Manus management 'needs improvement': PNG

  Source: Rhiannon Elston, SBS

The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Peter O'Neill, has responded to allegations of abuse on Manus Island by saying management at the Australian-funded facility needs improvement.
Yesterday, SBS's Dateline program broke allegations of rape, abuse and serial self-harm among asylum seekers on PNG's Manus Island.
"We've got our Immigration Department that is working very closely with their Australian counterparts in managing the processing centre and of course we do get regular briefs from our own people," Mr O'Neill told PNG radio program FM 100 this morning.
He added that the construction of a permanent facility would help improve conditions.
"The ongoing issue is you've got people from different areas living together," he said. "Our aim is to try and build a permanent facility that is going to reduce those kind of opportunities.
"There are some issues about management of the refugee processing centre, and I think as governments we need to manage that better.
"Some of the contractors who are managing the facility are not doing the job that they are paid to do," he said.
The PNG PM also highlighted the financial benefits of the new asylum seeker deal for his country, which will see all asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat sent to Manus Island for processing and settlement.
"With the recent deal we have done with the Australian government, we are rebuilding the University of Papua New Guinea and also the University of Technology," he said. 
He also discussed a plan for Australian police forces to fly to Port Moresby to help train graduate police officers in a bid to reduce corruption.
"We are discussing this matter with the Australian government to train police forces," he said. "Fifty policemen will be here before Christmas under the agreement we have just reached."
Mr O'Neill said his nation would "set the priorities" on how aid money from Australia would be spent. "The PNG government knows the priorities we have, but sometimes we do not have the money to do it ourselves."
He added that he didn't believe many asylum seekers would choose to stay in Papua New Guinea in the longer term.
"This is a very Christian thing to do," he said. "We are just fearful because [many asylum seekers] are Muslims or coming from places we don't know."
"Most of them, we know they are not genuine refugees, that means they will be flown back to their country of origin, and if they do not want to go there they will be taken to a third country," he said.
"I don't think the numbers people think will come and flood our country will be as big as people think," he added.
"In fact, I am very certain this will not be the case."
Meanwhile, the director of the only hospital on Manus Island disputed claims of rape and self-harm at the asylum seeker facility, saying he had not seen or heard of any evidence to suggest they took place.
Immigration Minister Tony Burke says he's taking the whistleblower's accusations seriously, and will travel to Manus Island this week to investigate the claims.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott told press this morning the government should have known about the alleged problems earlier.
"They have to be investigated and if people have done the wrong thing, well they ought to be punished," he said.
"I should point out that Scott Morrison has been warning the government for months that there were serious risks of bullying and abuse and violence in detention centres both here and overseas. I'm disappointed that the government has made light of Scott Morrison's warnings."

Total's Papua New Guinea venture makes modest start

By Ross Kelly 
Wall Street Journal

SYDNEY--Total SA's (TOT) foray into Papua New Guinea has gotten off to a shaky start after two exploration wells failed to find much natural gas, according to the French company's Australian partner in the project.
Oil Search Ltd. (OSH.AU) said in a statement Tuesday that the first two exploration wells in a campaign to tap new natural gas resources in the country--Flinders and Hagana--had yielded only "relatively modest" amounts of the fuel.
Oil Search said both wells, though, had intersected good quality types of rock--possibly indicating the presence of larger natural gas reserves nearby that could be targeted with further drilling. A Perth-based spokeswoman for Total declined to comment, and a call to Oil Search, whose shares fell 2.6% in Sydney, wasn't immediately returned.
Papua New Guinea, an impoverished southeast Asian nation that lies just north of Australia and to the east of mainland Indonesia, has around 22.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, U.K.-based consultancy Wood Mackenzie estimates--about equal to U.S. annual consumption of the commodity. That likely underestimates the true potential, however, as the country has so far only been lightly explored for oil and gas.
Recent big discoveries by the likes of Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) have transformed Papua New Guinea, better known for its jungles and lawlessness, into one of the world's hottest energy plays. Its promise as a hub for new sources of natural gas has begun to lure an increasing number of larger oil companies, including Total, looking to feed Asia's growing appetite for fuels that burn cleaner than coal.
Rival Exxon's US$19 billion liquefied-natural-gas project, dubbed PNG LNG, is among the more advanced in Papua New Guinea. The facility is scheduled to ship its first LNG cargos to Japan, China and Taiwan next year, while more recent gas discoveries have led Exxon and its partners already to begin planning an expansion of the project.
Aiming to mirror Exxon's success, Total last year bought stakes ranging from 35%-50% in five exploration blocks owned by Oil Search in the Gulf of Papua that it hoped would underpin the creation of another big LNG plant in the country. The French oil producer has a strong foothold in the Asia-Pacific region already, having spent billions of dollars buying up stakes in two large LNG projects in neighbouring Australia.
Total bought into the Papua New Guinean blocks by promising to cover the drilling costs for Oil Search, a much smaller player. No specific price tag was ever disclosed.
Andrew Williams, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets in Melbourne, said the first two wells hadn't delivered a significant discovery, but described the drilling results as "mixed" in view of the quality of the rocks encountered by the wells.
"The play remains high risk but encouraging enough to commit to another well in the current programme," Mr. Williams said, noting that Oil Search had identified more than 30 potential drilling prospects in the area. Hagana is still drilling ahead to its targeted depth, while a third well is also being prepared.
"Although the volumes at Flinders and Hagana are likely to be relatively modest, the company has been sufficiently encouraged to take up a further well option, and will drill the Kidukidu prospect once Hagana-1 is completed," Oil Search said in its statement.
Underscoring the country's perceived potential, Exxon has also started talks to invest in U.S.-based InterOil Corp.'s (IOC) Papua New Guinean natural gas assets, and Japan's Mitsubishi Corp. (8058.TO) agreed, in February, to a US$280 million deal to buy stakes in several natural gas discoveries made by Canada's Talisman Energy Inc. (TLM).

