Privatising land in the Pacific: a defence of customary tenures

Abstract

This paper reflects the growing concern of a number of scholars about the influence of free market ideology on proposals to change land use and land ownership in the Pacific. In a series of papers published by the libertarian think tank, the Centre for Independent Studies, Professor Helen Hughes, an influential figure in the aid debate, has proposed that Australia’s aid to Papua New Guinea be made contingent on a farreaching transformation of customary forms of land tenure. These ‘reforms’ would require land owned and used by traditional groups to be divided up and allocated to individuals who could then buy and sell land in the market. The diverse group of scholars whose views are collected together in this paper argue that such a prescription, far from solving PNG’s development problems, would be highly detrimental to the social and economic welfare of that country. When people heard that land reforms along these lines were being proposed in 2001, there were riots in Port Moresby and four people were killed.