Lack of funds is not the only reason for poor construction works on the Lae roads.
The process involve in a life of a road project is as follows:
1. Inception;
2. Feasibility study - (if feasible then funding is sourced for full design and construction);
3. Detailed engineering design (feed);
4. Tendering followed by bids evaluation and contract award;
5. Mobilisation and procurement by contractor;
6. Quality assurance - supervision (and sometimes management by a different contractor or Department of Works engineers); and
7. Certification and commissioning.
If all the above have been carefully and professionally executed, we would never have problems with sub-standard road works like we are seeing in Lae.
All registered engineers with IEPNG are duty bound by the institution's code of ethics and perform their roles with great care and diligence.
Obviously, registered civil engineers were not involved in the supervision of the recently upgraded Lae roads to ensure quality assurance is achieved.
I have not seen the Lae roads design myself but I believe DoW will not be foolish enough to award the design contract to an incompetent consultant to prepare the design and the tender documents, however, an investigation if carried out can tell us if the design was superior or not and whether the construction contractors did their work in accordance with all specifications stated in the design correctly and that the failure lies with the design.
I would strongly recommend that an investigation be carried out to establish as to why the recently-constructed section of the road running along LaeTechnicalCollege failed to perform after less then 12 months which is unacceptable.
After all public money was used and someone should be held accountable.
The Opposition has urged the Supreme Court to
decide speedily on Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare’s court appeal to stop the Ombudsman Commission
from investigating his alleged misconduct charges relating to declaration of
annual returns.
Leader of
the Opposition, Sir Mekere Morauta and Deputy Leader Bart Philemon stressed
that the matter is of national interest and the people of Papua New Guinea are
entitled to get a decision one way or another.
Sir
Mekere and Mr Philemon pointed out that the case went before the High Court in 2008,
over two years ago.
“Why has
it taken the Supreme Court so long? The public is becoming suspicious. It is in
Supreme Court’s interest to bolster the public confidence in the Supreme
Court,” they stressed.
The Ombudsman Commission (OC)
alleges that Sir Michael failed to lodge annual returns for the periods 1994/5,
1995/96 and 1996/7, his lodgement returns for the periods 1998/99, 1999/2000, 2000/01,
2001/02, 20003/04 and incomplete statements for periods 1992/93,
1993/94,1997/98, 1999/2000, 2000.01, 20001/02 and 20002/03.
The OC referred the PM to the
Public Prosecutor for it to ask the Chief Justice to appoint a Leadership
Tribunal to deal with the allegations, but Sir Michael went to court seeking
orders to stop the OC from investigating him.
On June 24 , 2008, National Court
Judge, Justice Derek Hartshorn rejected an application by Sir Michael for a
temporary injunction to stop the OC from investigating him.
When rejecting Sir Michael’s
temporary injunction, Judge Hartshorn ruled that it was not in the interest of
the justice of the general public that lawful authorities should be prevented
from performing their legal and constitutional duties.
The PM
had gone to court asking the court to grant him certain declarations and a
permanent injunction preventing the OC from continuing its investigations.
Sir
Michael had contended that the OC lacked jurisdiction to continue the
investigations. The conduct of their investigations was oppressive, subject to
excessive delays and breached the rules of natural justice to act fairly
reasonably and in good faith.
He also
alleged that the decision not to engage an Independent Examiner under section
19 of the Organic Law on Duties and Responsibilities of Leadership, as
requested by him was decided by an individual and not the majority quorum of
three Independent Constitutional Office Holders despite bias allegations raised
by his client against the Commission.
However,
Judge Hartshorn in a seven-page decision stated that Sir Michael did not have a
strong case to stop the OC from continuing its investigations.
“It is
not in the interest of justice or the public interest that lawful authorities
should be prevented from carrying out their lawful investigations. Any such
prevention should only occur in very clear cases of abuse,” Judge Hartshorn
stressed.
The Judge
was satisfied given the evidence before him that the PM’s appeal was not
serious and the OC be allowed to continue its investigations.
Effectively, the ruling meant
that the Public Prosecutor could proceed to ask the Chief Justice to appoint a
Leadership Tribunal to determine the charges against the Prime Minister.
On June
30 2008, the PM’s lawyers refiled their appeal matter in the Supreme Court to
be heard that afternoon.
