By
MALUM NALU
The stand-off between
Australian climate change advisor and chairman of Ok Tedi Mining Ltd, Professor
Ross Garnaut, and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill began on Friday,
Nov 2, 2012.
O’Neill accused Garnaut in parliament of insulting the nation's leaders and said
Garnaut, who until recently was also chairman of the PNG Sustainable
Development Program (PNGSDP) trust, would not be allowed back until control of
the mine was given back to the PNG people.
The trust was given
ownership of the OK Tedi mine, located in PNG's Western province, by mining
giant BHP.
"I will put (Prof
Garnaut) on notice that he is no longer welcome to this country," O'Neill
told parliament that day.
"He can stay out
of PNG and conduct himself.
“ I want it out on
record in this parliament that we will not tolerate people of such standing
coming in and disrespecting leaders of this country."
O'Neill was infuriated
by a report in The Australian by
longtime PNG-based journalist Rowan Callick, which quoted Prof Garnaut as
saying that with such an accumulation of wealth in PNG, it was "tempting
for political figures to think of better ways of using it right now rather than
putting it into long-term development".
He accused BHP of
running the PNGSDP by remote control from Melbourne and questioned whether PNG
had benefited from the project.
"Has it delivered
to the expectations of our people, particularly the people of western
province?" O’Neill said.
"What have they
delivered?
“We have given them a
blanket cover, blanket insurance, protection from this parliament that we will
never sue them for the damage they have caused to our people.
"We have seen many
big announcements about major projects that will change the course of this
country over the past 10 years, and yet we have yet to see one of those
projects being delivered."
PNG foreign minister
Rimbink Pato told a press conference on Nov 7 his department had been
directed to ban Prof Garnaut from entering the country.
Pato made the comments
after O'Neill said Prof Garnaut was no longer welcome in PNG because
of insults to the nation's leaders.
Callick wrote in a
follow-up article: “The issue at stake would appear to be control of the Ok
Tedi revenues.
“Where should this
reside?
“What structure offers
the best hopes for effective distribution?
“A recent review of
PNGSDP by Australian and PNG academics said its ‘governance arrangements have
served it well, and its independence from government, though sometimes a source
of tension, is widely recognised as a strength’.
“The O'Neill government
has itself supported the creation of a sovereign wealth fund to hold some of
the windfall revenues from the gas project -- whose aim is also to keep politicians'
hands off.
“Garnaut told The Australian that politicians in PNG
may be tempted ‘to think of better ways of using (the Ok Tedi dividends) right
now rather than putting it into long-term development’.
“It is very strange
that such an uncontroversial comment should place the government at odds with
its biggest source of revenue, and potentially with the wider sector on which
its future depends.”
O’Neill rubbed salt
onto the wound when addressing the Australian National Press Club in Canberra
on Nov 27: "As a leader of the country I cannot stand by and allow comments
like those to continue.
"It was
irresponsible.
“He has to take
ownership of that statement."
O'Neill said his
government had sought an explanation.
"Some of the
explanations he's given to us are not acceptable to us.”
