Environmental law amendments: a wake up call for Papua New Guinea

From JAMES WANJIK
Former Secretary for Mining

TODAY we know who leaders work for. Leaders work for worthless money. Money of miners made from people's land and resources. Very truth I warned PNG leaders and people since 2006.

Money is the reason for the creation of Mineral Resources Authority (MRA). If not for illegal tax in illegal production levy MRA would not have seen light of day.

At present MRA is unconstitutional and is operating illegally. Only reason is money.

Other weak policies like land reform and customary land registration are driven by money.

Ramu Nickel mine is very exposed. Hearing Basamuk leaders waking up leaders I breathed sigh of relief. MRA is the culprit in the midst. It is a Trojan horse.

Puka Temu cuddled it and took it in as National Alliance (NA) Government baby after 2007 National Election. I warned against it but Puka Temu saw me as a villain. Now I have the pleasure of being proven right. NA Government will pay.

When MRA brought in the lawyers who drafted the law that created it I knew landowners of Basamuk will be shut out. Swinging out litigation on environment, MRA works for money. Till landowners take on MRA they will not win.

The Environment (Amendment) Act 2010 is a very tyrannical law. It makes our Government of the people now for the miners.

Let us look at the legal implications of the Environment (Amendment) Act 2010 (EAA).

1. Property right [s.1(2) EAA]

Landowners of Basamuk and other areas of PNG have customary land ownership, possession, use of land and can do transaction within the same customary group. This property is protected by the Constitution.

By merely stating this right is compulsorily acquired for public purpose without providing for just compensation the law amounts to expropriation of property.

This makes the Environment (Amendment) Act 2010 unconstitutional as it contravenes Section 53 of the Constitution.

2. Public purpose [s.1(2) EAA]

Mines are money business. No money no mine.

Private investors will invest if the investment will yield certain financial rate of return.

If taxes were collected then mines would be of economic importance to a nation.

I do not agree mines are public purpose business activities.

Public purposes are service oriented. Transport infrastructure, recreation, accommodation and towns are clear examples of public purpose.

Utilities like telecommunication, power, water and sanitation can be public or private depending on object. Profit will mean private and service, public.

Mining is a private business for profit. It is not a public purpose activity.

3. Encroachment on other laws [s.69A EAA]

Mining is a regulated activity. Law on mining lays foundation for other laws. A mining lease is a precondition for mining business for instance. Environmental regulation will regulate this mining business.

The Environment (Amendment) Act 2010 will correct any defect in mining lease approval process and non compliance with condition of lease.

Apart from this, statutory discretions of officials under the Mining Act 1992 will be overridden by the Director of the Environment Act 2000. This is absolutely absurd.

4. Extinguishing cause of action [s.69B EAA]

PNG is a Western democracy. An important principle is checks and balances for excesses of power and authority by any person. The rule of law and due process are to give effect to checks and balances. The Environment (Amendment) Act 2010 gives more powers to one person without checks and balances.

The law also outlaws any legal suit against rogue mines. Ramu mine is very vulnerable without this law.

Ramu mine proceeded with construction phase on unlawful approval of the Chief Inspector of Mines of the MRA in June 2007. The Environment (Amendment) Act 2010 will legitimise this unlawful action by the Director of the Act under an Authorisation Instrument.

5. No regulation of mines [s.87A EAA]

After I was removed as Secretary for Mining in December 2006 and the Department of Mining was smothered in 2007 the mining industry has been unregulated since.

Under the Environment (Amendment) Act 2010 the Director may exempt Ramu mine from any requirement of the Mining Act 1992 and the Mining (Safety) Act Chapter 195A. This will leave lot of very frustrated people.

6. Smelting and tailings disposal [s.87B EAA]

Refinery and processing at Basamuk will produce tailings. It was proposed that tailings will be placed in deep canyons in the Basamuk bay.

Deep Sea Tailings Placement (DSTP) was the subject of recent litigation. There are good arguments on both sides.

Lihir mine is the best practice as it has more information on DSTP than any other mine in the world. Problems there would be surface plume dispersal and tsunami caused by tailings in case of undersea landslips.

Under the Environment (Amendment) Act 2010 the Director may use Lihir experience as best practice.

7. Environment and development [s.87C EAA]

Mining in essence is a dirty business. It is about moving dirt for money. Environment will be harmed.

The law on compensation is provided for in the Mining Act 1992. The process there is compensation by agreement between the licence holder and landholder. And Warden would only make a determination if no agreement is reached.

Under the Environment (Amendment) Act 2010 the Director can issue a certificate of necessary consequence and in effect remove right to compensation.

8. Liability for damage [s.87D EAA]

The general legal position in both common law and civil law jurisdictions is polluter pays. This was legally in PNG until now.

It means polluter will not be liable. A certificate of compliance will bar any claim for damages.

Summary

The Environment (Amendment) Act 2010 was intended to legitimise and outlaw any claim for damages which would have been legitimate had mines been properly legally regulated.

MRA is the culprit PNG must remove at once. It is only interested in money. Money in illegal tax in illegal production levy.

..........Poem..........

Shock and shame for money

By James Wanjik, Port Moresby, June 3, 2010

People and money are not same,

Resource abundance and

development poverty are paradoxes,

Leaders of PNG have lost worth,

Leaving people shocked

and shamed for money.

Well educated politicians

and tribal leaders of PNG,

Telling arrogance of lawyers

working for money,

Making so much noise of gong,

Moving true lawyers

and leaders to act.

