Gordon Market shakes off ‘bad boy’ image

 By MALUM NALU

Gordon Market, notorious for being one of the filthiest and most crime infested in Port Moresby, is looking to shake off that ‘bad boy’ image.

In an amazing transformation in the space of a few days, the local community and police have joined forces to clean the market of betelnut sellers, marijuana and home brew dealers, prostitutes, pick pockets, and drunkards who terrorised innocent men, women, and children.

Community and police working together…Insp Mosinakave (centre) with Gordon Market vendors, goers, and his men at the entrance.-Nationalpics by MALUM NALU

Gordon ‘home boys’, men who were born and bred in Gordon and now raising their own families, could no longer sit back and watch the safety and wellbeing of their wives and children being compromised.

“Our wives and children were harassed, they didn’t feel free,” spokesman James Tore told The National.

“Drugs and liquor were sold just like any other item in the market place.

The outside of Gordon Market looking spic and span.

This shop front, opposite Gordon Police Barracks, was known for being one of the filthiest betelnut markets in the city.

Innocent men, women, and children can now go to Gordon Market without fear of being harassed.

‘This forced us to go and see NCDC if we could start this clean-up campaign.

“They agreed to help and support us, and from there on, we started cleaning up.”

Trying to clean Gordon Market is no mean feat, especially trying to tell a hardened betelnut vendor, or marijuana and home brew dealer, to pack up and leave.

The Gordon ‘home boys’ needed help, and when they needed it most, in stepped Inspector Mark Mosinakave and his young and enthusiastic crew from NCD Police Beat Patrol.

“We wanted to show our presence in the area because Gordon Market is infested with thugs,” he said.

“It has a very bad image.

“We want to help clean up the place, to tell the people that what they do is bad for the city.

“Gordon Market is in the heart of the nation’s capital so we have to keep the place clean for visitors, as well as for ourselves.

“We’ve been carrying out patrols, telling vendors to go and sell their stuff at the right places.

“It is really filthy, especially the betelnut.

“Gordon is supposed to be a fresh produce area, but betelnut is creating so much filth around this area so we’re trying to stop vendors from selling betelnut.”

Mosinakave said his men and the Gordon ‘home boys’ started foot beats at 5.30am till 6pm every day, and although a tough job, the rewards were there with the place being much cleaner, and smiles on the faces of women and children.

“A lot of people are giving positive comments about our presence here at Gordon and the volunteers coming in to help us keep the place clean,” he said.

“This is our home, Port Moresby.

“Let’s help each other and take care of our city.”

Torres Strait looms as a new route for asylum seekers escaping PNG

By Matt Wordsworth

ABC

 

Off the far northern coast of Australia, another front line is opening up in the political battle over asylum seekers.

The plan to send all new arrivals to Papua New Guinea was supposed to the stop the boats, but there are growing concerns that it could simply provide a new route for people smugglers.
The Torres Strait at its northernmost point is only four kilometres from the mainland of PNG, and this sparsely populated frontier has been a well-known smuggling route for drugs, guns and people for years.
However, the remote and sparsely populated islands are understandably difficult to monitor. A checkpoint on Australia's northernmost island, Boigu, is the boat ramp. There are no scanners or sniffer dogs here.
Two federal government officials greet any arrivals, record names, and look over cargo for signs of pests and disease.
It's a casual affair because nearly all visitors here are from just across the water in PNG, about seven kilometres away.
Owing to centuries-old family links, the Australian government allows villagers from 13 settlements along the PNG coast free movement in the region, and they make the trip every week to bring their goods to market.
The Torres Strait Island Regional Council representative for Boigu Island, Dimas Toby, oversees the operation.
The markets are vital to the prosperity of families on both sides of the border, but the proximity of the two countries has become a concern given the Federal Government's recently announced "PNG solution".
"Mr Rudd made that proposal and the decision - having the processing and detention in Manus Island," Cr Toby said.
"Boigu and Saibai are sort of the doorway for internationals to come in. We've had [arrivals] in the past that came through here as individuals and a group."