Write to Ross Kelly at ross.kelly@wsj.com 

Wood Group PSN awarded Papua New Guinea contract

23 July 2013 | 08:42am

StockMarketWire.com - Wood Group PSN has been awarded a contract by Esso Highlands Ltd, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corp, to provide engineering, procurement, construction and maintenance services to support its Papua New Guinea (PNG)liquefied natural gas (LNG) operations.

Under the contract, WGPSN will provide brownfield engineering and procurement support to ExxonMobil's operations in PNG, including construction and maintenance services to both the Hides gas conditioning plant in the highlands,and the LNG plant northwest of Port Moresby. It is effective from August 1, 2013.

- See more at: http://www.stockmarketwire.com/article/4636709/Wood-Group-PSN-awarded-Papua-New-Guinea-contract.html#sthash.Ace9nROf.dpuf

Wood Group PSN awarded Papua New Guinea contract

23 July 2013 | 08:42am

StockMarketWire.com - Wood Group PSN has been awarded a contract by Esso Highlands Ltd, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corp, to provide engineering, procurement, construction and maintenance services to support its Papua New Guinea (PNG)liquefied natural gas (LNG) operations.

Under the contract, WGPSN will provide brownfield engineering and procurement support to ExxonMobil's operations in PNG, including construction and maintenance services to both the Hides gas conditioning plant in the highlands,and the LNG plant northwest of Port Moresby. It is effective from August 1, 2013.

- See more at: http://www.stockmarketwire.com/article/4636709/Wood-Group-PSN-awarded-Papua-New-Guinea-contract.html#sthash.Ace9nROf.dpuf

Wood Group PSN awarded Papua New Guinea contract

23 July 2013 | 08:42am

StockMarketWire.com - Wood Group PSN has been awarded a contract by Esso Highlands Ltd, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corp, to provide engineering, procurement, construction and maintenance services to support its Papua New Guinea (PNG)liquefied natural gas (LNG) operations.

Under the contract, WGPSN will provide brownfield engineering and procurement support to ExxonMobil's operations in PNG, including construction and maintenance services to both the Hides gas conditioning plant in the highlands,and the LNG plant northwest of Port Moresby. It is effective from August 1, 2013.

- See more at: http://www.stockmarketwire.com/article/4636709/Wood-Group-PSN-awarded-Papua-New-Guinea-contract.html#sthash.Ace9nROf.dpuf

Joe Kanekane’s funeral service on Wednesday, July 24

By MALUM NALU

The funeral service of respected senior public servant and PNG Media Council president Joe Kanekane will be held at St Joseph’s Catholic Church, East Boroko, on Wednesday, July 24.

Kanekane, 44, from Kowengil village in Ialibu, Southern Highlands, was director of the PNG Law and Justice Sector Secretariat (LJSS), at the times of his death from heart attack at Tabubil Hospital in Western province on Sunday, July 14, while on vacation.

Kanekane in his role as PNG Media Council president.-Picture courtesy of Community Development Initiative

Funeral service will be held from 9am to 12pm, after which the body will be taken to the Funeral Home at Erima, where it lies until 6pm when it is taken to the family home at Rainbow Village to overnight.

On Thursday morning, the body will be flown to Kagamuga Airport in Mt Hagen, where the Baisu Correctional Services band will lead proceedings.

The funeral possession then leaves for Imbonggu, Southern Highlands, stepping along the wayside at Telgha LJSS project sites, and Lower Nebilyer for last respects, before departing for Imbonggu where it will be met by MP and Works Minister Francis Awesa at Walum district office.