The
appeal matter related to the refusal of the National Court to grant an order
restraining the OC from investigating the PM on an alleged breach of the
Leadership Code.
PM’s
lawyers filed a notice of appeal basically appealing the whole of the Judgment
of Derek Hartshorn in dismissing their notice of motion.
In the
notice of appeal, they relied on seven
grounds saying that in respect of each and every grounds, the National Court
erred in the exercise of its discretion which if not overturned would result in
the unlawful actions of an authority going unscrutinised by the court and
causing serious injustice to the appellant.
The Supreme Court is yet to
make a ruling of this matter.
Section 4 of the Organic Law on
the Duties and Responsibilities of the Leadership require every person who is
subject to the Leadership Code to furnish the OC every year details of assets,
income and other required information.
Sir Mekere and Mr Philemon said
that they were merely asking the Supreme Court to perform its constitutional
duty and role in the public interest.
“The Supreme Court owes it to
the nation and people to make an effort to decide in this case in the national
interest. It is not our intention to interfere with the work of Supreme Court,
but expect the Court to do its job speedily,” they concluded.
Just
to give you all some update on progress of current works, I have pasted below
extracts from Last Friday’s Lae Chamber of Commerce newsletter.
It
is a nightmare driving in Lae.
Some
of us put up with it everyday but we should not accept this as NORMAL.
It
is not and we deserve better.
Apart
from the financing issues, there is also the tender process which fails to
award contracts to competent service providers.
Why
would the tender board (I think it is the provincial board) award contract to a
contractor who has not provided any design?
Refer
below – MARKHAM ROAD
JUNCTION TO SEVENTH STREET
ROUNDABOUT.
The
contractor is EAST WEST 1 and is owned by an Asian who is a naturalised
citizen.
I
know East West 1’s core business was in mechanical repairs but now…civil works?
They
ripped up the road in June but have not done any work since.
With
the recent rain, the road down hill is worst than driving through a rural
plantation road.
With
the scarce financial resources and the deteriorating road conditions, why can’t
the tender board for ONCE, do the right thing and engage only competent contractors?
Quality
of work and supervision from the government’s engineer is not there.
How
can we tax payers get value for our money?
If
you think money is our only problem, think again.
LAE
ROAD WORKS – HUON ROAD
SEVENTH STREET ROUNDABOUT TO ADMIN COMPOUND
This is a follow up report from Dekenai
Constructions (PNG) Limited of the Plans and Progress on the work being
undertaken on this section of Huon
Road.
·Continuation of culvert placement, drainage works, footpaths
etc. all subject to weather.
·Continue to grade road to reduce potholes.
Dekenai still asks all drivers to
slow down along this section of Huon
Road whilst construction is in process. They do
not want to close off the road but will be forced to do so if it gets too
dangerous.
MARKHAM ROAD JUNCTION TO SEVENTH STREET
ROUNDABOUT
At
least the contractor put his grader to good use this week and graded the
downhill section so that traffic could get through. Apart from this no designs
have yet been provided to allow the construction work to begin.
LAE TO NADZAB SECTION OF THE HIGHWAY
Under
the HHRMP (Highlands Highway Road Maintenance Program) Shorncliffe PNG Ltd have
continued to maintain the worst sections of the Highway from Lae to Nadzab,
which was damaged in the recent heavy rains. They will manage these sections to
a reasonable standard, until it is dry enough to repair properly.
This
morning the grader was sent in to the 4-Mile section which had become a bit rough again, and slowed down the
traffic. Gravel was used and the grader levelled off the worst sections.
MARKHAM ROAD JUNCTION WITH BUMBU ROAD
Whilst
traffic currently has difficulty negotiating this junction, we can look forward
to a positive outcome. The National Roads Authority is committed to making a
permanent solution to this junction. The sandbagging exercise continues, so as
to establish the best size and location for a roundabout to be constructed.
When this has been decided, then work will commence on making a cement road and
roundabout.
Unfortunately
the weather is against the sandbagging exercise as the sandbags become
waterlogged and break easily. This exercise is not helped by vehicles taking
short cuts over the bags or on the wrong side.
