Bougainville: hard choices looming for Australia? (part 2)

In my earlier post I argued that, notwithstanding the strong legal underpinning of the 2001 Bougainville Peace Agreement, its possible that Bougainville and Waigani may be on a collision course. What would such a collision mean for Australia? In the event that a referendum were held and clearly favoured independence with the outcome subsequently ratified by the PNG Parliamentaccompanied by an orderly transitionAustralia would have little choice but to accept the result. But while this is a possible outcome, its by no means the most likely scenario.