An Australian academic says reports of growing incidents of violence in the Papua New Guinea capital, Port Moresby, show there is a great deal of work to be done to improve law and order and policing.
The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs this week issued a heightened warning about the threat of violence in some parts of the country.
It comes as the Australia and PNG Governments continue to debate the possible deployment of 230 police to try and restore law and order in PNG.
Dr Sinclair Dinnen, who is an expert in law and order and security issues in Melanesian countries at the Australian National University, says the bottom line is the underlying conditions contributing to the violence have to be confronted.
"'There is no easy solution....I mean I think certainly improvements can be made in the area of policing but whether or not they in themselves will be sufficient to turn around a police situation that in a place like Port Moresby has been bad for many many years now is I think open to question, but certainly things could be done a lot better"