When
the cementing of the road actually starts, the contractor has been instructed
to keep one side open at all times, to allow traffic to have continued access,
along the Highway as well as to the ancillary roads.
The
NRA will also maintain the section of the Highway between the Church Street junction
to the Boundary Road
roundabout.
LAE
ROADS
The LCCI has continued to engage in an exercise with the Lae
City Urban LLG Engineers, to do a cost analysis for repairing the road network
for the whole of the LaeCity. The roads have been
categorised and the costs
apportioned depending on the different degrees of urgency, using recognised road maintenance and
road construction formulas.
It is hoped that the funding of the roads will be addressed
with the National Planning Office.
In the meantime the City Council will be trying to keep the
roads at least trafficable, by grading and rolling the worst sections, and
gravelling the worst potholes. The main areas of concentration will be the
residential roads opposite the PolytechnicalCollege, and the Kwila Road and the
other residential roads in this area. These residential roads have been damaged
by excessive use by vehicles, avoiding the worst sections of the main roads.
As the Pacific Islands Forum gets underway in Port Vila, it reminded me of the first time I attended the various preparatory meetings.
From the lead ups to the special sessions, I saw a sea of men and women conveying their government positions since they were independent.
From poverty reduction, climate change, sea level rise and the occasional security issue.
Fancy cocktails followed where a host of technicolor island tapestry filled the fale.
From bright bula shirts, to elegant pulitasis, the men and women of the region continued their indulgence on regional integration.
Of course, being Papua New Guinean, we’d naturally gravitated to the liquor section where merrier subject was the order of the evening.
Rugby, Fiji’s suspension and taking the piss out of the Polynesian delegates that think their shit doesn’t stink.
In retrospect, I couldn’t help asking the same question perhaps Australia and New Zealand officials were asking that evening as well, what are we doing in this region?
I mean it’s got loads of salt water, pretty faces and coconuts, but that’s it.
None of the economies are worth the trade as the opportunity costs will be sky high and many of their capitals are like district headquarters so why would any of us want to go live there?
Since the liquor was running well that evening, I broached this question to an old dog that’s been doing this stuff for a while and he looked back at me and said it’s fueling the chief’s ego.
We engage with these guys because this is where he still holds high standing.
Too many chiefs in Africa, too many kings in Asia, too many professors/doctors in the Caribbean but there is only one Grand Chief.
He ranted on, as long as this nation claims to be a Christian country, we will be seeing the Pacific.
But remember, missionaries of Buddha, Mohammad and Capitalism are already here and converting our people.
They too would want to pay homage to their masters and with all the glitter and glamour they bring, will the righteous Pacific virtue prevail?
It seems the answer is no.
We are polygamously married to Australia, have an affair with Asia, pimp it off with the EU and US on occasions and when the Grand Chief likes it, give and get freebees in the Pacific.
He than glared back at me and laughed: I know when I’m long gone from the public service; it’ll be men like you that will forget this region.
I thought about his remarks for a long time and it is possible that this may in fact occur.
Apart from engaging Pacific islanders for work, I truly don’t have any other reference point and it occurred to me that many folks in my generation may be in the same boat.
After all, at one point or another, we get educated by our own people for most of our lives, when we get sick our people treat us and by the grace of the good lord, we may venture out of our borders to further develop our skills and it’s usually Australia or somewhere in Asia.
So we have signed up to the Pacific Plan and trade agreements but this is truly superficial.
They don’t feature in our national development priorities and our private sectors are not using the concessions of these trade arrangements.
More so, the Pacific Islands Forum is a genetic engineering lab to develop an Australia/New Zealand hegemony.
Yep, it seems their value holds a 10 Commandments status and every other view doesn’t.
But that’s what you get when you have a superpower like Australia/New Zealand in the house.
On my trip back, I decided to get some spiritual guidance from my grandfather and among other things seek his prayers for my transgressions.
But that’s another story.
He enlightened me PNG has a special relationship with the Pacific islands.
He told me of men like Ruatoka, Sina Saini, Talatalas that were killed in Daru, New Britain and MilneBay by cannibals and the countless others that died of starvation.
Touched by these remarks, I believe PNG must play an active role in the Pacific Islands Forum as it is our duty to help our island brothers and sisters.
