Formerly a senior editor at ABC News in Sydney, he has also covered the Asia-Pacific region as a foreign correspondent.įollowing a bloody civil war that ended two decades earlier, 98% of some 250,000 Bougainvilleans voted for independence in December 2019 in a historic but non-binding referendum. He is an expert on Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, and has written extensively on Bougainville. Shane McLeod, Research Fellow at the Lowy Institute’s Australia-PNG Network, joined Altamar to shine light on Bougainville’s efforts to join the club of sovereign states. Yet, the small island territory’s path to independence won’t be able to avoid the swirling geopolitical battles world powers like China, the United States, Australia and New Zealand are tracking its progress because the island sits on a wealth of copper and gold. But Papua New Guinea (PNG)’s autonomous region of Bougainville is farther along than most to achieving independence – and becoming the world’s 194 th country. When you think of modern-day secessions, the struggles of Catalonia, Scotland, Kashmir and Kurdistan typically come to mind. Global superpowers are tracking Bougainville’s progress on independence from Papua New Guinea - will the mineral-rich island territory become country #194? Guest: Shane McLeod, Research Fellow at the Lowy Institute’s Australia-PNG Network
