KEITH JACKSON'S PNG ATTITUDE

Feast of PNG analysis in today’s 'Australian'

THERE’S A SLIGHT impression of headline schizophrenia in today’s Australian newspaper’s coverage of PNG

But, given that PNG is probably one of the most under-reported stories in the Australian media, we shouldn’t really complain when the fag end of the year brings us two particularly good articles on the same day and in the same newspaper.

Mike Steketee, in Papua New Guinea poised for a surge in growth, which you can read here, argues that PNG “has largely slipped off Australian radar screens, even though it is our nearest neighbour and was our responsibility as a former colony.

“So you may be surprised to hear,” he writes, “that it has bright prospects by developing world standards, which could see it rise rapidly through the ranks. But whether those prospects can be fulfilled, particularly in terms of benefits to the mass of the people, is another matter.”

Rowan Callick, whose piece PNG now gravely ill with the disease of corruption seems at first glance, but only at first glance, to be diametrically opposed to Steketee’s, uses as its starting point the recent attempt to kill PNG's Chief Ombudsman, Chronox Manek, and proceeds to review violence and corruption in PNG.

You can read Callick's article here.

Chinese migrant worker backlash grows globally

THE NEW YORK Times reports on a growing backlash against Chinese workers among local populations in Asia, Africa and the Pacific.

There are increasing episodes of protest and violence, and Vietnam and India are among nations that have moved to impose labour rules to restrict the number of Chinese workers allowed to enter, straining relations with Beijing.

China, famous for its export of cheap goods, is increasingly known for shipping out cheap labor. These global migrants often work in factories or on Chinese-run construction and engineering projects.

In May there was rioting in a number of major towns across PNG, in which Asian businesses were torched, rioters were killed and particular hostility was directed at immigrant Chinese.

Some 740,000 Chinese workers were abroad at the end of 2008 and the number in 2009 will be about the same.

The workers are hired in China by Chinese enterprises or labour agencies; there are 500 licensed agencies and many illegal ones.

Chinese executives say their workers tend to be more skilled and easier to manage than local workers.

But in some countries, such as PNG, local residents accuse the Chinese of stealing jobs, staying on illegally and isolating themselves from the local people.

There are about 35,000 Chinese workers in Vietnam and the Vietnamese are very aware of the economic juggernaut to their north. “The Chinese economic presence in Vietnam is deeper, more far-reaching and progressing faster than people realise,” said Le Dang Doanh, a Hanoi economist.

Conflict has broken out between Vietnamese and Chinese laborers. One reason is that there are plenty of unemployed people in this country of 87 million.

Derived in part from ‘China’s Export of Labor Faces Growing Scorn’ by Edward Wong, New York Times, 20 December 2009

Writers signal breakaway tendency in Papua

I’M NOT in the habit of commenting on Recent Comments because I believe commenters should be allowed a view – legalities permitting – without impediment.

But this afternoon saw a great outpouring of sentiment from a dozen or more Papuan readers, and I am moved to remark on this.

I don’t believe for a moment that this rush of commentary is not a coordinated effort. But, unlike many other write-in protests, most of these people have their own take on things, sparing readers the rent-a-letter sameness associated with most similar campaigns.

Given that there are eight pages of commentary in the right hand column, let me summarise what’s been said and give you my take on things.

The first thing you’ll notice about these letters is their fiery sense of Papuan nationalism.

The corruption and ineffectuality of the PNG government is beginning to have profound effects. These are starting to get people thinking about some form of autonomy.

“The current political system is corrupt, unfair and has failed to live up to Papua’s aspirations and expectations,” says one writer. And another, “Papua needs new honest political leaders.”

There are feelings of being besieged and preyed upon … “Papuans want fair distribution of its resources and equal opportunity in developing their region”… “Deliberate targeting and raping of Papuan womenfolk” … “tribal fights, pay-back killings, ridiculous massive compensation demands, spread of the HIV/AIDS” … “spreading non-Papuan squatter settlements on traditional lands in Port Moresby and Central province”.

And one commenter even goes deep into history: “The Papuan people were not given the opportunity by the Australian government to have a referendum of a 'free choice' whether they want to be part of New Guinea or remained independent from Australia.”

The letters indicate there has been a recent move to form a bloc of Papuan MPs at a meeting in Alotau. “Papuans are encouraged by this,” says one writer, “and there is a lot of talk to get MPs to not continue to support a very corrupt government under Somare”.

There are complaints about “deliberate manipulation of the electoral system”, about a loss confidence and respect in Michael Somare’s leadership and that it “is time the new generation push for a separate autonomy region for Papua”.

“Papuans want a new Papuan political order,” says one writer. “Papua demands full autonomy like Bougainville … The government must have a policy in place to seriously address the issue of autonomy.”

This letter-writing campaign is not much of a challenge to the PNG government, still less a force for change – but it is an indication of discontent.

It points to a serious stirring of forces and influences which may generate difficult times for the Somare government.

As one writer says, “Papuans are a proud and intelligent group of people who feel that they are being suppressed.” And if there's one thing we know about suppression, it is that it leads to reaction.

This movement appears as the new Papua Besena, but the background of government corruption, ineffectiveness and incompetence against which it is being played out, would seem to make it a far more formidable movement than its colonial predecessor.

I think we should all consider ourselves warned.

PNG budget needs more discipline, says Nasfund

IN AN article entitled Do We Still Have Our Hands on the Wheel?, PNG’s national superannuation fund, Nasfund, has raised serious concerns about the country’s 2010 budget.

“The recent delivery of the 2010 budget leaves a lot of unanswered questions,” Nasfund wrote in its December newsletter.

“While we applaud a balanced budget, this in itself has been masked by slippage through trust accounts.

“Two years ago, we proudly talked about a surplus in trust accounts of between 3-4 billion kina … now it has been revealed that the trust accounts have fallen to K1.5 billion with lack of full accountability on how and why this money was spent.

“The implications of that expenditure are very clear - an economy that is overheating and the flow on effect of anticipated inflation of 9.5% in 2010.

“The economy needs no further stimulus, in fact remedial action is now required to ensure that public sector largess does not crowd out the development naturally occurring through the private sector.”

Nasfund said the PNG economy requires “a reality check”.

“Evidence of the current exuberance has been the extraordinary credit growth in excess of 30% over the last few years.”

Nasfund concluded that the government must freeze further expenditure from the trust accounts and that the Central Bank must “flex its independent muscle and raise interest rates.”

Nasfund also said that the exchange rate should be allowed to appreciate to 50 toea to the Australian dollar from the current 40.

“This would have a positive deflationary effect, taking some of the steam out of the 2010 expected inflation rate of 9.5%. It will also increase the real purchasing power of urban workers who are facing rising costs of imported goods and fuel.”

Nasfund said PNG is about to move into three to four years of extraordinary development and there can be no room for complacency or undisciplined expenditure.

“To do so, would undo much of the good work already achieved. We need to keep our hands firmly on the wheel.”

Exposed: Carbon cowboys offer ‘miracle money’

Al Jazeera reporter and producer, and PNG Attitude reader, Juliana Ruhfus, recently visited PNG to make a documentary on carbon trading, a far more lively subject than it sounds.

Carbon Cowboys presents a rattling good yarn, great camerawork, and a cameo role for AAP correspondent and Attitude contributor, Ilya Gridneff.

“We had great access to carbon cowboy Kirk Roberts, and I think you may enjoy the film,” Juliana wrote to me.

Well I did enjoy it, and I’m sure you will too. You can view the 20 mt program through the YouTube link below.

Carbon Cowboys begins with an explanation of the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (or REDD) scheme, a global plan to slow down or eliminate the deforestation responsible for 20 percent of global emissions.

The core idea of REDD is that the maintenance of forests will be exchanged for carbon credits, giving forest owners a source of income without cutting down trees. Thirty million hectares of PNG forest has already disappeared into woodchip.

Enter Kirk Roberts – cock fighting impresario, racehorse trainer, carbon trader and self-styled greenie. Roberts is a charismatic figure with a colourful turn of phrase – and the documentary shows him explaining to PNG landholders his “miracle way of making money”.

Village people living in forest communities are promised money and development in exchange for signing away ‘carbon credits’. Roberts claims he has already garnered credits for millions of hectares of PNG’s forests.

Logging companies and the PNG government have other ideas about this – as everyone struggles to identify precisely who are the legal owners of the forests. This one will end up in court shortly before it ends in tears.

Carbon Cowboys is a powerful program which tells a fascinating story. View it here.

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PNG has failed its people: Julius Chan

PNG has failed to live up to promises made in 1975 for improving the quality of life of its people, says former Prime Minister and New Ireland Governor, Sir Julius Chan.

“We have not provided the health care, the education and the infrastructure that we should have provided,” he has told a conference.

He said, according to the World Bank, the country has fewer aid posts today than it had at independence.

“We know the condition of those that are still open. They have no power, most have no clean water supply and many have no housing for our health care workers.”

Sir Julius said PNG has also failed to improve access to education.

“Our primary and elementary schools are falling apart. We do not have basic textbooks in the schools, we do not have decent toilets for our children, we do not have decent teachers’ houses and often we do not even have the teachers because housing is so bad that they cannot live in it,” he said.

Sir Julius said the country’s infrastructure was no better.

“We used to have roads that we could travel on but they have not been maintained for 10 or 15 or 20 years. Our roads have gone bush and our people cannot get to market to generate income,” he said.

Sir Julius said huge amounts of wealth had been generated but the people had suffered.

“That is not development. That is not progress. That is failure, pure and simple,” he said.

Source: ‘Quality of PNG life still not improved’ by Grace Tiden, PNG Post-Courier, 8 December 2009

An inquiry, a misunderstanding and a good read

The House of Representatives standing committee on petitions met on Wednesday and two of the petitions under scrutiny concerned the sinking of the Montevideo Maru and the burial places of missing troops who fought in PNG in World War II.

You’d probably be of the view that parliamentary proceedings are, by and large, not likely to be put on your preferred reading list. But the committee exchange, which you can download, below took an interesting turn or two – and I think makes compelling reading.

The parliamentarians in attendance were chair Julia Irwin, Dick Adams, Russell Broadbent, Darren Chester and Maria Vamvakinou.

Appearing before them as Defence Department witnesses were Group Captain Henrik Ehlers, Director of Air Force Coordination, Brian Manns, Manager Unrecovered War Casualties and Brigadier David Mulhall, Chief of Staff, Army Headquarters.

In the course of his evidence, Brig Mulhall said that he believed the Army may have found a copy of the missing Katakana roll, believed to be the most reliable record of the prisoners who may have been on the Montevideo Maru when it was sunk.

If this was so, it would be a momentous discovery. The roll was brought back from Japan soon after World War II – and went missing. It has never been located.

“Right now we are in the process of trying to verify the authenticity of that document,” said Brig Mulhall. “That is being worked on actively and we hope to be able to give some advice in due course.”

Unfortunately, the brigadier was mistaken. While the hunt for the roll has gathered pace in recent times – and researchers believe they may be getting closer to it – it has still not been found.

But there was much more to the inquiry than this misunderstanding.

For example, here’s Brian Manns talking of searching for missing troops in PNG:

“Locations rely almost invariably on local PNG citizens finding them. In fact, I am going to Port Moresby this week to bury three Australians that have been identified through our program.

“Invariably it is local individuals. In most of the smaller rural communities in [PNG] they have a subsistence style of living, and they move and establish new gardens.

“Once one garden peters out, they move and establish another garden and it is not unusual for them to find remains. One of the sets of remains that we have been working with in this last PNG group of cases was actually found by somebody digging a well.

“So a lot of the remains that are found nowadays, particularly of soldiers, are there because the original battlefield burial sites for whatever reason were obliterated.”

You can read the Hansard transcript here.

K60 million disappears from Oro restoration fund

This is the kind of story that dismays Australians who are working hard to do positive things for PNG.

Over K60 million allocated by the PNG government for relief and restoration efforts after Cyclone Guba devastated Oro Province in 2007 has “gone missing”.

Provincial authorities briefed Public Service Minister Peter O’Neill of the situation but were not able to say where the money had gone.

Provincial administrator Owen Awaita said K11 million was allocated for restoration work during the state of emergency after the 2007 disaster, and another K50 million was ‘parked’ at the Treasury Department in Port Moresby.

All the money disappeared.

Mr Awaita said a commitment of K600,000 made to Girua landowners was not honored, and this is now causing problems for authorities who are being denied use of customary land for a supply route.

In a swift expression of ministerial authority and acumen, Mr O’Neill said he would raise the matter when he returned to Port Moresby, asserted that restoration was not his responsibility and asked provincial authorities to fix the problem.

Australian private aid groups like the Oro Community Development Program, must feel like they have been kicked in the guts.

