PNG ATTITUDE

Call for Kokoda Track code of conduct

With 7,000 international trekkers forecast to walk the 96-kilometre Kokoda track next year, Sandy Hollway - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's special envoy on the track – has asked tour operators to introduce a code of conduct to preserve the trail and lessen the impact on the people living alongside it.

“Minimum standards for the trekkers, minimum standards for the treatment of local people along the track, respect for the villages along the track and minimum standards to be adopted by the trek operators themselves,” he said.

Mr Hollway’s comments follow those of NSW MP Charlie Lynn who, in a recent newsletter, wrote of “a new breed of 'trekking Samaritans' who use the experience to raise money for various charities in Australia. While the cause is always noble, and the individuals often well intentioned, there is some irony that we seek to exploit a jungle track in a third world country to raise funds for a cause in our 'land of plenty',” Mr Lynn said.

“Lets hope the new breed of 'trekking Samaritans' decide to leave some of what they raise in PNG - there is no shortage of worthy causes for those who trek 'with their eyes wide open'. It would be far more noble for them to leave their ego in Australia and their money in PNG!”

Sources: ‘Calls for Kokoda track code of conduct’, Steve Marshall, ABC, 20 November 2008 and Charlie Lynn’s ‘Adventure Kokoda’ newsletter

Too much punch at PNG media awards

Journalists from the PNG Post-Courier newspaper and the PNG National Broadcasting Corporation turned on a king-sized stoush at Saturday’s Media Council awards ceremony in Port Moresby. AAP reports that “simmering tensions mixed with alcohol” turned a successful evening into an all-in brawl.

The fight came late in the proceedings, after speeches on the importance of media freedom and accurate reporting. Security guards stepped in to pull apart scrapping guests. "It is embarrassing," said one guest. "This stuff always happens at this end of year. Everything starts fine but it all comes out with too much drink. It really is the silly season. All the simmering tensions erupt," she said.

The awards night came as the culmination of a week-long Media Council program to raise industry standards. After calm was restored, the Council provided karaoke entertainment. It would never have happened in my day. The karaoke, that is.

Source: ‘Drunken brawl mars PNG media award night’, AAP, 17 November 2008

PNG media must expose corruption

 

PNG’s chief ombudsman Chronox Manek has said the media must expose corruption in the country. “Although the media contributes a lot to the development and maintenance of a nation, it does not need to be biased but should allow for viewpoints of individuals on any matter,” he said.

Mr Manek said the media is a source of education to the public. “The right to inform remains the foundation of democracy ... without citizens remaining in the dark, since it will affect their right to decision making.”

He also said that for the media to be the agenda setter and expose issues, journalists need to know about their constitutional rights and also have a fair idea about PNG’s national goals. “You can never go wrong if you speak right, expose and stand up for the people,” he said.

Source: ‘Media is the agenda setter, says Manek’, by Peter Larry, UPNG journalism student, PNG Naional, 13 November 2008

$2.4B gas deal stirs PNG Opposition

The PNG Post-Courier reports that opposition leader Sir Mekere Morauta has demanded that prime minister Sir Michael Somare delay signing a bond with an Abu Dhabi company to finance the government’s share of the huge PNG gas project deal. The $2.4 billion bond may be signed this week.

Arthur Somare [left], the Public Enterprises Minister who controls the gas project for the government, has confirmed the deal. Sir Mekere has strongly criticised the deal following the disclosure of leaked PNG Treasury papers that the deal was risky and did not need to be done at this time.

“What is the rush?” asked Sir Mekere, “The Treasury advice leaked to the press clearly outlined some of the risks. So why [is] the PM plunging headlong into this deal, we wonder? Why are alternative options not being sought and considered? Why is he moving to sign this deal and put one of the most valuable assets of the state, its shares in Oil Search, at risk? It makes no sense.”

Sir Mekere said: “Treasury assesses the deal as risky. Arthur Somare says it is not risky. Given these two conflicting views, I urge the Prime Minister to appoint a third party to assess both the risks and advantages of the bond deal, and compare them with other forms of financing options. That is obviously the most sensible thing to do. How can we make this point any clearer to the PM? Leaders must be reminded that they are custodians of people’s assets, and that they must act in people’s overall interest.”

Somare Cairns properties questioned

PNG Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare and his son Arthur have been asked to explain how they obtained a luxury inner-city unit and a new $685,000 beach house in Cairns. Documents have emerged linking the PNG leader and his powerbroker son to the real estate.

