Elvina Poki Ogil: Salary System for Locals Must Change in Papua New Guinea

Elvina Poki Ogil is a corporate lawyer, a podcast host and someone who doesn’t shy away from hard truths, whether it’s colonial legacy or structural inequality in Papua New Guinea.

She grew up in Mt Hagen in Western Highlands, and although she now calls Sydney home, her connection to her family and community remains strong.

She uses her platform to speak out about inequality, and one issue that remains firmly on her radar is a dual wage system when it comes to multinational corporations in PNG.

This is where a local employee with the same – if not higher – qualifications as a non-Papua New Guinean is paid significantly less, and it’s something Elvina saw when she returned to her homeland to work for several years.

“I was fortunate enough to work for a multinational, but I think that gave me the greatest exposure to understanding how inherited systems operate sometimes as an impediment to the development and the progress of people in Papua New Guinea, particularly women,” she said.

“There was a significant difference in remuneration, which did not appear to be fair, equitable and reflective of what qualifications those particular Papua New Guineans had.”

Elvina said she worked with a senior Papua New Guinean who was highly qualified in his field, and he was paid 10 times less than an “expat” who reported to him.

This is an inequality the PNG government needs to address, and until then, families won’t be able to progress economically, Elvina said.

“I also knew that I spoke from the benefit of and the privilege of someone who could see it from the outside and could say something about it with a lot less fear of perhaps any repercussions that would come to me.

“But I spoke about it extensively because I couldn't abide it.”

Elvina said these systems are so strongly entrenched in PNG that it is going to take “perhaps a generation before we start seeing some change”.

“And I think it's too long to wait for that to happen.

“I think we should be talking about this over and over. I know conversations have been had on the floor of Parliament, but I think these things require legislative change to hold these large corporations to account as to how they pay the people in the countries that they operate, such as Papua New Guinea.”

🔊: https://www.abc.net.au/pacific/programs/stories-from-the-pacific/stories-from-the-pacific/105514580