each knows it, to manage an interface (generally material) or a peripheral, an operating system needs a software called drivers. With a laptop, the usage of optimized drivers is particularly important. Without that, Windows could be incapable to manage the variable frequency of a processor (central processor or graphic processor) or all other method of economy of energy. To find recent drivers, go to the manufacturer website for your laptop.
3) Defragment your hard drive regularly
The fragmentation means that the data of a same file (a picture or a document text for example) find themselves disseminated to several places of a hard disc. At the time of the opening of a fragmented file, the head of reading of the disc will have therefore to do many movements to collect the "pieces" of shed files on the disc surface. This phenomenon induces an excess use of the hard drive that therefore decreases autonomy. To avoid this problem, think about to defragment your disc when your computer is plugged in to a power outlet.
4) Operating System updates
Operating systems bugs are consistently being fixed as well as improvements are being made. There are some well known cases were computers where affected by issues due to the OS. Therefore, as a general rule updating the operating system must not be neglected. Verify regularly that your operating system has the latest updates.
In contrast to what one could sometime think, the battery builders do their best to maximize autonomy. It's a consistent fight in between autonomy progress and more energy demanding laptops. Despite the manufacturers' efforts, it is presently difficult to obtain autonomy any higher than four hours on a standard notebook. This value remains comparatively weak facing the current needs. It is therefore important to maximize all avenues to ensure that your laptop autonomy is at its best. To guide you in this venture, we will approach the different solutions of economy of energy. To start, we will enumerate the basic principles that it is important to respect. In other articles we will review other important elements tied to your laptop battery, how you can adjust Windows, special software and additional peripherals.
First things first, let's review some basic autonomy savers.
1) Make sure that your laptop doesn't overheat
When in use, the ventilation orifices must not be obstructed. An overheating would induce inevitably a growth of the electric consumption. If the laptop is old, it will be able to be wise to clean these gates. Remove papers and other items that maybe on the laptop keyboards (if you are using a separate keyboard). At last, note that to obtain an optimum autonomy, it will be necessary to avoid using or to store your laptop in a surrounding too cold (less than 45F/10°C) or too hot (more of 85F/35°C).
2) Use the right drivers, and to update them
As each knows it, to manage an interface (generally material) or a peripheral, an operating system needs a software called drivers. With a laptop, the usage of optimized drivers is particularly important. Without that, Windows could be incapable to manage the variable frequency of a processor (central processor or graphic processor) or all other method of economy of energy. To find recent drivers, go to the manufacturer website for your laptop.
3) Defragment your hard drive regularly
The fragmentation means that the data of a same file (a picture or a document text for example) find themselves disseminated to several places of a hard disc. At the time of the opening of a fragmented file, the head of reading of the disc will have therefore to do many movements to collect the "pieces" of shed files on the disc surface. This phenomenon induces an excess use of the hard drive that therefore decreases autonomy. To avoid this problem, think about to defragment your disc when your computer is plugged in to a power outlet.
4) Operating System updates
Operating systems bugs are consistently being fixed as well as improvements are being made. There are some well known cases were computers where affected by issues due to the OS. Therefore, as a general rule updating the operating system must not be neglected. Verify regularly that your operating system has the latest updates.
The Psychological Need of Autonomy
Okay, so what is autonomy? And why do we need it? Well, first of all, autonomy is volition. It is having a conscious choice about your actions your decisions being in a sense entirely your own and no one else's. Interestingly, autonomy is often confused with independence. Well, this is not surprising considering that autonomy bears some resemblance to independence. Independence broadly refers to freedom from a subjecting kind of reliance to something or someone else. Autonomy is something else.
We all have a sense of autonomy. In philosophy, there are proponents who believe that all of us have choices whatever may be the case-we have a choice; we are never totally forced to make decisions one way or another. However, our sense of autonomy can be hampered. Yes, it can even be erased.
How does that happen? Well, it happens when we depend on someone else. It happens when we blame someone or something like fate for everything we do. And so why do we need autonomy? We need it to "organize" our experiences. It gives us a sense of ownership with regard to our choices, and we can prioritize our choices according to our highest (or in any case, lowest) values. We also need it to integrate what we do with who we are.