The body will be then taken to Kanekane’s beloved Kowengil village, where the traditional haus krai (house of mourning) begins, and lasts until next Monday for funeral service and burial.

Kanekane held an MBA, a degree in arts with honours from the University of Papua New Guinea and a post-graduate diploma from the University of Wales.

He was president of the PNG Media Council, chairman of the Individual and Community Rights Advocacy Forum (ICRAF) board, a member of the National Scouts Association Board and was the chairman of the PNG Censorship board.

He was also on the Caritas PNG board, was co-chairman of the Community Coalition against Corruption and was an accomplished poet and writer.

Kanekane travelled around the country while he was growing up as his father, Kanekane Kepa, was a jail warder.

 He was a trained primary school teacher before he took up university studies in 1989.

His mother Cecilia told The National at his haus krai that Kanekane was born in Maprik, East Sepik, on Sept 9, 1968.

He began primary school in Wapenamanda, Enga, and continued on to Laiagam, Banz in Western Highlands and Mt Hagen.

Kanekane went on to the Madang Teachers’ College where he trained for two years and then taught in Western Highlands before taking up studies at UPNG.

“He said he loved writing and wanted to become a journalist,” his mother recalled.

He did, with a successful career at Word Publishing before joining LJSS.

“It’s a big loss to the family and tribe, law and justice sector, media and the whole country,” LJSS chief internal auditor Robert Tukundo, a cousin of Kanekane, said.

PNG opposition leader to challenge asylum seeker deal in courts

ABC

Video: PNG Opposition challenges refugee agreement with Australia (Newsline)

Papua New Guinea's opposition leader Belden Namah says he will challenge the deal with Australia to process and resettle asylum seekers in the country's courts.

Mr Namah has told Australia Network's Newsline the deal is in breach of Papua New Guinea's constitution and human rights standards in United Nations conventions.
"I have instructed my lawyers, we are filing next week to challenge the asylum seekers arrangement with Australia," he said.
"I personally believe that I have a very good chance of success because Papua New Guinea's prime minister Peter O'Neill has failed to adhere to the constitution of our country."
Mr Namah says the asylum seekers are looking for protection in Australia and should not be forced against their will to stay in Papua New Guinea.
"We are basically acting against the rights of individuals who are seeking to find asylum in Australia," he said.
"We are pushing these people, who have travelled miles, travelled through stormy waters to reach Australia - they are not coming to look for asylum in Papua New Guinea."
He says the deal is a "political gimmick" and is not needed to boost Papua New Guinea's economy given the country's wealth of natural resources.
"We already have a multi-billion LNG project... that's enough money already to be able to buy enough medicine, to be able to buy enough beds for hospitals, rural hospitals in Papua New Guinea."
"We don't need money from asylum seekers - I see it as a total joke."
Mr Namah says Papua New Guinea's high poverty rate is due to the "poor financial management" of successive leaders and governments, rather than a lack of funds.
"It's not because we don't have money," he said.

O'Neill brags of closer grip on aid after refugee deal

 July 23, 2013

By Rory Callinan, Daniel Flitton

Sydney Morning Herald

Greater control of Australia's multimillion-dollar aid program to Papua New Guinea appears to have been handed back to the developing country as part of a sweetener to accept asylum seekers.
Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill, boasted on Monday that he had achieved a ''realignment'' of the country's aid program from Australia as part of the recently negotiated agreement.
Australia has spent billions of dollars in aid in the country and, last financial year, the amount was tipped to rise to about $500 million - the majority of which was to be closely controlled by AusAID in a bid to avoid corruption.

Done deal: Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd sign an agreement over asylum seekers on July 19, 2013. Photo: Glenn Hunt

Speaking just after arriving back in the country on Monday, an upbeat Mr O'Neill said his government would set the priorities for all of Australia's aid programs.
''We have had experience of where AusAID programs have been running parallel to our own programs and, of course, when the AusAID programs are delivered, there is nobody to take carriage of the programs after they are completed,'' he said.
Mr O'Neill said the country had developed programs to counter corruption.
''We already have AusAID workers in our financial treasury and across all departments, so I think those fears are unfounded,'' he said.
While Mr O'Neill was happy to give some insight into what had been offered to achieve the deal, he gave few details about how asylum seeker processing would work, except to say would-be refugees could arrive ''any day''.
He could not say how many refugees his country would accept.
''I cannot know what's going to happen in the future,'' he said. ''I don't think the numbers are going to be as big as expected.''
Papua New Guinea has battled corruption issues for years, leading to Australia's aid donations being closely managed and monitored by Australian government interests.
Last year, Sam Koim, the head of Papua New Guinea's new anti-corruption unit, Taskforce Sweep, described the country as suffering from a level of fraud that had ''migrated from sporadic corruption to systematic and now an institutionalised form of corruption''.
A spokesman for Foreign Minster Bob Carr said Australia always had a partnership agreement with Papua New Guinea over where aid money is spent, with Australia deciding the amount.
He said Mr O'Neill had identified health, law and order and education as the main priorities for Australian aid but not all the $500 million program would be directed to these areas.
''Each individual aid project needs to meet the test of merit and show to be an appropriate use of aid money,'' the spokesman said.
But the country’s opposition leader,  Belden Namah, spoke critically of the deal. ‘‘[The Prime Minister] has failed miserably by not consulting the people through their elected representatives on the floor of parliament,’’ he said. "The problem in PNG is not money.
"It's about bad financial management and corruption."