Whether it is developing early warning systems of natural disasters or when they in fact have been decimated by cyclone or tsunamis, their nations disappear because of sea level rise, they are unable to plant their crops because of soil degradation, they are ruled by a tyrannical government or they are bullied by superpowers, PNG must take leadership.
Ok, so we won’t make any money and the Grand Chief will parade in his bling and woe them with his political ventures, but wantoks this is beyond him.
It is a special relationship our nation has with the people of the Pacific, who through their acts of love, compassion, and sacrifice forged hope for our people. Their legacy runs deep in the annals of our history and the marrows of our persona. PNG needs the Pacific Islands Forum and the Pacific Islands Forum needs PNG.
FARMERS in the Goilala area in Central province are being
encouraged to continue to grow the best vegetables and raise livestock, given
the exceptional cooler climate in the area.
The high altitudes of Tapini, Woitape and Kerau all in
Goilala have exceptional climate conditions similar to that in the highlands of
Papua New Guinea.
Tapini boasts some of the best vegetables and cash crops
grown and livestock such as poultry, piggery, goats and cattle raised by its
locals.
The last time I visited was last Saturday where we were
greeted by the best in garden produce from nuts to starch: taro, singapore, cassava,
yams, bananas, kaukau, sugarcane, peanuts, tomatoes, beans, carrots, onions,
coffee, rice, oranges, cabbages, passion fruit, pineapple, avocadoes and breadfruit.
Local farmers from
around Goilala gathered at the Tapini station last Saturday to celebrate the
registration of their cooperative society groups. The area has fertile land for
farming as these fruit and vegetable stalls show.-Nationalpics by WALLACE KIALA
Sebastian Amai is a coffee farmer from Tapini and has been
for over 20 years.
To date he has three coffee gardens with 4900 coffee trees.
The assistance by the Central Province Development Corporation
last Saturday provided seed money of K1, 000 each to 19 co-operative society
groups in Goilala.
Amai’s group, Tova Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative Society,
received its K1, 000 capital funds which should ensure a promising start.
Sebastian Amai, a small scale coffee grower in Tapini
for over 20 years, seen here with a display of some of his Arabica green beans
during the co-operative societies launch at Tapini station last Saturday
Apart from this, the Department of Commerce and Industry’s
cooperative societies unit (CSU) would be assisting with an additional K19, 000.
The CSU unit accompanied
Governor Alphonse Moroi to Tapini last Saturday.
Meanwhile, a new coffee roasting machine was recently bought
from the United States
and placed at Konedobu.
Small scale coffee farmers like Amai would be assisted in
having their coffee processed and marketed.
Theme: Action against pneumonia: A celebration of 40 years of pneumonia research in PNG and finding the best way forward The Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research (PNGIMR), together with its co-sponsors, PNG National Department of Health (NDoH) and World Health Organisation (WHO) will be hosting a celebration of 40 years of research on pneumonia in Papua New Guinea (PNG) from the evening of Monday 23rd to Thursday 26th of August 2010. It is hoped that many former staff and colleagues from PNG and overseas who have conducted pneumonia research over the years will be able to attend. The occasion will include reminiscences and reflections on past research, presentations on current research and discussions aiming to identify the best ways of reducing mortality and morbidity from pneumonia and how to implement them. Most of the celebration will be held at the institute headquarters in Goroka. Previous staff members from the Tari Research Unit, the Asaro Surveillance Unit and the Pneumonia Research Programme as well as current staff based in Goroka and other branches of PNGIMR will be invited to attend. The colloquium is being organised by Samson Akunaii and William Pomat with the secretarial assistance of Clare Mile. The program for the colloquium will be put together after consultation with the Director, Professor Peter Siba, and other senior scientists. There will be ample time for discussion and audience participation. The organisers will be writing separately to past and present staff members and colleagues asking them to speak on specific topics. However, they invite anybody who has been involved in pneumonia research in PNG to contribute to the programme: those wishing to do so should make contact with one of the organisers. As part of the celebration there will be a focus issue of the PNG Medical Journal devoted to research and research implementation on pneumonia and other acute respiratory infections. Deborah Lehmann and William Pomat are the guest editors for this issue, which will be published in the journal in 2011. All speakers at the colloquium will be invited to submit their papers for publication in this focus issue. The deadline for submission is 30 September 2010. The organisers are currently seeking sponsorship for this event, which will be free for PNGIMR staff and, depending on the level of funding support obtained, for as many Papua New Guinean ex-staff of the institute as possible. There will be a small registration fee for overseas participants. While it will not be possible to provide fares and accommodation for overseas and non-PNGIMR Papua New Guinean participants, all meals and social activities will be provided free to all registrants. Participants are assured of a warm welcome to Goroka, a significant scientific and historical conference and a colourful event to mark a very important milestone. Those wishing to attend should complete the registration form and return it to one of the organisers, to whom any specific queries and suggestions should be addressed, at: Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research PO Box 60 Goroka, EHP 441 Papua New Guinea Telephone +675 532 2800 Fax +675 532 1998
Our beloved Lae City and Morobe province is about to go to the dogs because of lack of leadership we have for the province.
