The Wire

Some refugee advocates have been describing PNG as a ‘hellish’ place, but experts who’ve spent time in the country say that’s offensive. Most citizens have access to land, but the catch is that it’s passed down through families, not bought and sold like it is in Australia – that will make it hard for any newcomers to carve out a living.

Experts say that say that the relatively evenly spread access to land in the country gives it’s people a sort of safety net, and a way for even the poorest citizens to carve out a livelihood.The problem for Kevin Rudd’s plan is that access to land isn’t so easy to arrange for new arrivals.