Source: K60m ‘gone’ by Isaac Nicholas, National Times. Spotter: John Fowke

AusAID under the pump in wake of audit report

The Lowy Institute's Jenny Hayward-Jones has said Australia should focus on the Asia-Pacific region if it is to deliver aid more effectively.

Ms Hayward-Jones was responding to the 180-page Australian National Audit Office report that reflected adversely on AusAID’s management of Australia’s aid program.

She said Australian aid to Africa and Latin America is a poor use of taxpayers' money as the Rudd government attempts to secure a seat on the UN Security Council.

She said Australia should focus aid on places like PNG "where we have a real interest, where we have long relationships and expertise".

The report also criticised AusAID's high staff turnover which Ms Hayward-Jones said “will only be solved by building real interest in the Pacific or Asia and by encouraging people to build their career in the Pacific or Asia".

Spokesman for the Aidwatch organisation, Gary Lee, said the important aid issue was quality not quantity.

"AusAID say they are increasing their aid commitment but who is that money reaching?" he asked.

"What is the actual impact of that money on the ground and who is having a say over how the aid money is being distributed?"

AusAID's transparency & accountability problems

BY ILYA GRIDNEFF OF AAP

Australia's international aid agency, AusAID, is afflicted with problems of transparency, accountability and a lack of communication capacity, an audit has found.

High staff turnover within the agency is another concern that may have even hindered responses to Papua New Guinea's HIV/AIDS epidemic, an Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) report stated.

AusAID represents 83% of Australia's annual aid budget, spending $3.2 billion a year on programs in the Pacific, Asia, Latin America and Africa, with PNG and Indonesia the largest recipients.

The ANAO gave AusAID a tick of approval for handling the growth of its aid program "in a way that supports delivery of effective aid".

But the 180-page report, just tabled in federal parliament found "AusAID faces considerable management challenges amidst ongoing program growth".

While promoting greater transparency and accountability through good governance programs in countries like PNG, AusAID itself struggles with the concepts.

"AusAID's approach to classifying costs is not in line with conventional practice and reduces the transparency of aid program expenditure, and the agency's accountability for costs that it controls," the report stated.

Another hurdle was communication, with the report saying AusAID had "not yet achieved effective internal collaboration".

"For two of the main posts, only 6% of Australian public servant staff in Honiara, and only 8% in Port Moresby, agreed communication between different areas of AusAID was effective."

Dissatisfaction was due to a "lack of understanding between Canberra and posts and insufficient or ineffective communication from the executive and other senior management".

Countries and agencies working with AusAID "consistently" listed high levels of staff turnover as a "dominant concern" in what "has been a long-term problem that has worked against program effectiveness".

AusAID's 2005 evaluation of the PNG National HIV/AIDS Support Project found that "rapid turnover of AusAID personnel responsible for the activity may have hindered timely responses to problems".

"High staff turnover has compromised the quality of AusAID's program management" and "hinders knowledge accumulation, the development of productive working relationships and the standard of program management".

Australia's aid program has increased by 42% since 2004-05 and is likely to double in size by 2016 with a projected $8 billion spent a year.

But not all this taxpayer money is going entirely offshore.

About 46% of AusAID budgets go to "technical assistance", twice the average of other OECD countries, the report stated.

Technical assistance covers administration costs and salaries for experts, advisers or consultants to deliver "capacity building" in a range of sectors.

Australia has "a tendency to rely too much" on technical assistance while not offering local staff greater responsibilities, the report stated.

In April Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said "... too much (aid) money has been consumed by consultants and not enough money was actually delivered to essential assistance in teaching, in infrastructure, in health services on the ground, in the villages (of PNG)".

AAP revealed in May that junior consultants in PNG on one AusAID funded program earned $240,000 tax free while some senior consultants earned more than Rudd's base salary ($335,000) on $360,000 year tax free.

Forests: liklik win moni igo long baim wanem?

BY PAUL OATES

PNG's forests are just not trees. They are a resource that has been standing for a long time.

Many generations have depended on that forest for their livelihood and survival. Many future generations will also depend on that forest.

When the trees are removed the result is landslides, mudslides, exhausted soil, timber shortages, wildlife extermination and polluted water.

If a forest is cut down, it will never regrow unless regeneration is funded and policed.

Even with limited and selective felling, harvesting forest trees must be planned and executed carefully otherwise the forest is changed and new trees unable to grow.

Take a look at other countries that have cut down their trees. Scrub and grassland, and eventually desert, take over.

Take a good look at what happens when a timber company comes to town.

The payment for cut timber is usually a small fraction of what it is worth when it reaches the market. What is received by the villagers is a small amount of money and the ongoing benefits are dubious.

Much of the money ends up being used to buy consumables and material goods, often sold by the very people who cut the trees.

Foreign timber companies need to cut trees in another country because they have ruined their own forests. They aren't renewing their own forests or they wouldn't come to PNG.

The trees are owned by generations of people, both before and after today. If a forest is removed, how will future generations construct their houses, protect their wildlife and maintain a healthy environment?

Some politicians in the PNG government are reportedly involved in the timber industry themselves, whether directly or indirectly. That is a conflict of interest.

There are also allegations that foreign timber companies are operating outside PNG law with the blessing of the government.

Sapos oli laik katim diwai bilo ol, em bai bihain ol liklik win moni igo long baim wanem samting a? Aiting bai bihain emi baim bikpla hevi tasol. [If our trees are felled, what will the profits yield? I think they'll yield only problems]

It's political: The truth about corruption in PNG

Transparency International’s recent report on global corruption ranks PNG 151st of 180 countries: its corruption rating continuing to worsen.

Overall, corruption in PNG is characterised as more political than bureaucratic in nature. That said, bureaucratic corruption is a significant concern to the private sector.

Corruption profoundly affects business operations, yet businesses are reluctant to speak out because of fear of losing state contracts, or simply being shut down.

Although businesses are not likely to pay small bribes on a daily basis, they may assume large costs at the time of entering a market or expanding their operations, and may make side payments to bureaucrats to secure public contracts.

There is reason for concern about the potential for corruption in public-private partnerships. In May 2008 an interim report by the Commission of Inquiry on the Department of Finance revealed that over $US100 million in public funds intended for such projects had disappeared between January 2000 and July 2006.

It is believed the missing funds were paid to businesses and consultants holding bogus government contracts. But the final report is still pending.

The on-again off-again inquiry was initiated in 2006, but its mandate and funding lapsed in May 2007 and were not renewed due to questions regarding the integrity of its members.

It was reconstituted and relaunched by the prime minister in December 2007 and functioned to April 2008, when it lapsed again because of lack of funding and political will to pursue the inquiry.

While the inquiry was taking place, however, civil servants as well as prominent businesspeople spoke publicly about bureaucrats and politicians extracting payments from business after a contract with the state has been awarded but before it was paid out.

Media reports suggest that parts of the private sector are complicit in an elaborate network within the bureaucracy by which a percentage of some cheques produced by the Finance Department is taken out before payment is made to the contractor.

Forestry in PNG has reached a critical juncture. Current levels of logging are said to be unsustainable and the legality of many current concessions is in doubt.

There are also human rights abuses of the local communities and local labour.

A review of 14 logging operations from 2001 to 2006 was highly critical of these operations, except for the Japanese company that runs the Open Bay timber project.

In the first admission of its kind, the country’s forest minister Belden Namah told parliament in 2008 that logging companies routinely flouted the law with the help of corrupt officials.

He found that most of his departmental officers responsible for monitoring forestry operations had ignored the law and that many were in the pockets of logging companies. The minister suspended two forestry licences and announced that no permits are to be issued for log exports after 2010.

More recently the Post-Courier linked unnamed PNG politicians to $US45 million in a Singapore bank account, allegedly money earned through secret logging deals.

The logging industry wields influence in PNG through political donations, public sponsorship, lobbying and media ownership. In other instances, companies simply ‘buy’ rights to log from corrupt government officials.

Source: Global Corruption Report 2009, Transparency International, Cambridge, November 2009

 

No new ASOPA, but AusAID cops a Senate spray

The foreign affairs references committee of the Australian Senate has just issued a report, a year in gestation, on economic challenges facing PNG and the Pacific.

Prof Clive Moore of Queensland University and I made a joint submission to this inquiry more than 12 months ago calling for the re-establishment of a 21st century ASOPA – a Pacific regional training institute to address the needs of Australians preparing to work in the region as well as the vocational needs of people from PNG and the Pacific states.

We said such an institute would “better meet regional needs and overcome observed deficiencies in the delivery of development aid.”

We also submitted that it would, amongst other functions, “orientate Australians … intending to work in the Pacific to cultural nuances and to techniques of navigating through the complex situations in which they will operate.”

We backed up these propositions by saying that “though a large amount of money is being spent annually by Australia, there seems to be a large degree of waste and no clear evidence of a permanent transfer of skills to Pacific peoples, such as would create economic sustainability and national self-reliance.”

Well, the committee chose to ignore the ‘regional institute’ suggestion but made a number of findings consistent with our general thesis.

Importantly, it conceded that aid “does not always reach the intended beneficiaries or those most in need of assistance”  and said that aid “could be aligned more closely with the needs and priorities of the recipient country”.

“Evidence suggested that there was a serious disconnection between the courses offered by training institutions … and the requirements of local [enterprise]”.

The Senate reported spoke of “a lack of policy coherence and robustness” in the monitoring and evaluation of Australian aid programs, all issues that have been raised frequently in PNG Attitude.

In a recommendation so wide it represents a stern condemnation of AusAID’s approach to date, the report proposed that “the Australian government direct AusAID to formulate a strategic single policy framework to guide its governance program in the Pacific region.”

It took a Senate committee to tell AusAID that.

The Senate also told AusAID that it should link its on-the-ground programs with higher level objectives.

In other words, the Senate says AusAID has been working without a strategy.

No wonder so much of Australia’s aid expenditure is wasted.

And as for a new ASOPA to better orientate Australians to the development task, well it will sort of be there – through something called the Asia-Pacific Civil-Military Centre.

For mine, I don’t see a joint civil-military operation working. The cultures, goals and operating procedures are too disparate. But that’s what the Senate says it wants, so we’ll see.

Source: ‘Economic challenges facing Papua New Guinea and the island states of the southwest Pacific’, Volume I, Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee, November 2009

Morauta says PM not serious about corruption

Corruption is the hottest topic in PNG and demands swift and decisive action by the government, says opposition Leader Sir Mekere Morauta.

Sir Mekere said Sir Michael Somare had finally “come to his senses’’ by admitting corruption was rampant in his government, but had failed to act.

“Everyone is fed up with the evil and destructive effect of corruption [which is] destroying the fabric of the system on which PNG is built,” Sir Mekere said.

“The Prime Minister cannot blame the public servants because, as the number one lawmaker, he must lead by example instead of buck-passing and blaming civil servants for his incompetence and lack of action.”

He asked what Sir Michael was doing to protect the institutions he had helped create 40 years ago from being chipped and chiselled away by corruption.

Sir Mekere said the people needed the Prime Minister to urgently lead a nationwide fight against the real causes of corruption.

He added it was a waste of time and money to treat symptoms when the deep-rooted causes that allowed corruption to continue were flourishing.

Arms, drugs & people penetrate a porous border

BY PHILIP FITZPATRICK

Several years ago I was dangling a line in the Kikori River at Kaiam in the Gulf Province hoping to snare a barramundi.

Kaiam is where the oil pipeline from Hides and Kutubu crosses the river. The road beside the pipeline also joins the road through Kopi to Kikori. There was a ferry at Kaiam and the fishing was good in the deep water beside it.

I noticed a little procession coming down the road and congregating on the other side of the river near the ferry. There were half a dozen highlanders carrying cheap trade store backpacks. They were evenly spaced about twenty metres apart, with a couple of blokes front and rear toting M16s.

One of the armed men went to have a yarn with the ferry operator and this culminated in the exchange of a roll of kina. The company didn’t allow people to use the ferry but there seemed to be no problem about the backpacks.

On the other side a couple of locals loaded the packs into the back of a Hilux and headed towards Kikori.

The pipeline down from the mountains pretty much follows one of traditional trading routes to the coast. In the old days tigaso (tree oil), black palm bows, pigs and cassowaries went one way and pearl shell and fine black axe blades came up from Torres Strait.

The highlanders who came over in a canoe afterwards to see if we had any jobs said the stuff in the backpacks was run to Daru by local police and then down to Australia. Guns, flak jackets, Kevlah helmets and other necessities of highlands’ life came back the other way.

I salted away this piece of information and didn't think much more about it until recently, when I noticed a few obscure reports in the press about Papua New Guineans overloading health services in the Torres Strait and otherwise causing mischief. There are 13 villages in the Western Province whose citizens are allowed there for traditional purposes under the Torres Strait Treaty.