Bold and brave so many people are,

Voicing truth and pondering most,

Letting leaders' arrogance laid bare,

Shocking and ashamed

for miners' money

Aid programmes and the real world of Papua New Guinea

BY JOHN FOWKE

DID YOU KNOW that the justly-admired frontline medical corps, Medicins Sans Frontieres, has managed and operated Angau Memorial Hospital's medical and emergency services as best they can under difficult circumstances for the past three years, as an errand of mercy recommended by the World Health Organisation?

And a year or two later, MSF arrived in Tari, the seat of today's burgeoning gas industry . Despite harassment from drunks and criminals there, MSF continues to run this major provincial hospital catering for some 180,000 people of Hela- where for many years there was not one full-time, permanent, practicing resident Papua New Guinea national doctor, let alone the five which are needed, and for whom  aid-funded fully-furnished three-bedroom houses have long been available. Of course Tari's hydro-electric power supply was out of order for many years, needing new parts for its governing mechanism, but MSF managed somehow to get a standby diesel plant operating for the hospital, no thanks to good old Elcom.

With all the fully-justified complaint about the overpaid, often immature and pansy-hands aid-funded consultants being deployed to PNG by AusAid and the multinational aid industry, it would have been a no-brainer, one feels, to have stepped in, MSF-like, with some practical,seasoned, medical and para-medical people to prop up these and many other needy hospitals in PNG. And to send in standby diesel plants and working 'fridges for delicate materials and medicines, plus essential materials and supplies to lost-cause centres like Menyamya and Kikori and Tabibuga and Erave to name only four of many dozens.

However, none of the great brains which fund and design and implement PNG's foreign-aid programs have thought of this. Too busy with REALLY IMPORTANT projects, like telling the coffee industry for the third time in the past  10 years that it needs to re-invent the wheel of on-the-ground marketing practice, a wheel which has regularly been re-invented to no purpose at all by several groups of essentially silly bearded or bilum-wearing white-men apparently  suffering mid-life-crisis or early-onset dementia. Nothing has resulted from all this expensive input, and now yet another team from the vaunted halls of Curtin University is on its way to have yet another go.

All this money would be far and away better utilised if handed to the major, established Church Missions - most of which maintain a majority of honest, idealistic and practical trained workers operating in these essential fields., in well-maintained Church-owned institutions. Whilst I have no religious faith myself I am a strong advocate of the major Christian churches and the programmes both of a spiritual  and a practical, hands-on nature they provide to this society.

I am writing this in Goroka where the district hospital was built and opened in 1967, and for many years remained an excellent institution. Today it is very run-down, facilities for the disposal of general medical and surgical waste, for instance, have deteriorated to where they no longer exist.The nurses quarters appear to have been partly-demolished, with doors and windows stripped from otherwise sturdy concrete-block dormitories. There are nurses present in the hospital, and a pleasant and hard-working lot they are, but one has to wonder where they are forced to sleep nowadays? Supplies and operating funds are always scarce but work goes on even though patients are frequently sent into town to purchase anti-malarial drugs, penicillin, sterile dressings,hypodermic syringes and even humble aspirin and Panadol so that they or their children may be treated appropriately. The politicians of the province pay no heed this, nor to the parlous state of the Goroka sewage-farm which has sat like a great, black, stinking row of Olympic swimming-pools for years  now, growing thick forests of hollow-stemmed pitpit which reaches four and five meters to the sky. A local man, living near this rotting eyesore in what used to be "Beautiful Kolples Goroka" tells me that the pipes were opened long ago and the town's daily contribution of excreta flows, untreated, into the Asaro river. How a community can remain reasonably healthy under these cisrcumstances is a mystery. Goroka, so-far free of cholera, suffers regular epidemics of typhoid. I just wonder about all the villages and coffee-factories situated below the foetid Asaro outflow.

This is just a short list of the wrongs existing within the health system - one could go on and on – and, realistically, like law-and-order, it is a huge social problem in a society which has fallen hard between two steep mountains in its express-ride transition from the Stone Age to the Toyota Age. Nothing will change until the middle-class of PNG realises that it is an entity with the potential to steer this crazy, " wealthy-but-dirt-poor" nation into a clear and open pathway leading to fairness and equal opportunity for all its citizens.The middle-class is made up of the educated and the employed and the entrepreneurial, all of whom hope each day for a better deal for their kids. This will only come when they realise their status, not as "Kerema," or "Sepik", or "Hailans" etc etc, but as citizens of a Commonwealth- the Independent Nation of Papua New Guinea.Once the middle-class understands its real place in modern PNG, once it welds itself into a strong political entity, then this beautiful and loveable country will move towards its right and due place among all the nations of the world.When will this happen? No-one can tell at present for to all intents and purposes this land is still a collection of many mutually-jealous tribes and not a nation at all, in reality. This is a problem that any amount of aid will not solve - PNG society just has to work its way around it. Or not.

Unfortunately there is a shortage of obviously charismatic and ideological proto-leaders lurking in the bush, although we daily look for such to emerge. This will only occur when the middle-class mobilises as such, not as a clamorous mass of jealous, disparate tribes all talking about the same thing . A middle-class which is always missing the point. The point that they are their own solution if only they can stretch their imaginations and act to form a strong, convincing and above all, honest, leadership-block.

A block which also appeals to all the village-based old-timers and all the youngsters now left to waste away in hidden valleys  and dusty settlements with no roads, no opportunities, and and no insight or idea of what the world might be to them if the bonds of lack of opportunity which imprison them were to be  untied.