PNG's anti-corruption watchdog, Opposition Leader Sir Mekere Morauta and former finance minister Bart Philemon said it had to be asked where the money had come from. Ombudsman Commission legal counsel Vergil Narokobi, one of the most senior officials with the anti-corruption watchdog, said the Commission would investigate.

"It is quite possible it is legitimate," Mr Narokobi said. “We will look to see if there were any breaches of the leadership code. To afford such luxuries it is not something ordinary Papua New Guineans can do. It is a situation of unfairness, but that is my own personal view. We have to give them the benefit of doubt. On the face of it we will respect our leaders until the contrary is shown."

Documents obtained by the Courier-Mail show Sir Michael obtained a $349,000 three-bedroom executive-style apartment with private plunge pool in inner-city Cairns in April last year, in a deal brokered by a Gold Coast lawyer. Two months ago, Arthur Somare, who is PNG's State Enterprise Minister and a political heavyweight, bought a $685,000 four-bedroom home with his wife at Trinity Beach.

Mr Somare, who plans to move his family to Australia to live, has just  sealed a $US20 billion deal over access to PNG's liquid natural gas reserves with a consortium from the Middle East.  Cairns builder Michael Case, who sold the house to Mr Somare in August, said: "He is a fabulous guy, everything was done above board."

Sir Michael, who was in Cairns last week for a historic address to Queensland Parliament, declined a request for an interview and did not respond to a series of written questions. His son Arthur also did not respond to questions about his new property

Sir Michael, who has refused to provide details of his overseas assets under the leadership code since 1992, is fighting a Supreme Court action against the Ombudsman Commission.

Opposition Leader Morauta said the Somare family owed it to the PNG people to reveal their assets. "They should both publicly explain how they obtained this real estate," said Sir Mekere, who this year bought a $3.6 million riverfront mansion at New Farm in Brisbane's inner city under his wife Roslyn's name.-

Former finance minister and anti-graft campaigner Mr Philemon said, “They have got to tell people in PNG how they funded those properties, otherwise it smells like corruption.”

Source: ‘PNG leader Michael Somare and son asked to explain Cairns property’, by Peter Michael, Courier-Mail, 5 November 2008

First climate change refugees to PNG

The world's first climate change refugees will be relocated from their Pacific island home to Papua New Guinea by March next year. The Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation says 40 families from north of Ontong Java in the Solomon Island's Malaita Province will be relocated to Bougainville.

Flooding has made parts of their islands completely uninhabitable and the islands are expected to be fully submerged by 2015. The relocation is estimated to cost the Autonomous Bougainville and PNG Government millions of dollars over the next six years. One third of the 1,500 residents have refused to leave the islands.

PNG says US has ‘ again taken lead’

The United States Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Leslie Rowe, hosted a live telecast of the US election in Port Moresby yesterday. Ms Rowe said it had been the most historic election in her lifetime. “Today many of us are especially proud to be part of the American electorate. A projected 130 million Americans have lined up to cast their votes — the largest election turnout in the history of the United States.”

 “I remember as a child travelling through the south of United States and questioning my parents as to why gas stations had to have two different water fountains, one for whites and one for blacks. That we have come this far from those days to the point where an African-American may be elected president, is something many of us never thought we would see in our lifetimes,” she said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Abal said PNG as a small nation could learn from the US, the leading democracy in the world that had again taken the lead in electing the best man for the job despite his race, skin colour or status.

Source: PNG Post-Courier

Big project safe despite economic strife

The global markets are in turmoil and oil prices have collapsed but Oil Search remains up beat about securing finance and finding buyers for its $15 billion liquefied natural gas project - PNG’s largest ever resource development. It is planned to ship the first cargo in 2013.

Oil Search says it has “considerable interest” from lenders to acquire its 34% per cent share. Managing director, Peter Botten, said interest from prospective buyers was strong despite the near halving in oil prices from their peaks. Global oil giant ExxonMobil's41.5% involvement in the project has bolstered market confidence.

The LNG project is a joint venture between ExxonMobil, Oil Search, Nippon Oil, Santos, AGL and MRDC (a PNG company representing landowner interests). The Project will commercialise petroleum resources in the Hides, Angore and Juha fields the currently operating oil fields of Kutubu, Agogo, Gobe and Moran in the Southern Highlands and Western Provinces.

The gas will be transported by pipeline to a facility 20 kilometres northwest of Port Moresby. There, the gas will be liquefied and the LNG (approximately 6.3 million tonnes per annum) loaded on tankers and shipped to gas markets.

Sources: [1] Oil Search confident of funding for $15b LNG plan by Clancy Yeates, Sydney Morning Herald, 22 October 2008. [2] ‘Trio to develop Papua New Guinea LNG project’ by InterOil Corp, DownsteramToday.com, 1 August 2007.

