An international law and constitutional specialist says Papua New Guinea's new parliament should address the long-neglected commitment to to build the autonomy process in Bougainville.
The window for the independence referendum in the autonomous province opens in the PNG parliamentary term which has just begun.
Dr Andrew Ladley from Victoria University's School of Government says the challenge of giving Bougainville the best chance of developing an autonomous government has largely been ignored for years by Waigani.
"Bougainville has every right I believe to feel largely neglected. The big issues are elsewhere in PNG that have primarily occupied the PNG government and Bougainville feels that its autonomy process has been stalled, it's not getting much money, it's not able to do much, it's not able to evolve any of its powers and it's still limping along like any of the other provinces."
Dr Andrew Ladley.