There is unfettered illegal immigration to this part of PNG. Just about every big village or town in the Western and Gulf Provinces has a resident ethnic Chinese trade store. A lot come in through West Papua.

They are nice enough people but communication is a bit of a problem until they get a handle on Tok Pisin. A lot of them talk about eventually moving to Australia when they've made enough money to join relatives. Apparently they go down in boats from the PNG villages. It seems well organised.

This is all rumour, of course; there doesn't seem to be any hard evidence. But it did make me wonder whether Indonesian people smugglers are involved.

They are probably in the thick of it; the boats that head for Ashmore Reef might just be useful diversions. I wonder how many terrorist training camps there are out in the swamps of the Fly River?

Kiaps paid high tribute in Australian parliament

The Australian parliament has highly commended the work of kiaps in pre-independence PNG.

Scott Morrison MP moved a private member’s motion on Monday calling upon parliament to recognise the service of Australians employed as kiaps between 1949 and 1974 and to acknowledge the hazardous and difficult conditions that were experienced.

A number of ex-kiaps and their families were present in the chamber to hear the speeches.

“The kiaps were an extraordinary group of young Australians who performed a remarkable service for the people of PNG,” Mr Morrison said.

“They were some of our nation’s finest. Their adventurous spirit was matched only by their commitment to the wellbeing of the people of PNG. Their story remains largely untold. More Australians need to know the story. It is deserving of recognition and much greater awareness.”

Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs, Hon Duncan Kerr MP, said the government should look at some way of appropriately recognising kiaps’ service.

He said he knew there was some discussion among kiaps as to whether the mechanism proposed in the motion is the appropriate one, because of its considerable emphasis on kiaps’ policing role.

He said: “I note that in the recent PNG affairs newsletter that is produced by Keith Jackson, who has a long history of involvement, there is a discussion between Phil Fitzpatrick and Paul Oates about whether the particular mechanism that is proposed in this motion is appropriate — the reservation being the overemphasis, perhaps, on the policing function.

“Kiaps were far more than police,” Mr Kerr said. “Whilst it is true that they were all sworn officers, equally they represented the civil authority in the widest range of possible services. They were, in many ways, the face of government in the districts for which they had responsibility.

Mr Kerr commended the mover of this motion for bringing the issue to parliament and said “it may be that a new model needs to evolve to properly recognise the range and depth of that service.”

Luke Hartsuyker MP said that kiaps were multi-skilled field officers who often filled over a dozen roles. “The kiaps lived a dangerous existence,” he said. “There was an ever-present threat of attack from hostile tribes and locals, and many kiaps were murdered on patrol.

"The harsh conditions on the frontier also proved to be very dangerous, with accidents and illness claiming the lives of kiaps. The list of kiaps killed in boating and aircraft accidents is extensive and I think it is fitting that these men and their surviving comrades should be officially honoured by the Australian government.”

Jill Hall MP said it was very appropriate to give recognition to the role the kiaps played in PNG. “I would like to put on the record that this has been a long campaign—it has gone over six or so years—and that you are getting towards the end of the road.

“I truly believe that there is going to be some form of recognition in the very near future,” she said.

“PNG is very different to Australia. We have remote areas in Australia, but our remoteness is different. The issues we have around keeping peace and harmony within the community are very different. The role played by kiaps was of vital importance.

"You kept those communities together. You kept those tribes together. You kept villages and districts functioning.

“I know the government is working to see that formal recognition is given for the vital role that you played from the Australian perspective and from PNG’s perspective.”

Hyperbolic Malaysian logger takes out chainsaw

Rimbunan Hijau [RH] is a Malaysian multinational logging company controlled by billionaire Tiong Hiew King. It has operations in many countries including PNG, where it is the largest logging operator.

RH has been heavily criticised by environmental and humanitarian organisations for alleged human rights abuses, ignoring indigenous people's rights, political corruption and neglect of the environment. A recent  World Bank report estimated that up to 70 percent of logging in PNG is illegal.

Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network have made investigations into the company. RH threatened to sue Greenpeace for defamation because of its report 'The Untouchables - Rimbunan Hijau’s World of Forest Crime and Political Patronage' and demanded that Greenpeace withdraw the paper. Greenpeace declined to comply  -  From Wikipedia

Rimbunan Hijau in PNG recently accused an American academic and the Post-Courier newspaper of fanning anti-Asian sentiment after an article by anthropologist Nancy Sullivan criticised the group.

What was not disclosed in the The National's rather agitated story was that Rimbunan Hijau owns The National. The company is also known to have an itchy trigger finger when it comes to issuing legal threats against its critics. Hmmm.

Unfortunately the Post-Courier has not published the offending article on its website, so the rest of us are called upon to guess what alleged sins it perpetrated.

But let an anonymous RH spokesman, quoted in his mouthpiece The National, give us a taste of what we might have read.

RH claimed the Post-Courier article was a “racist tirade” that accused Asians of “looking the same” and of being “corrupt, exploitative and involved in gambling, prostitution or gangs”.

The anthropologist Ms Sullivan had “deployed a tactic used by both Green NGOs and standover groups alike.” The tactic, presumably, involved expressing a point of view.

RH claimed “Greenpeace and the Australian Conservation Foundation have launched unsubstantiated attacks on RH that disproportionately focus upon the ethnic background of company owners and employees and generalise about the influence of Asian businesses on the government.”

It said these criticisms were not only misleading but dangerous. “Both Sullivan [note aggressive use of surname] and the Post-Courier should be reminded of the violence that took place in May of this year,” the spokesman emoted.

“Neither Sullivan nor the Post-Courier called for calm. They should do so immediately and apologise for fanning the flames of racism in PNG,” he vented.

RH executive director, Nathaniel Ho, called on the Post-Courier “to stop publishing materials that would inflame racial conflict or to single out the racial background of those featured in its reporting. In most countries this is simply called irresponsible journalism,” he said.

“We hope both Sullivan and the Post-Courier are prepared to take responsibility for their actions when the next bout of anti-Asian violence hits,” Ho predicted, “and more people are injured, businesses are destroyed and lives lost.”

Hysterical, hyperbolic, hyperventilating rhetoric that, far from settling matters down, seems designed to inflame.

Kiaps’ role went well beyond policing function

BY ROSS WILKINSON

The original version of Chris Viner-Smith’s kiap recognition submission, which had almost universal support amongst former kiaps, was that our service was unique and contributed to the advancement of good government in PNG.

This service was a significant contribution to the preparation of PNG for Independence in 1975 and went far beyond our policing role as sworn officers of the Royal Papua and New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC).

The response to Chris' initial submissions was poor and tended to focus on kiaps’ functions as commissioned officers of the field branch of the RPNGC.

I estimate that police work represented less than 5% of my total duties. This varied depending on where each kiap served, but it’s wrong to suggest that the primary focus of our activities was the police function, which is the impression gained from Scott Morrison’s notice of motion that he will present to Parliament next month (see yesterday’s PNG Attitude).

The term "hazardous service" should not be considered to be synonymous with "police service". Most of my exposure to hazard occurred through other responsibilities including frequent flights in light aircraft, search and rescue, civil disasters, using explosives for road and airstrip construction, and destruction of unexploded ordnance from World War II, to name but a few.

The police force was one of the few armed constabularies in the world at the time, equipped with Lee Enfield 303 rifles. But kiaps’ parent department also issued us with shotguns and revolvers to be carried when on non-police work. If our non-police roles were not hazardous why did we need these weapons?

Many kiaps died in accidents. Some were murdered on government business. For example, district commissioner Jack Emmanuel killed by disaffected landowners on the Gazelle Peninsula when he attempted to intervene in a dispute. Senior police officers were present so he was there in his administrative role. This is well documented.

Point 6 of the notice of motion “expresses concern that many former kiaps may not meet the eligibility criteria for the National Medal, as eligible Kiap service ceased on 30 November 1973”. It should be recognised that kiap service ceased at midnight on 15 September 1975 on the eve of independence, not self-government on 1 December 1973. PNG continued to be governed on behalf of Australia until independence.

The time limitation in the eligibility criteria doesn't recognise that a young kiap could experience more in the first two years of service than others in PNG for much longer. It also doesn't take into account that some of us had to periodically deal with death.

This is an abbreviated version of a submission Mr Wilkinson wrote to Scott Morrison MP

Kiap motion to be raised in Federal parliament

A motion recognising the work Kiaps undertook in the development of PNG will be moved in Federal Parliament by the Member for Cook, Scott Morrison MP, on Monday 16 November.

A number of ex-kiaps, most notably Chris Viner-Smith, have been working for many years to gain proper recognition for their role in PNG, and this is another important step along the way.

That said, however, Mr Viner-Smith's emphasis on police service as the basis for an award has evoked some controversy amongst ex-Kiaps, given the much more wide-ranging scope of the Kiaps' responsibilities in pre-independence PNG.

Mr Morrison will move that the House of Representatives:

(1)            recognises the service of those Australians who were employed as field constabulary officers (Kiaps) in the Royal Papua and New Guinea Constabulary between 1949 and 1974;

(2)            acknowledges the hazardous and difficult conditions that were experienced by the members serving with the Royal Papua and New Guinea constabulary;

(3)            notes that former members of the Regular Constabulary of the Royal Papua and New Guinea Constabulary may be entitled to long service and good conduct medals, such as the National Medal, subject to meeting eligibility criteria;

(4)            supports moves to allow former members of the Field Constabulary to count their service towards the National Medal;

(5)            notes that qualifying service to meet the eligibility criteria for the National Medal must include at least one day of service on or after the medal’s creation on 14 February 1975;

(6)            expresses concern that many former Kiaps may not meet the eligibility criteria for the National Medal, as eligible Kiap service ceased on 30 November 1973;

(7)            recognises that the Trust Territory of New Guinea, under the terms of the Papua New Guinea Act 1949 and the Trusteeship Agreement for the Territory of New Guinea, held sovereignty unto itself and as such, was at law an international country (and foreign to Australia);

(8)            recognises that the Governor-General’s assent of the Papua New Guinea Act 1949 and the signing of the “Trusteeship Agreement” for New Guinea by the Australian Government, prescribed service activity whereby the service was carried out by members of the Australian Police Force and the service was undertaken as part of an international operation; and

(9)            calls on the Australian Government to change the eligibility criteria applying to the Police Overseas Service Medal so as not to prevent the award of the medal to those:

            (a) Australian public servants who were employed through the Australian Government and served in the Australian administered United Nations Trust Territory of New Guinea between 1949 and 1974;
(b) individuals serving in Papua New Guinea as sworn and armed Commissioned Officers of the Royal Papua and New Guinea Constabulary (at the time an Australian External Territorial Police Force).

The motion will be discussed for 20 minutes with two government speakers and two opposition speakers.

Mr Morrison has said interested people are “more than welcome to attend Parliament for the duration of then motion” and he has said he’s keen to host a small function for any former Kiaps who can make it to Canberra.”

Did Michael Somare co-sign carbon certificates?

Leader of the Opposition Sir Mekere Morauta [pictured] has renewed his challenge to Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare to inform Papua New Guineans for which forest areas he co-signed carbon credit certificates in favour of an Australian-based company Climate Assist last year.

Sir Mekere said it was a very serious issue that demanded a full explanation by the Prime Minister.

“Forest resources, whether they are flora, fauna, timber or potential carbon trading assets, belong to people, not to Michael Somare or the Office of Climate Change. People need to know what he has sold, to whom, for how much, and where the money is.”

Official documents bearing the PNG National Government crest show that Prime Minister Somare signed certificates for Climate Assist together with the suspended Executive Director of the Office of Climate Change Dr Theo Yasause and Director of Climate Assist Mr Gregory Thomas Corby.

A certificate was signed on 12th June 2008 with Series Number A33,000,001 to A39,666,666 with the beneficiaries named as Climate Assist (PNG) Ltd and the Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability Office (PNG).

It commits 6,666,665 metric tonnes of carbon credits with a maturity date of 01 January 2012 when the current Kyoto Protocol will end.

Sir Mekere said that the Prime Minister must tell the nation whether he signed this document or not. “Is it a forgery? If it is not, he must tell the public why he has done this and which resources belonging to which landowners he has committed. Those landowners and the general public need to know.”

Another document obtained by the Opposition shows that the Ruthven Street Business Banking Centre of the Westpac Bank in Toowoomba Queensland is holding two carbon credit certificates in “safe custody” under Gregory Corby’s name.

According to a letter written on 24 September 2008 to Mr Edwin Price, Executive Manager of Climate Assist by a senior manager at that Westpac branch, the certificates were issued on 22nd September 2008, each for 39 million metric tonnes of carbon credits, with Series Numbers C1 to C39 and B1 to B39.

The letter bears the common seal of Climate Assist PNG, an official stamp of the Westpac branch and is witnessed by a Justice of the Peace.