MPs attack corruption, poor leadership

Satan rules the PNG National Parliament, the deputy leader of the PNG Party, Francis Awesa, told a huge crowd at Banz in the Western Highlands on Saturday. Mr Awesa said politicians and bureaucrats who allegedly got rich overnight must be investigated so that the people knew the sources of their wealth.

Mr Awesa said that in the last five years PNG had been riddled with nothing but corruption and this had brought the country to its knees. He said the Somare Government had passed budgets that had not trickled down to the bulk of the population.

Despite many reports and allegations of corruption in high places, leaders and senior public servants allegedly involved in corruption and misuse of public funds were still walking free, he said. The laws seemed to favour them while ordinary people were sent to jail for trivial matters. Leaders and bureaucrats involved in abuse of power and misuse public funds must be held accountable and sent to prison.

Speaking at the same rally, human rights activist and National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop said bad leadership is leading PNG into poverty. He said God had blessed PNG but leaders had turned it into a poor country with bad leadership. The country was a dependent state despite all its resources.

Sources: ‘Satan is boss of Parlt: MP’ and ‘Bad leaders forcing PNG into poverty – Parkop’, PNG Post-Courier, 20 October 2008

Impact of Cyclone Guba continues

Nearly a year after Tropical Cyclone Guba devastated the Oro Province, most villagers are still unable to cultivate their land and continue to experience hardship, the PNG Post-Courier reports. People were most concerned about when the Government’s restoration plan will be implemented. They said government authorities had failed to visit people still living in care centres and villages devastated by the floods. An Oro Bay councillor from Dombada village, which is now a lagoon, said the people in the area were “thankful to God for surviving on beans”, one of the few surviving edible plants.

The next issue of the PNG Association’s quarterly journal, Una Voce, features a fundraising raffle to raise money for a well managed and carefully targeted rural development project in the Oro Province. Tickets will be on sale until early December. The PNGAA website will also soon have a facility available to enable readers to participate in the event.

Simbu looting evidences decline of govt

When you turn off the Highlands Highway near Mingende Catholic Mission and travel a few kilometers north into the Bismarck Range along a red clay road interspersed with fragile bridges, you come to a ridge on which is located an isolated primary school called Gagl. Here, more than 40 years ago, I spent a memorable – if sometimes lonely - year of my life. Some Friday afternoons, maybe once a month before I acquired a motorbike, I used to walk those kilometers to the highway and hitch-hiked to Kundiawa for a weekend.

Gagl Primary T School was on the demarcation line between two clan groups, one of which was pushing the other off its land, and there were periodic flare-ups as a result. Midway between Mingende and Gagl – at Mintima – anthropologist Paula Brown and geographer Harold Brookfield had set up camp, having just begun what was to be 38 years of milestone research into Simbu land tenure.

The people were keen about education and committed to their school. The clans may have periodically clashed but there was bipartisan agreement on the need to support the school in every way they could – ensuring their children attended faithfully, working hard on the grounds and buildings and gardens, and never encroaching upon the school no matter how antagonistic clan relationships became.

There was no stealing. I experienced no hostility. And when, after a clan fight left some schoolboys somewhat battered and bloodied and they fled to the school in fear, and I felt some trepidation, my personal safety and that of anyone on school grounds was assured by the leaders of both sides. In retrospect, it was a year of adventure and wonderment and delight. I loved it.

Last Thursday, the Highlands (now Okuk) Highway near Mingende, was blocked for hours as tribespeople using cooking pots, buckets and dishes stole thousands of litres of diesel fuel pouring from a capsized tanker. Looters came from as far as Minj and Kundiawa. These days, whenever a vehicle comes to grief, or can be brought to grief, on the highway, the same thing happens.

The law has been taken into individual hands, implying that respect for national law has broken down. It is a measure of the challenges that PNG faces. It is also a measure of the extent to which that respect for what government is able to bring has disappeared, because government is seen to be unable to bring very much at all.

 

Rethink Aussie aid to PNG: Institute

A researcher with the Lowy Institute says Australia must radically rethink the way it provides aid to Papua New Guinea. According to Jenny Hayward-Jones PNG’s most pressing needs include job creation, improved education and more infrastructure. But she says about half of Australia’s existing aid program of $400 million is spent on other things.

“People need jobs now, they need to go to school now, unless you do something quite radical, then you’ll continue with the current problems. Ordinary PNG people aren’t seeing the impact of the spending ... and Australian tax payers want to see outcomes.”