I was in Lae last week (haven’t been there for about two years) and oh boy!
The roads are a driver’s nightmare.
Whilst there, I was adequately informed by a fellow Morobean that the road past LFA and Lae Technical College was reconstructed and sealed about a year ago, but look at it now, it is riddled with potholes despite a deep drainage running along its length.
This stretch of road was reconstructed by a contractor without the supervision of Lae City Authority’s Engineering Division.
Two pictures are attached for your viewing.
Also, on Radio Morobe over the weekend, Honorable Sam Basil and Bart Philemon went on air telling Morobeans that it would cost about K60 million to fix the Lae roads (both the national and provincial sections).
Sadly, the Lae City Authority only has an annual budget of K8 million to carry out all its functions including road maintenance.
This is definitely a sorry state of affairs for Lae City which I hope our four MPs in Government (three are Cabinet Ministers) have noted and will argue on the province’s behalf to get the necessary funding.
Despite the millions of kina Lae City and Morobe generates for the national purse, we have always been given a raw deal in terms of infrastructure development because of political divisions by our elected leaders.
I wish to also share some light on an issue which I thought everyone needs to know.
A recent discussion with some friends from Eastern Highlands is that an economic advisor in their province is proposing a white paper to be presented to government to register goods and services tax (GST) generated from resources extracted/developed in their province against their provincial tally.
This data will then be used in negotiations with government for project fundings for their six provincial electorates.
For example, GST generated from electricity supplied by Yonki Power Station will be registered in Eastern Highlands and not Lae City (or Morobe Province).
On a more brighter note, there are signs of developments taking place in Lae City especially with new residential blocks/units being built as well as new warehouses, motels/inns, and factories.
There is also an effort to fix the roads however, this has been somewhat slow either because of funding limitations or lack of contractors capacities.
It is not all doom and gloom for our beloved Lae City, and we demand the Lae City Authority, PNG Power, and PNG Water Board, to play their part in maintaining the city’s essential services for the benefit of city residents and industries as well as rural Morobeans who depend on the city.
Papua New Guinea is among 14 PacificIsland countries ready to implement the Food Security and Sustainable Livelihood Programme (FSSLP).
Established under the auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the FSSLP goal is to contribute to the achievement of food security by poor and vulnerable populations, and especially women and youth.
It will be a framework for improving food security and sustainable livelihoods in the Pacific islands into the future
The key elements of food security are availability, accessibility, utilisation and stability.
The programme will look at improving sustainability in crops, livestock, fisheries and agro-forestry mainly providing opportunities for vulnerable and poor households.
It will also look at enabling these households to have access to services, agricultural inputs and markets.
Other issues include improved capacity, good policies and strategies to address food security challenges.
Two FAO consultants based in Samoa, Aleki Sisifa and Dr Siousiua Halavatau, were in PNG recently to discuss the FSSLP with officials from the Department of Agriculture and Livestock and other stakeholders.
PNG officials were given a briefing at a one-day workshop on the background of the FSSLP, its implementation arrangements and process and obtain stakeholder feedback.
Speaking at the opening of the workshop, DAL deputy secretary for technical services, Francis Daink, on behalf of the secretary, said the FSSLP was an up-scaling of the regional programme for food security implemented between 2004-2007, and complimented PNG’s efforts in promoting food security and improving the people’s livelihood.
He said PNG had developed relevant policies and strategies on food security and the FSSLP further strengthened the food security programmes within the country.