“Prime Minister did you issue these additional certificates to Climate Assist? If you did not, who did? With authority from whom? And whose resources do they pertain to?”

Sir Mekere said that it was incumbent on the Prime Minister to tell the truth to the nation. “He is yet to answer the 20 questions I asked him some months ago on climate change and related issues.”

“He cannot continue to ignore or evade questions on important national issues, hoping that in time people will simply forget.”

Text of a media release issued by Sir Mekere Morauta KCMG MP, Leader of the Opposition and Member for Moresby North-West, on Friday 21 October

EDITOR’S NOTE: Carbon credits were trading for about $20 per metric tonne when Climate Assist did its alleged deal with the PNG Government. The price has since imploded and they were last trading on the Chicago Carbon Credit Market at ten cents.

Carbon trading – the globe’s newest, bestest scam

BY PAUL OATES

There’s been a lively discussion on Emmanuel Narokobi's Masalai blog [visit it here] that has raised the question of whether international carbon trading is likely to benefit the traditional owners of PNG’s tropical forests.

PNG landowners have been involved in an continuing debate about the use of their trees - and whether they or some other entity benefits when they are cut and milled.

Hitherto, it’s reported that large areas of forest have been logged and shipped offshore. Yet the traditional owners of these trees do not seem to be much wealthier.

Once the trees are removed, the soil quickly degrades and is washed away in heavy rain. The value of leaving trees where they are and using them in the traditional manner is being questioned by younger Papua New Guineans.

A remedy to losing forests seemed to be a carbon credit scheme, where owners of trees are paid to keep them standing and provide a resource (for some reason it’s called a carbon sink) that emitters pay to keep intact in exchange for their own damaging emissions.

It looked like a great idea for a win/win. However the devil is always in the detail.

Who would actually receive the credits - the traditional forest owners, the government or some quick-talking entrepreneur?

And if the traditional owners received some payment, how would this be distributed? If the government received the money, would the landowners receive any?

Last weekend’s ABC-TV’s Landline program highlighted carbon credit trading by US farms and showed how the value of the so-called 'carbon sinks' decreased as people wondered whether there was any real value being traded.

The commentator, wisely, suggested caveat emptor [let the buyer beware].

PNG has already experienced controversy around the bona fides of carbon traders. Now a news report from Indonesia raises serious concerns that international criminals may see carbon credit schemes as a new way of fleecing the unwary.

The Indonesian government is warning local authorities to be wary of people purporting to be carbon brokers promising big financial gains. The Jakarta Post reports that bogus operators are signing up local governments and landholders on the promise of developing lucrative forest preservation projects, which in many cases are a con.

Now where have we seen this already?

PNG is a Mugabe-style regime says Sir Mekere

The decision by the police to prevent the Salvation Army and the Council of Churches rally in support poverty represents a worrying trend in PNG says opposition leader Sir Mekere Morauta.

“Why would anyone in authority prevent this rally from taking place,” said Sir Mekere. “All these church and civil society representatives wished to do was to express their concern about poverty.”

“What is wrong with that? We should be encouraging such debate. But it seems the government wants no public discussion of anything,” he said.

“This is not the Michael Somare that PNG used to know. Where have our democratic rights and freedoms gone? This is yet another example of this government of turning PNG into a Mugabe-type regime.”

Sir Mekere said the important institutions of state, like the police, are being turned into “compliant tool kits by the government for its political interest.”

He urged all Papua New Guineans to speak out and to insist on protection of their constitutional rights.

In a surprise development, Sir Mekere’s words was supported by Community Development Minister, Dame Carol Kidu, who expressed concern over the police ban on the proposed rally.

She said there “must be some misunderstanding” and the ban would be reviewed.

She said the government had endorsed the UN campaign and her department was actively involved.

“I personally congratulate the Salvation Army and Captain John Kerari for their plan to hold a peaceful rally to raise awareness,” Dame Carol said. “The churches are my department’s valuable partners.”

Meanwhile, prominent PNG blogger Emmanuel Narokobi, commenting on plans for a peaceful protest march in Madang, said the march could not take place because police commissioner Gari Baki disapproved.

“May we remind Mr Baki and the members of the current government in Waigani [that] this is still an independent and democratic country where citizens have such freedoms,” wrote Narokobi.

Referring to China, he said: “We are very clear some of our neighbours to the North have governments which do not allows its citizens such privileges.”

“We would certainly hope the current Waigani government and the current police commissioner are not getting advice from their friends to the North nor do we hope they are being influenced by them in how internal PNG matters should be handled. That would be a mistake on many levels.

“We would like to thank both governor Sir Arnold Amet and provincial police commander Anthony Wagambie Jr for their understanding and promotion of democracy and the rights of the people. We wish your counterparts in Port Moresby understood democracy as much,” Narokobi concluded.

Action needed to avoid food crisis: scientist

PNG is heading for food security disaster as a result of climate change and it needs to act quickly to address the problem, according to environmental expert Dr David Wellik.

He says PNG is “heading for doom” unless stringent mitigation measures are put in place to deal with food and land security problems.

Apparently increasing greenhouse gas emissions have already affected PNG’s temperature, rainfall and sea levels. That’s certainly the case in the Carteret Islands, from where people are already being resettled.

Dr Wellik says if PNG is not careful the next 30 years will lead to problems with food production, soil erosion, salination, drought, fire, pests and disease. That’s quite a list.

Impacts on agriculture will reduce yields and increase dependence on imported foods, which in turn will lead to poor diet and increasing disease.

“The high cost of imported foods is already forcing households to switch to cheaper products of poor nutritional quality,” Dr Wellik says.

PNG Attitude has no reason to doubt Dr Wellick’s veracity, but just wishes he’d adduced some hard data to support his dramatic pronouncements. Reliable statistics always provide us with a large degree of comfort.

Did PNG get a constitution that can't work?

There's been an instructive discussion about the PNG constitution on Emmanuel Narokobi’s Masalai blog focussing on whether it is a workable document.

The five participants in the dialogue [Australian Paul Oates and four Papua New Guineans]  sought to better understand whether the behaviour of PNG's politicians, in their disregard of constitutional principles, is wilful, venal or a straightforward articulation of PNG culture.

It was observed that traditional PNG bigmen [clan chiefs] were implementers as well as leaders and that the present political leadership seems to be perpetuating this dual role.

But difficulties arise when, to obtain and retain power, leaders feel compelled to provide material goods to supporters; the main source of which is public money that should otherwise be allocated to infrastructure and services.

Here’s a précis of the Masalai dialogue.

David: Get a president and hold him accountable to the constitution. We can play on our existing big man culture by introducing a president who will be our collective bigman. Then we can bring in Western ideals of accountability and hold him accountable to his mandate. I'd like to see a solution that is practical and encapsulates PNG's realities rather than trying to use ideals drawn from cultural backgrounds that are distinctly different to ours.

Emmanuel: In most cases [the PNG constitution] is reduced to being just a mission statement. The mechanisms for accountability are in place, it is up to the people to judge whether they want change bad enough to demand it.

David: There is no doubt PNG has departed significantly from her [constitution] since 1975. The leadership is too compromised and too weak to fix it under the current circumstances. On the question of who should fix it, I nominate the head of state who I see as the lesser of the bad apples. But in all reality, he won't. Our GGs have mainly been lame duck puppets and I can't see this changing. So to break the vicious cycle, we must part with the Queen and the people must elect our own president and hold him accountable to the constitution.

Tavuvur: Disposing of the GG in favour of a republic will not solve compromised or weak leadership. PNG is complicated - there is a need to resurrect a national identity in every Papua New Guinean. It is only when we all understand that we have the power to determine who will be good for the country as opposed to who will be good for me as an individual that we will see quality candidates sitting in the Haus Tabaran. Education is key, too.

David: [This is] more like a long term solution. But something must happen in the interim to save the constitution. There is frustration about the status quo among a lot of Papua New Guineans and I fear we might wake up one morning and regret that we no longer have a constitution.

The problem with the current arrangement is that the GG is appointed by parliament and so there is inherent limitation on his independence. It is Catch 22. To break this vicious cycle, the head of state must be appointed directly by the people. In this way, we can hold that individual accountable to our constitution. The closest proxy currently is the PM. But he does not care what people think about the way he governs the nation.

Paul: I can't understand how things have gone so far off track. If the basic legitimacy of the central government is flawed, no amount of plans, reorganisations and smoke and mirrors can or will correct the situation. The government has become a law unto itself.

Justin: In the long run PNG's future rests in education. As Tavurur said, we must see ourselves as a nation and only education can help us to do that. The solutions to the problems lie in a marrying the traditional and the modern. Why do we have tribal fights or resort to tribalism? Because the current system of government has failed to afford us the security of the tribe.

David: Why are we trying to hold fast to a system that has clearly not worked for us? Our current system of governance was essentially a greenfield concept. It was forced upon us and never tried and tested in PNG before then. But now we have some experience behind us, we must not be afraid to change it to accurately reflect the realities. The last 34 years have been a journey of self discovery, and I think we've come to know ourselves well enough now to change things to suit our own circumstances. We must find our own solutions to our problems that reflect those cultural aspects.

Paul: Clearly there isn't either the knowledge or the will to use the system to fix the problem. The mechanisms are in place, it's just that no one is using them. So what would be different if a presidential system of government were to be introduced to PNG?

David: Obviously you believe that the current system is not working because someone is not making it work. I think the system is not working because it does not suit us. One aspect of that is that politics in PNG has evolved in such a way so politicians are seen as implementers rather than as policymakers. This perfectly mirrors our culture where the bigman is expected to be the deliverer and not just a decision maker. His decision-making ability was actually a function of how well he could deliver. The person who delivered best won the right to be the decision-maker.

I sometimes feel sorry for our politicians because they are caught between the old and the new. Oftentimes, they choose to be implementers rather than playing their role as policymakers due to the overwhelming weight of expectations on them. This clouds their judgement and leads to muck up after muck up!

Sure my proposition about a presidential system may not be the best solution for us. But I can see how, by using this, we can marry the old and new as Justin suggested and come up with a workable compromise. The big man culture is real and deeply ingrained in our national psyche. The current system, unfortunately, has been one big attempt to try and kill that system, which existed in PNG for centuries, in just under 34 years.

My proposal for the president to be directly elected by the people is an attempt to both circumvent and play on the big man culture. You circumvent it because whoever runs for president can never afford to be seen as the deliverer through the length and breadth of PNG. Too expensive and impractical.

While PNG is still emerging from an enclosed, clan based social and political structure, we are being asked to adopt a system that has its roots in similar settings but which had already passed this stage of its evolution. It is a grossly unfair ask. I have great respect for the authors of our constitution, but how could they miss such a vital link in our evolution process?

Paul: The authors of the constitution obviously did their best given the constraints and available knowledge at the time. The acid test was how to provide effective and accountable leadership. Therein lay the dilemma. Some people have recently suggested by giving more power to local government, the current fiasco will right itself. I disagree. Leadership, by its very nature, must come from the top.

Defection, reflection – what happens now in PNG?

As PNG’s parliament moves towards a sitting where a no-confidence motion is expected from the Morauta opposition, rumours abound in the local press that three senior members of Sir Mekere’s coalition are about to defect.

The three MPs were unavailable for comment, and the Post-Courier knew, but wasn’t prepared to disclose, their names.

They were said to have been offered inducements such as a ministry if they agreed to stop openly criticising the Government on corruption and other issues.

When a no-confidence vote was mooted during the last sitting, it was terminated early and ‘cooperative’ MPs given K2 million each to spend in their electorates.

Undaunted by the gossip of impending defections from his ranks, opposition leader Morauta responded by calling Public Enterprises Minister Arthur Somare [left] an “arrogant self promoter”.

“I’ve never in my life heard any PNG politician so nakedly promoting himself,” said Sir Mekere. “To say the LNG [liquefied natural gas] project depends on him is utter nonsense. Does he think Papua New Guineans are so naive or stupid to believe him?

“Come out, Arthur, and tell the people [who are] the owners of the gas resources what you and your father agreed to give away.

“All he’s doing is desperately trying to shore up public support with a vote of no-confidence looming,” he said.

Meanwhile, former prime minister and New Ireland governor, Sir Julius Chan, called on PNG to wake up and realise that, since independence, it has fallen further in the human development index than any country in the world.

Sir Julius said at independence in 1975 PNG ranked 77th out of 150 countries. By 1990 it had dropped to 105th.

“By 2004, PNG was 139th and by 2008 we had dropped another 10 places to 149th. Think about this, in only 33 years PNG had been eclipsed by over 70 countries,” he said.

“We need to rethink how government works in PNG as the government closest to the people is the [local level] government that knows the needs of the people and not the one located in Waigani,” Sir Julius said

Bougainville at forefont at awards ceremony

The journey out of Buka was replete with delays, but with minutes to go New Dawn FM manager Aloysius Laukai lobbed in to Queensland University in time to receive, on behalf of his radio station, a major international award last night.