'A concern it will become a backdoor into the country'

Most of the visitors to Boigu are perfectly legal, and across the region it is estimated there are about 50,000 crossings of people a year between PNG and Australia.
But with the only requirement for an international journey being a tinny and a drum of petrol local journalist Aaron Smith says there are widespread reservations about the PNG solution.
"A lot of the regional leaders up here are concerned," he said.

"We do have a pretty porous border up here. Just on one of the treaty villages on the island of Saibai, about four kilometres from the PNG mainland, that border has about 26,000 crossings a year to that one island.

"A significant percentage are not illegal immigrants. They're mostly PNG nationals, but there is a concern it will become a backdoor into the country."
Those fears were realised on Saturday when two Somalis were detained on Boigu Island. They were flown to Cairns and immigration officials will send them on to Manus Island in PNG for processing.
Just a day earlier, another two suspected asylum seekers were intercepted off nearby Saibai Island.
It takes the total number of irregular maritime arrivals in the Torres Strait so far this year to 10, which already matches last year's total. In 2011 there was just one. In 2010 there were none.
"There's not a racket going on as far as I've heard," Mr Smith said.
"It's more just opportunist people who are really keen to get out here and live in Australia."

Air, sea and land patrols monitor movements in the area

The crew aboard the Customs vessel, the Jardine River, is the front line of defence against illegal entry to Australia through the Torres Strait.
It is a big patch to cover for the two boats in service - almost 50,000 square kilometres.
Senior officer Gary Don is normally stationed in Cairns but spent three years serving on Thursday Island.
He says there are three other vessels like the Jardine River, 12-metre cruisers with a fly bridge, in use across the country - one in Western Australia, one in Darwin and one in Gove.

 On a patrol with ABC's 7.30, Customs stopped one international vessel – a yellow-hulled yacht.

Crew member Hannah Lockhard hailed the sailor on the radio while coxswain Leo Leoni stood on deck, notebook in hand, taking details of the boat.
The lone sailor on board, an elderly gentleman who emerged from below deck squinting in the sun, squawked a reply over his radio.
"They just talked to that guy on the radio," Mr Don said.
"He first pulled into Cairns a few days ago. He's now heading off to Darwin. It's a Belgium-registered vessel.
"His English language isn't that good but it's been cleared into Cairns so we don't have a great deal of interest. His details all check out."
According to the Customs department, there are just 13 staff in the entire Torres Strait with another six available at short notice in Cairns in what they call a flying squad.
There are two helicopters and two boats.

Concerns about Customs' resources in the region

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman does not believe it is a big enough contingent for the Far North.
"The idea that 13 officials are enough to police 270-odd islands and thousands of square kilometres of sea area is preposterous," he said.
"So Kevin Rudd, if he wants the PNG solution to work, needs to properly close the border and ensure only those people who are legit can get across."
Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said there has not been a jump in irregular arrivals.
"I know that Premier Newman has been trying to scare everybody up here, let me give you the facts," Mr Clare said.
"The fact is, that last year 10 people crossed from PNG across the Torres Strait and 10 people have made that same journey this year.
"The difference now is that everybody that crosses the Torres Strait without a visa will get flown to Manus Island. No one will be processed here, no one will be settled here. That's the difference."
On Boigu Island, Dimas Toby is more concerned about what he says have been recent cutbacks at federal agencies servicing the region.
"We've experienced that over the past couple of years there's been cuts to customs on Thursday Island, cutbacks on fisheries," Cr Toby said.
"There's fewer patrols. If you are looking at the asylum seeker problem I think we really need to step up on security and give the Torres Strait region the assurance that we're safe."

