A Papua New Guinean academic says the Australian government may be more outspoken about PNG in future because the Manus Island detention centre is about to close.
Bal Kama, a PhD student at the Australian National University in Canberra, says the recent public rebuff of PNG's request that Australia's aid to the country go back to directly supporting budget spending rather than being targeted at individual projects could be a sign that this is already happening.
Australia's Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells has warned Papua New Guinea that the country's aid program is not a charity, and while PNG's request will be considered, there are pressures on Australian politicians to be very careful about foreign aid spending.
Bal Kama tells Bruce Hill there could be positives to the latest diplomatic exchange.