Ms Hayward-Jones says Australia’s current policy focused on good governance and strengthening PNG’s institutions. But those objectives were much more difficult to achieve and to show improvements in than building infrastructure. “More than 50% of Australian aid is delivered through ‘technical assistance’. The average with other international agencies is 24%,” she says. “That’s basically $200 million to administration, salaries, consultants’ fees and accommodation. It’s a big frustration in the Pacific in the amount of funds going there rather than a health clinic or school.”

Last week a PNG public accounts committee found evidence of gross incompetence in 15 Government departments and poor or non-existent record keeping. There is an estimated K1 billion missing from the public purse.

Ms Hayward-Jones says unless Australia’s policy on aid changed, its relationship with PNG would not progress. “They [the Australian government] risk the usual relationship problems that we’ve had with PNG when PNG doesn’t deliver the outcomes promised,” she warns. “It’s unclear what Australia will do in such a case. Does Australia then punish PNG by withdrawing aid?”

Source: ‘ Australia must rethink aid policy on PNG: think-tank’, By Ilya Gridneff, AAP

Somare set to depart as PNG leader

The Papua New Guinea media is reporting this morning that Sir Michael Somare is ready to bow out of politics. “I am prepared to throw in the towel because, around me, I have lieutenants and colonels as good as anyone you can compare in the world,” the Prime Minister told a surprise dinner to honour his 40 years in politics, according to the National newspaper.

Sir Michael admitted that, although he was at the forefront of the nation’s leadership, PNG was not an easy country to run, with more than 800 different ethnic groups, customs and traditions. “I have tried my best in the last 40 years,” he said. “Politics of this country is now in good hands.”

Petroleum and Energy Minister William Duma described the Prime Minister as a “magnet” who attracted people to him because of his leadership qualities. He said most current young leaders would “crawl on broken glass” to have an opportunity to serve under Sir Michael, a great leader who came around only once in a life-time.

Meanwhile, the Post-Courier reports PNG Governor-General, Sir Paulias Matane, expressing concerns at a Transparency International survey ranking PNG as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

“If these indications are factual then it means that corruption is blooming in PNG and we should be very disappointed, particularly our leaders,” Sir Paulias said. “As head of State, I call on every Papua New Guinean to be honest, persevering, hard working and live real Christian lives because we can do a lot better. The onus is on us as individuals in our community, province and our nation.”

PNG sitting on a corruption time bomb

Lae community leader and businessman Fred Wak has said the Papua New Guinea Government must take immediate steps to expose and deal with people alleged to be involved in corrupt dealings, if the National Alliance-led coalition wants to maintain the confidence and trust of the people.

Mr Wak urged the Government to act firmly against corruption involving people in high offices including senior ministers and departmental heads. “We are sitting on a time bomb. People who are feeling pain are told repeatedly that millions of kina are lost or kept in secret bank accounts somewhere. They are going to rise up one day,” he told the Post-Courier newspaper.

Mr Wak was responding to a report in the Post-Courier that K100 million in public funds allocated to the PNG Forest Authority had gone missing. “Again we hear that this involves the forest sector, just like we were told of the K145 million from log export levy that was kept in a Singapore bank account,” he said.

“What is wrong with this country? The Government is doing nothing. We are not told if the police or the Ombudsman Commission or anyone in the law and justice sector is doing anything about the corruption cases that are exposed already. We just can’t allow these people to get away with all the money they have taken from the ordinary people, the very people who are seething with frustration and anger out there because they think their MPs and government lets them down,” Mr Wak said.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Central Supply and Tenders Board, Brian Kimmins, has told an official inquiry investigating alleged massive fraud and mismanagement of public money that many government departments had failed to follow tendering processes prescribed under the Act.

Mr Kimmins said the Board was working on ways to further improve transparency in procurement which would have a positive impact on accountability and the confidence of people, contractors and donors.

Source: Papua New Guinea Post-Courier, 24 September 2008

PNG leaders commit to national growth

The Papua New Guinea Government sees the public service as an obstacle to development and is moving to revamp it. Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare and his deputy Dr Puka Temu “could not hide the scant regard they had for the public service” in their Independence Day messages, The National newspaper said.

“This deterioration happened over a period of time and it will take some time to get it back to where it should be,” Sir Michael said. Dr Temu reinforced that the Government was re-examining its institutions and systems as well as the laws “because these were the vehicles through which planned changes would come about”.

“It is no secret that the public service machinery lacked vision and energy. It must be revamped and re-energised to take charge of the long-term plans and to prepare the Government and country to be responsive to the inevitable changes coming in the wake of major resource developments.”

