The Australian government says they are confident a new phase of aid to Papua New Guinea will lead to lawful and transparent elections in 2007.
Canberra has launched phase two of the Electoral Support Programme.
The phase will cost Australia nearly 7-million US dollars over the next 3 years.
The Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs in Australia, Bruce Billson, says the programme was initiated after appeals for assistance from PNG.
"The Papua New Guineans themselves have identified that there are considerable opportunities to improve the way elections are administered and also recognising that some of the ways the electoral systems have been set up in the past may well have contributed to the violence, examples of intimidation, even concerns about organised manipulation."
The Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs in Australia, Bruce Billson.