As for foreign friends, Australia, the EU, the World Bank, the Japanese Government and the ADB to mention the major actors, all these will do well to stop trying to carry out hugely-wasteful "capacity-building" and "re-training" and "niche marketing" nonsense-projects invented and implemented by a generation of spoiled graduate pups who think that by draping a bilum over their shoulder on arrival they have become recognisably assimilated and will be welcomed and valued  and make a contribution to PNG society. The way the ruling-class and the public service has set the system up it is almost impossible even for those elected as Governors to exert influence over the country's administration and fiscal management. Aid-funded advisors are just fiddling around the edges in these circumstances.  A new and differently-aimed set of policies need to be thought about  by the aid-providers. As things stand in PNG what needs to be done is for about 85,000 arses to be kicked and realistically offered the door if not willing to abandon current common practice in the PS and Provincial Administrations. One can't see this happening any time soon and it is with this in mind that donors should seriously re-think their programmes and policy vis-a-vis PNG.

For Australia, lets be sensible and realise that outside of MSF-type medical teams and a limited range of specialist services, the likes of Mal Meninga and his men will do far more for the relationship which Australia wants to maintain with PNG,  and also for PNG  itself, if they or their like are paid to come up and set up and make competitive the PNG League. The National Sports Institute is another target for lots of Australian help and for the formation of links with similar Aussie institutions. And whilst Australia at large is not conscious of the fact,  PNG is, like Australia, one of the few countries which fields an international lawn-bowls team. How about some of the residents of what is now called "Fort Shitscared" in Moresby venturing out on a Saturday afternoon in PoM or Lae or Goroka or Mt Hagen or Madang, to sit with club-members beside the rink and watch nice, sensible, good-mannered midde-class Papua New Guineans enjoy themselves in their spotless whites, accompanied by the odd brown bottle now and then. Here is another place where an imaginative Australia could do so much for both countries. All it takes is a little courage, a little lateral thinking, and a willingness to be a partner rather than a smiling but still heavily-patronising schoolmaster.

How about AusAid funding a tour of a really good Bougainville Bamboo Band around Oz/NZ and the Pacific, ending up at the Edinburgh Festival? This is a magnificent sound, and there are virtuosi available to thrill the rest of the world with it!  This embryo nation needs this sort of confidence-building to make it think and act like a nation, not a collection of several hundred jealous tribes who can't form a bond of common interest largely because under their leadership since independence they have achieved so little as a nation.

From an Australian perspective, lets do lots of a practical nature in the areas of health and education in areas where MSF-style intervention is the only answer to the peoples' needs; lets help develop sport and the arts especially music and dance. Lets get competitive badminton going- this can easily and affordably be played at village level, and its HUGE in Asia. Why not in PNG?

Lets get Australian communities to collect container-loads of books and send them up to nominated communities as demonstrations of good-fellowship and  a desire to help. Lets design and ship prefabricated steel school-library buildings. This list is endless, and with due and careful consideration a much more people-friendly, human and mate-to-mate sort of relationship might be forged between close neighbours than that which exists between us now.We're always going to be neighbours. Always.

Oz lawyers to strengthen Papua New Guinea governance

From PAUL OATES
I refer to the article in today's PNG Attitude titled 'Australian lawyers to strengthen governance'.
______________________________________

This initiative raises a few concerns.
Firstly, why does Papua New Guinea need qualified lawyers to improve public service governance? This is a straightforward management and internal audit function that requires a proven administrative skills set and not a qualified legal one. Also, no overseas applicant should be recruited for these positions unless it has first been established that there are no suitable PNG applicants available.
Secondly, these lawyers should be working directly to the Australian Department and not a consultancy company.
Thirdly, there should be some limitations specified in the contracts to be undertaken by the occupants of those positions in the Office of the Solicitor General?
Here are some suggestions for inclusion in these contracts:
1. There must be a guaranteed outcomes based, independent assessment on a half yearly basis with the Australian employer and achievement targets agreed on, at the start of each assessment period. Non achievement of agreed targets effectively causes contract termination and an automatic cessation of employment.
2. Successful applicants must sign an agreement to conduct an effective training programme with guaranteed skills transfer to at least two PNG officers each year. The agreed training program to be put together and assessed by the law societies of both PNG and Australia on an ongoing monthly basis after discussion and agreement by both the training officer and the PNG officers being trained.
3. Agreed parameters are to be written into each contract to ensure that those officers recruited and the PNG officers being trained will not be in any way undertaking any work associated or involved with the defence of the members of PNG Parliament or PNG public service officers, should these PNG persons be personally or severally involved in any legal action on any issue.
4. Successful applicants must have proven, cultural sensitivity and an awareness of PNG culture and customs.
5. Successful applicants must have a minimum of 5 years proven experience in working with the same types of matters and issues they will be required to work on during the period of their contract.
6. Each successful applicant must be able to allowed to communicate with both PNG government and PNG Opposition members.
______________________
06 June 2010
Australian lawyers to strengthen governance
BY DONALD HOOK

THE AUSTRALIAN Government will appoint three senior lawyers to work with the law and justice component of Papua New Guinea's Strongim Gavman programme.
The programme is designed to improve governance, law and policing in PNG.
Two of the lawyers will be senior litigation advisers in the office of the PNG Solicitor-General.
The other will be a senior commercial law adviser in the office of the State Solicitor.
Australia's Attorney-General's Department, which manages the law and justice but not the policing component of Strongim Gavman, advertised the three positions in Australian newspapers this weekend.
The two-year appointments - with the possibility of a one-year extension - have a tax free annual salary range of $132,652 to $145,385 plus allowances.