Dr Temu said “PNG is about to enter a major industrialisation phase, and may not necessarily be prepared. It is no secret that the presence of the public service at the district and ward levels is anaemic at best. Focus must be shifted there to build capacity. Funds for development at these levels are available even now, but the capacity to mobilise project implementation is lacking. This is where 80% of Papua New Guineans live.”

Meanwhile, a government-funded National Television Service (NTS) has been launched as an independence gift to the people of PNG. Large screens were set up in Goroka, Mt Hagen, Rabaul and Port Moresby for people to watch the new service of mostly pre-recorded programs. The first program to be screened was Yumi Yet – a documentary about Independence Day celebrations in 1975.

Sir Michael Somare said by the end of the year, the world should know PNG. He teased that many foreigners do not know much about PNG except for Queenslanders and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Lepani: Good year for bilateral relations

2008 has been “a very good and busy year for PNG-Australia relations at official and people to people levels”, Papua New Guinea’s High Commissioner to Australia, Charles Lepani told an Independence Day gathering in Canberra yesterday.

Mr Lepani highlighted a sequence of high level events that has marked a new phase in the bilateral relationship: starting with the visit to Australia by PNG Foreign Minister Sam Abal in January and followed in rapid succession by the meeting of Prime Ministers Somare and Rudd at the Bali climate change conference in February, the visit of Kevin Rudd to PNG in March, a joint meeting of senior officials in Canberra in April, the Joint Ministerial Meeting in Madang in May and the farewell visit of former Governor-General Michael Jeffrey and Mrs Malena Jeffrey to PNG in August.

“These can only be described as truly significant milestones in further maturing and promoting our historical and friendly ties,” Mr Lepani said. “We can only look forward to further successes and the deepening of our relations as friends.”

Mr Lepani said Mr Rudd’s announcement of the Port Moresby Declaration, setting out development parameters for Pacific countries, Australia and New Zealand, was a highlight of the Australian Government’s policy framework for Pacific nations.

He concluded in the time-honoured PNG way by inviting those present to “enjoy the SP Beer donated by our South Pacific Brewery and flown here courtesy of Air Niugini, the wine from Australia and champagne from New Zealand.

“To the purists, I apologise for not providing kava and betel nut, but I am sure before the end of the day you will find a way to avail yourselves of such pleasures,” he joked.

33 years on we must do better, says PNG

In a candid assessment of Papua New Guinea ’s progress in the 33 years since independence, Dr Iamo Ila’ava, who heads the technical advisory group to the National Planning Committee, says the country must do better.

“When we assess our development performance since 1975 against the Eight Point Plan adopted at independence it is obvious that we have failed miserably,” says Dr Ila’ava. “After three decades of political independence, our rural people still lack basic services. “We must ‘do the right things’ instead of ‘just doing things right’,” he said, and forecast that future generations will demand a very different and better outcome.

According to the PNG Post-Courier, inflation is damaging the well-being of people even though measures of PNG’s overall economic performance show the country is going well. “A large tin of bully beef at independence cost about 70 toea while a packet of rice cost about 30t. Today, the cost for Ox and Palm is K6 and a packet of rice is about K4.

“At independence students were taught by teachers who had a high command of discipline, commitment and qualification. These qualities are lacking among teachers today.

Port Moresby residents at independence were employed and had accommodation. Today migrants have moved in and expanded squatter settlements on prime state land in search of the bright city lights and the need of basic services.

“Most rural people in PNG do not have access to clinics or school and transport facilities. Adding to these social problems there is a general break down in law and order, and families and marriages.”

Image: The front page of yesterday’s PNG Post-Courier

Major changes forecast for PNG ministry

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare, is expected to undertake a major reshuffle of his Ministry after independence celebrations next Tuesday. The PNG Post-Courier reports today that it was given a list of names purporting to be the new Ministry.

The newspaper says that one of the more startling changes proposed is the elevation of Namatanai MP Byron Chan - son of key Opposition figure, Sir Julius Chan - as Education Minister. Ministers who stand to lose their portfolios include Housing Minister Andrew Kumbakor, Commerce and Industry Minister Gabriel Kapris and Correctional Service Minister Tony Aimo.

The list suggests that the People’s Party, Rural Development Party and People’s Progress Party will join the Government coalition. But Transport Minister Don Polye savaged the list as the work of people trying to destabilise the Government. “This is a lot of rubbish and hogwash and could be a deliberate attempt to destabilise the Government of the day.”

Reciprocal student visa scheme planned

Hot on the heels of the inclusion of Papua New Guinea in the Pacific seasonal labour scheme, PNG and Australia will soon announce an agreement to facilitate a work and holiday scheme for university students from both countries. This follows discussions between Prime Ministers Somare and Rudd at the recent Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Niue.

