The thing that surprises many people about me is my experience as a lawyer in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Looking at my career with fresh-out-of-law-school eyes, I’d be pretty surprised myself. Opportunities early in my career led to a less-than-common legal qualification and a keen professional and personal interest in PNG.
When I joined Blake Dawson Waldron as an articled clerk in 1998, I did not expect to stay in private practice. I planned to be a government lawyer, but rejected by the Commonwealth Attorney General’s graduate programme (my CV was ‘not sufficiently commercial’ they said), I was forced to look elsewhere. Now, 21 years into a career as an energy and resources sector lawyer, I still enjoy the irony of this rejection.
Reluctantly propelled into corporate law, I was convinced this was not a world for me. I had no intention of staying in private practice longer than was necessary. This plan, too, was derailed as I discovered early – and to my slight dismay – that I really liked resources law. My interest was piqued during articles and evolved into a more specific interest in upstream gas development and wholesale gas markets. Still later, this broadened to include renewable energy and wholesale electricity markets.
PNG is a resource-intensive economy and large-scale resources projects, historically mining and more recently liquefied natural gas (LNG), have been the key drivers of its economic growth. My early career was spent with firms with large Australian and PNG resources practices. So, with no strategising on my part, I had the opportunity as a mid-level lawyer to work on a variety of matters connected with PNG. Everything which has followed, from my first in-house role with an oil and gas major, to my 2018 admission as a lawyer of the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea, arose from this experience. I am very grateful to the Attorney-General’s Department!
The first thing anyone wants to know about travelling to Port Moresby for work is whether it is safe. There is no question that everyone – local and visitor – needs to take care in PNG’s capital and it is smart to take local advice. Whatever a visitor’s baseline precautions, unless they are constrained by company policy, everyone relaxes over time. I had a mental block about driving in Port Moresby. I have a bad sense of direction, which doesn’t bother me in Australia (I allow lots of time for detours), but in Port Moresby it is important to get from A to B by a direct route, with no surprises. The work around was simply to get a colleague to direct me from the passenger seat on the first trip and then to have a carefully prepared map. It helps to have no shame about seeking help.
Working in PNG has its challenges but my experience has been that the country accommodates foreigners very well. Estimates vary for the size of the population and the number of languages, but common figures are more than 800 languages in a country with approximately 8 million people. Port Moresby is home to diverse people from across the country. As a colleague pointed out, the locals are dealing with difference every day, whether there are foreigners in town or not.
Business has a different pace and face-to-face meetings are extremely important. It is also important to have local advice on key political and business relationships. On the legal side, local assistance is always required to advise on PNG law and, in many cases, to obtain information from statutory registers. Subscription services for legislation are updated on a six monthly basis, so it can be necessary to visit the Office of Legislative Counsel’s library for physical copies of the latest statutory amendments and gazettes.
Other than accepting a different pace for business and the limitations of the internet, I’m not conscious of needing to adjust enormously in PNG – but I am sure that adjustments are being made for me. Just one of the many things a foreigner has to accept with humility.
My own legal experience in PNG is largely in connection with oil production, gas developments, and mining developments, with some work in the agriculture and food production space. The economy is resource-intensive but the foundation of the rural economy is agriculture, most of it small scale. Fisheries and forestry are also important sectors. The years following the construction of the PNG LNG Project (at a cost of $19bn) have been challenging ones for the economy but there is cautious optimism for the medium term.
The first ten years of my career were spent in environments where it was a normal part of business to work on PNG matters and to travel there. It is interesting to move away from those environments and to appreciate that it is an unusual set of experiences and an unusual legal expertise. The early connection with PNG has provided rewarding opportunities in a career that has been shaped by the unexpected benefit of not getting what I wished for. n