Port Moresby, 2 August 1966
Preparation for the establishment of a Papua and New Guinea diplomatic service
1. Papua and New Guinea must eventually have its own diplomatic service, providing specialised advice on external affairs to the government of the day and permanent representation in areas of continuing interest. Such a service would, of course, not be formally constituted before the time of self-government or independence, but a considerable time could elapse before more than a few trained and competent local officers are available to assume positions of responsibility in this field. This indicates an immediate need to begin training suitable recruits, who could later (and before establishment of our own service) carry out diplomatic and consular type duties of increasing responsibility under the aegis of the Commonwealth Department of External Affairs.
2. Basic proposals for the recruitment and training of local officers in the international relations field were submitted to the Public Service Commissioner1 last January, in the context of needs for the executive development of local officers within the Department of the Administrator. Following subsequent discussions, the Public Service Commissioner suggested that before attempting to work out organisational details for consideration by the C.P.P.C., it might be useful to have your comments, and those of External Affairs, on the general policy issues involved. The essential details of a scheme, as we see it, are outlined below.
3. The goal would be an organisation functioning generally on the same lines as the Department of External Affairs, and comprising a corps of career diplomats supported by a consular and administrative service. The immediate considerations are:
(a) The availability of suitable recruits;
(b) Development of a training plan;
(c) Creating and filling training officer positions;
(d) Co-operation and support from the Department of External Affairs.
Availability of suitable recruits
4. Career diplomatic staff require particular personal attributes as well as formal academic qualifications and specialised training. The current Australian practice, as we understand it, is to select cadets from the available graduates in relevant schools, preferably at honours level. It is doubtful whether Papua and New Guinea should wait until there are sufficient graduates offering for selection. Presently there are a few local students in Australian universities, and fifty eight in the preliminary year at our own University. Competition will be keen for the first graduates not already committed to a particular vocation and the field for selection of trainee career diplomats would probably be very small for some years.
5. The alternative approach, which seems necessary at this stage, is to recruit at the School Certificate level. Recruitment for such a specialised career at this level presents considerable problems, and any scheme of recruitment and training would be heavily dependent on the advice and co-operation of the Department of External Affairs and the use of available psychological services.
6. It is contemplated that the intake, spread over a period of four years, would be a maximum of 12 diplomatic cadets and 15 trainees for consular and administrative work.
Training plan
7. In broad terms, diplomatic cadets would be taken to a (Minimum) pass degree at the University, with a major in political science/government and studies in English, a modern foreign language, history and economics. A further period of perhaps four years ‘on-the-job’ training would be divided between attachments to Commonwealth Departments, Australian posts overseas, tours of duty in the Territory and perhaps post-graduate studies.
8. Trainees for the consular and administrative service would take the University preliminary year or a course at the Administrative College, together with in-service training and perhaps studies in specialised fields such as accountancy, followed by two or three years ‘on-the-job’ training in Australia and overseas.
9. As already mentioned, we would rely on the Department of External Affairs not only for advice on the inauguration of a scheme but as a source of supervised training and field experience.
10. I would appreciate it if you will consider these outline proposals and discuss the matter in principle with the Department of External Affairs, who could be asked to give preliminary comments. It might be useful then for an officer of that Department to come to the Territory and have discussions with Administration officers. 2
[NAA: A452, 1966/3850]
1 G.D.S. Somers.
2 In a marginal note for Swift of 6 August, Warwick Smith remarked: ‘I shd like to see a priority list of activities in which training is required so that diplomatic activity can be placed in a framework of considered priorities’.