Ship's cargo bound for PNG mums

ADAM ROBERTS

14/08/2013

Fairfax NZ News

 

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When a $5 million, Nelson-built, multipurpose boat arrives at a remote Papua-New Guinea village soon, it will come with vital equipment collected to save the lives of women during labour.
The Soroptimist International Nelson Club has spent the last three weeks collected donated goods to send with the Morobe Rainforest, a vessel built by Challenge Marine for the remote Papua-New Guinea village of Lae.
Soroptimist International of the South West Pacific is running a project, Birthing in the Pacific, aimed at the fifth United Nations' Millenium Development Goal of improving maternal health.
Worldwide, the organisation has raised $471,000 for improving birthing outcomes in Papua New Guinea.
But the local branch has made a more direct contribution to the cause.
Project organiser Raylene Cresswell said the idea came about three weeks ago, when Soroptimist member Wendy Logan heard the vessel was about to leave for Papua New Guinea empty.
They decided to ask Lae what it needed, and collected a list of medical and birthing supplies. Money came from the wider organisation, as well as donations from local groups.
Advertisements in the newspaper and on the radio in Marlborough and Nelson followed, and soon the group had donations from the public streaming in.
Mrs Cresswell said the response had been "absolutely tremendous" and "overwhelming".
"I hope those girls in Papua-New Guinea are ready."
The gear included 2000 pairs of rubber gloves, as in Papua-New Guinea doctors were often forced to use plastic bags, and other simple items, such as drinking mugs and used clothes.
In Papua New Guinea, one in four women died in childbirth, and there was only one midwife for every 1000 births.
Soroptimist International of Nelson president Rachael Taylor said the whole group had quickly been inspired by the project.
"As a woman in New Zealand you take things for granted. You go into hospital where things are quite safe.
"In Papua-New Guinea they have to travel days to get to hospital over water or hills."
Although it was not yet clear when the vessel would sail, donations had closed, Ms Taylor said.

 

Study details ‘severe’ brutality against women in PNG

Savage attacks occurring in two-thirds of all families

AFP

Published: August 13, 2013

Sydney: Women in poverty-stricken Papua New Guinea suffer "severe brutality" with violence, including savage attacks involving knives, axes and whips, occurring in two-thirds of all families, a new study said on Tuesday.

Based on interviews in Central Province's Rigo district, the report by Australian charity ChildFund detailed extreme acts of violence including a woman who had her lower lip bitten off by a stranger and one whose infant son's unconscious body was used as a weapon against her.

Although there was no official government data on violence against women and children in the rugged Pacific nation, ChildFund said it was widely reported to occur in two-thirds of PNG families and "the incidence is likely to be higher than two in three".

One study cited by the charity in its report found that half of all women would be raped in their lifetime, and another reported that 86 per cent were beaten during pregnancy.

Of those seeking medical help after being raped, half were younger than 16, one quarter were younger than 12 and one in 10 were under eight years of age.

ChildFund interviewed 37 women in four villages and 14 men for the case studies used in the report.

"Most women interviewed during our field research in Rigo district, Central Province had experienced violence, and not one claimed to have a husband who had never beaten them," ChildFund said.

The case studies included a woman whose one-month-old baby was punched unconscious by her husband and his body used as a weapon against her. The baby survived the attack.

Another, Helen, had her lower lip bitten off in a random attack in the capital Port Moresby.

"Sometimes when I sleep, I dream he will come to me and I am really scared about it. I think he is coming back again," she said.

At the city's Family Support Centre, ChildFund said they saw women with chunks of skin, cheeks, noses and ears missing after violent biting attacks, as well as injuries from spears, bush knives or machetes and whips.

PNG's government enacted harsh new laws earlier this year making sexual and other crimes against women punishable by death after a spate of violence including the burning alive of a young mother accused of witchcraft, the beheading of another, and the rape of two foreigners.

Aid organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has labelled PNG's sexual and domestic violence a humanitarian crisis, with epidemic levels of abuse unique outside of a war-zone or state of civil unrest.

The group has said that violence is inherent in the way the population resolves disputes at a tribal, family and interpersonal level. The extremely low status of women in the country is also a factor.