NASFUND Launches Phase 2 of TEXTBAL

THERE ARE NOW TWO OPTIONS TO ACCESS YOUR BALANCE ELECTRONICALLY

If you are a member of NASFUND and have access to a DIGICEL phone, you can now retrieve your NASFUND superannuation balance in two easy steps anytime you wish.
1. Press *627* enter your membership number followed by # key.
2. Press send.

Your Superannuation balance will be sent via text straight to your phone.
Note: 1. You will not be charged for this call
2. This service works only on Digicel phones
3. There is no registration involved and
4. This service operates 24 hours a day

If you want a service where you are sent a text message every time your superannuation balance is updated then you will need to register via a Text Bal Registration form.

Note: 1. This service is free to Members
2. This service works on both Digicel and Be Mobile
3. You must register for this service.

ANOTHER REFORM FROM THE LEADERS IN SUPERANNUATION
www.nasfund.com.pg

Madang children clean up town on World Environment Day

Children picking up rubbish to load on to a small truck being driven by Sir Peter Barter.-Pictures courtesy of SIR PETER BARTER

Madang Resort Hotel staffer Sibona Mahi and children cleaning up Madang on World Environment Day

By MALUM NALU

Spurred on by environmentalist/rower Roz Savage’s visit, downtown Madang was cleaned up over World Environment Day on Saturday by children of Madang Resort Hotel staff.

Hotel owner Sir Peter Barter and staffer Sibona Mani, together with the children, collected several bags, filling several truckloads and emptying rubbish that was overflowing onto the roads.

Sir Peter said this was not exactly a new task carried out by the children, as it was done many times during the year.

“Despite these attempts to keep clean, the Madang urban council makes no attempt to thank the children, nor does it appear to be making any real attempt to clean the town or repair the roads,” he said.

“Perhaps we should all refuse to pay land rates.

“This may make them aware of the total disgust rate payers have in the performance of a council that is rarely seen, makes little or no attempt to tell the tax/rate payers how the money is spent to improve the image of the town.”

Madang lays down the red carpet for woman rower

By MALUM NALU

 

British ocean rower and environmental campaigner Roz Savage was feted like royalty when she arrived in Madang last Friday after an epic 47-day rowing voyage from Tarawa in Kiribati.

Savage made landfall at 8am last  Friday, completing her three-stage trip and becoming the first woman to row solo across the Pacific Ocean.

She was met by flotilla of more than 100 traditional canoes, adorned in PNG style and PNG flags.  

More than 5, 000 men, women and children, many in traditional dress – in one of the biggest events in Madang in recent times -  lined the entrance of Dallman Passage and Kalibobo Village waving to Savage she moved slowly into the dock at the Madang Resort. 

On arrival she was met by customs, immigration, and quarantine and officially cleared and then welcomed by the Governor Sir Arnold Amet.  

Literally hundreds of people shook hands with Savage, most of whom had pictures taken with her. 

“The welcome was spectacular,” she said today (Sunday).

“I really had no expectations at all and I can’t believe how many people were there.

“It was fantastic and I really enjoyed being escorted by the canoes.”

Sir Peter Barter welcomed her, explained the purpose of her visit and Savage then spoke, saying she chose Madang on the advice of famous French oceanographer Jean-Michel Costeau, who visited Madang in the 1980s with his father, Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

Savage spoke of the million of strokes and how she had crossed an ocean.

She went on to tell the people that they too could make a contribution by many people doing small things to look after the environment.

She told the crowd that during her stay over four weeks she would visit schools, meet students and talk to them about protecting the planet.

 Numerous people presented bilum bags, yabob pots and other gifts as an appreciation and the formal welcome was done by children from Milne Bay and students of Krangket Island.

Savage said she was overwhelmed by the red carpet welcome and was really enjoying the natural beauty of Madang.

“I want to get to know Madang a little bit,” she said.

“I went diving yesterday (Saturday) and Madang has some of the most-beautiful diving in the world.

“I’d like to say thank you to everybody.

“Walking around town, it’s been really good, with everyone wanting to shake hands with me and take pictures.”

Savage set off in her 23-foot boat from Tarawa, Kiribati, in mid-April on the final leg of her Pacific voyage.

In total, she spent about 250 days alone at sea, rowing more than 8,000 miles and taking an estimated 2.5 million oar strokes along the way.

Savage traveled from San Francisco to Hawaii in 2008, then on to Tarawa last year, before finally arriving in Madang.

“My Pacific row has been to raise awareness on climate change and to say that we will have to do our part,” she said.

“Every action counts.”

 Savage said that after taking a well-deserved break in Madang, she would be moving down to Perth, Western Australia, for the Indian Ocean stretch of her epic voyage from Perth to Mauritius in Africa.

Why hasn't legal action commenced?

