The thin edge of the wedge

From PAUL OATES

The Papua New Guinea government has on Friday the 28th of May 2010 introduced new environmental legislation into Parliament that contains the following clause;
"The director's decision is final and cannot be challenged in any court of law!"
This clause in effect, nullifies any future, possible court action by landowners who may try to protect their environment by way of a court injunction.
The PNG Parliament has voted 73 - 10 to stop any further injunctions being issued, such as the one preventing the Ramu Nickel mine from annually pumping millions of tonnes of waste out into the sea off Madang until an environmental impact study is properly reviewed.
On a positive note, at least 10 members had the guts and far sightedness to vote against the Bill. These 10 should be supported for
their refusal to join a 'lemming like stampede' by other members to destroy their country and their children's future.
History will mark this action by the Somare government as 'the point of no return'.
The implications of this new legislation are very important and far reaching. It signifies that the Somare government now intends to effectively gag all future legal action over the environment by concerned PNG citizens. This is the 'thin edge of the wedge'. By this action, the PNG government has shown that it clearly in future intends to ride roughshod over the rights of its citizens and their Constitutional legal system.
This is the 'thin edge of the wedge'. PNG's Constitution is now directly threatened by the very person who helped write it and swore to uphold it. A large, 'red flag' has now been effectively raised that all PNG citizens should take particular note of.