PNG ranks 134 out of 148 countries in the 2012 UNDP Gender Inequality Index, and 156 out of 186 in the Human Development Index — the lowest in the Pacific.

Life expectancy is low, at 61 years for males and 65 for females. Infant mortality is high, and maternal mortality is the highest in the Pacific, among the highest in the world.

Currently, 37 per cent of the population lives in poverty, and less than half of school-age children are enrolled in classes.

MSF estimates that 70 percent of women in PNG will be raped or physically assaulted in their lifetime.

PNG corruption under scrutiny

AAP

 

There is too much talking and not enough fighting against corruption in Papua New Guinea, the Chief Secretary to government says.

Sir Manasupe Zurenuoc has told a forum on PNG's proposed Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) the nation's government is willing to fight corruption head on.
"The fight against corruption is not new," Sir Manasupe said in a statement.
"The talks about corruption have been going on for far too long.
"We hear about people stealing from the government or misusing funds but from today onwards we will take a serious step in having corruption brought to an end."
Sir Manasupe was addressing a meeting in Mt Hagen, in PNG's Western Highlands, on Thursday.
In the 1990's a proposed ICAC failed to gain majority parliamentary backing.
The government of Peter O'Neill was elected on a mandate to tackle corruption and fix the nation's ailing infrastructure.
In 2011 it set up Task Force Sweep to investigate corruption at the department of National Planning, but its purview was soon extended to cover other departments.
Task Force Sweep Chief Sam Koim last month told the Australian based Development Policy Centre an ICAC must evolve slowly, as a new anti-corruption institution had potential to "divert government attention away from existing agencies, or cause territorial conflicts (between agencies)".
However an ICAC could work if it was properly integrated into existing government systems and reflected local values.
Last year Mr Koim said about half of PNG's 7.6 billion kina (AUD$3.5 billion) aid budget between 2009 and 2011 had been lost to corruption. In October last year he called Australia PNG's "Cayman Islands" for stolen funds. In February his office in Port Moresby was ransacked.

Fears realised: Somalis use PNG as asylum launch pad

by: Michael McKenna and Sarah Elks

From: The Australian

August 12, 2013

 

WARNINGS that Kevin Rudd's Papua New Guinea Solution would only serve as a springboard for asylum-seekers to cross the poorly policed Torres Strait have been fuelled with the discovery of two pairs of asylum-seekers at the weekend.

The arrivals from PNG came after a boat carrying 28 asylum-seekers was intercepted by the navy off Christmas Island on Friday night and unloaded at Flying Fish Cove on Saturday.
Bedraggled and smelling of the sea that they had "bunny-hopped" across from Indonesia to PNG, before paying for their 6km passage to tiny Boigu island, two Somali men were caught as they planned the next stage of their journey, to mainland Australia.
With $US1600 ($1740) in cash, they would have had a chance if not for the"Movement Monitoring Officers", the 18 locals employed as the eyes and ears of the Immigration Department across the archipelago of islands, above Cape York.
But now the Somalis are on their way to the high-security Villawood detention facility, in Sydney, and are likely to join the growing queue of boat arrivals who will be sent to Manus Island in PNG or Nauru.
The discovery of the Somalis, on Saturday morning, came just hours after the sighting by a Customs plane fly-over of another pair, this time a West Papuan and a PNG national in a traditional canoe, just north of Saibai Island, 4km from PNG.
After the announcement of the PNG Solution last month, Premier Campbell Newman said the plan would lead to PNG becoming a "jumping-off" point for a wave of immigration into Queensland.
"The Premier raised concerns about this policy in July, and was accused by Immigration Minister Tony Burke of peddling hysteria," a spokesman for Mr Campbell said yesterday.
"The federal government has yet to address the many serious issues that we've raised. This latest incident demonstrates the ease of passage from PNG into Queensland, which is what we've been saying since the start."
Mr Burke yesterday played down the arrival of the four, saying Labor's new hardline approach would apply to all.
"It doesn't matter what part of Australia's coastline people try to cross, if you come by boat without a visa, you won't be settled in Australia," Mr Burke said.
"These individuals who have come by boat without a visa will not be settled in Australia."
However, opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the arrival of the four demonstrated the risks in trying to settle asylum-seekers in PNG.