The award is given for the most outstanding contribution to using communications for social change, and the fledgling Bougainville radio station won it first of all for existing in the first place, and secondly for its already significant contribution to peace and reconcilation and its efforts to stabilise the sometimes tricky civil situation in the province.

Aloysius was able to announce at the ceremony that the station is about to build a second studio in Arawa, the capital, and to install new repeater transmitters that will carry its signal to most of the island.

University vice-chancellor, Prof Paul Greenfield, who presented the award, said "you can't help but be inspired by what people do in difficult circumstances."

"Social change is a serious business and New Dawn FM is about serious business."

In response, Aloysius said "the crisis divided most of our people".

"We wanted to allow freedom of expression to help reconcile people after the conflict."

The Bougainville insurrection took 20,000 lives and displaced 40,000 people of a population of 120,000.

New Dawn FM has just been commissioned by the PNG national government to conduct a five-year long awareness campaign leading up to a referendum on Bougainville independence in 2015.

Meanwhile, the good news from the autonomous province, not reported elsewhere so far, is that serious discussions are about to begin about re-opening the Panguna mine.

It seems that the former developer, Bougainville Copper Limited, is front and centre for this role despite interest being expressed by Chinese and Russian mining concerns.

Sir Paulias challenges govt to pick up its game

PNG Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane has increased the temperature of public debate in PNG with the latest in a series of speeches that appear to be challenging the government to improve its performance.

Addressing the PNG Human Resources Institute in Port Moresby, Sir Paulias said PNG will not change and prosper if better leadership is not forthcoming.

“Ineffective leadership at the political, business, professional, church and community levels has crippled PNG,” he said.

He complained that the country had suffered from corruption and crime and that good citizens and good leaders were not doing enough good.

“We, the good people, surely outnumber the bad,” he said, “thus we should allow good to prevail, yet we have allowed a few, criminals, corrupt officials and unworthy political and business leaders to run our country down.

“Many leaders do not help others to be productive and energetic and instead, they create anger, fear, resentment, frustration and flight,” Sir Paulias said.

Sir Paulias said many organisations in PNG, through the individuals that lead them, too often promote weak and incompetent people into positions of power and control, resulting in poor leadership begetting more poor leadership.

“This lack of leadership is exacting a dreadful toll on the PNG workforce,” he said.

Referring to the public service, he said too many employees work merely to make a living and not to make a meaningful contribution to their organisations.

He said leaders often did not have a vision that manifests a clear set of beliefs for leading their organisations into the future. “In PNG, as you all are aware, many leaders are often physically out of shape and emotionally blocked.

“In the worst, they are spiritually starved and live terribly imbalanced lives and are chained to their titles,” he said.

In _Fragments of Attitude_ PAUL OATES asks whether PNG’s politicians can take up the leadership challenge

'I don't think the leadership is corrupt': Somare

Sir Michael Somare has denied corruption among senior politicians in Papua New Guinea - but in words that were conditional at best.

And in an extraordinary statement, he's called upon ordinary Papua New Guineans to identify corrupt public servants and tell the government who they are.

"I don't think the leadership is corrupt," was his lukewarm form of words to interviewer Fauziah Ibrahim of Al Jazeera television.

However he admitted there is corruption among PNG’s public servants. But not at the top.

“No one hides the fact that people below the level of senior departmental head – in departments, Police, Foreign Affairs – are corrupt,” he said.

Sir Michael called upon Papua New Guineans to do something about it.

“People have to reveal to us who are corrupt."

Commenting on claims that PNG’s rural areas are being starved of development funds by the national government, Sir Michael Somare defended his government’s record.

“Papua New Guineans do not die on the streets,” he said. “There is not 80 percent unemployment; 80 percent of our people live in rural areas and have land.

“It’s not my job as a politician to hand them [the people] money – it’s my job to set policies,” he said.

Responding to questioning on why, so many years after independence, the country still relies on foreign aid, Sir Michael said that PNG has plenty of natural resources and doesn’t have to ask for aid.

“I’ve given myself five years to cut Australian foreign aid [currently running at over $400M a year],” he said.

Sir Michael also foreshadowed another four years running the country, saying “I’ll throw in the towel in 2012.

“It’s entirely up to Arthur [Somare] if he takes over from me,” he added.

You can see Sir Michael’s Al Jazeera interview on YouTube here

.

PNG is seeking greater Pacific role for China

In an interview with Al Jazeera television, Sir Michael Somare has said PNG’s relationship with China is very good, especially in trade, and that he sees this as a foil to Australia’s military and police presence.

While saying he does not want China to counter Australia’s role in the Pacific, Sir Michael sent the clearest signal that PNG is encouraging China to play a greater role to balance Australian influence in the region.

“Australia remains our largest and most powerful partner but we are directing our attention elsewhere,” he told interviewer Fauziah Ibrahim on the program 101 East.

“We’re looking for China to train our military.”

He said China was one of the largest contributors to economic development in PNG and he attacked the anti-Chinese riots recently experienced in major cities.

“The riots were committed by people who were not thinking,” he said. “Mobs occurred because of strong sentiments around the cities; it was not racial tension as such.

“They wanted to attack government because they think government is not providing avenues for development. But I disagree with that.

“Our people are like that – they like throwing stones.”

Sir Michael said Ramu Nickel had brought in Chinese workers to help an $800M development that was important to PNG.

“Papua New Guineans don’t oppose the mine but they think the government made a mistake by employing Chinese.

“Chinese are workaholics,” Sir Michael remarked. “They’ll work all day and night. Melanesians work when we feel like it: we have to work much harder. Chinese don’t complain, my people do.”

Asked why the government had not provided funds to a committee appointed by parliament to enquire into the riots, Sir Michael denied knowledge of this.

“I thought we had the funding. I was in hospital in Singapore when it happened. I’ll look into the issue.”

On the track of a civil award for PNG service

Historian RONALD PATTON is researching how to get a general civilian award for people who served in PNG pre-Independence

I`m looking at seeking a civilian award for people who served in PNG pre-Independence. It’s a different approach from that the Kiaps have taken, in that it is not so bound up with some kind of emergency response involving hazard.

While I have a lot of historical argument and examples of precedent, I can see that the area of criteria will turn the whole issue. The criteria for a National Medal do not exactly fit the bill for recognition of civilian service.

Our service fits into an historical phase from 1939 to about 1975 in a context where Australian Governments raised civilian taskforces to complete major works or operations in the national interest.

That era is quite distinct from today but the government of 1994 did recognise civilian work that was historically adjacent to ours and more similar than different in terms of the work undertaken.

There have been radical changes in civilian service in the period since between the wars till the present. Any criteria used by an Awards system must recognise these changes. The Australian system has changed anyway as it has recognised more and more groups and created additional awards.

For example, I`ve discovered that the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service Urban Search and Rescue TaskForce has gained international accreditation by the UN for service throughout the world. And the NSW Fire Brigade is in the process of going for the same international accreditation as the Queensland group.

There is a gap in the awards system that will create issues in the future if a general civilian service medal is not created. I know that is not our main concern but as part of my research it has become obvious to me that civilian service in the future is going to change and expand from what it is today.

I am pressing on. If the kiaps are successful, that could assist us. When you deal with a general service medal you don’t have to have everyone doing the same thing. Like with the military, the infantry out front, cooks at the rear.

So, the kiaps were out front. If they are recognised, and the rest of aren’t, the question has to be asked: did they do it all by themselves? So their success could assist us!

If you’re interested in assisting Ron, you can email him here.

Sir Paulias's challenge: Which way now bigman?

PNG Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane’s Independence Day speech, which he has provided to PNG ATTITUDE, contains both a rebuff for critics and a ‘hurry up’ warning for the PNG government.

“While we can give ourselves a little pat on the back for reaching this important milestone in our short history as a nation, the next 50 years poses greater challenges for us as a people,” Sir Paulias began.

Sir Paulias said his “inner instincts” told him to listen to the government and top officials, “not to listen to advocates of doom and gloom both from within PNG and outside… The important question now is, Which way now bigman?”

Sir Paulias alluded to the distant future as a mechanism for delivering some wisdom to PNG’s national leadership.

“I am often caught wondering what the future holds for our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren,” he said.

“I am aware that roads and bridges have deteriorated since independence, while schools, hospitals and government facilities have also reached a point of disrepair... This leaves us no other choices but to make the hard decisions on reinvesting in creating an enabling environment. Silver, gold, gas and oil will end some day, but roads, bridges, and facilities, will remain with us...

“Before development can occur, peace, order and security must be restored and maintained.

“I know of some politicians not seeing eye to eye with their departmental secretaries. This to me is immaturity and has no place in public office, let alone, private business enterprise.

“I appeal to those political leaders and senior bureaucrats to stop the rhetoric, and put the lives of 6.6 million citizens of this country first. This is because whatever happens between these two groups, will ultimately have negative ramifications on the development policy outcomes further down the line.”

“Thirty-four years of ineffective government and public service delivery since independence has resulted in the unfortunate mess we are in today,” Sir Paulias observed, predicting that inefficiencies within government and public service will continue to be problematic.

He said “34 years of walking in the wilderness is enough experience for PNG to stocktake… The national government must reach resolution and take the bull by its horns in taking leadership.”

The 78-year old Governor-General concluded his speech on a light-hearted note saying that his “only wish is to remain being alive in order to see this [national strategic] plan being fulfilled in the next 50 years”.

“[Then] our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will witness the unfolding of such vision and say, Hey, didn’t Bubu GG say so?”

Independence celebration put on delay

Canberra: It turns out that PNG shares its national day with Mexico, which has caused some confusion in the ranks of Canberra's diplomatic corps about who turns up where on the big day. The sixteenth. So this year, PNG decided to hold its function the following day - which was today - and Charles Lepani hosted a very pleasant event indeed. So I presumed the Mexicans had broken out the Corona the previous day - their national day. Nup! They'd advanced celebrations by 24 hours so as not conflict with PNG. National day's marked in Canberra on 16 September = zero. The big news in Charles' speech today was that PNG is moving decisively with Australia to restructure the bilateral relationship on a more equal basis. And Duncan Kerr, about to step down from Pacific Affairs after two years of sound achievement - especially in terms of the PNG relationship with Australia, expressed great satisfaction with his decision to return to the Tasmanian bar. Filed from iPhone

Mixed blessings of PNG resource development

Economist Charles Yala has pointed out that, despite resources booms in the past 20 years, the average person in PNG got poorer while an elite few benefited handsomely.

Getting a better return for the people from the liquefied natural gas bonanza will require ''some serious thinking … leadership will count'', says Mr Yala.

The biggest difficulty facing resource companies is not topography or isolation, but the tangled clans and tribes occupying the minefield, caught somehwre between decaying tradition and emerging and potentially damaging modernity.

Oil Search CEO Peter Botten describes PNG as a ''reactive democracy from the village up. What is needed,” he says, “is 'an intimate understanding of the community, not a stand-off that says you work outside the fence and we work inside''.

But the major partner is ExxonMobil, more renowned for its more aggressive approach to doing business, which may not take such a sensitive view. Whatever the outcome, those who will feel it most live around Laita, the centre of the minesite.

Amongst the women of Laita there is much discussion about the uncertainty of benefits. Tradition dictates women have no voice and little power, but they are weary of their men spending benefits on prostitutes, beer and plane trips.

They want the gas to deliver what government has failed to do - clinics, schools, buses, better roads, police protection. They hope for jobs for their sons.

They blame oil and gas for depleting harvests and damaging nutrition. They are not reassured by promised environmental safeguards.

Dr Bryant Allen, from Australian National University, has spent 30 years studying PNG culture and the effects of development. He leads a company-sponsored team working in the communities where the gas plant, a large airstrip and main road will be built.

The team goes from house to house to track the kinships that determine land rights. They plot boundaries, photographs gardens and document conditions. The information will be used in compensation claims by people affected by the project.

''People are very keen to have the project,'' Allen says. ''These are people who have lived literally on the edge of the world for all their lives. They see this as their chance to be part of the modern world.

“But they are also very anxious - particularly the women, because they don't completely understand what is involved.''

A member of PNG Transparency International comments: “''Landowners deserve better management and accountability of their benefit entitlements, so that they know what they are due rather than receiving wads of cash only when they complain.''

Source: ‘Black gold in them thar hills’, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 September 2009.Spotted by John Fowke

Trekking war breaks out on the Kokoda Trail

A verbal battle has broken out in PNG between Australian-owned trekking companies operating along the Kokoda Trail and local interests.

And, paradoxically, a new association formed to further the interests of local trekking operators ahs been initiated by an Australian, Aaron Hayes, who runs the firm, Ecotourism.

Mr Hayes claims Australian operators are cheating the PNG Government of millions of kina in taxes.

