| PNG Minister for Health and Bougainville Affairs Sir Peter Barter pre... PNG Minister for Health and Bougainville Affairs Sir Peter Barter presents Professor Ted Wolfers with a 30th Anniversary Independence Medal. |
PNG recognises professor’s contribution to Bougainville peace
16 Aug 2007 | Nick Hartgerink
Professor Ted Wolfers has returned to his academic career at UOW after nine years on secondment to the Papua New Guinea Government, with a number of national awards for his contribution to the peace process on the previously war-torn island of Bougainville.
Professor Wolfers, who has a 40-year association with PNG, was an adviser to the Pre-Independence Constitutional Planning Committee that framed the Constitution for the nation’s independence in 1975. He also worked for a committee looking at the Bougainville conflict after it erupted in the late 1980s into widespread violence that cost 15-20,000 lives, and then when a regional peace-keeping force was set up for peace talks in 1994.
In 1997, the PNG Government asked him to return on secondment as an adviser to the peace process that resulted in the Bougainville Peace Agreement and the constitutional amendments that allowed for the election of an Autonomous Bougainville Government in 2005. He then continued to work as an advisor to senior PNG Ministers and bureaucrats as they worked through the complexities of establishing the Autonomous Government, and beginning the transfer of power in Bougainville, as well as reporting to the United Nations Security Council.
In recognition of his contribution, Professor Wolfers received one of PNG’s highest honours when he was made a Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 2002. PNG’s Minister for Bougainville Affairs Sir Peter Barter also presented him with a 30th Anniversary Independence Medal at the end of 2006, shortly before he returned to University.
A memento that really touched Professor Wolfers was a plaque from the Autonomous Bougainville Government thanking him for his contribution to the peace process and the establishment of Bougainville autonomy.
“The invitation for my wife and me to travel to Bougainville and the presentation (from the Bougainvillians) really touched me, because it came from the people who had sat on the other side of the table during the many years of negotiations,” Professor Wolfers said.
Professor Wolfers paid tribute to UOW Vice-Chancellor Professor Gerard Sutton and Faculty colleagues for allowing him the opportunity to participate in the Bougainville peace process. . “Unfortunately, those of us involved in the peace process vastly underestimated the complexities of the issues and the time needed to achieve the reconciliations and agreements required to make and build peace. Nine years is a long time for the University to put up with my absence, and I really appreciate the support I have received,” he said.
Professor Wolfers, who teaches politics and international relations, hopes his long association with Papua New Guinea can help generate more students from Australia’s closest neighbour.
“The University has a connection with PNG that goes back over many years. Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare has an Honorary Doctorate from Wollongong which hangs proudly in his office, and the Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane has a UOW shield hanging on his office wall. A number of PNG’s senior diplomats and bureaucrats also trained here over the years (including some who have moved on to hold high Ministerial office),” he said. “We don’t have many PNG students here these days, but I’d like to think we can build the numbers up again.”
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