Harnessing services for inclusive growth in Vietnam and PNG

 August 11th, 2013

Authors: Aaron Batten and Dominic Mellor, ADB, in East Asia Forum

 

In spite of their institutional, economic and demographic differences, Vietnam and Papua New Guinea (PNG) share something in common: neither have managed to fully harness the opportunities of a vibrant services sector.

It is generally the case that the share of services in a country's total economic output will increase as its per capita income rises. Services are a key input of nearly every business and are a primary determinant of productivity growth. Yet as a recently released ADB Working Paper shows large differences have emerged between the ability of low-income countries in the Asia Pacific to use their service sector industries to create employment, boost productivity and lift per capita incomes.

The share of services in PNG's economy remains at the low-end of all Asia Pacific countries, comprising roughly 29 per cent of GDP, which is well below the ASEAN average of 45 per cent. Output is dominated by the industrial sector, focused on a number of mining and oil operations, which runs in parallel to a large subsistence and cash crop based agricultural industry. For the most part, the services sector remains focused on domestic wholesale and retail trade, along with transport, finance, and business services in support of the larger industrial and agriculture sectors.

Despite an impressive period of growth since the launch of economic reforms in the 1980s, Vietnam's service sector, comprising approximately 35 per cent of its GDP, is also much smaller than other countries at similar stages of economic development. Vietnam's economy of 87 million people is dominated by a low value-added manufacturing sector, with agriculture also making up a large, albeit declining, share of output. Against this backdrop, service businesses have been largely confined to tourism, wholesale and retail trade, transport and storage, telecommunications, and real estate.

Many of the underlying reasons for the underdeveloped service sectors in both countries are similar, despite varying in their intensity. The biggest reason is low productivity which has prevented the emergence of higher value-add service sector activities. Domestic educational institutions in both countries have been unable to produce sufficient quantities of the highly qualified staff that many service industries are heavily reliant on. In PNG the situation is exacerbated by the migration of skilled graduates toward high paying jobs in the mineral sector. Both countries also have weak, often burdensome, business environments. Regulations often impede commerce, and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) operate with many advantages, crowding out more efficient private sector entrepreneurs. In Vietnam, while many services industries have been liberalised in recent years, the government is still heavily involved in production and investment, particularly in the finance and telecommunications sectors. Likewise, PNG continues to operate inefficient government monopolies in aviation, power, ports, telecommunications, and postal and water services.

Yet both countries have also demonstrated over the last decade that rapid progress can be made in increasing the size and scope of service sector activities. Indeed, although PNG's services sector remains small, a number of reforms have dramatically increased growth in the sector over the last decade. The first was a series of banking reforms that privatised the Papua New Guinea Banking Corporation, and established the central bank as an independent regulator with a clear mandate for price and market stability. In 2006, the state also removed its monopoly in the mobile telephone market. The government has also introduced limited competition into the aviation sector, where a number of new service providers have challenged the state's monopoly, and reduced freight and passenger costs on some routes. As a result of these reforms the services sector has become a major driver of the increase in formal private sector employment opportunities. Employment in transport and telecommunications increased from an average of 0.7 per cent from 2001–05 to 5.5 per cent from 2006–12, while employment in financial services rose by 4.5 per cent during the same period.

Likewise, Vietnam has made a number of legal reforms to address foreign exchange regulations, SOEs, discriminatory price controls, and intellectual property after joining the World Trade Organization and several bilateral trade agreements. These reforms have facilitated trade in services by improving transparency and increasing regulatory certainty for domestic and foreign firms. They have also paved the way for some much-needed foreign direct investment into service industries, particularly in the tourism and real estate sectors. Almost 50 per cent of FDI in the 2007–11 period was channelled into the service sector, helping to stimulate annual employment growth of about 7 per cent (up from 5 per cent during 2001–06).

