Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (hereafter shortened to PNG as it appears in multiple national newspapers) is an Oceanian state made up of a larger island shared with Indonesia and many other smaller islands, the largest being New Britain and New Ireland. PNG has a Westminster parliamentary government, and the current leader is Prime Minister Peter O’Neill of the People’s National Congress party. PNG is, however, a member of the Commonwealth nations and is still officially lead by the English Queen. In 2011-2012 PNG faced a constitutional crisis after the sitting prime minister was absent from the country for 5 months having undergone heart surgery in Singapore, prompting parliament to elect a new prime minister. After this election the Supreme Court of PNG ruled this vote unconstitutional and demanded that the man elected by parliament (current prime minister Peter O’Neill) step down. The result of this crisis was a law passed by parliament stating that more than a 3-month absence from the country by a sitting prime minister will trigger a vote to replace them. PNG has been recently marred by crime, as evidenced by the recent imposition by the US and UK of a level 4 travel alert due to the recent armed robbery of 20 international tourists at one of PNG’s most popular resorts in addition to an escalation of tribal violence that has lead to a government-imposed state of emergency in some provinces.
PNG is considered a developing nation with a majority of its economic activity coming from the mining, petroleum, LNG, and agricultural industries. Thanks to a combination of world bank loans and loans from private entities, these industries have been expanding; especially in LNG production where a $19 billion project funded mainly be ExxonMobil was recently completed. Due to a global drop in commodity prices, however, profits from these industries have dropped recently leading to a considerable reduction of government spending. PNG is also experiencing a drought, hampering agricultural production.
Most of the population lives in remote rural areas and is highly tribal. As a result only about 18% have access to electricity. Recently a volcanic eruption has destroyed some villages on a remote island, prompting the military to mobilize to deliver supplies while many criticized the government for its slow response. Only about 55% of citizens have access to a telephone and only 9% have internet access.
Solomon Islands
The Solomon Islands are an island chain directly east of PNG. The Solomon Islands are also a Commonwealth nation with a Westminster parliamentary system lead by Prime Minister Rick Hou of the Democratic Alliance Party. From 2003 until last year a multinational stabilization force lead by Australia helped run the country after serious ethnic violence and rampant corruption brought the government to the brink of collapse. Today, the Solomon Islands are on a road to recovery as seen in the precipitous drop in their Fragile State Index ranking. While corruption is still a problem, recent efforts by the state police force to crack down seem to be seeing some success. Parliament is currently in the process of passing a constitutional amendment for election reform designed to cut down on fraud with more oversight and make voting easier through remote voting and additional considerations for disabled people.
The Solomon Islands is currently listed by the UN as one of the least-developed countries. This is changing though, as the UN recently announced that it would remove the Solomon Islands from its least developed countries list. The Solomon Islands’ economy is based mainly on Agriculture. The country is rich in mineable resources, but most have not been exploited because of the long period of government and economic instability.
Sources
Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation
Globalization and Technologies in Oceania 
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