A history of PNG corruption

June 19, 2013: Law enforcement sources tell Fairfax up to $500 million may have been stolen from PNG government legal aid funds over several years, which may have been siphoned to Australian banks.
October 8, 2012: An analysis by Task Force Sweep (TFS), a national corruption watchdog, finds up to half of PNG’s 7.6 billion kina (about $3.5 billion AUD) development budget from 2009 through 2011 was lost to corrupt practices or mismanagement by public officials and government departments.
16 February 2011: Australia’s High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea says he’s very concerned an Australian aid advisor may have been attacked for fighting corruption.
2011: Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer shows that 85% of PNG people survey found that the level of corruption has increased in the last three years.
2007: In a diplomatic cable later released by Wikileaks, the US embassy in Port Moresby refers to a PNG Health Minister: "mostly remembered for his insistence that he was just a politician and therefore could not be held responsible for the fact that the country’s hospitals had run out of medicines while his ministry was still flush with cash".
with Daniel Flitton

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/oneill-brags-of-closer-grip-on-aid-after-refugee-deal-20130722-2qevs.html#ixzz2ZrXfLGKh

PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill unclear on specifics of Rudd government refugee plan

By Peter Michael in Port Moresby

From The Courier-Mail

PAPUA New Guinea's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill is unclear on a total quota, cost or how long Australia will foot the bill for the refugee resettlement deal struck with the Federal Government.

Mr O'Neill flew back into a political storm in Port Moresby yesterday after signing the plan in Brisbane on Friday and publicly appealed to his strife-torn nation to accept the agreement.
The Pacific leader revealed the first boatload of asylum seekers to be processed under new rules was due at Manus Island detention centre, 810km north of the capital, within days.
But he was unable to put a dollar figure on the total cost of the refugee and resettlement program, a time frame on how long it would continue, or how much Kevin Rudd had committed to funding in the enhanced billion-dollar aid budget.
"Costings have not been done. I cannot just simply give you a figure that is imaginary,'' Mr O'Neill said.
"I think Papua New Guinea has done well out of this. It is a good deal for the country.''
Asked how many refugees PNG could realistically accept, Mr O'Neill said he believed the number of boat arrivals, averaging about 100 a day, would drastically fall off under the prospect of resettlement.
"We don't know the numbers yet. I don't think the numbers are going to be as big as what we think. I think there will be a quick decline. You can see from the report that smugglers who are now profiting from this exercise have already said they are going to stop boat people travelling.
"Genuine refugees will still travel but not the economic migrants.
"I think it will fall off and there will be much lower numbers.''
Manus Island facility would be fast-tracked from its present capacity of 250 to house 600 by next year while they would negotiate with other Pacific Island nations to get them to accept a certain quota of genuine refugees, he said.
His decision to support Mr Rudd's political deterrent to resettle genuine refugees who illegally arrive by boat in Australia has caused uproar in the poverty-stricken developing nation with a population of 7 million.
Locals have expressed concern about a "culture clash" and open hostility to the mostly Muslim refugees.
"I think those fears are unfounded, there is nothing in the agreement that says refugees will get priority over our citizens," he said.
"We call ourselves a Christian country. I think we need to show some compassion and some sympathy to genuine refugees.''
Mr O'Neill said it was not a new deal but one struck with the Howard government in 2006, restarted by the Gillard government, and "extended further" by the Rudd Government.
PNG is a land of contrasts full of potential in tourism, mining and a $19 billion gas project.
It is also beset by lawlessness, high unemployment, poverty, crumbling infrastructure and a health, housing and education crisis.
Under the new refugee deal, Australia will half fund the rebuild of PNG higher education system, build a new hospital at Lae, and upgrade the airport, health centres and schools at Manus Island.
PNG Opposition leader Belden Nama said it was an "agreement between two men" and
"Peter O'Neill is making decisions like a chicken with no head," he said.
He said it was kow-towing to old colonial masters.
"Do we need to make money off asylum seekers? No. PNG's problem is not money, but bad financial management."
At the notorious Six Mile market, a haven for violence and petty crime, betel nut seller Grace Moh, 25, said they were deadly opposed to the move.
"We don't want to get corrupted by other cultures," said fellow shopkeeper Obert Baree.
"They come to spoil us."
PNG has passed a motion in Parliament to talk about banning other religions from the Christian-dominated nation. Island nations to get them to accept a certain quota of genuine refugees, he said.