Overall, while the size of Vietnam's and PNG's services sectors currently lag behind that of other Asia Pacific countries, their growth prospects are actually quite promising. Vietnam's labour productivity, while starting from a low base, is expected to grow by 3.8 per cent per annum between 2011 and 2020. On the back of rising mining and petroleum revenues, PNG is currently undertaking a significant boost to its investment in education and skills development, while business confidence is being supported by a strong medium-term growth outlook.

But both countries still have a number of hard reforms ahead of them, particularly when it comes to addressing the distortions that SOEs create in their economies, and cleaning up the myriad of constraints imposed on free enterprise by their complicated, burdensome business environments. Further efforts are required to lower bureaucratic and structural barriers that discourage entrepreneurship. This includes ensuring that adequate financial resources are invested into improving physical infrastructure and closing skill gaps among workers. Continuing efforts toward regional economic integration, such as the creation of an ASEAN Community, is also likely to spur further progress. Only then will both Vietnam and PNG be able to fully benefit from their service sectors during the next phase of their economic development.

Aaron Batten is the Asian Development Bank Country Economist in Papua New Guinea. Dominic Mellor is the Asian Development Bank Country Economist in Vietnam

The Asian Development Bank's recent Working Paper on the service sector in lower-income Asian countries can be found here. 

Fund optimistic

By Geraldine Panapasa of Fiji Times
Monday, August 12, 2013

THE Fiji National Provident Fund has remained positive and open with regards to any investment opportunity, says board chairman Ajith Kodagoda.

And as trustees for FNPF members, Mr Kodagoda said the board would ensure that any investment would need to meet the investment guideline and criteria.
He made the comment in light of the recent fall-out with Papua New Guinea-based mobile company, bemobile.
In terms of plans to divert investment funds intended for the bemobile joint venture, Mr Kodagoda said they would need to work with the Reserve Bank of Fiji as they had specific approval conditions for this investment fund.
"A key condition precedent relating to the achievement of the approved business plan was not achieved by bemobile," he said.
When asked what the key condition was, Mr Kodagoda said that was "legally confidential".
"As part of the management agreement with Vodafone Fiji Limited, some employees were already contracted by bemobile. Most of them are now back in Fiji," he said.
While the intended $US92million ($F175.7m) investment in bemobile would have meant a 40 per cent stake in the mobile company, Mr Kodagoda said the investment was safe.
He said earlier the money was never invested as capital because the conditions precedent was never met.
Daniel Korimbao, spokesman for PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, told The Fiji Times investing in bemobile was part of their government's strategy to grow the telecommunications sector.
He said the State would pursue this itself or with other partners since FNPF had pulled out of the deal.
According to Post-Courier, the withdrawal from the global telecommunications company dashed hopes by PNG mobile phone users for another carrier to directly compete with Irish-owned Digicel (PNG) Ltd and reduce phone and data rates

Manus management 'needs improvement': PNG

  Source: Rhiannon Elston, SBS

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

Total's Papua New Guinea venture makes modest start

By Ross Kelly 
Wall Street Journal

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

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

Wood Group PSN awarded Papua New Guinea contract

23 July 2013 | 08:42am

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

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

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

Wood Group PSN awarded Papua New Guinea contract

23 July 2013 | 08:42am

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

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

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

Wood Group PSN awarded Papua New Guinea contract

23 July 2013 | 08:42am

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

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

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

Joe Kanekane’s funeral service on Wednesday, July 24

By MALUM NALU

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PNG opposition leader to challenge asylum seeker deal in courts

ABC

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

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

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

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

 July 23, 2013

By Rory Callinan, Daniel Flitton

Sydney Morning Herald

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

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

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

A history of PNG corruption

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

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

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

By Peter Michael in Port Moresby

From The Courier-Mail

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

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

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