Charles Lepani discusses the time between when he was appointed to the National Planning Office and when he returned from further study at Harvard as bookends to an era. He relates how he resigned from his position as head of the Office, but not from the public service when he went to Harvard in 1980 to study for a Masters at the Kennedy School of Government and that on return he was informed by Julius Chan that he was no longer required. He states that he established a consultancy firm for 8 years followed by time at the Pacific Islands Development Program at the University of Hawaii.
Charles Lepani discusses the role of expatriates and local Papua New Guineans in the National Planning Office and the efforts to recruit economists and political science graduates to the Office. He relates how they developed policy as a team, but that it was he who took the policies to Cabinet. He discusses the case of Air Niugini planning to buy new jets that needed airports that could accommodate them when his priority was to maintain existing airports and build feeder roads.
Charles Lepani reflects on policy formulation and the close relationship with Cabinet. He discusses the decentralisation policy where McKinsey Consultants were brought in to develop the model based on the Canadian provincial government system which was not, however, resourced. He discusses the development of other priority area including the participation of women, agricultural policy, and how the process of putting these policies before the Cabinet.
Charles Lepani relates how he left the union movement to join the National Planning Office in 1974 and became head of that organisation one year later with a group of expatriate staff from Canada, Australia, and USA. He states that the office planned and developed policies for new expenditure and new priorities.
Charles Lepani discusses the issue of reducing and stabilising wages in the public and private sector prior to Independence by those at the National Planning Office and Treasury, without examining the tax policy and profits made by big companies. He describes how he saw the other side of the issue once working at the National Planning Office.
