Papua New Guinea : labour and labour law

![CDATA[Papua New Guinea (PNG), covering a total land mass of approximately 463 million square kilometres and home to some five million people, lies 120 kilometres to the north-east of Australia. The west half of the main island of New Guinea constitutes the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya (West Papua) while the east half together with 600 islands surrounding it constitute the independent state of PNG. The total land area of PNG constitutes about 462,840 square kilometres and is slightly less than that of Thailand but substantially greater than that of New Zealand. Approximately 80 percent of the population live in rural scattered villages and rely on land, much of which is highly mountainous, for their livelihood. Until September 1975 the territories of Papua and New Guinea were protectorates of Australia; self-rule was attained in 1973 with graduation to political independence being achieved two years later. The Australian legacy is evident currently in PNG in the form of legal institutions, British parliamentary system of government, and most importantly for this paper the laws governing operation of labour markets. Labour unions in PNG have since independence maintained some association with their counterparts in Australia such that some of the transformations occurring within the unionised sector in Australia were transferred across the Torres Strait.]]