His decision to support Mr Rudd's political deterrent to resettle genuine refugees who illegally arrive by boat in Australia has caused uproar in the poverty-stricken developing nation with a population of 7 million.
Locals have expressed concern about a "culture clash" and open hostility to the mostly Muslim refugees.
"I think those fears are unfounded, there is nothing in the agreement that says refugees will get priority over our citizens," he said.
"We call ourselves a Christian country. I think we need to show some compassion and some sympathy to genuine refugees.''
Mr O'Neill said it was not a new deal but one struck with the Howard government in 2006, restarted by the Gillard government, and "extended further" by the Rudd Government.
PNG is a land of contrasts full of potential in tourism, mining and a $19 billion gas project.
It is also beset by lawlessness, high unemployment, poverty, crumbling infrastructure and a health, housing and education crisis.
Under the new refugee deal, Australia will half fund the rebuild of PNG higher education system, build a new hospital at Lae, and upgrade the airport, health centres and schools at Manus Island.
PNG Opposition leader Belden Nama said it was an "agreement between two men" and
"Peter O'Neill is making decisions like a chicken with no head," he said.
He said it was kow-towing to old colonial masters.
"Do we need to make money off asylum seekers? No. PNG's problem is not money, but bad financial management."
At the notorious Six Mile market, a haven for violence and petty crime, betel nut seller Grace Moh, 25, said they were deadly opposed to the move.
"We don't want to get corrupted by other cultures," said fellow shopkeeper Obert Baree.
"They come to spoil us."
PNG has passed a motion in Parliament to talk about banning other religions from the Christian-dominated nation.

Tuesday July 23 is Remembrance day in Papua New Guinea

Tuesday July 23  is a public holiday in Papua New Guinea and marks the 71st anniversary of the first engagement by PNG and Australian forces against the invading Japanese in WWII.
Out of the chaos and death that followed came the enduring heroism of the Kokoda Trail, and the special relationship that has bound PNG and Australia ever since.
One of the bloodiest campaigns of the Second World War began 66 years ago on Wednesday this week, July 23.
And it has forever sealed the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea.
It was on this day, in 1942, that Japanese troops landed on the northern coast of New Guinea and unexpectedly began to march over the Owen Stanley Ranges with the intent of capturing Port Moresby.
Had they succeeded, the mainland of Australia would have come under dire threat.
July 23 - Remembrance Day - marks the 60th anniversary of the first engagement between the opposing troops on July 23, 1942, and from that engagement, as the Australian force was progressively outnumbered, began the long fighting withdrawal over the Owen Stanley Range.
The 21st Brigade, commanded by Brigadier Potts DSO MC, was rushed to New Guinea and within days, its 1500 men were closing in on the precarious Owen Stanley Ranges in an attempt to position themselves to stop the advance of the Japanese forces - now building up to over 10, 000 men.
The brigade also engaged the ill-trained but gallant militia 39th Battalion at Isurava in the foothills on the far side of the range.
Kokoda was arguably Australia's most significant campaign of the Second World War.
More Australians died in the seven months of fighting in Papua, and the Japanese came closer to Australia, than in any other campaign.
Many of those young Australians, whose average age was between 18 and 19, now lie buried at the Bomana War Cemetery outside Port Moresby.
The famous photograph of "fuzzy wuzzy angel" Raphael Oimbari leading a blindfolded wounded Australian epitomizes the close relationship between Australians and Papua New Guineans which has come about because of the battle of Kokoda.
To read between the lines of "Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels", the celebrated poem by Australian digger Bert Beros, will bring you to tears.
The poem, while sentimental, touches a chord that has endured to this day in the hearts of both Australians and Papua New Guineans.
It tells of the prayers of worried Australian mothers, whose young sons are fighting the Japanese on that rugged trail, and how their prayers are answered in the form of "fuzzy wuzzy angels".

Many a mother in Australia when the busy day is done
Sends a prayer to the Almighty for the keeping of her son
Asking that an angel guide him and bring him safely back
Now we see those prayers are answered on the Owen Stanley Track.

For they haven't any halos, only holes slashed in their ears
And their faces worked by tattoos with scratch pins in their hair
Bringing back the badly wounded just as steady as a horse
Using leaves to keep the rain off and as gentle as a nurse

Slow and careful in the bad places on the awful mountain track
The look upon their faces would make you think Christ was black
Not a move to hurt the wounded as they treat him like a saint
It's a picture worth recording that an artist's yet to paint

Many a lad will see his mother and husbands see their wives
Just because the fuzzy wuzzy carried them to save their lives
From mortar bombs and machine gun fire or chance surprise attacks
To the safety and the care of doctors at the bottom of the track

May the mothers of Australia when they offer up a prayer
Mention those impromptu angels with their fuzzy wuzzy hair.