From PAUL OATES

In what appears to be an open and shut case of massive fraud, an article on the following website details how the Papua New Guinea government has paid out millions of kina in what the Finance Commission of Inquiry specifies in their report are fraudulent payments.
http://pngexposed.wordpress.com/
Tom Rangip and Pacific Paradise Foods unlawfully paid K14.85 million
If the investigation has already been completed and the factual evidence is already available, why hasn't the PNG police service taken immediate action to bring this matter to court?
 The money that has been reportedly stolen from the state could have built new accommodation for those hard working policemen and their families who are reportedly living in sub standard accommodation around the country.
Why hasn't the Public Prosecutor taken immediate action on this report and the many other findings from the high level Inquiry?
The money that has reportedly been stolen from the government could have paid for more staff for the Public Prosecutor to take legal action against those who are financially bleeding PNG dry.
So if the PNG authorities cannot act on what appears to be a clear cut illegal activity, perhaps they themselves should be investigated by the PNG Ombudsman Commission to determine why this is so?
Perhaps the Chief Ombudsman should issue a public statement to the effect that any public authority who is not clearly and energetically carrying out the activities it has been set up to do will be required to publically state "Why not?"
 The Ombudsman Commission could well have used the reported K15m in fraudulent payments to investigate further malpractice and malfeance.
Maybe the Ombudsman's review should also look at the Solicitor General and any PNG government audit body who have apparently been paid to a job they appear to be unable to carry out. In business, if you can't perform what you set out to do, your business goes bankrupt and you lose everything.
In PNG however, if you are in a government authority that doesn't do what it is paid to do, you continue to get paid.
In many people's eyes, that situation could be another glaring case of fraud.

Mioks unfazed

Crunch time ... Masta Mak Rangers centre Robert Nandie (left) and winger Ham Tee tackling ACTL Lae Bombers Bal Kaupa during the bemobile Cup in Port Moresby last Sunday. – Nationalpic by AURI EVA

Players unhappy with coach but unbeaten Engans remain focused
By ZACHERY PER

TOYOTA Enga Mioks are unfazed by the controversy surrounding their coach Gabriel Kiluwa and the players when the Engans take on Bintangor Goroka Lahanis at the National Sports Institute (NSI) in round five of the bemobile Cup tomorrow, The National reports.
The Lahanis are also bracing for a tough encounter as they also have their own in-house issues following the sudden resignation of deputy board chairman Himony Lapiso on Monday. Lapiso resigned from the Lahanis Board following public criticisms.
The Mioks board is understood to have resolved their internal feud following the call to remove Kiluwa passing on information to the board without the players’ consent.
Kiluwa maintained that he was appointed by Enga Governor Peter Ipatas and was subjected to Ipatas’ decision regarding his tenure with the Mioks.
In response, Mioks players made it clear that their three wins and their current second placing on the bemobile Cup ladder was done without Kiluwa’s tactical input.
Instead captain James Meninga and vice-captains David Loko and Mose Lam claimed that the true architect of the Mioks’ successes so far was team manager Timothy Lepa.
They said this trend was unlikely to change when they play the Lahanis this on Sunday.
Incidently, the Mioks have yet to win in Goroka since re-entering last year and are keen to continue their strong form with a win at NSI.
Lepa explained that despite the situation in the Mioks camp, the players are all geared up and prepared for their clash with the Lahanis.
Former Lahanis try scoring wizard and centre Garnet Auwo, who has scored in all the Mioks three games so far, has also vowed to avenged his sacking from Lahanis this season.
Mioks scooped Auwo following his sacking along several other Lahanis players at the end of last season.
The Mioks are benefiting from the former representative winger. Auwo will be ably supported by freakish ball runner and fellow Goroka Nowek Royals player Pasu Peter Avani.
The likely Mioks line-up for Sunday features a solid forward pack in the likes of props Esau Siune and Timothy Clement, backrowers James Gend, Loko, Wanpis James and rake Leon Cletus.
The bench should see Jonah Mackay, Anderson Tewi, Diki Aiyo and Young Pamus.
Skipper Meninga has been shifted back to his traditional fullback position to cater for young Joel Punas who slots into the five-eighth.
Halfback Lam, Auwo, Avani, Junior Bal Kawa, Jefery Maino, Jason Tali and Ben Jomino appear to have a slight edge over the ir opposites in theLahanis outfit.
The host have the weight, height and speed advantage in the likes of skipper Nigel Hukula, England based player Nicko Slain, John Milba and Glen Nami, however, the forwards fire power of late has been lacking unless they improve this Sunday the Lahanis 2010 campaign could take fatal blow.
For the Goroka franchise the recall of electrifying scrumhalf Casey Frank should add some class to the backline, however, newcomers like Jerry Akepa, Adex Wera, Ismael Awute, Thompson Tete, Joseph Peter, Jasper Philip, Wally Laua and Spiro Mikaive must withstand the expected Mioks aggression and be disciplined enough to stick to the game plan of coach Peter Danga.

Reaping what we sew

Empowered…Jeris Kundin, Tan Maki and Anna Karapi hard at work at the PNG Garment and Textile Development Institute
From left are Jeris Kundin, Tan Maki and Anna Karapi while at back are SBDC women in development officer Maria Kalap and business development manager Nathan Timo
Anna Karapi, Tan Maki, SBDC women in development officer Maria Kalap and Jeris Kundin

By MALUM NALU

BY now, a country like Papua New Guinea should have a thriving clothing industry, however, this is not the case and we continue to import clothes from overseas as well as rely on expatriate tailors.

We are also being inundated by an avalanche of second-hand clothes.

This status quo, however, may soon become a thing of the past with the intensive training received by three women from rural areas of the country.

It comes at a time when there is more support being given to women through such organisations as PNG Women in Business, and when the first PNG Women in Business Expo was staged in Lae earlier this year.

The three women, two from Jiwaka area of Western Highlands province and one from Eastern Highland province, were brought to Port Moresby by the Small Business Development Corporation for the express purpose of furthering their clothes-making skills at the PNG Garment and Textile Development Institute.

The SBDC, for the record, is also the major supporter of PNG Women in Business.

From the beginning of February to the end of May this year, the three women have been undergoing intensive training at the institute, which the SBDC hopes will reap handsome rewards by them going back home and training more women.

