An academic says more effort needs to go into explaining the options for Bougainvilleans preparing to vote on possible independence from Papua New Guinea.
The referendum which is planned for October will ask whether people want full independence from Papua New Guinea or just greater autonomy while remaining within the country.
A tentative date of June 15th 2019 has been set for a referendum on possible independence in the Autonomous Papua New Guinea region of Bougainville. Photo: RNZI / Johnny Blades
A political scientist at the University of Woollongong, Ted Wolfers, said more work has to go into distilling these options into language that is easily understandable.
"One of the issues that has made it a bit more complicated than it need be is that greater autonomy is in some ways, ambiguous. It could simply mean greater autonomy within the existing framework, which hasn't actually been fully implemented at this point, or it could mean a greater framework for autonomy," said Ted Wolfers.