- Bert Beros

In 1942, a seldom-used track climbed from the small village of Buna on the north coast of Papua, over the Owen Stanley Ranges and on to Port Moresby.
The track was fairly easy up the slopes through Gorari and Oivi to the village of Kokoda, which stood on a small plateau 400 metres above sea level, flanked by mountains rising to over 2000 metres.
It then climbed over steep ridges and through deep valleys to Deniki, Isurava, Kagi, Ioribaiwa, Ilolo and, at Ower's Corner, linked with a vehicle road leading from plantations in the hills above Port Moresby down to the coastal plains.
Between Kokoda and Ilolo, the track often climbed up gradients so steep that it was heartbreaking labor for burdened men to climb even a few hundred yards.
Much of the track was through dense rainforest, which enclosed the narrow passage between walls of thick bush.
At higher levels the terrain became moss and stunted trees, which were often covered in mist.
From July to November 1942 this was the setting for a bitter campaign to prevent the fall of Port Moresby.
On January 23, 1942, the Japanese landed at Kavieng on New Ireland and at Rabaul on New Britain where they quickly overcame the Australian defenders.
On March 8, the Japanese established themselves firmly at Lae and Salamaua in Morobe.
But the famous Battle of the Coral Sea from May 5 to 8 averted a Japanese sea-borne invasion of Port Moresby.
The American success at the Battle of Midway in June not only destroyed Japan's capacity for undertaking long range offensives but also provided the Americans with the opportunity to move from the defensive to the offensive.
The Japanese, who were regularly bombing Port Moresby with 20 to 30 bombers with fighter escort, decided on the overland attack across the Owen Stanley Ranges.
On the Kododa Trail the Australian 7th Division resisted the Japanese General Horii's overland attempt to capture Port Moresby, and the advance was halted within 30 miles of the city.
A small force of Australians known as "Maroubra Force" arrived at Buna on July 21st, 1942, as the first Japanese force of 1500 men landed at Gona, eight miles to the west.
What followed will forever go down as one of the most heroic defensive actions in the annals of military history.
The first engagement between the opposing troops was on July 23, 1942, and from that engagement, as the Australian force was progressively outnumbered, began the long fighting withdrawal over the Owen Stanley Range.
Kokoda is a small plateau on the north-east slopes of the Owen Stanley Range and possessed a small airstrip the retention of which, for at least as long as it would take Australia to fly in supplies and reinforcements, was of great importance.
However, the remnants of "Maroubra Force", exhausted by a month's constant fighting, were unable to achieve this. Valiant though their effort was, even recapturing the plateau after being driven out, the Japanese need was of equal importance.
They needed a forward base at Kokoda for their drive over the ranges along the "Kokoda Trail" to Port Moresby and they struck before the Australians were able to muster sufficient strength.
The initiative now remained with the Japanese and Australian withdrawal began again - through Isurava, Alola, Templeton's Crossing, Myola, Efogi, Menari and Nauro until at Ioribaiwa Ridge, beyond which the Japanese could not be permitted to penetrate, a final stand was made.
From August 26 to September 16 in 1942 Brigadier Potts's Maroubra Force, consisting of the 2/16th Battalion, together with the 2/14th, the 2/27th and the militia 39th and scattered elements of the ill-trained 53rd Battalion - outnumbered and outgunned by an estimated 5 to 1 - fought the Japanese to an eventual standstill on the ridges overlooking Port Moresby.
Two main battles were fought during that period (Isurava, August 26 to 29 and Brigade 'Butchers' Hill, from September 6 to 8).
In general, the desperately-tired but determined force kept themselves between the Japanese Major General Horri's South Sea Force and Port Moresby -- defending, retreating and then counter-attacking in a masterly display of strategic defence.
Conditions were almost indescribable.
It rained for most of the time, the weary men endured some of the most difficult terrain in the world and they were racked by malaria and dysentery.
But they kept on fighting, making the enemy pay dearly for every yard of ground. They bought time for those being prepared to come up from Port Moresby to relieve them.
The Australians, however, had a surprise in store for the enemy.
This was in the form of 25-pounder guns brought from Moresby to the road head at Ower's Corner and then laboriously dragged into position at Imita Ridge, opening up on the enemy's barricades.
It was now the turn of the Japanese to suffer what the Australians had suffered in the preceding two months.
Australian shelling smashed Japanese defences and aggressive patrols inflicted severe losses.
On the morning of September 28th, the Australians were closing in and it became evident then the Japanese were withdrawing.
The chase, with the Australians the pursuers, was now on.
The Japanese, despite sickness and hunger, were still formidable and tenaciously defended all the places in their withdrawal as the Australians had in their retreat some weeks earlier.
Kokoda was entered on November 2 and this was the beginning of the end of Japanese hopes in Papua.
The campaign now entered a phase known as "The Battle of the Beaches".
The Japanese were bottled up in the area from where they had begun their drive against Port Moresby some months previously -- Buna and Gona.
This final campaign began on November 19, 1942, and ended on January 22, 1943, when all organised resistance by the Japanese in Papua ended.
Lt Col Honner DSO MC, who commanded the gallant 39th in the campaign, later wrote of these men in the foreword to Peter Brune's book 'Those Rugged Bloody Heroes': "They have joined the immortals." Of those that did not survive, he wrote: "Wherever their bones may lie, the courage of heroes is consecrated in the hearts and engraved in the history of the free."