The SBDC paid for their travel, training and daily living costs in Port Moresby, and to put the icing on the cake, paid for two industrial sewing machines worth K3, 100 each which they will take home with them to teach more women.

Having lunch with them at a Port Moresby restaurant last Friday, their enthusiasm was infectious, as they spoke of their ambitious plans to empower their fellow womenfolk.

Take the case of Tan Maki, a sewing trainer at Kuling Star Vocation Centre in Minj, who has only been educated to only Grade Five level.

“I am very happy at receiving this training,” she says.

“I have learned everything there is to know about making clothes over the four months.

“We have learned many things such as how to make school uniforms, long trousers and shirts for men, as well as six-pocket trousers.”

Anna Karapi, from Isametoka village in Goroka, is an informal sector businesswoman who is already making clothes.

“I sell clothes and sell them at Goroka Market, everything from meri blouses for all occasions to skirts and tops,” she says.

“I sell at Goroka Market and in town to working-class ladies.

“Over the 16 weeks, I have learned many new things and am now more advanced in sewing, especially in things like designing, pattern making and then construction of garments.

“When I go back, I will be able to attend to all orders.

“I’m a church group leader as well and teach many Adventist ladies.

“With these new skills, I will be able to help them even more and it’s not only my church members I am talking about, but other denominations as well.

“I will also be able to help mothers in rural areas.

“Apart from that, I will also be running my small business.

“I’ve already got big plans to expand.

“I will teach my son how to design and cut, and the wife will be trained how to construct the garment.

“What I have learned will not be wasted, and I say this because there is no tailoring company in Goroka.”

Jeris Kundin, like Maki, is a sewing trainer at Kuling Star Vocational Centre in Minj.

“I have been teaching vocational students for a long time about sewing,” she says.

“When I go back, I will teach the women how to make long trousers for their husbands.

“We have many students learning about sewing at Kuling Star.

“We will be able to attend to whatever orders placed such as six-pocket trousers, industrial wear, corporate uniforms and industrial wear.

“We will be able to sew everything from children’s wear to men’s wear to women’s wear.”

SBDC business development manager, Nathan Timo, explains it’s all about empowering women from rural areas.

“A lot of women are getting into sewing and tailoring, and this particular project is all about empowering women in rural areas to improve livelihood, create employment opportunities and alleviate poverty,” he says.

“We are empowering women in rural areas so that they can help other women.

“SBDC brought them here and paid for their return airfares, lodging, course fees and a small living allowance.

“SBDC is also providing them two industrial machines.”

Karapi wants Papua New Guineans to support their cause by stopping from buying second-hand clothes, and for the government to give more support to the country’s clothing industry.

“For four years, I’ve stopped from buying second-hand clothes,” she says.

“Second-hand clothes are making women so lazy.

“This training we have received is very good.

“The government must support our clothing industry.”

The philosophy of ambiguity

From PAUL OATES

FOR THOSE WHO LOVE THE PHILOSOPHY OF AMBIGUITY, AS WELL AS THE IDIOSYNCRASIES OF ENGLISH:
 Please enjoy and understand the following

1. ATHEISM IS A NON-PROPHET ORGANISATION.

2. I WENT TO A BOOKSTORE AND ASKED THE SALESWOMAN, "WHERE'S THE SELF- HELP SECTION?" SHE SAID IF SHE TOLD ME, IT WOULD DEFEAT THE PURPOSE.

3. WHAT IF THERE WERE NO HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS?

4.  IS THERE ANOTHER WORD FOR SYNONYM?

5. IF A PARSLEY FARMER IS SUED, CAN THEY GARNISH HIS WAGES?

6. IF A TURTLE DOESN'T HAVE A SHELL, IS HE HOMELESS OR NAKED?

7. CAN VEGETARIANS EAT ANIMAL CRACKERS?

8. IF THE POLICE ARREST A MIME, DO THEY TELL HIM HE HAS THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT?

9. WHAT WAS THE BEST THING BEFORE SLICED BREAD?

10. ONE NICE THING ABOUT EGOTISTS: THEY DON'T TALK ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE.

11. DO INFANTS ENJOY INFANCY AS MUCH AS ADULTS ENJOY ADULTERY?

12. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO HAVE A CIVIL WAR?

13. IF ONE SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMER DROWNS, DO THE REST DROWN TOO?

14. IF YOU ATE BOTH PASTA AND ANTIPASTO, WOULD YOU STILL BE HUNGRY?

15. IF YOU TRY TO FAIL, AND SUCCEED, WHICH HAVE YOU DONE?

16. WHY ARE HAEMORRHOIDS CALLED "HAEMORRHOIDS" INSTEAD OF "ASSTEROIDS"?

17. WHY IS THERE AN EXPIRATION DATE ON SOUR CREAM?

18.  IF YOU SPIN AN ORIENTAL PERSON IN A CIRCLE THREE TIMES, DO THEY BECOME DISORIENTED?

19. CAN AN ATHEIST GET INSURANCE AGAINST ACTS OF GOD?

It's a big worry

From PAUL OATES

It's a big worry
The US President has just sent the clean up bill for the current disastrous oil spill to BP. Apparently it's BP's responsibility to pay even though they were given permission to drill in US waters.
So if, as is likely, given the results of the Papua New Guinea government's own environmental impact study and similar examples elsewhere (e.g New Caledonia), there is an environmental disaster from the Ramu nickel mine pumping millions of tons of toxic waste into the pristine sea off Madang, who would be held responsible? Who could be sued by those who may end up poisoned and hungry when their marine food stocks are destroyed? Who could wind up being responsible if the overland tailings pipe ruptures and spills toxic waste over farming ground and people's crops?
Clearly the owners of the Ramu mine would say that they were operating under the approved permit issued by the PNG government. Clearly the PNG government would also say that they were not to blame as they were relying on their own appointed and responsible representative not to issue an approved permit unless there was no likelihood of there being any disaster.
So who would end up holding the parcel? Who might end up being held personally liable and sued by the mine's owners, the government and his own people for being directly responsible for untold misery and potential deaths in his own country.
It's all rather a big Wari .. err. ..worry for any person who may have issued an ill considered permit.