The FSSLP will also be guided by major PNG Government initiatives such as the PNG Vision 2050.
He said the workshop was timely as it allowed DAL staff and partners to understand the programme background and objectives and the implementation processes.
The FAO consultants said under the FSSLP there should be more equitable access to programme benefits either from direct interventions to poorer/more-vulnerable groups, women, youth and people in more remote areas as well as indirectly from strengthened service provision and capacity building.
The components of the programme included support to community and household investments, development of service provision capacity and facilities, multi-country support and food security initiatives, and programme management.
Sisifa said many PacificIsland countries including PNG face similar constraints.
These are wide geographical spread, small and often remote populations, lack of capacity, evolving policy frameworks, weak market systems and linkages, inadequate infrastructure, weak financing capacity, vulnerability to changes in international trading environment, vulnerability to natural disasters and climate change.
He said the FSSLP made use of experiences from Pacific regional programmes over many years, such as the EU/SPC Development of Sustainable Agriculture in the Pacific 2003-2008, FAO Regional Food Security Programme and others.
The FSSLP will be implemented using existing structures, linkages and collaboration with private sector and other stakeholders.
The consultants urged DAL to start making the necessary preparations including establishment of the national programme steering committee, and update on the priority projects identified for the FSSLP.
The theme of this year's Walkley Media Conference is 'What's the story?' It's about how we develop a powerful narrative and "make our stories sing and sell", a very contemporary theme at a time when social media allows us to become our own marketing machines. But it's also possible to lose the plot—which is what happened when the MEAA decided to invite Exxon Mobil to be the Golden sponsor of the Walkley Media Conference.
As Exxon Mobil public affairs told ABC PM's Jess Hill, on Wednesday: "We're always very interested in hearing about how a powerful narrative can help." Public relations help is certainly what Exxon Mobil needs. It's not easy to spin a story about being environmentally responsible when you are the world's biggest oil corporation trying to live down the nightmare of the Exxon Valdez Alaskan oil spill at a time when oil spills suddenly shoot to the top of the news agenda.
As well, you have organisations like Sourcewatch and Greenpeace tracking your notorious history of funding climate scepticism as you try to negotiate your way through the shifting sands of climate-change politics. Last year the ABC reported that Exxon Mobil had reneged on its promise to stop funding groups such as the Heritage and Atlas Economic Foundations, quoting London School of Economics policy director Bob Ward as saying: "They are trying to mislead people and frankly we have seen these sorts of tactics before, for instance in the case of the tobacco industry, who for many, many years, funded campaigns and misinformation about the adverse effects of their products." Exxon Mobil's response was that it is now funding different views within the debate. Three weeks ago, News Ltd outlets The Times and The Australian prominently featured Exxon Mobil's continuing record of funding groups which not only deny that climate change is occurring but also allege climate scientists are wilful conspirators.
All this explains why it was such a shock for many when they learned this week that Exxon Mobil was funding the Walkley conference. The first duty of journalists is to understand that even a good story should not stand in the way of seeking the truth. The difficult task of environmental journalists is to sort out the greenwashing from what is actually happening. The professional development arm of the union, The Walkley Foundation is supposed to be about promoting excellence in journalism and an ethical bulwark in times when many working journalists find themselves under pressure to bend their ethics to meet commercial and ratings pressures.
Sponsorship is about forming a public association that can enhance the credibility of the sponsor and provide economic benefit to the organisation being sponsored. This is why it was beside the point for federal secretary of the MEAA Chris Warren to tell the ABC PM program that journalists would not be compromised by joining Exxon Mobil for a cup of tea at the conference. It's sadly ironic that as someone who has championed the public right to know, Warren, when asked to reveal the precise details of the relationship with Exxon Mobil, declined because it is "commercially in confidence".
An underling issue that may have led to this potential PR fiasco for the union may be the merging of public relations and journalism professionals into one union. However, in this case, the MEAA move is just as offensive and a conflict of interest for its members working in professional communications roles in research, government, universities, politics, big NGOs, environmental organisations and many other companies.
No one is denying the need for some sponsorship. Various universities and media outlets, including Crikey, had agreed to sponsor the conference. It is likely that many of them were not aware of the Exxon Mobil gold sponsorship. Qantas is also providing in-kind travel support.
