3 April, 2012 11:34AM AEST

Canberra Close Up: Charles Lepani

It's a work in progress to build a nation...

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The High Commissioner for PNG in Australia, His Excellency Charles Lepani, knows that Papua New Guinea is still working to bring together its diverse society:

"We are 800 or so ethnic and linguistic groupings, and you know, I always say, it's a work in progress to build a nation out of us, out of these groupings. We are managing."

It's a task that Mr Lepani has long been involved in. He was only 26 when Papua New Guinea gained independence in 1975. Despite his age, Lepani was one of the so called 'Gang of Four' which played a leading role in holding together public administration and public policy in PNG in the decade that followed.

It's a time that Charles Lepani remembers fondly.

"It's a unique time in anybody's memory...we felt very privileged and honoured to be around...and to start building a nation as we call it now. When you look back on it, you thought nothing would go wrong."

He dismisses the idea that independence came too early for PNG, and argues that there would always have been problems in terms of "bringing a nation to a country".

And, although it was an overwhelming task, Lepani says that back in the years after 1975 the very good Australian staff in PNG including Ross Garnaut and Peter Drysdale, made a real difference.

"We had good backing, and the good thing is they never made us ... feel inferior. They looked to us as their bosses....We were the ones who were responsible for conveying their decisions, conveying their advice to the political leaders."

Charles Lepani admits that his home country has had its difficulties since those exciting days but sees a bright future for PNG. He says the country is working towards becoming fiscally self sufficient and part of that is to decrease reliance on aid from Australia.

According to Lepani, this is important because Papua New Guineans regard Australian aid as "boomerang money" and Australians think much of the money sent to PNG is wasted. As a result he thinks that the aid does not assist in the friendship building effort between the two countries.

Regardless, it is obvious the High Commissioner is generally very positive about Australia and Australians and after almost seven years of life in Canberra, he feels like it's home...almost.