A considerable amount of literature has been published about election studies around the world. An area that interests many scholars in those studies is the influence of voters’ social-economic status on the party of choice they voted for in elections (Coffe, Voweles & Curtin, 2014). Therefore, this research intends to identify if the social-economic status of voters influenced their voted choice of party in New Zealand’s 2017 election. It is significant to conduct this study because all political parties present themselves as universal with policies that are beneficial to all citizens (Afnoso, 2016). However, an increasing gap between the rich and the poor should question those policies. It should concern the government, the bureaucrats, and the public because it can affect the social, political, and economic participation of disadvantage groups (Szewczyk, 2015). And because inequality affects all spheres of life, it can influence voters’ party choices. The party choice is so significant because it is the party with the majority of candidates that eventually forms the government and which decides on all of the country’s affairs which will affect every individual citizen and future generations too. Because of its significance, much research has been conducted in different countries to identify the influence that voters’ social-economic status has on their party choice. For example, Winters et al. (2017) conducted a related study in Britain, Pietsch (2017) in Australia and Suryanarayan (2018) in India and they discovered that there was strong correlation between the social economic status of voters and their party choice. However, a comparable study conducted in the United States by Gelman, Kenworthy and Su (2010) found that there was no clear pattern of relationship between voters’ social economic status and their party choice. Gelman et al. (2010) suggest that the influence must be due to other factors such as religion, education, or gender. In New Zealand, Coffe et al. (2014) conducted similar research and found that inequality does affect the party choice of voters and is a significant issue to be addressed. The inequality factors include income inequality, gender inequality, and inequality in the status of other minority groups. Because gender inequality exists just like income inequality, the probability of gender inequality influencing an election outcome is also high. Coffe et al (2014) explain that it is the support of equality that was widely accepted, giving rise to gender equality rights, income equality rights and the equality and respect for minority groups. Even today, these groups still demand more recognition from the state and the desire of achieving their demands can influence their party choices. Therefore, this research tries to establish the relationship between voters’ social-economic status and the party they voted for (their party choice) in the 2017 election. Because of the nature of the issue, gender inequality might also influence voters’ choices. Gender is used in this study as an interfering variable in the relationship between social-economic status and party-choice.

Since the ‘Education for All Agenda’ was ratified at the Jomtien conference in 1990, the world has moved to implementing the agenda. Papua New Guinea believes that education is the solution to its social, economic, and political problems, and in taking ownership of and working towards implementing the programme. However, Papua New Guinea’s education system concentrates on improving girls’, education and special education. This has resulted in improved enrolment numbers and higher retention rates nationwide but has failed to deliver quality education to all students specifically marginalised children of both genders. This essay argues that delivering quality education to all children should be addressed through an intersectionality approach. Firstly, intersectionality is defined and the ways that intersecting factors cause marginalisation and discrimination within different groups around the world and in Papua New Guinea are described. Secondly, the essay discusses how Papua New Guinea’s culture contributes to segregation. Finally, it discusses how Papua New Guinea can approach intersectionality issues and improve its education system to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, i.e. to provide inclusive and equitable education and to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Global warming is a serious problem which requires an urgent solution. In economics context, economists believe that carbon pricing, specifically carbon tax and its mirror image, cap and trade, are the best options and they suggest all countries should use it to address global warming (Goulder & Schein, 2013). However, advantages and disadvantages of carbon pricing have often resulted in some countries accepting the idea and some rejecting it. Therefore, this literature explains how the carbon tax, and cap-and trade work; the probability of their success, specifically in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and how to attract countries that resist the idea of carbon pricing into implementing it. And finally, this article explains why a carbon offset scheme, under cap and trade, best fits developing countries and which Papua New Guinea can use to improve the lives of its citizens while, at the same time, reducing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory, food is considered a basic physiological need and higher-ordered needs can only be achieved if the basic needs are met. In the education context, for learners to concentrate on learning and for educational institutions to achieve high-quality learning, learners’ physiological needs i.e. food and water must be met before delivering teaching and learning activities. Therefore, different countries introduced ‘Food for Education’ in a form of ‘School Feeding Programme’ and ‘Food For schooling Programme’ to achieve quality education and to redistribute food to poor families. While both programmes might have advantages, this essay argues that a ‘School Feeding Programme’, that practises ‘Onsite Feeding’ can achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4, i.e. quality equitable life long learning for all learners. Conversely, a ‘Food for School Programme’ can increase enrolment of both boys and girls, however, it might fail to achieve quality learning and, furthermore, can develop a dependency mentality. Moreover, food delivered as aid is often used to pursue donors’ interests so recipient countries should be monitored, to ensure such aid is carefully directed to priority areas to achieve maximum benefit. Failure can result in recipient countries facing unintended consequences. This essay concludes that the School Feeding Programme should be used for achieving quality learning and to avoid unintended consequences and break the cycle of poverty faced by the underprivileged.