The Kokoda Trekking Operators Association, which will meet for the first time in Port Moresby tomorrow, seeks to regulate the lucrative trekking industry, limit the numbers of Australian-based operators and provide training and support to local operators.

Its formation follows recent allegations in the PNG media that some Australian-owned trekking companies operating along the Kokoda Trail are doing so illegally and cheating both the Australia and PNG governments of taxes.

Mr Hayes said lack of training, resources and tech-savvy are preventing locals from competing in the lucrative Kokoda trekking industry – PNG’s biggest tourism money spinner.

The association will push the PNG government to provide support to local operators.

“We would like to prepare a proposal for the PNG government to regulate the Kokoda trekking industry and limit the numbers of Australia-based operators and give more access and opportunities to local operators,” he said.

“If an Australian company registers itself in PNG it collects all its client payments in Australia and only transfers enough money for operational costs to the PNG subsidiary.

“On the other hand, a 100% PNG-owned company will more likely declare a profit and pay tax.”

The formation of the association follows recent revelations in the PNG Post-Courier by journalist Simon Eroro that nearly all foreign tour companies covering the Kokoda Track may be operating illegally in PNG.

This triggered a feisty and sometimes vituperative exchange between Mr Eroro assisted by fellow journalist and leading PNG blogger, Malum Nalu, and an Australian businessman in PNG, Bruce Copeland.

“Kokoda trekking has been started by Australians. Eroro seems to have a cargo cult attitude in the obvious belief that PNG people can set up a company and trekking and money flow,” Mr Copeland wrote in a series of emails leaked to PNG Attitude.

“It is nothing like that. Marketing starts in Australia and is carried on among members of communities, companies and families. Do you really think that PNG trekking companies can attract any more than a miniscule market share? They have to be there in Australia...

“The core of Kokoda Trekking is Australian companies. You can not think that they are to blame if Kokoda boys are not in offices using computers and internet. It may come some day. Many have not gone past Grade 3...

“Do what you can for the people of the Kokoda Track. But leave the trekking operators alone. There are good people out there who just want to make a business and help the people of the track. Let us show the way. They are the future of the track.”

It's China's century, see those factory chimneys

Former PNG 'National' journalist MATHEW YAKAI is studying in China. His blog, he says, ensures Pacific countries learn from China. Here’s an edited extract of his most recent post

One need not to go further then read the news around us to realise that China today has a major influence in economy, diplomacy, politics - and soon, Washington suspects, militarily.

West now looks east to China. PNG cannot ignore that the factory chimneys of China can be clearly seen when the sky over the Pacific is clear. What I mean is that China is in the region and PNG must adjust herself to accommodate China.

How PNG will accommodate China and work with a country which has a long history and dynamic economy is pretty difficult. First and foremost is the language and culture.

Therefore, those students who will leave for China early September must know that language and cultural differences are waiting to give a surprise.

It is very important you know this century is the Asia-Pacific century and all is happening in China.

When the world was toppled by the financial crises caused by the USA’s lone and declining hegemony, China maintained its GDP around 8-10 percent

This stabilised the world economy with China, India and most of the developing countries taking the leading role. China stood tall amongst them.

China is an interesting place to be, especially when more people are gaining wealth and the business environment is more conducive.

Over the past three decades, Chinese society evolved very quickly and now you see more philanthropists. China is a land of opportunity in everything if you are comfortable with Chinese language.

I think China will continue to be an amazing growth success story, and its rich and diverse culture will continue to be a magnet for people around the world including Papua New Guinea students.

I attended Jilin University in north east China. At my university were students from all over the world. We attended classes together. From that experience, I realised how ignorant I was in PNG, not even attempting to know history and famous events around the world.

But I felt so privileged having heard and participated in class discussions and debates with such a group. Some times we call our university a mini United Nations, because it really represents students from this globe.

When talking of poverty, African students always dominate the discussion saying they are rich and do not need lectures from the West, but have an option in China.

Such experiences made me realise I have a clear view of the world and events of significance affecting PNG today.

There is more but let me finish with this. As a black person, you will get a lot of attention in China. It is not because Chinese are racist but, for most, it will be the first time to see black person. Remember, most of them have not travelled abroad.

They will stare at you from tip to toe. Don’t be embarrassed. Speak a little Chinese to them and they will befriend you immediately.

You can visit Mathew’s blog here.

Pacific labour scheme birthday candles melt

A year ago this month, the Federal Government announced it would allow 2,500 workers from Tonga, Vanuatu, Kiribati and PNG to come to Australia to do seasonal agricultural work such as fruit picking.

The scheme is something of a damp squib. It hasn’t gone off with a bang so much as a pffft.

Only 56 workers have arrived. None is from PNG. Fifty Tongans are working in Robinvale Victoria , while six from Vanuatu are in Griffith NSW. PNG has yet to sign a memorandum of understanding with Australia.

CEO of the Horticulture Australia Council, Kris Newton, has told AAP: “800 people per year for three years is what it amounts to. To meet the long-term needs of horticulture it's not going to be enough.”

She said the government is micro-managing the scheme so it does not repeat mistakes in New Zealand, which Australia emulated.

The operative word is ‘micromanaging’. When government’s micromanage the world goes nowhere fast.

Back in August last year, however, it was brave new world. Agriculture Minster Tony Burke colourfully stated the scheme was needed as "fruit was rotting on trees". Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs Duncan Kerr prematurely described it as a "win-win" for Australia and the Pacific.

“It’s not rocket science to solve the problems,” says Cherry Growers Association executive officer Trevor Ranford. "Growers are always looking for workers, it's a matter of getting programs established.

“It's locked into the typical bureaucratic, Centrelink-type approach and philosophy and not necessarily giving out levels of flexibility that needs to make it work."

Source: ‘Pac Islands fruit pickers scheme a hot potato for forum’ by Ilya Gridneff, AAP, 2 August 2009

Pacific Forum: don’t mention the governance

Paul Oates & Keith Jackson

A four-day Pacific Leaders’ Forum begins in Cairns today, with a miscreant Fiji missing from the 14 nations following the trashing of Parliamentary rule in that country.

The agenda for the meeting highlights climate change, closer economic relations and Fiji's suspension from the group.

But there’s a big sleeper issue the Forum probably won’t get around to discussing: its own declared vision to “seek a Pacific region that is respected for the quality of its governance, the sustainable management of its resources, the full observance of democratic values and for its defence and promotion of human rights.”

If the Forum was to look at how best it could respond to each of the key issues nominated, it might have chosen to start with a fundamental matter that is plaguing an increasing number of Pacific nations right now: the Object of Government.

Lord Beveridge, the great turn of the 20th century British politician and political thinker, wrote: “The object of government in peace and in war is not the glory of rulers... but the happiness of the common man.”

Using Beveridge’s statement as a benchmark, how do Forum members measure up? After all, one of the best known political clarion calls ever sought that governments be "of the people, by the people and for the people.”

Let’s look at PNG, since it is the focus of this website’s concern. Has the current government succeeded in providing happiness for the common man or has it provided glory for some rulers?

Recent events seem to indicate there may be a certain leaning in one direction. In fact, one could say that the list gets steeper as each day passes. Forestry, climate credit trading, the Moti Affair, Taiwan millions, overseas property, rural decay, communal riots, not to mention the dismissal of Parliamentary rule.

If Fiji has been excluded from the Forum because it suspended Parliamentary democracy, shouldn’t recent events in PNG’s Parliament be considered in the same light?

Clearly the Forum should be dealing with the issue of PNG’s Parliament being virtually dismissed by the Somare government. Otherwise the law of double standard, or ‘what Australia wants Australia gets’, would seem to be in application.

Australia’s pursued a hard line on Fiji, to the particular discomfort of the Melanesian nations. Australia's line on PNG has been ... well, it has expressed no line. Not the merest breath of comment.

If the PNG Parliament been allowed a proper no-confidence vote last week and not adjourned in an unconstitutional manner, it is possible that Mr Rudd would have been talking with Sir Mekere Morauta instead Sir Michael Somare in Cairns today.

But Fiji is relatively small and relatively insignificant to Australia's national interest. PNG is the two ton elephant on our doorstep.

Realpolitik is the theory of politics that emphasises power ahead of morals or principles. It's leading practitioner was Otto von Bismarck.

Australian boomerang aid denies PNG full quid

Dr Tim Anderson, spokesman for the independent group Aidwatch, says Australia is failing to train the people it should be helping in PNG.

Aidwatch has been vocal on the issue of ‘boomerang aid’ - where money supposed to assist developing countries ends up funding Australian firms and consultants rather than the people it’s meant for.

Dr Anderson said aid programs tend to be expensive and wasteful. "Very little education and training happens under our aid programs, even though billions of dollars are spent," he said.

He says the problem is systemic. "It isn't resources that stops us training large numbers of people from Timor , PNG or Solomons, and it's not a lack of goodwill," he said. "It's something about our system and the way we do aid programs."

Source: ‘Australia's boomerang aid slammed’ by Claudette Werden, Radio Australia, 29 July 2009

Prosperity gospel bandwagon hits Port Moresby

Joyce Meyer is a 66-year old American preacher and a proponent of the ‘God wants you to be seriously rich’ school of charismatic Christian evangelism.

She’s been a guest at Brian Houston’s sometimes controversial Hillsong Church in Sydney, which has the same ‘prosperity gospel’ tendency (in fact Brian was the warm up act for Joyce’s recent three day Moresby gig).

It's claimed her TV and radio programs are broadcast in 25 languages in 200 countries – including PNG – and it seems Joyce has written no less than 70 books.

According to Wikipedia, Joyce frequently talks in her teachings about overcoming obstacles and finding strength to deal with difficult circumstances, drawing candidly and with humour on her own experiences.

And PNG blogger and occasional PNG Attitude correspondent, Emmanuel Narokobi, a self-confessed Catholic who says he needs to lift his game, has written:

“If faith can move mountains then right now faith has brought us a private jet flying, multimedia, multi-staged, multi-screened, multi-million kina concert extravaganza and all for the people for the price of nothing. All they want are your souls, well I shouldn’t put it that way, but all they want is for you to take part in their brand of faith.” [See Emmanuel’s blog here.]

So Joyce the Voice made a flying visit to Port Moresby in her new Gulfstream jet to teach people, as Emmanuel puts it, “that God desires material prosperity for those He favours. Material prosperity in this theology not only includes financial prosperity but success in relationships and good health as well.”

Joyce arrived in PNG last week to be greeted by an enthusiastic crowd that The National said was “yearning for a glimpse of her”. Not that it did The National’s prosperity any good, the newspaper's website has been shut down subsequently after coming under serious cyber attack from some ungodly hackers.

Joyce’s team preceded her three-day ‘Festival of Light’ (24-26 July) with a five-day medical mission, which offered free treatment to 4300 people, 1000 of whom committed their lives to the Lord on the spot. And Joyce also popped out to Bomana gaol to meet some of the guests.

Steve Grace, whose Christian band warmed up proceedings, writes in his blog: “When half the population of the capital city turns up to hear some good Bible teaching and worship the Lord together, you just know that God is at work in a nation… It was an estimated crowd of 400,000 - the largest gathering for a Christian event in PNG’s history.”

Steve went on: “People came with a great expectation and hunger. Joyce’s Bible-based practical preaching was warmly received by the PNG people. Thousands made decisions to live for Christ each night and everyone who attended received a small booklet called A new way of living. It was like witnessing a phenomenon.”

Joyce Meyer makes $100 million a year. As the St Louis Post-Dispatch has editorialised, “In the Gospel of St Matthew, Jesus says, ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.’ Ms Meyer would seem to believe she can make the squeeze.”

PNG having difficulty retaining professionals

Bernard Oberleuter maintains a close and active interest in the affairs of PNG and has now turned his attention to the leaching of well educated professionals from PNG to greener pastures elsewhere.

Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in the exodus of Papua New Guineans pilots to overseas airlines but Bernard also suspects that the same is happening to professionals such as doctors, mining engineers, geologists, plant operators and quantity surveyors.

Bernard attributes the migration not only to the pull of a better quality of life - material benefits such as better pay, working conditions and housing - but to push factors such as family security, law and order problems and, as Bernard puts it, “na inogat wantok system”.

“Air Niugini has got to lift its game,” says Bernard. “They are the stomping ground for pilot training and, once trainee pilots clock up enough flying hours and secure their commercial licence, they go offshore.

“Air Niugini does not have in place an indentureship to retain trained pilots on the payroll for a maximum of five years after they receive their wings.”

Bernard has some thoughts on how this problem may be addressed and he’d also welcome other comments as he formulates a policy paper on this issue. You can contact Bernard here.