A healthy occupation?

From PAUL OATES

In the news today is a report that the US President has sent an account to BP for the clean up of their recent oil spill disaster.

So what happens if this sort of thing occurs in Papua New Guinea?
Considering that there is a US involvement in the LNG project, would the US be guilty of having one law for themselves in their own country but concerning a foreign company and another for their own operations in another country?
Where is the equity in this debate? If there is an environmental disaster over the poisonous tailings from the Ramu mine being pumped out into the ocean, clearly the mine's owners will not be held to account under the recently passed legislation because they met the requirements of the government permit they were given.
This is a classic example of when responsibility is in the eye of the beholder. Is the US government to blame for letting BP drill in their own waters without suitable safety provisions? Clearly the US President doesn't think so.
So where does that leave the PNG government if there is an environmental disaster from the Ramu mine's waste being pumped into the sea? Would the person who issued the permit without the necessary checks and safety provisions then be able to be personally sued by those who were disadvantaged or affected?
The PNG government has now effectively abrogated the mining company's responsibility should there be a disaster. A disaster that has apparently already been predicted in the government's own environmental impact survey on the project.
Issuing future permits under these provisions may not be a very healthy occupation.
______________________________ __________
White House to send BP bill over oil spill
From correspondents in Washington
From: AFP
June 04, 2010 10:12AM

THE White House has slapped BP with a $US69 million ($82 million) bill and demanded prompt payment for the first installment of government expenses incurred in the effort to halt the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Officials today also said they would keep billing the British energy giant for all associated costs from America's biggest-ever environmental disaster, under a US law requiring oil firms to pay for cleanups.
"The Obama administration today sent a preliminary bill for $US69.09 million to BP and other responsible parties for response and recovery operations relating to the BP/Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill," the US Government said.
"The administration will continue to bill BP regularly for all associated costs," the statement, issued by the oil spill incident centre said.
"The administration expects prompt payment and will take additional steps as necessary to ensure that BP and other responsible parties, not American taxpayers, pay all of the costs associated with the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill."
The White House said BP was given until July 1 to pay the full $US69 million ($82 million).
The total includes $US29 million ($34.46 million) for federal agencies to support operation of ships, aircraft and boats, and for environmental monitoring and related costs; $US29 million ($34.46 million) for National Guard expenditures; $US7 million ($8.32 million) for costs incurred by states for monitoring, oil removal and other expenses; and $US4 million ($4.75 million) for Defence Department support.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the total accounts for 75 per cent of the incurred costs to date.
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990, enacted after the Exxon Valdez oil disaster in Alaska, made oil giants liable for cleanup costs resulting from spills and is being used by the administration to hold BP's feet to the fire.
Mr Obama has also vowed to hold BP responsible if it is found that the company broke any laws before the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig in Apri l.

First pictures of Roz Savage arriving in Madang today

Roz Savage arrives in Madang

By SIR PETER BARTER

 

 Roz Savage arrived in Madang this morning at 0800.  

She was met by flotilla of more than 100 traditional canoes, bilased in PNG style and PNG Flags. 

 More than 5000 men, women and children, many in traditional dress lines the entrance of Dallman Passage and Kalibobo Village waving to Roz as she moved slowly into the dock at the Madang Resort.

 On arrival she was met by customs, immigration, and quarantine and officially cleared and then welcomed by the Governor Sir Arnold Amet. 

 Literally hundred of people shook hands with Roz most of whom had pictures taken.

 Sir Peter welcomed her, explained the purpose of her visit and Roz then spoke saying she chose Madang on the advise from Jean Michel Cousteau who visited Madang in the 80's with his Father, Jaucque Coustoeu the famous family known for their underwater research and filming, both of whom spent several months at the Madang Resort with their famous vessels making a film. 

  Roz spoke of the million of strokes and together she had crossed an ocean, she went on to tell the people that they too could make a contribution by many people doing small things to look after the environment.

She told the crowd that during her stay over four weeks she would visit schools, meet the students and talk to them about protecting the planet, our only planet!

Numerous people presented bilum bags, yabob pots and other gifts as an appreciation and the formal welcome was done by children from Milne Bay and students of Krangket Island.

