Eight-Mile Settlement breaks down the barriers

Youths from Eight-Mile Settlement.-Picture by SEAN DAVEY

Settlements of Papua New Guinea are notorious for being crime hotspots where murder, rape, prostitution, marijuana, homebrew, card gambling and all manner of vice abound.
But from this gloom and doom, despair and no hope disparagement, has come a silver lining to the dark cloud.
It is a powerful story of hope and inspiration that can bring down mountains and transform PNG into the better place we all dream of.
The Eight-Mile Settlement outside Port Moresby is setting the pace for other settlements in PNG by having its own photographic exhibition and establishing its own website which features heartwarming poems and stories written by its residents.
Eight-Mile Settlement is an interesting part of Port Moresby, and of PNG.
It is a 10-minute drive from Port Moresby International Airport.
The community of Eight-Mile Settlement welcomes visitors to come and see what life in a settlement is really like.
It is no secret that Port Moresby has a bad reputation as being a dangerous place to visit, and to live.
Settlement communities in Port Moresby are often especially regarded as notoriously-dangerous places.
However, settlement communities, including Eight-Mile Settlement, are first and foremost communities of people, living together as best they can, trying to work, feed their families, and survive, just like everyone else in the world.
The majority of residents in Eight-Mile Settlement live without power and running water.
There is one main water pipe that comes on twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, and this water supplies around 15,000 people with their daily water needs.
While living conditions in Eight-Mile Settlement are extremely basic, the community works together to promote a peaceful and harmonious environment in which people can live their lives and raise their families.
Most of the people who live in Eight-Mile Settlement come from the Highlands of PNG.
In the community at Eight-Mile they make gardens, and there are two markets where you can buy fresh, locally-grown produce for a fraction of what you might pay in the supermarket.
The exhibition with a difference, titled ‘Life in 8-Mile is Hard’ opened at the University of PNG last Saturday night, continued for all of this week and will next year be featured at the Monash Gallery of Art in Melbourne, Australia.
A difference in that it featured photographs by settlement youth who were taught and inspired by Australian professional photographer Sean Davey.
In what is believed to be a first for a settlement community in Papua New Guinea, Davey has also set up a website entirely devoted to the Eight-Mile Settlement, http://www.8milesettlement.com/ which showcases their photographs, writings, arts and crafts, paintings and lifestyle.
The photography exhibition that opened at UPNG was part of a gala evening that showcased the fruits of an arts education programme that was run at Eight-Mile Settlement from June 1-7 this year.
Funded by The Law and Justice Sector through AusAID, and facilitated by UPNG, the workshop attracted over 100 local youths from Eight-Mile Settlement each day the workshop was on.
The group was headed by UPNG theatre lecturer and Eight-Mile resident David Motsy.
The workshop focused on four main activities: painting, drama, music and story telling.
“Fruits of the workshop can be viewed at http://www.8milesettlement.com/ and also I believe that this website is the first in Papua New Guinea devoted entirely to a settlement community,” Mr Davey said.
“While I was facilitating at the workshop, I was photographing in the settlement and interviewing residents.
“Local boys would accompany me and help with introductions and translation.
“I gave them a small digital camera that I had in my camera bag and asked them to start using the camera to photograph as well.
“They really liked photographing and they passed the camera amongst themselves and made plenty of pictures of the settlement, including portraits, landscapes and close-ups.
“One youth, 17-year-old Emmanuel Onom Mel, in particular liked the camera and taking pictures a lot.
“He kept the camera and would photograph everything.
“He was very enthusiastic.
“I downloaded the photographs that the youths made and I was very impressed by the intuitive style in which they were working, photographing very candidly and freely.
“They were getting ‘real’ pictures of settlement life, compared to the more formal and posed photos that I, as an outsider, was making.”
Mr Davey showed a selection of Emmanuel's work, and other youths’, to the curator at the Monash Gallery of Art in Victoria, and he was very impressed by what he saw.
“On the basis of this, he offered to have an exhibition of my work, along with work done by Emmanuel, at the Monash Gallery of Art in February and March 2010,” he said.
Emmanuel Onom Mel, Wanpis Kaupa and Nathan Peter are three young men who have benefited tremendously from the workshop and want to lay the foundation for a better Eight-Mile Settlement and PNG.
Chatting with them over a cup of coffee this week made me realise that PNG has enormous untapped potential among our young people.
“This has been a very fruitful exercise because we had a lot of our young people at Eight-Mile involved,” Mr Kaupa beamed.
“These young people used to waste a lot of time on unproductive things like playing cards, drinking homebrew and smoking marijuana.
“What we have ventured into is something that no other settlement in PNG has done before.
“We have appeared on the front page of The National, have talked on radio and we now have our own website where people from all over the world can learn about us.”
Sean Davey, a bright and ambitious young photographer, says working with the youth of Eight-Mile has changed his outlook on life.
“They (youth) are saying ‘we’re not all drug bodies and thieves’,” he sparkles.
“Over the last two months, Eight-Mile has gone from nowhere to having its own website, appearing on the front page of The National and on the NBC.
“There’s an excitement at Eight-Mile now.
“For me, the biggest thing is breaking down the stereotype of settlements being ‘no-go’ zones.
“I hope that what we’re doing is breaking down the stigma.
“If you provide an opportunity, these guys will take anything that comes.
“These guys are willing to learn and participate.
“I know I’m going back to Cairns (Australia) a better person.”
Sean Davey can be contacted on email sean@pidgin.com.au.