And here’s an interesting list of just some of the PNG pilots who have found overseas jobs:

Capt Ted Pakii [Wabag] - recently appointed Chief Pilot of Skystar Airways

Capt Peter Ansphil – Captain of a Boeing 767 with Skystar Airways

Capt Granger Nanara [Dobu] - flew with Emirates for 15 years before moving to Abu Dhabi to take up his current position as Vice President Operations for Etihad

First Officer Terry Togumagoma [Trobiands] – Etihad

Capt Timothy Nanara [Dobu] - resigned from Air Niugini to join his elder brother and is currently a Training Captain with Emirates

Capt Locklyn Sabumei – Etihad

Capt James Makop [Mt Hagen] – flew with Emirates for eight years and fo the alst two years a Captain at Jade Cargo Airways based in China

Capt Samuel Siaguru - resigned from Air Niugini in 2005 and also a captain at Jade Cargo

First Officer Mark Neah [Wabag] - has been flying with Cathay Pacific for the last seven years

That’s quite a list, isn’t it? And it seems to indicate that the education system (at least in the past) was able to deliver top quality professionals.

There is also a hint that PNG's management (and political) capability does not exist to the the extent required to build the kind of society in which such people can live, work and prosper in the way their professionalism justifies.

West Papua: persistent dreams of a PNG union

Extracts from a recent article in which journalist BERTIL LINTNER  looks at the turbulent history and aspirations for a possible future for the Indonesian province of Papua

When the Dutch finally left Indonesia in 1949 -- four years after the declaration of independence -- they held on to their western half of New Guinea. They argued that the territory was culturally different from the rest of the old colony and, if ceded to Indonesia, the Papuans would be exploited by the more politically and economically sophisticated Javanese.

The new Indonesian nation, however, saw it differently. One of the catch phrases of independence leader Sukarno was of Indonesian sovereignty "from Sabang to Merauke"…  The Dutch initially ignored such sovereignty slogans and throughout the 1950s initiated several moves to make their part of New Guinea an independent state.

Basic education was improved, a naval academy was opened, Papuans began to serve in the military as well as civil services and local elections were held in December 1961. The territory even adopted its own national anthem and flag with the white Morning Star, symbolizing the hope for a new day era.

All this happened at a time when Southeast Asia was in deep turmoil. Communist movements were strong throughout the region and especially in Indonesia, where it was a powerful and legal political party. The United States warned the Netherlands against trying to defend its New Guinean possession if Jakarta attempted to use force to extend its writ to Merauke…

The Netherlands gave in and, on Aug. 15, 1962, signed an agreement in New York with Indonesia according to which the United Nations would assume temporary control over the territory. It would then be transferred to Indonesia -- but on the condition that the Papuans would have the right to decide their own future.

On May 1, 1963, Indonesia took full charge of the territory and first renamed it West Irian and later Irian Jaya. In mid-1969, the promised "referendum" was eventually held, but The Act of Free Choice, as it was called, was open only to 1,025 handpicked delegates, which predictably all voted in favor of integration with Indonesia. On Nov. 19, 1969, the U.N. General Assembly accepted the results and Western countries turned a deaf ear to local protests over the dubious circumstances of the vote.

By 1965, the OPM had already been established along with an armed wing, the National Liberation Army, or OPM-TPN, and hit-and-run attacks were launched in the highlands. [Ruben] Maury joined the OPM in 1970, abandoning his family and a job as a pharmacist in Jayapura...

Mr Maury spent eight years in the jungles and highlands of West Papua before he and some of his ill-equipped followers crossed into independent PNG in 1978. But the newly independent state did not want to antagonize its powerful Indonesian neighbor, and promptly arrested the OPM fighters. In 1979, they were all released and four of them were accepted as political refugees in Sweden...

The OPM would find it difficult to establish a coherent sense of nationhood among the Papuans. They just need look across the border into PNG, which many observers consider a nearly failed state with rampant crime, murder rates among the world's highest, and severe environmental degradation driven by an economy almost entirely dependent on the export of raw natural resources.

Still, the OPM's Stockholm representatives see separation from Indonesia as just the first step; the next would be a union with PNG. "Historically, our ties have been with Oceania. Our connections have always been eastwards, not westwards," [Daniel] Kafiar says.

Source: Far Eastern Economic Review, 17 June 2009. Thanks to John Fowke for directing us to this excellent article

PNG media elite not interested in the grassroots

PHILIP FITZPATRICK has dug out a little-reported speech on the PNG media, and finds it may need to be read between the lines

PNG doesn’t get much media coverage in Australia and when it does it is usually negative. The Australian media gives its audiences what it thinks they want. In PNG’s case this is invariably stories about corruption and lawlessness – good news just doesn’t make the cut. Thank goodness the media in PNG has a more objective, balanced and less depressing view. Or does it?

An address by Joe Kanekane, President of the PNG Media Council, to a United Nations Development Program sponsored governance forum in Port Moresby in March casts some doubt over this proposition.

Mr Kanekane argues that the demography of PNG media audiences has changed significantly since the Media Council was set up in the 1980s. These days people are more sophisticated, thanks to globalisation, technology, better education and a “booming economy”.

He says the days of the media as watchdog is long gone. This role is more rightly the province of the Ombudsman Commission, the Public Accounts Committee and the Auditor General. The media’s role is rather to “offer what the customer wants”. What they want, according to Mr Kanekane, is reporting that is “more focused to their parochial needs than that of their country”.

Talking about the print media he says “a booming economy has a transcending affect. More people have money to spend and that demands additional pages to cater for that”. So what goes into these additional pages?

Mr Kanekane says that in the four main publications in active circulation it is amazing the “number of advertorials, classifieds and even the short anecdotes that appear”.  This explains, for instance, the bemusing pictures in the classifieds of kids having birthdays accompanied by lengthy and glowing testimonials.  He adds “climate change, corruption, law and justice and HIV/AIDS sadly don’t feature prominently”.

There now seems to be middle-class elite in PNG which is big enough and powerful enough to dictate media content. These are the people who buy the newspapers and can afford television. They are not interested in grassroots issues like corruption and the collapse of rural infrastructure. The few dissenters among them seem to be mainly younger people, including students who have access to technology like the internet.

Mr Kanekane cites the Reverend Oria Gemo who said in 1996 that “information is (now) regarded as a marketable commodity rather than a social right”. Mr Kanekane further adds that in this sort of competitive environment the decision to include a story on a social issue must include consideration of its “selling value”. He notes that “anything controversial arouses interest and prompts more readers”.

In May 2008 The National (which, incidentally, is owned by an Asian logging company) featured a photograph of a hanged and crucified drug addict on its front page who had “decimated” a young teacher on his way to school. Despite the community outrage about the photograph he says this was okay because circulation was high for the edition.

He also unapologetically noted that “most importantly, this level or kind of news presentation was targeted at selling the product”. What negative social impact the picture had was unimportant - the main thing was that it sold newspapers!

What hope of having his voice heard has the average subsistence farmer in the provinces who seldom sees a newspaper and gets most of his news from the radio? Provincial radio stations used to be the main source of information on agriculture, health, law and justice and community news, usually in the local languages. Now they play music all day and charge to run community announcements. The farmer, it seems, has lost his voice.

Even television, not the most elucidating medium, is under threat. Channel 9, for instance, has bought into PNG in a big way, dropped local production of programs like the popular Tok Piksa and substituted the sort of mindless pap we have to endure in Australia.

Mr Kanekane notes that the biggest purchaser of advertising space in PNG is the government. He also notes that the media have been very lucky. Except for a couple of abortive attempts at control “the industry has been graced immensely by the benevolence of many of our governments since independence” and has not been “subjected to circumstantial greed or the manifestation of absolute power”. He reiterates this point several times in his address; one wonders why?

Mr Kanekane’s address is reported verbatim in issue 2 (2009) of PNG Resources magazine. The address is not easy to read and I suspect, for the initiated, is rife with hidden meanings. He seems to think that a media that caters mostly to the needs of the elite and makes a buck on the way is a good thing and the way of the future. He calls this “opinion making”. Where have I heard that before?

A significant risk of robbery near Parlt House...

Thanks to Richard Jones and Phil Fitzpatrick for providing us with such an interesting debate in Recent Comments.

So what does the Australian Government’s Smart Traveller website have to say about the safety and security situation in PNG?

Overall it gives our nearest neighbour a ‘High Degree of Caution’ flag. Let’s face it, even taking into account  DFAT’s notorious prudence when it comes to these assessments, it’s not a real good wrap for a country in which Australia has such a vested interest - and for which we have assumed such great responsibility.

Here’s an extract, and a link to the full advisory is provided below.

We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in PNG because of the high levels of serious crime. Pay close attention to your personal security at all times and monitor the media for information about possible new safety or security risks.

Crime is random and particularly prevalent in urban areas such as Port Moresby, Lae and Mt Hagen. Settlement areas of towns and cities are particularly dangerous. Violence and use of 'bush knives' (machetes) and firearms are often used in assault and theft attempts. Carjackings, assaults (including sexual assaults), bag snatching and robberies are common. Banks and automatic teller machines are increasingly targeted.

Although most crime is opportunistic, there have been incidents of robbery in which expatriates have been targeted in their homes or workplaces. There have been a small number of high profile kidnappings for ransom.

There is a significant risk of robbery and carjacking in the area near Parliament House in the Waigani suburb of Port Moresby and along the highway between Lae and the Nadzab Airport, particularly between the two and nine mile settlement areas.

Walking after dark is particularly dangerous in Port Moresby and other urban centres. All travel at night should be made by car, with doors locked and windows up.

Due to the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, victims of violent crime, especially rape, are strongly encouraged to seek immediate medical assistance.

The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary faces a number of obstacles, including limited resources, and this may affect police response times in the event of crime. Many businesses, including the High Commission, employ private security companies to help deliver a prompt response to calls for assistance.

You can read the full DFAT travel advisory for PNG here.

Meanwhile, in PNG, after several recent high-profile murders, the death penalty is on the agenda. PNG law allows for people to be sentenced to death by hanging but it has never been enforced.

Attorney-General Dr Alan Marat said today there are no regulations governing how an execution should be conducted and he’s asked his department to draw them up. "I want to take that regulation to cabinet for endorsement but it's just not ready, but as soon as it's ready maybe we start implementing," he said.

The long uphill struggle for kiap recognition

“In March 2002 I commenced a lone campaign to have the service of Kiaps in the Australian External Territory of Papua and New Guinea formally recognised under the Australian Honours and Awards System by the Australian Government.”

So begins Chris Viner-Smith's description and analysis of a Kiap recognition project that has got somewhere, but not quite to the end of the road.

Referring to the specificity of his original goal Chris says in a summary document The Case for Kiap Recognition (you can download it here): “That campaign has been lost, other than gaining eligibility for Kiaps to the National Medal, but on the way some small victories have been achieved.”

Let’s itemise those ‘small victories’ because, in the context of an issue not yet finally resolved, they do count for something:

The Federal Government has agreed to:

Extend to Kiaps eligibility for the National Medal for service to 30 November 1973

Accept that Kiaps were sworn commissioned officers of an Australian external territorial police force, that is, the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary

Mount a Kiap exhibit at the National Archives of Australia in Canberra, researched by professional historians and funded by the Government to provide a means to formally acknowledge and laud the collective efforts of Kiaps in steering PNG towards independence

Sponsor a launch event to which key officials including the PNG High Commissioner would be invited to coincide with the 35th anniversary of PNG independence on 16 September 2010

Publish an article on the contribution of Kiaps in the NAA magazine, Memento

Consider a Ministerial speech in Parliament to place on public record the nation’s gratitude for the Kiaps’ contribution to the development of PNG

What the Government has not agreed to, and what is unfinished business, is more formal recognition through the presentation of a citation or certification to ex Kiaps.

In seeking this greater recognition, Chris has the support of former Governor-General Michael Jeffery who has said: “I am disappointed with [the] response and will take the matter up personally …”

Chris remains hopeful that General Jeffery might have some success in persuading the Government to recognise the incredible work Kiaps undertook on its behalf in bringing a nation to independence.

“You will understand how we feel,” says Chris, “when ADF reservists are entitled to a medal for three months service in Brisbane whilst we put our lives on the line daily for the Australian Government in a foreign country and are denied any recognition.”

You can read the submission provided to Senator John Faulkner, then Special Minister of State, earlier this year by downloading it here. It remains an important document.

Moving backwards – the sadness of today's PNG

Today’s The Age has a must-read story for anyone with a serious interest in Papua New Guinea.

Dave Tacon, a Melbourne-based freelance writer, has penned an insightful and elegant feature on a country that, far from developing, has just been demoted to underdeveloped status by the United Nations.

Dave’s piece moves from the neglected bush to the dangerous towns covering a lot of important issues in its sweep. Thanks to John Fowkes for pointing it out to me. Here’s a taste:

Detective Andrew Mokoko, 35, walks the street outside the bank agency office in plain clothes, nonchalantly toting a pump-action shotgun. A local identity, he chats with passers-by and the betel nut vendors. Although he is officially on duty, he is earning a little extra as a security guard with a weapon from the police armoury.