 

Peter Barter

Just what Papua New Guinea needs

From PAUL OATES


Just what PNG needs in the bush. I wonder if they can be introduced ASAP?. I read somewhere that any country that has something like 22% ownership of mobile phones will never become a dictatorship due to good and fast communications.
______________________
(in today's on line news)
Nokia unveils pedal-powered phones
 a.. From correspondents in Helsinki
 b.. From: AAP
 c.. June 03, 2010 6:12PM
THE world's top mobile phone maker Nokia today released details of four new cheap phone models and a battery charger powered by the energy generated from riding a bicycle.
The charger, which can be fitted into any Nokia phone with a 2mm charger jack, uses a dynamo to generate electricity from the movement of the wheels, Nokia said in a statement.
 "Bicycles are the most widespread means of transport in many markets around the world, so this is just one more benefit to be gained from an activity people are already doing," Alex Lambeek, Vice President at Nokia, said in the statement.
The price of the charger kit, which also includes a holder for securing the phone to the bicycle, will vary according to market, but in countries like Kenya, where the product was introduced today, it would be around 15 euros ($22), a Nokia spokesman said.
To begin charging, a cyclist needs to travel around 6km/h, and while charging times will vary depending on battery model, a 10-minute journey at 10km/h produces around 28 minutes of talk time or 37 hours of standby time, the spokesman said.
The faster you ride, the more battery life you generate. The charger is set to become available through selected retailers and the company's online store before the end of the year, Nokia said.
The four new phones it also introduced in Kenya today target developing markets, a key growth area for the Finnish company, and also contain features designed for the needs of people in countries where access to electricity is limited, such as a six-week battery standby time.

A mother's anxious moments

By MALUM NALU

 

It will be one of Rita Savage’s proudest moments when daughter Roz rows into Madang tomorrow (Friday).

“I am proud of what she is achieving, but still have sleepless nights when she is having problems at sea,” she said.

When Roz Savage first talked about rowing across the Atlantic in 2005, her mother Rita thought it was just a wild idea that would soon go away.

“Then she stated that she did not want to be part of the Atlantic Rowing Race, but would do it on her own,” Rita told me from London today (Thursday).

“I was totally dismayed.

“But that idea did not work out, the race organisers would not allow her to buy the boat unless she joined the race.

“So she was committed.

“Leading up to the race, she invited me to spend a month with her to help with work on the boat.

“During that time we became a team, working together to help her to succeed and that is the way it has remained since.

“There have been bad moments: as the race went on she was totally reliant on me for support, there was no one else, a couple of people who had promised to help had let her down.

“Then her satellite phone failed about three weeks before she reached the end in Antigua. “Fortunately the race website showed the position of all boats, and hers was moving in the right direction, so that was a relief.”

Rita recalls that there have been many anxious moments for her as a mother.

“In 2007 her boat capsized three times in 24 hours off the coast of California, and she was taken off by helicopter.

“In 2008, on the way to Hawaii, her water maker failed and she was running out of drinking water which caused great anxiety until she met up with a craft that could give her enough to finish the voyage.”

 

Maori experts travel to Papua New Guinea on experience sharing mission

A group of seven New Zealanders will be visiting local Papua New Guinea land and resource owners to share their experiences in turning land based resources into thriving businesses.

The Pacific Cooperation Foundation (PCF) of New Zealand is leading the delegation and has set up meetings in Port Moresby and Madang with representatives from the PNG forestry and fishery sectors as well as other community groups to discuss how natural resources are utilised for maximum economic benefit.

According to a statement from the New Zealand High Commission, the group would be in Port Moresby June 7 – 8 and then in Madang June 9-12 before returning to New Zealand June 13.

Maori groups are significant stakeholders in New Zealand’s primary sectors through their various land interests and treaty settlements.

Many Maori-owned enterprises dealing in primary resources have been successful in leveraging their interests for the groups’ benefit.

But success hasn’t come overnight and serious lessons have been learnt in the process of creating successful enterprises.

The PCF has selected five Maori experts to travel to PNG with them.

All have significant experience in developing primary resources and developing the capacity of their hapu (clan) to manage their growing enterprise.

Meg Poutasi, chief executive of PCF commented: “I hope this delegation to Papua New Guinea is just the beginning of better and more-engaged dialogue between New Zealand Maori and Papua New Guinea land and resource owners.

“We have very similar issues and I think engagement will result in longer term partnerships beneficial to both groups.

“Our delegation is going to gain a better understanding of the issues concerning PNG fisheries and forestry and in turn, I hope, we will be able to offer some insights into the lessons New Zealand learnt while turning primary industries into viable businesses.

‘I am very much looking forward to hearing the outcomes from this visit and discovering how PCF can broker future relationships.”

 

Woman adventurer defers Madang arrival to tomorrow

By MALUM NALU

 

British woman adventurer Roz Savage has deferred her arrival in Madang to 8am tomorrow (Friday) because of headwinds on Wednesday night which slowed down her progress.

Savage was initially expected to arrive in Madang at 2pm today (Thursday) after an epic rowing voyage across the Pacific from Kiribati, however, was dampened by the headwinds.

Her new expected time of arrival was 6pm today, however, after consultation with Sir Peter Barter of Melanesian Tourist Services, decided to defer to tomorrow.

This was mainly because a warm welcome by hundreds of Madang school children, a flotilla of canoes, banana boats and fishing boats was planned for daylight hours today.

“We have spoken with Roz Savage and it has been agreed that she enter Madang around 0800 on Friday,” Sir Peter said.

“She could have arrived around 1900 on Thursday, but it would be dark and it would be a shame for her not to get a welcome in daylight.

“So she will potter around outside and hopefully we can arrange the kids to paddle out around 0700 and escort her back to Madang.”

Savage wrote in her blog (http://rozsavage.com/blog/) and Twitter sites on Wednesday night that the lively wind which had pushed her through the Vitiaz Strait had died down as she neared Madang.

“A slight hitch there is that the conditions here have really calmed down,” she said.

“The winds and the currents have died away since yesterday, so far from having to drag my oars metaphorically to delay my arrival until Thursday afternoon; I am now actually having to row through the night in order to get there in time!

“But from what I’ve seen of the Madang Resort (through brochures airdropped by Sir Peter), it is going to well worth the extra effort.”