Journalists, academics, public relations and other communications people, media students, environmentalists and many others are signing an open letter asking the MEAA to withdraw from the sponsorship. ( If you wish to sign email acij@uts.edu.au)
Meanwhile, there is a big story happening in PNG at LakeKutubu. It's a hard one for Australian journalists to cover because it's expensive to get there. Last year, Oilsearch, Exxon Mobil's partner in the huge LNG pipeline carving its way through the once pristine World Heritage area, flew The Age's Jo Chandler up there where she reported on the complexities of development. Unfortunately, she missed the "ecological disaster" caused by oil drilling in the area that two weeks later SMH environmental reporter Ben Cubby discovered from his desk in Sydney. Since then the only major follow-ups have been by UTS student reporter Calliste Weitenberg in non-mainstream publications Reportage-enviro and NZ publication Pacific Scoop.
Maybe some Walkley media sponsors could band together to send a team of reporters to LakeKutubu to give the people there the chance to be part of a "powerful narrative".
*Wendy Bacon is the director of the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, which is the publisher of Reportage-enviro. UTS journalism was approached for sponsorship but could not justify the expense of a cash contribution (there is an agreement, however, for UTS students to contribute by videoing the conference and helping out with administrative tasks)
A slightly edited version of this article was published by Crikey.com on July 30, 2010. UTS journalism has now withdrawn from its arrangement to video the conference on the grounds that it cannot provide an in-kind subsidy to a conference funded by Exxon-Mobil.
RESPONSE:Since this story was published, MEAA Federal Secretary Christopher Warren has provided the following response. Wendy Bacon's further response is provided below.
Your comments about the support the Walkley Foundation is receiving from ExxonMobil for our Media Conference in Sydney next month deserve an appropriate response.
The Walkley Foundation is a politically neutral organisation pledged to further excellence in Australian journalism and we do not make political judgements about organisations as it would not be appropriate for us to do so.
We rely on the support of our partners to do this vital work in support of transparency and press freedom and insist that, in all their engagement with us, they accept our fundamental beliefs. Journalists are not strangers to commercial arrangements. They've been fundamental to journalism for centuries. Our principles mean that all are arms length and are not permitted to in any way to influence the content of what we do or say.
I have absolute confidence in the ability and integrity of journalists to both understand these principles and to work to the highest ethical principles.
As you would know, Exxon is among our corporate supporters, the most prominent of which is the Copyright Agency Limited, which helps journalists secure royalty payment for use of their work.
Our other sponsors include Qantas, the ABC, Al-Jazeera, APN, Fairfax Media, News Ltd, APN News and Media, SBS and Leader Community Newspapers.
Our academic partners include The University of Sydney and the University of Queensland. Your own university, UTS, is also lending its support by pledging five students to report on proceedings with the help of video cameras provided by us by Flip.
You should note that among the organisations that ExxonMobil supports in this country are Opera Australia, the charity United Way, the Australian Drug Foundation, Royal Children's Hospital Safety Centre in Melbourne and the National Youth Science Forum.
Globally the list of organisations is too exhaustive to go into, but includes StanfordUniversity, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, YaleUniversity all of which are investigating alternative fuel technologies.
The various co-signatories to your open letter who work at MonashUniversity would know that the university also receives support from ExxonMobil.
It is inevitable in all of this that the company will have funded organisations that you or I may not agree with. However, this is true of almost every corporation in Australia, particularly global corporations.
You refer to the Media Alliance Code of Ethics in your letter. The Code requires that journalists: "Do not allow personal interest or any belief, commitment, gift or benefit to undermine your accuracy, fairness or independence." Further Clause 5 requires that journalists disclose any possible conflicts of interest. Clause 6 exhorts journalists not to allow advertising or any commercial considerations to undermine accuracy, fairness or independence.
In all its dealing with hundreds of sponsors over the years, the Walkley Foundation has consistently upheld this principle and will continue to do so.
With best wishes
Christopher Warren Federal Secretary, Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance
Response to Chris Warren, Federal Secretary of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance. ( MEAA) by Wendy Bacon, Director of the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism.
In several respects, Warren's response sidesteps the issues I raised.