Notorious PNG criminal William Kapris shot and killed by police

ABC

One of Papua New Guinea's most notorious and violent criminals, William Kapris, has been shot and killed by PNG police.

National Capital District and Central Divisional Commander Jim Andrews has told reporters that the events follow a tip from the public, ending a nearly three-month manhunt.

Photo: One of Papua New Guinea's most notorious criminals, William Kapris, has been killed in a shoot-out with PNG police. 

Reports from Port Moresby General Hospital suggest Kapris and fellow escapee Raphael Walimini were both in a shoot-out with police outside the capital, and were taken to the hospital late yesterday evening.
Kapris and Walimini escaped from the maximum security Bomana prison in May, using two pistols allegedly smuggled in by a guard.
Kapris is well known in PNG for his daring bank robberies and three prison escapes.
A reward of $US46,000 was offered for information that leads to his capture, but police said the public response was slow.
In June, Commander Andrews said he was aware his own officers are assisting the bank robber to hide in the capital.

PNG Prime /minister says asylum program not costed

ByEoin Blackwell, AAP Papua New Guinea Correspondent

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill says projects agreed to by Australia in exchange for expanding its asylum seeker processing capability have not been costed.
Australia and PNG agreed on Friday that asylum seekers travelling to Australia by boat will be turned away, processed and potentially resettled in PNG.
In exchange, Australia has a agreed to a raft of infrastructure programs in the university, roads, health and law and order sector.
"The costings for the Ramu-Madang highway has not been done, design and costings for of course Lae hospital has not been done. So it costs into millions of Kina," Mr O'Neill told journalists in Port Moresby upon his return from Brisbane on Monday.
"But I cannot just simply give you a figure that is imaginary."
When asked where in PNG asylum seekers will be resettled under the plan he replied: "We'll get there when we start processing them."
Mr also O'Neill declined to nominate an upper limit to the number of asylum seekers he expects to be processed in PNG.
Manus MP Ronnie Knight has said he was told up to 3000.
"It'll be down to what the capacity on the ground can take," Mr O'Neill said.
"Listen, I cannot give you a figure, I cannot know what's going to happen in the future.
"We are hoping this is going to stop the non genuine refugees and asylum seekers coming into our region. I don't think the numbers are going to be as big as what we think its going to be."
He cited Australian media reports of people smugglers saying the expanded processing plan had already had an impact.
"You will see genuine people travelling, but non genuine economic migrants will fall off," he said.
PNG's opposition whip Tobias Kulang on Monday took to the national newspapers to blast the plan.
He said Mr O'Neill should have explained the scheme to the nation's parliament before announcing it in Australia.
"I am convinced we are far less equipped to handle the situation at this stage, especially to respond and to accommodate these asylum seekers.
"Australia must also come out and explain what and how it plans to assist PNG manage this affair."
Church leaders have also condemned the plan.

PNG asylum deal could be in breach of UN convention

ABC

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Monday 22 July 2013 

A respected expert on international refugee law has told RN Breakfast that Australia doesn’t have an asylum problem, but a political problem, and refugees are paying the price, as James Bourne reports.


The Federal Government has continued to defend its decision to send all asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia to Papua New Guinea. Under the regional agreement, Australia will bear the full cost of the plan—including the cost of genuine refugees being resettled.