Okay, that means what? It means that having the sense of responsibility establishes certain identification with the kind of person we are. Our actions can portray our identity-our true self for that matter, and not who we think we are, but who we actually are. We need our sense of autonomy so that when we commit mistakes we do not blame others. And neither do we dwell on self-blame, but rather we commit to making up for our mistakes.
Autonomy support is therefore vital especially for children. You, even if you are an adult, still may need autonomy support. So seek out people and activities that support your autonomy. Avoid or get help if you have addictions, because these are one of the many things that can thwart your sense of autonomy.
Autonomy is indeed more necessary than mere independence. It is an acknowledgement of our free will. It gives us a clearer sense of who we are. So seek help if you believe your sense of autonomy has been damaged. This psychological need can still be helped even in the most desperate cases. Never give up. Have the courage to acknowledge a problem, and face it-not alone but with those whom you trust and who can help you.
We all have a sense of autonomy. In philosophy, there are proponents who believe that all of us have choices whatever may be the case-we have a choice; we are never totally forced to make decisions one way or another. However, our sense of autonomy can be hampered. Yes, it can even be erased.
How does that happen? Well, it happens when we depend on someone else. It happens when we blame someone or something like fate for everything we do. And so why do we need autonomy? We need it to "organize" our experiences. It gives us a sense of ownership with regard to our choices, and we can prioritize our choices according to our highest (or in any case, lowest) values. We also need it to integrate what we do with who we are.
Okay, that means what? It means that having the sense of responsibility establishes certain identification with the kind of person we are. Our actions can portray our identity-our true self for that matter, and not who we think we are, but who we actually are. We need our sense of autonomy so that when we commit mistakes we do not blame others. And neither do we dwell on self-blame, but rather we commit to making up for our mistakes.
Autonomy support is therefore vital especially for children. You, even if you are an adult, still may need autonomy support. So seek out people and activities that support your autonomy. Avoid or get help if you have addictions, because these are one of the many things that can thwart your sense of autonomy.
Autonomy is indeed more necessary than mere independence. It is an acknowledgement of our free will. It gives us a clearer sense of who we are. So seek help if you believe your sense of autonomy has been damaged. This psychological need can still be helped even in the most desperate cases. Never give up. Have the courage to acknowledge a problem, and face it-not alone but with those whom you trust and who can help you.
Thursday, 12 August 2010
A Colourful Nation Denied of its Reward
COUNTRYSIDE
One of the joys of growing up in PNG is to the big sing sings that happen yearly or even the colorful church activities. I vividly remember Independence Day and the host of color from all part of the country. From the majestic plums drifting on the head pieces of the mighty men and women of the highlands, electrifying rhythmic chants and drums from the New Guinea islands, carvings and dances that depict mystical stories of the Momase people and the spectacular nautical innovations of the tribes from the southern region.
So things are not the same, we have lost some of our old ways and we are sometimes accused of not honoring our culture. But we have been progressive and as a result, we have forged an identity that resonates a nation of many tongues. From Patti Doi and Betty Toea’s music booming in PMVs that are owned by Highlanders, colorful fabrics that depict tapa patterns from the Orokaiva worn by our sisters and mothers, bilums from the highlands carrying our precious love ones, delicacies rich in nutrients that was only available in the rivers, islands and highlands are now available to everyone.
Our culture indeed transcends our way of life but with the absence of political and policy direction, this resource has been underutilized and in some tragic instances, stolen, abused and lost. So the question has to be asked, is it worth investing our resources to protect, promote and preserve our culture and heritage? Apart from nostalgic and patriotic excitement, is it worth it? Absolutely.
It separates us from the rest of the world, it provides us the unique opportunity to help humanity from fighting diseases to resolving conflicts, and more importantly, to empower our people to move away from poverty. Indeed for many years, economic, industry and investment planners have not looked at the possibility of the culture, or to be more generic, the creative industry, as a tool for growth.
A few entities have been burning the torch for this sector. From the tireless efforts of the National Cultural Commission in preserving and promoting our culture here and abroad, super artists Jeffery and his brother Mairi Feeger blowing the international scene by storm, legendary musos Auirikeke, Ben Hakalitz, Telek and the darling of the garment industry, Florence Bilum Lady Jauke are all making major inroads internationally. But guys, this is only a speck of what’s in our country. Take some time and wonder in and out of the craft markets, church activities, clubs, galleries and even the bus stops, you’ll see the talent of our people.
