EAST TIMOR: Dili Dynasty

Determined to lift their homeland out of poverty Melbourne’s Pires family has returned to East Timor, assuming leading roles in the government and overseeing a rapidly-expanding multi-billion dollar oil fund.

Foreign Correspondent’s Josephine Cafagna follows the siblings back to Dili where, with some expert advice from former Victorian Premier Steve Bracks, they are attempting to take the country from desperate poverty to relative wealth.

Billions of dollars are held in government bank accounts, the recent profits of oil production in the Timor Gap. But the struggling country - lacking infrastructure, education and experience – doesn’t know how to spend it.

Melbourne-educated Emilia Pires, who fled Indonesian occupation as a 14 year-old, is now Finance Minister. Her brother Alfredo is Secretary of State for Natural Resources. Their aim is to build a skilled public service able to administer the money the country is now earning through oil.

Former Premier Steve Bracks makes a visit to Dili to advise his friend, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, and senior public servants about how to strengthen and protect their emerging democracy.

But as Josephine Cafagna discovers East Timor has a very long way to go. Despite its riches the country remains one of the poorest in the world – its infrastructure wrecked by the departing Indonesians and its people struggling to survive.

POLAND: STEAM TRAIN

Foreign Correspondent’s Scott Bevan takes up the challenge of driving a real working steam train in a magical trip back into central Europe’s age of steam. On the verge of closure, one of the world’s last working networks has been saved by an English train enthusiast. His brilliant idea was to allow wealthy tourists to pay for the privilege of driving the old locos if they dare and as Scott Bevan discovers many of the local passengers aren’t too happy about it.