The work visa will enable university students going to Australia on vacation to secure employment for up to six months and undertake study for up to four months. “Both prime ministers noted this facility will enable students of our two countries to familiarise themselves with the PNG and Australian way of life, work ethics, traditions and culture as well as to develop networks that will be useful after they graduate,” Mr Abal said.

Meanwhile the PNG Government has unveiled a K700 million plan to improve school infrastructure and address textbook shortages in schools. The massive expenditure comes after public concern at poor learning results and deteriorating facilities in schools.

Acting Education Minister Sani Rambi said the current ratio was ten students to one textbook and 20 to one in remote areas. “None of our children can learn properly under these conditions,” he said. "We now have the money to change that.”

Source: PNG National, 1 September 2008

6.3 magnitude earthquake hits PNG

A major earthquake shook Papua New Guinea late yesterday afternoon. Officials say it is too early to say if there had been damage or injuries. The quake struck 70km northeast of Lae, according to the US Geological Survey. The epicentre was 56km below the surface. Lae has a population of 120,000.

Source: Agence France-Presse. Thanks to Paul Oates

WWII airman found on Kokoda Track

Richard Jones

The Kokoda Track is in the news again, this time after a walker found what could be the remains of a World War II airman. A Victorian policeman photographing flowers along the track snapped what could be the skeleton of an airman, suspended in what appeared to be a parachute harness.

An Australian Defence Force spokeswoman said the remains were still hanging from jungle canopy close to sites used by Allied aircraft during World War 2. But at this stage it was still too early to say who the airman was fighting for. “A number of Allied aircraft had been reported as missing in the area, in particular B25 Mitchells and a number of Kittyhawks,” she said.

The ADF is preparing to visit the area to confirm the identity of the remains. “We are gathering information and making plans to visit the site to confirm the reports,” the spokeswoman said. Japanese officials in Port Moresby have viewed a videotape of the policeman’s find, but because the body is heavily covered in moss they said, at this stage, it was impossible to identify any nationality.

American, Australian and Japanese planes flew near the site of the discovery on the track, where Australia lost 600 soldiers fighting the Japanese in bitter hand-to-hand battles. Guide David Collins from Australian company No Roads Expeditions was leading the Kokoda trek when the moss-covered remains were discovered.

“We had a few police officers on the 19-man trek. One was taking photographs with a large lens of the trees and flowers. He then discovered what looked like the remains of a body. I couldn’t make it out at first. It wasn’t until the wind blew that you could really see that it was in a harness,” Mr Collins said.

“There were goggles and it appeared to be caught up in cables so presumably it is an airman,” the trek guide added. Mr Collins said the remains were found in the jungle canopy at the top of the Owen Stanley Range, almost halfway along the 96-kilometre Track.

Source: Melbourne Herald-Sun and agencies.

Guest labour scheme ‘modest’, says Burke

The Australian Minister for Agriculture Tony Burke says his government took a modest approach to its pilot seasonal worker scheme to ensure its success. Mr Burke, in Papua New Guinea to promote the scheme and talk with counterparts, said details were yet to be finalised. “We want to make sure this works properly,” he told reporters in Port Moresby. "The overarching theme is win-win."

Up to 2,500 workers from PNG, Kiribati, Tonga and Vanuatu will participate in a three-year pilot scheme, similar to a successful seasonal labour scheme run in New Zealand. Participants will work for up to seven months a year in the horticulture industry in regional Australia.

Mr Burke said it will probably be mid next year before the scheme's first visas are issued. He said at this stage there were no ideal candidates, country quotas or time frames. "We want to work with the PNG government to work out which communities would have a number of people wanting to participate," he said.

Despite speculation, PNG was always on the list of countries included in the scheme, he added.

Source: AAP Port Moresby, 19 August 2008

Michael Somare vows to stay as PNG PM

As signs of a political instability intensify in Papua New Guinea, Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare has said he will not step down as leader of the National Alliance Party, the political alliance he created. “I am a practitioner of the democratic process of the Government in PNG,” he told 1,000 people at the Waigani Seminar in Port Moresby last Friday.

“Before the 2007 National Elections, the National Alliance party voted me in as the leader of the party. We won the government over a year ago and Members of Parliament agreed to support the National Alliance party to form government. I will remain the leader of the National Alliance party until next National Alliance convention when the new leadership is decided by its members,” he said.

“I want to assure the people of PNG that I would be the last person to undermine the institutions that I played a pivotal role in establishing. I want to qualify, however, that as a member of the legislature it is my role to amend legislation and give rise to policies that keep up with the changing times and suit our circumstances”.