But tragically like anything when it comes to money, those that want to make it ride on the talented and end up sucking them dry. From paying them merely nothing for the creativity they’ve done, pirating designs and music and outright theft. Many of our people in the creative industry are dying without knowing there rights. They live in a cage that their employees, agents and promoters do n’t tell them what that they are entitled to. From song writers, performers, sound engineers, artisans, dance troopes, cultural groups, weavers, carvers, traditional medicinal owners and many others are been denied of their wealth.
They need to usurp these rights so that they may be rewarded of their creativity and heritage. These rights will ensure users are able to pay them fees so that they may feed and clothe their children and more importantly, continue creating their products or preserving culture. Whether intellectual property and traditional knowledge protection, our people need to move into this area so that their rights are protected and they are able to utilize it for wealth creation in the market place.
So next time when you purchase a pirated CD, Made In China crap flogging it off as a PNG design, bullshit food that’s not from our land or designs on fabrics stolen, think of the people you have denied that revenue. For it is their love of life we bathe ourselves of our identity.
One of the joys of growing up in PNG is to the big sing sings that happen yearly or even the colorful church activities. I vividly remember Independence Day and the host of color from all part of the country. From the majestic plums drifting on the head pieces of the mighty men and women of the highlands, electrifying rhythmic chants and drums from the New Guinea islands, carvings and dances that depict mystical stories of the Momase people and the spectacular nautical innovations of the tribes from the southern region.
 |
| Credit: Messer Smith (http://www.messersmith.name/wordpress/) |
So things are not the same, we have lost some of our old ways and we are sometimes accused of not honoring our culture. But we have been progressive and as a result, we have forged an identity that resonates a nation of many tongues. From Patti Doi and Betty Toea’s music booming in PMVs that are owned by Highlanders, colorful fabrics that depict tapa patterns from the Orokaiva worn by our sisters and mothers, bilums from the highlands carrying our precious love ones, delicacies rich in nutrients that was only available in the rivers, islands and highlands are now available to everyone.
Our culture indeed transcends our way of life but with the absence of political and policy direction, this resource has been underutilized and in some tragic instances, stolen, abused and lost. So the question has to be asked, is it worth investing our resources to protect, promote and preserve our culture and heritage? Apart from nostalgic and patriotic excitement, is it worth it? Absolutely.
It separates us from the rest of the world, it provides us the unique opportunity to help humanity from fighting diseases to resolving conflicts, and more importantly, to empower our people to move away from poverty. Indeed for many years, economic, industry and investment planners have not looked at the possibility of the culture, or to be more generic, the creative industry, as a tool for growth.
A few entities have been burning the torch for this sector. From the tireless efforts of the National Cultural Commission in preserving and promoting our culture here and abroad, super artists Jeffery and his brother Mairi Feeger blowing the international scene by storm, legendary musos Auirikeke, Ben Hakalitz, Telek and the darling of the garment industry, Florence Bilum Lady Jauke are all making major inroads internationally. But guys, this is only a speck of what’s in our country. Take some time and wonder in and out of the craft markets, church activities, clubs, galleries and even the bus stops, you’ll see the talent of our people.
But tragically like anything when it comes to money, those that want to make it ride on the talented and end up sucking them dry. From paying them merely nothing for the creativity they’ve done, pirating designs and music and outright theft. Many of our people in the creative industry are dying without knowing there rights. They live in a cage that their employees, agents and promoters do n’t tell them what that they are entitled to. From song writers, performers, sound engineers, artisans, dance troopes, cultural groups, weavers, carvers, traditional medicinal owners and many others are been denied of their wealth.
They need to usurp these rights so that they may be rewarded of their creativity and heritage. These rights will ensure users are able to pay them fees so that they may feed and clothe their children and more importantly, continue creating their products or preserving culture. Whether intellectual property and traditional knowledge protection, our people need to move into this area so that their rights are protected and they are able to utilize it for wealth creation in the market place.
So next time when you purchase a pirated CD, Made In China crap flogging it off as a PNG design, bullshit food that’s not from our land or designs on fabrics stolen, think of the people you have denied that revenue. For it is their love of life we bathe ourselves of our identity.