I stated clearly that those opposing this Exxon Mobil /Walkley agreement are not doing so because sponsorship itself is an issue. I mentioned a number of the other sponsors, none of whom are inappropriate. I also acknowledged that UTS students were going to video the event. We have now withdrawn from that agreement.
I am not sure what Warren means by stating that the Walkley Foundation is politically neutral. I assume he is not using this phrase in a narrow politically party sense. In a broad sense, journalism does take a broad political position in relation to its role in a democracy and in holding power accountable. The Walkley Foundation is the professional development arm of the MEAA which often criticises government over lack of strong shield laws, weak freedom of information laws and so on. It adopts these positions as a consequence of its underlying political stance in relation to core principles of the public right to know and the independence of journalism. In a world in which mega corporations such as Exxon Mobil wield as much influence as many governments, surely the MEAA can take a stance in relation to companies.
Warren makes the obvious point that many journalism is often practised in the context of commercial relationships. It does not follow however that as Warren suggests, one cannot distinguish between commercial relationships or that all sponsorships are therefore equal. By taking this approach, he conveniently rules out any discussion about ethical boundaries.
No one has suggested that individual journalists will be compromised by this sponsorship. The issue is what Exxon Mobil is potentially gaining from the relationship. This move is part of a multifaceted PR strategy which will allow Exxon Mobil to publicly associate its name with some leading names and institutions in Australian and international media.
Warren does not address our central concern which is that Exxon Mobile has not only lent its support to organisations which have supported the view that climate change is a willful conspiracy by scientists but it has misled the public about this funding. Shareholder, media and environmental pressure led it to promise that it would cease its support for organisations promoting climate skepticism but in fact, it continued the funding during 2009. This has been widely reported by The Times ,The Australian and many other outlets. I am not arguing that climate skeptic organisations should not be allowed to express their views. The issue is whether our union should link itself with an organisation which funds them to do it.
Despite a drop in its 2009 profits to $19 billion, Exxon Mobil has huge resources to support a wide range of organisations. It spent $27 million alone last year on lobbying the US Congress about energy policy. It will continue to do so. This is irrelevant to the consideration of whether Exxon Mobil is an appropriate sponsor for a media conference.
Warren asserts that that the code does not allow journalists to be affected by commercial considerations in their work. While this does not seem to be relevant to the sponsorship deal, it does open up another issue. Journalists do strive to remain independent of commercial considerations but as we demonstrated in our Crikeys's Spinning the Media (http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/03/15/over-half-your-news-is-spin) series often do not succeed. During our research for that series, we were contacted by a number of young journalists who felt afraid to speak publicly about the pressures on them. The MEAA needs to go further than a mere restatement of the ethical position and address this issue in practical ways. Leading journalists and others speaking at the conference may not experience these pressures. Young journalists, however, might appreciate sessions on how to deal with spin,including government PR which makes it increasingly difficult to get the story.
Hopefully, this discussion will get people involved in thinking about what approach they take in relation to this issue. Many journalists, academics, environmentalists and others are signing an open letter which is now on the ACIJ website. Those who want to sign can email acij@uts.edu.au. At Australian universities this week, students, who are the future journalists and members of the union, will discuss the issues and make up their minds.
Those signing the letter urge the MEAA will withdraw from this deal before next week.
Julia Gillard continues to amaze me as her lack of political savvy is exposed as this election campaign progresses.
Thrust dramatically into the spotlight by the messy disposal of Rudd, Gillard displayed an appalling lack of basic understanding of the mechanics of politics in her dealings with East Timor over her version of a boatpeople policy that blew up in her face.
There is now a third person involved in this election and that is Laurie Oakes who has now struck twice with leaks that has Labor apparatchiks looking nervously at each other.
Will Oakes make further strikes?
Some journos have praised Gillard for her handling of the serious leaks involving her questioning of parental care and increased pensions change but these geniuses failed to even think about Gillard’s past involvement with a conga line of massive economic blunders.
Where were Gillard’s forensic skills when the killer pink batts scheme was being dreamed up along with all the other disasters including her own BER?
Have the punters forgotten all about Gillard’s doomed Medicare Gold plan in 2004?
Julia Gillard’s political psyche was created by her very active role in the Socialist Forum – in reality a rebadged Communist Party.