Meanwhile, Sir Michael has said that if he was a dictator he would have put former prime minister Sir Julius Chan behind bars for 20 years because “he was an obstacle to development”. The remark came after Sir Julies likened certain behaviour of Sir Michael to that of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe.

Source: PNG Post-Courier, 18 August 2008

Tavurvur volcano in serious eruption

Rabaul is being blanketed by a heavy ashfall this morning as Tavurvur continues to erupt. The volcano has been active for the last two to three weeks, severely affecting the township with an accumulation of ash.

The situation has worsened along Mango Avenue, which, in the past, had received some protection because of prevailing winds. Homes, food gardens and cash crops throughout the Rabaul area have been badly affected.

Gabriel Pangur and his family live near the Rabaul Volcano Observatory and says his gardens have been destroyed. “Ol gaden blong mipela i bagarap pinis long das pundaun long Tavurvur.” Mr Pangur said the dust also affected his family who are suffering aggravated coughs and running noses. Drinking and washing water hasd turned to dust again, he said.

US Navy rescues Kokoda Track walker

Richard Jones

Melbourne lawyer Debra Paver was rescued from the Kokoda Track by US Navy helicopter last Friday. Ms Paver, 44, collapsed while walking the track and became gravely ill, lapsing into unconsciousness.

She had been unconscious for more than a day when a helicopter from the USNS hospital ship Mercy [pictured], which was berthed in Port Moresby, was alerted to Ms Paver’s plight by the American embassy in Moresby.

A Knighthawk helicopter was dispatched to Alola village, landing on a small grassy patch 1,800 metres up in the Owen Stanleys. The landing area was shrouded in dense fog. The crew found the Melbourne woman awake but incoherent and flew her back to the Mercy. Within 24 hours her condition had improved from critical to stable.

Melbourne friend Bill Mirabito told journalists it had been “touch and go” for Ms Paver for a while. “She had a body meltdown through an imbalance in her body fluids,” he said. Ms Paver had intended to walk the Kokoda Track to raise awareness and funds for a rare skin disorder.

USNS Mercy’s captain, Bob Wiley, said Ms Paver had been suffering from hyponatremia, or low sodium levels, and confirmed she’d been unconscious for more than 24 hours before being rescued. The hospital ship was anchored off the coast of Port Moresby as part of Pacific Partnership 2008, a US humanitarian assistance mission to Oceania and South-East Asia.

Source: ‘Bayside Leader’ and ‘Herald-Sun’ Melbourne

The pic I've been waiting some time for

It's been a long struggle for Aloysius Laukai and his team on Buka Island to get community radio station, New Dawn FM, to the airwaves. But here's the photo that shows that real life has been breathed into the project - team leader Paul Max, front left, with a group of brand new broadcast trainees.

New Dawn FM has been funded by UNESCO and the German Government following a concept developed and promoted by ASOPA PEOPLE stalwarts Assoc Prof Martin Hadlow and Phil Charley OAM, assisted by my goodself.

The station is the first community controlled station in Papua New Guinea. It is funded by advertising and broadcasts to the northern regions of the Autonomous Province of Bougainville.

Photo: Aloysius Laukai

Mr Rudd’s Pacific credentials on line

AROUND the Pacific region, people and leaders will be waiting keenly to hear what Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says on the proposed guest worker scheme.

Mr Rudd, who made such a good impression on his first trip to PNG as prime minister earlier this year, is due to speak at the Pacific Islands Forum in Niue in two weeks.

There, he will spell out his government’s stance on a trial guest worker scheme for Pacific islanders.

This is the concept of islands people being allowed to perform certain jobs on a short-term, seasonal basis in Australia to fill the demand for labour there.

Past Australian governments have been reluctant to allow such a scheme to happen.

The Rudd government has sounded favourable to the idea.

There have been suggestions that the scheme, if adopted, will not be open to all nations in the Pacific.

A group with strong ties to Papua New Guinea has spoken, saying the Niue announcement was looming as an important test of Australia’s relationship with PNG.

Keith Jackson, president of the Papua New Guinea Association of Australia, says: “The big question is whether workers from PNG will be included in the scheme.’’ It would be a tragedy, he says in quoting our diplomat in Canberra, Charles Lepani, if PNG was excluded from the program.

Mr Jackson’s group is based on membership largely derived from people who lived and worked in PNG in the past, especially from the 50s to the 70s. Many have fond and lingering memories of their times in PNG and see nothing to justify our people being excluded.