Image: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, (R) and Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill (L) talk to the media after announcing a policy on asylum seekers. (Aman Sharma/AFP/Getty Images)

Dr James Hathaway, an expert on international refugee law, told RN Breakfast that Kevin Rudd’s announcement on Friday was entirely unprecedented.
‘This plan is without question the most bizarre overreaction I have seen in more than 30 years of working on refugee law,’ said Dr Hathaway. ‘It just makes no sense.'
‘The only mandatory deportation to PNG is going to be so-called boat arrivals. Does the Prime Minister think that every refugee should arrive with a Qantas first class ticket in order to be real?'
Dr Hathaway, a professorial fellow at the University of Melbourne, suggested that the deal struck between Australia and Papua New Guinea was in breach of the the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.
‘The convention itself says you can’t penalise refugees for arriving without authorisation,’ he said. ‘There is no visa that Australia or anybody else gives for a person to come and seek asylum.' 
‘To take people who are... coming and asking for asylum and dumping them into the hell hole of PNG is in my view both an illegal penalty and a discriminatory penalty, which puts Australia in breach of the convention on two points.’
The crisis Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says is addressed by the deal doesn't even exist, Dr Hathaway said. Compared to other developed countries, Australia’s intake of 30,000 refugees is ‘a totally average, absolutely manageable number’. 
‘What is really striking about this is that Australia, unlike any developed country that I know, has been attracting almost exclusively genuine refugees as boat arrivals,’ Dr Hathaway told RN.
‘It’s the boat people who seem to have attracted his ire. It’s the most extraordinarily bizarre singling out of the group that...ought to be the very group that we should care about the most,’ he said. 
‘So Australia does not have an asylum problem, it has a political problem, and refugees are being made to pay the price for Kevin Rudd wanting to appear, I think, more butch that Julia Gillard and more reactionary than Tony Abbott.’
‘The people who are so desperate—who so fear for their loss of life that they’re prepared to put their fate into the hands of smugglers and take a horrible boat journey to survive—are the very ones that Australia seems to want to punish.’
Dr Hathaway suggested that sending genuine refugees to Papua New Guinea was a reckless plan, despite the nation being a signatory to the Refugee Convention.
‘We’re talking about a country that ranks 168th in the world in terms of life expectancy, where more than half the country doesn’t have sanitation or clean water, one in two women in PNG have been raped, homosexuals can to jail for 14 years, this is where we’re going to send people who have done nothing wrong, other than have the courage to say that they don’t want to be persecuted for who they are in the country where they lived.'
The High Court’s 2011 ruling on the Gillard government’s proposed Malaysia Solution stated that an arrangement that doesn’t legally guarantee refugees the right to work, education and access to the courts breached obligations under the UN refugee convention. Despite these rights not being guaranteed by the PNG agreement, Australian Attorney General Mark Dreyfus has said that the arrangement ‘complies with our international obligations under the refugee convention’.
Dr Hathaway disagrees.
‘The word ‘rights’ doesn’t even appear in the agreement that the Prime Minister of Australia signed with the Prime Minister of PNG,’ he said. ‘That’s what makes it illegal.'
‘The government seems to think that its only obligation under the convention is to make sure that somebody at risk of being persecuted doesn’t get sent back to persecution.' 
‘That argument is what the government put to the High Court of Australia in the Malaysia case and the High Court quite explicitly rejected that argument.’

High internet costs due to lack of infrastructure

By MALUM NALU

The National

Monday, May 22, 2013

Internet costs are very high in Papua New Guinea because of lack of necessary infrastructure like optical fiber, according to leading PNG telecommunications engineer, Mathew Wari.

Wari, who is now based in the USA, said this last Friday when asked by internet costs were very high in PNG.

Optical fiber is used by many telecommunications companies worldwide to transmit telephone signals, internet communication, and cable television signals.

 Fiber-optic communication is primarily installed in long-distance applications, where they can be used to their full transmission capacity, offsetting the increased cost.

Fiber-optic communication is a method of transmitting information from one place to another by sending pulses of light through an optical fiber.

The light forms an electromagnetic carrier wave that is modulated to carry information.

First developed in the 1970s, fiber-optic communication systems have revolutionised the telecommunications industry and have played a major role in the advent of the Information Age.

Because of its advantages over electrical transmission, optical fibers have largely replaced copper wire communications in core networks in the developed world.

“The main reason why internet is so expensive here is because we don’t have infrastructure like optical fiber rings in PNG,” Wari told The National.

“By that, I mean fiber which runs from Port Moresby to Alotau, Lae, and then to the New Guinea Islands, then internet will come out cheap.

“Fiber is the only medium for fast internet.

“We don’t have that.

“Unless that comes in, internet will be hard to roll out.”

Wari’s company, Wantok Wireless, is offering a cheaper internet alternative to PNG through a VSAT link to Hawaii, and then fiber-optic links to mainland USA.

The state-of-the-art very short aperture terminal (VSAT) satellite communication system which Wantok Wireless set up for the National Weather Service.

“Currently, most people (in PNG) are paying for cap bandwidth,” he said.

“You are only allowed to download to a certain limit, and then you start paying by megabytes.

“What Wantok Wireless is offering is unlimited internet usage, fixed bandwidth, monthly payment, and single link into USA via Hawaii, and then fiber into mainland USA.”