Coalition accused of trying to palm off its diplomatic damage
Source: DAN OAKES SMH
PAPUA NEW GUINEA'S high commissioner has staged an astonishing attack on the Coalition and strongly endorsed the Gillard Labor government, throwing foreign affairs into the spotlight for the first time during the election campaign.
Charles Lepani told the Herald that relations between his country and the Coalition had been severely damaged by the former Howard government, and that the opposition had made little effort to repair them since its defeat in 2007.
Mr Lepani was speaking after a debate at the National Press Club between the deputy Liberal leader, Julie Bishop, and the Foreign Affairs Minister, Stephen Smith, in which Ms Bishop said that a Coalition government would repair relations with PNG.
The diplomat said he was mystified by Ms Bishop's claim that the relationship between Australia and its former colony had deteriorated under Labor. ''There was no relationship left to repair when Labor was elected,'' Mr Lepani said. ''As Stephen Smith said, Labor has progressed, enhanced and put our relations back on track.
''[The former foreign minister, Alexander] Downer, particularly - and Howard admitted to us that it was Downer pushing them - pushed these issues in the Pacific and that derailed our bilateral relations in a very serious way.''
Mr Lepani said the Labor government had reached out to PNG and the Pacific islands in a way that did not make them feel they were being preached to or regarded simply as aid recipients.
''We want to get away from aid to a relationship of sovereign nations equally dealing with each other on trade and investment,'' Mr Lepani said.
''In that regard, Labor, through Stephen Smith, has done an excellent job. What he described in the debate today is exactly how we see the future of Papua New Guinea's relationship, and generally the Pacific islands' relationship, with Australia.
''The treatment we got [previously] in the region was so much more proselytising the values of Western society without attempting to understand the values of Pacific islands' culture.''
Mr Lepani pointed to the advocacy of the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, for an ''Anglo-sphere'' as an example of why countries in the region regarded the Coalition with suspicion.
The Australian Council for International Development says the federal government will give $457.2 million in aid to PNG this year, up 5 per cent on last year.
Both Mr Smith and Ms Bishop said their parties would achieve a goal of 0.5 per cent of the gross national income in aid.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA'S high commissioner has staged an astonishing attack on the Coalition and strongly endorsed the Gillard Labor government, throwing foreign affairs into the spotlight for the first time during the election campaign.
Charles Lepani told the Herald that relations between his country and the Coalition had been severely damaged by the former Howard government, and that the opposition had made little effort to repair them since its defeat in 2007.
Mr Lepani was speaking after a debate at the National Press Club between the deputy Liberal leader, Julie Bishop, and the Foreign Affairs Minister, Stephen Smith, in which Ms Bishop said that a Coalition government would repair relations with PNG.
The diplomat said he was mystified by Ms Bishop's claim that the relationship between Australia and its former colony had deteriorated under Labor. ''There was no relationship left to repair when Labor was elected,'' Mr Lepani said. ''As Stephen Smith said, Labor has progressed, enhanced and put our relations back on track.
''[The former foreign minister, Alexander] Downer, particularly - and Howard admitted to us that it was Downer pushing them - pushed these issues in the Pacific and that derailed our bilateral relations in a very serious way.''
Mr Lepani said the Labor government had reached out to PNG and the Pacific islands in a way that did not make them feel they were being preached to or regarded simply as aid recipients.
''We want to get away from aid to a relationship of sovereign nations equally dealing with each other on trade and investment,'' Mr Lepani said.
''In that regard, Labor, through Stephen Smith, has done an excellent job. What he described in the debate today is exactly how we see the future of Papua New Guinea's relationship, and generally the Pacific islands' relationship, with Australia.
''The treatment we got [previously] in the region was so much more proselytising the values of Western society without attempting to understand the values of Pacific islands' culture.''
Mr Lepani pointed to the advocacy of the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, for an ''Anglo-sphere'' as an example of why countries in the region regarded the Coalition with suspicion.
The Australian Council for International Development says the federal government will give $457.2 million in aid to PNG this year, up 5 per cent on last year.
Both Mr Smith and Ms Bishop said their parties would achieve a goal of 0.5 per cent of the gross national income in aid.
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