Mr Jackson says one of the reasons cited by Australia for starting the scheme is to try to improve relations with Pacific countries. He adds: “It would be deep irony indeed, given this goal, if PNG’s exclusion once again plunged the bilateral relationship with Australia into a state of disrepair.’’

Perhaps we are reading too much into his statement but we get a feeling that the PNG Association of Australia has picked up some information or vibes to indicate a negative approach in Canberra.

The worker scheme could be an excellent boost to relations and trade and give Australia a chance to prove its pan-Pacific credentials are not just hot air.

Many of our citizens are already showing their worth and being accepted as doctors, engineers and pilots down south. Why not our labourers, vetted and tied to normal conditions?

Papua New Guinea Post-Courier, Viewpoints [Editorial], 6 August 2008

Governor-General shows Melanesian way

Governor-General, Major General Michael Jeffery, is visiting Papua New Guinea on a farewell trip before he retires in five weeks time. Accompanied by his wife Marlene, Maj-Gen Jeffery yesterday revisited the Taurama chapel where they were married over 40 years ago.

Maj-Gen Jeffery, who is also PNGAA patron, said PNG would remain close to their hearts. He said he had absolute confidence in the prosperity and democratic process in PNG. “You are strongly developing your natural resources, [have] a strong proven system of democracy and a rich, diverse culture which is one of the best in the world and you have all the educated people to make the future bright and happy for everyone, and during this visit I have seen many signs of that happening,” he said.

“One of the ways we can further encourage [the PNG-Australia] relationship is by having young people moving backwards and forwards between our countries in various types of employment — it might be in the public service, military, police and teachers so we have people from PNG and Australia who will grow up with one another.”

Maj-Gen Jeffery said from his discussions, it was clear there was high interest in working together to continue the development of a stable region. “In other words trying to be good neighbours to one another and I think that’s the natural Melanesian way and if we can keep these things politically and economically, socially and culturally, security-wise, then we will have a stable region which will be an example to the rest of the world.”

Source: ‘Australian G-G couple make final visit before retiring’, PNG Post-Courier, 5 August 2008

Taiwan: Will PNG workers be next?

Unskilled workers from Solomon Islands could soon be working in Taiwan under a new labour scheme between the two countries. Taiwanese Ambassador to the Solomons, , George Chen, says an agreement on terms and conditions is being worked out. He says the two governments will sign an agreement on the labour scheme, which will be implemented by private interests.

“Since Solomon Islands is our staunch ally in the Pacific, we proposed that scheme to the Solomon Islands,” said Mr Chen. “Taiwan is interested in construction, the services sector like maids, hospital helpers and so forth. Now I don't know the details but I think there's some unskilled labour will be easier to implement this project. We're not talking about skilled labour.”

Mr Chen said Taiwan could “import” up to 200 Solomon Islanders in the first instance, depending on market demand. He would not specify what remuneration the workers would receive but said “it must be very competitive for Solomon Island workers to travel to Taiwan and to work there.”

Source: Pacific Beat, ABC, ‘Solomons and Taiwan finalising labour scheme’

Is Australia really doing it right in PNG?

Until the end of this year, Charlotte Smith is first secretary (and AusAID head) at the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby. Ms Smith has  told the PNG National newspaper that she will leave Papua New Guinea content with her two-year stay in the country.

But Ms Smith also made an unusual admission for someone of such influence in Australia-PNG relations. She said she still had much to learn about PNG, its people and their cultures. The National reported her saying that, during her two-year stay, “people had taught her a lot but she still knew very little and there was so much to learn.”

So what did Ms Smith learn? Among other things: "As I have gone around listening … I have heard about the strong potential for communities to develop local solutions to local problems and the important role of community-based and community-driven organisations in supporting people to realise their own goals, at their own pace, in their own way".

She had also heard that the disconnection between the Government and the people could be overcome through partnerships where there was mutual respect and working together towards a common goal. "People at local level hope they can deal with important issues like eliminating family violence and promoting peace."

AusAID has been consulting with PNG government agencies and non-government organisations to develop a new program, Strongim Pipol Kirapim Neisen [Supporting People to Build the Nation], which will start early next year. Apparently the program will involve AusAID in “working with all the participating organisations and with the Department of Community Development and their strategies and [developing an] appropriate planning and reporting format and [assisting] organisations … develop and implement longer-term solutions.”

Thirty-three years after Independence, it doesn’t really seem quite enough. And, while accepting that Ms Smith was being self-effacing, shouldn’t our senior diplomats be able to do better than an admission of “knowing very little” about critical factors such as culture that comprise the very underpinnings of effective development assistance?

Source: ‘AusAID secretary leaves PNG’ by Madeleine Arek