This is explained to me by a former police officer. When I ask why Mokoko is out of uniform, the reply is: "Well the raskols often wear police uniforms."

In PNG, corruption is taken for granted. Still, Kerema is tame compared with the country's more populous regional centres, where a largely uneducated population flock in the hope of work. Unemployment is rife. Violent crime, driven by poverty and tribal allegiance, is out of control. In recent weeks there has been sustained rioting throughout the nation. The targets are mainly Asian-run businesses — convenient scapegoats for the disenfranchised.

Commenting on recent rioting in the nation's capital, Port Moresby, Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare acknowledged the perception that his Immigration Department is so corrupt that "a six pack (of beer)" is accepted tender for a passport.

Papua New Guinea, a country with more than 760 distinctly different languages, was ill-prepared for the independence granted by Australia in 1975. To this day, the prevailing political system is based on wantok — the support of one's friends and family above all others. Superimposed into government, wantok is a system of pure cronyism and nepotism.

Fortunately for us, The Age has Dave Tacon’s full article online, and you can link to it here.

Source: As things fall apart by Dave Tacon, The Age, 4 July 2009

After the consultants, a practical proposition

“At 70 you'd think a bloke'd grow up,” says the irascible JOHN FOWKE, who writes about PNG affairs with knowledge, intelligence & passion and a weather eye for lefty luvvy atrocities

Australia's cardinal mistake in PNG was to allow a Westminster-modelled, party-based system of political representation to arise in a profoundly-tribal, profoundly-egalitarian landowner society.

This gave rise to today's hegemonic, exploitative and cynical governing elite, but was compounded by another factor. The other great grey elephant in the room, looming but ignored for decades. Never spelled out.

The Aussies decided "Black Mastas shall never arise", and so a trend to mediocrity and "lefty-luvvy-ideology" became the policy in education and social development.

To hell with informed, ethical leadership during the most important decades of PNG's rise from tribal horde to Nation State.

As with most colonial powers, Australia exhibited a supine even welcoming attitude to the flood of lefty political correctness which swirled like a fog behind UN visiting missions in the sixties and thereafter.

From this time, any pretence to excellence of outcome in education was sacrificed to the dull beat of fluttering left-wings.

It is no accident that the mention of names like Kidu, Kapi, Rarua, Taureka, Bouraga, Nombri and Karukaru all bring memories of balanced, urbane, highly-educated, personable and effective professionals; men of dignity and purpose.

A generation? No, unfortunately, because of Aussie policy not a generation; just a flash in the pan. So what happened to replace this cadre of leaders?

The output of a slack, second-rate caste of ideology-driven foreign educationists foisted upon a naive PNG by multinational consultancy corporations was unable to provide a supply of focussed, disciplined, ethical leaders in the same model.

In this way, by closing the gate to a socially-engineered class of properly-educated, open-minded and pragmatic non-tribal Melanesian leaders, we closed off the only avenue whereby young people might see and aim for ethical, socially-positive and creative careers in politics and administration.

Social engineering didn’t go away. It was put into reverse. And look at the result.

Now that Australia and PNG have concluded a new and potentially hugely-valuable scholarship scheme whereby 2,000 students a year will be brought to study in Austtralia, it is time for the re-energised and re-focussed PNGAA to set its cap at something worthwhile.

Let’s get hold of the plan, appraise it and remain in constant touch with AusAID on this important issue. Let us also look at providing emergency phone and email contacts, in loco parentis services for PNG students who, faced with life in a strange environment, find the need for advice or a shoulder to cry on from time to time. This is partnership. This is meaningful.

It seems the Australian Government and its minions in DFAT and AusAID are beginning to appreciate a little of the reality of what is needed by PNG, as opposed to "what Mother orders."

Lets get in there an help in a really practical way; a way which will have a long-term positive effect. PNG is our neighbour, and we are theirs, for the rest of humanity's existence upon earth.

Merauke 5: tough experience had a silver lining

I rarely write here about my day job because, well, there’s infrequently any significant crossover between it and PNG Attitude.

But in the last few weeks there has been an overlap of sorts, and it occurred when Jackson Wells was retained to assist the Merauke 5 secure release from their nine months detention in the Indonesian Province of Papua.

You may recall that pilot William Scott-Bloxam, his wife Vera and three friends flew a light aircraft on the one hour trip from Horn Island to Merauke for a weekend’s sightseeing last September. They were given permission to land but didn’t have visas. The Indonesian authorities were less than impressed and detained them.

I don’t want to canvass the issues here, the Merauke 5 are due home in the next few days. But in my conversations with them in Merauke recently I’ve been particularly impressed by their stories of the excellent relationship that developed between them and the people of the town (population 50,000).

“We’ve received nothing but kindness and generosity from the local people,” Scott (as he’s known) told me. “Even when we were in jail, friends we’d made brought us food. We receive small gifts from local people.”

While in gaol (mercifully a relatively brief if unpleasant part of their detention: mostly they were confined to the town limits), Scott gave English lessons and Vera learned some Indonesian.

Karen Burke commented on the “very good relationship” the Merauke 5 had with officials and locals. “They are very friendly towards us and often express sympathy regarding our situation. They are generous and bring gifts. The bemo drivers sometimes refuse payment for the fare.”  Keith Mortimer agreed, saying he’d developed a good circle of Indonesian and Papuan friends.

Hubert Hofer, who spent most of his free time in Merauke pursuing historical research and learning Indonesian, said he found the people very friendly and supportive. “I share my historical information with locals who are interested. I’ve found an Australian soldier’s grave and I’ve shared information about the wartime construction of Merauke airstrip.”

So there you have it. The Merauke 5 have had a gruelling and difficult experience, but made a bit more tolerable by the warmth of the local Papuan and Indonesian population. A silver lining indeed.

The little things that lead to electoral oblivion

Many of us who are interested in politics have pet theories about why the Howard Government so spectacularly foundered before the Rudd challenge in the 2007 Australian federal election.

The Coalition’s favourite theory for the loss is that the onset of generational change from Howard to Peter Costello, who announced this week he’s leaving politics, did not take place as it was supposed to. Certainly a contributing factor.

Labor claim it was the unpopular (with some) Work Choices legislation that put paid to the Coalition. Certainly that was cream on the cake for those voters who turned against the Howard Government.

But what was the cake?

In my analysis ‘the cake’ was the gradual accumulation of poor decisions, broken promises, ill-timed actions, stupid statements, snouts in troughs, half truths, plausible deniabilities and high handed dismissals of issues voters felt strongly about.

A steady accumulation of real and perceived wrongs and slights that gradually gave every constituency (from pensioners to students, navvies to the Navy) a reason why it should not vote for the incumbents. It took some years, but it happened.

So what’s this got to do with the Attitude, I hear you roar.

Well, I believe I’m seeing evidence that the Rudd Government is beginning to descend this slippery slope to electoral oblivion.

It won’t take a year, or even a term, but it will occur inevitably ‘as night follows day’ as former Prime Ministerial contender Andrew Peacock said as repeatedly as day follows night.

Let me take a step back. This year I’ve been engaged in a number of worthy projects for which federal government assistance is required. We’re not talking large amounts of money. Some require little lucre indeed.

National recognition of the Montevideo Maru tragedy. Cost: bugger all.

Official recognition of the contribution of kiaps to PNG. Cost: bugger all.

Putting much-needed history books into PNG schools could be done for half the price of the annual fee of an average AusAID consultant. Cost: Not quite bugger all but, in the grand scheme of government budgeting, pretty much bugger all.

In each of these recent cases, and others I could mention, I have witnessed responses drafted in the interstices of the bureaucracy put into the mouths of Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries. I have read the weasel words. I have seen the eyes averted when reasonable action is sought. I have felt the negativity as if it were a physical affliction.

Negative, nay saying, disingenuous, uncooperative, hostile, responsibility-shifting words written by bureaucrats over the name of compliant Ministers to unnecessarily offend yet another constituency.

This government, despite Kevin Rudd’s inclusive rhetoric, is no more interested in engaging with rank and file citizens like you and me than it’s interested in flying economy class, staying in a three-star hotel and dining on a hamburger.

The accumulation of the little reasons that cause ultimate electoral grief has begun. We are witnessing it. Reasons so small they’re easy to ignore. But reasons so small they’re easy to fix. At least in the beginning. But in the end, reasons that give many of us a reason to say, “They’ve been there long enough”.

Meanwhile, we keep on keeping on.

PNG anti-Asian riots inquiry makes slow start

The bipartisan committee of 15 Members of Parliament established to inquire into Asian owned and operated businesses in PNG has made a slow start.

    Jamie Maxtone-Graham MP [left], the chairman of the committee has set up a blog to get feedback about the inquiry, but after thre weeks it’s pretty bare of ideas. PNG Attitude readers who have views to express may link to it here.

The terms of reference of the committee are to:

(a) investigate and report on the root causes of the spate rioting and vandalism against foreign, especially Asian, businesses;

(b) review the types of businesses owned and operated by Asians;

(c) investigate the causes of resentment by nationals against Asian businesses, whether it be:

(i) the quality of goods and services

(ii) workplace ethics and demands placed on nationals

(iii) lack of understanding of the culture in specific regions where Asians do business

(iv) whether lack of or inefficient delivery of government services, population growth and lack of development in rural areas are forcing nationals to vent their frustrations on Asian businesses

The committee is able to recommend changes to the relevant laws governing foreign involvement in PNG businesses and has been asked to “present its report and recommendations to Parliament as soon as it is able to do so”.

The committee has established four sub-committees, each of which will carry out inquiries in private and public hearings in the Momase, Highlands, Southern and New Guinea Islands regions. The Committee has called upon individuals, NGOs, businesses, churches and 14 relevant Government agencies to make representations and written submissions.

People presenting evidence will do so under the protection of Parliamentary privilege. People unable to attend public hearings may post information on the chairman’s blog.

Talk to the trees: PNG’s big dollar ‘carbon trades’

PNG’s Office of Climate Change (OCC) seems to be in strife after a proposal to make $625 million from non-existent carbon trading was revealed.

Last month a PNG governors’ conference sought a probe into OCC affairs. Eastern Highlands governor, Malcolm Kela-Smith, a resolute critic of OCC, sponsored a motion that, until audit and Public Accounts Committee reports are delivered, the Office should be restrained from issuing carbon credits or approving carbon trade projects.

The governors say they don’t want OCC to be a regulator, participant or beneficiary of carbon trading. Instead they want it to operate as a normal government agency. They want it to consult with provincial governments in drawing up legislation to control the proposed trade. The governors clearly don’t trust OCC.

Furthermore, they are writing to the Norwegian government, the UN and AusAID to record their disquiet with OCC. Norway has expressed interest in buying carbon credits for the preservation of a huge forest area in the Sepik.

Let me backtrack a bit. At the centre of PNG’s climate change controversy is climate change ambassador, Kevin Conrad, who in Bali two years ago challenged the US to lead the world on climate change or “get out of the way”.

Mr Conrad is also a director of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, an alliance of 33 countries promoting avoided deforestation – that is, stopping trees being chopped down.

The main thrust of the Coalition is that, if rich countries want poor countries to preserve their forests as a way of reducing carbon emissions to keep the planet cool, they should pay the poor countries to stop deforesting.

At present the UN does not endorse offsets based on avoided deforestation. But the proposed process for formalising carbon trading is now the subject of international talks in Bonn and the UN and donor countries such as Norway are enthusiastic about the approach — which PNG has been promoting.

Even before agreement has been reached, a market has emerged in avoided deforestation on the assumption that, one day soon, real credits will be delivered. And the PNG Government seems to have got in early - apparently pre-emptively issuing them. At a price.

“The OCC has no legal mandate to issue any forest carbon credits,” said Prime Minister Somare’s press secretary, Betha Somare, who claimed officials are investigating how credits came to be issued. According to a report in the respected UK business magazine, The Economist, at least 39 other ‘credits’ have been issued by OCC.

One of these caused particular outrage in PNG: 800,000 hectares of virgin rainforest in Kamula Duso, one of the reasons for the crisis meeting of the governors last month.

After being confronted with a copy of the Kamula Duso credit by The Economist last week, Ms Somare said “very recently apparent irregularities within OCC have come to our attention.

“As a result the prime minister has asked for a review to be carried out and a report to be made to his office,” she said.

Kevin Conrad has commented that it’s too early to state what went wrong but says an “independent review” is underway, mounting a defence that “carbon speculators” are putting pressures on landowners in many countries to sell large tracts of forest ahead of a possible deal on avoided deforestation in Copenhagen later this year.

Some might say it’s a case of ‘give me the money or the tree gets it’.