Local Kokoda Trail operators form association to counter Aussie onslaught

An association has already been formed to further the interests of local Papua New Guinea trekking operators along the Kokoda Trail as well as regulate its lucrative trekking industry and limit the numbers of Australia-based operators.

This follows recent allegations in the media that Australian-owned trekking companies operating along the Kokoda Trail were doing so illegally and cheating the governments of both Australia and PNG of taxes.

Ironically, Australian Aaron Hayes, who runs Ecotourism Melanesia, is spearheading moves to set up this association.

Mr Hayes said that lack of training, resources and lack of tech-savvy was all that was preventing locals from competing in the lucrative Kokoda trekking industry – PNG’s biggest tourism money spinner.

He also revealed how Australian operators were cheating the PNG Government of millions of kina in taxes.

“The Kokoda Trekking Operators Association (KTOPA) we have formed has plans to provide training and support to local operators,” he said.

“Trouble is, we have not been able to get any support from anybody yet.

 “A meeting of the Kokoda Trekking Operators Association will be held at the Ecotourism Melanesia office this coming Sunday, Aug 30, at 2pm.

 “The purpose of the meeting is to discuss a way forward for KTOPA now that Australian operators and some larger PNG operators have decided to form another association.”

Mr Hayes explained the association was set up with a constitution that specified that only PNG-based operators could be full members and Australian companies could be associate members without voting rights.

“This enables PNG operators to stay in control of the association,” he said.

“However, Australian companies don't want to join on this basis, and the larger PNG companies, who shall remain nameless, won't support it because they don't want more operators coming into competition with them.

“We asked Kokoda Track Authority to help us get a volunteer to further develop our operational plan and funding proposals to send to Tourism Promotion Authority and AusAID, but KTA didn't want to help.

“They say they only want to assist an association that represents all operators.

 “This year, some Australian government projects along the track have become a concern to operators and the Australian operators decided they needed to quickly have an association in place to be the mouthpiece of trekking operators.

“Because of the long time it takes to incorporate an association, they decided to meet with KTOPA to find out if we could change our constitution to allow both PNG and Australian companies to be members with equal rights, and they also wanted the training and support programme for local operators to be scrapped from the operational plan, ie, they wanted to hijack the association for their own purposes.

“Max Kaso and I who are the interim committee would not allow this so they decided to set up a new association which will include Australian and PNG operators  but no special help for locals.

“Apparently, this will be announced soon.

 “Meantime, KTOPA will continue to pursue our goals separately, and we will soon be pushing the PNG government to provide some specific support to PNG operators.

“We would like to prepare a proposal for the PNG government to regulate the Kokoda trekking industry and limit the numbers of Australia-based operators and give more access and opportunities to local operators.

“For example, by legislation that requires all Australian operators to sub-contract their trekking logistics to a PNG company that is not a subsidiary of their Australian company, because if an Australian company registers itself in PNG it will still collect all its client payments in Australia and only transfer enough money for operational costs to the PNG subsidiary.

“This means the PNG subsidiary will operate on break-even basis only, will never declare a profit, and will never pay company taxes to the PNG government.

“On the other hand, a 100% PNG-owned company will more likely declare a profit and pay tax.”

 

 

 

 

 

Landowners' high demands affect tourism

Major tour operator Ecotourism Melanesia will not be bringing any more Kokoda trekking groups via Popondetta / Buna / Gona until the problem with Kumusi River crossing is resolved.

This is because landowners are charging hugely-inflated prices up to K500 for a group of tourists just to cross the Kumusi River.

The high prices are affecting the entire tourism industry in the area.

Ecotourism Melanesia director Aaron Hayes said while his trekkers were happy to cross the river on rubber tubes, the company could not sustain the high cost being charged by landowners for crossing the river.

“We are happy to pay the local boys a reasonable fee to assist our clients with crossing the river, eg K20 per person, and additional payment for rafting our gear across, but we cannot afford the high fees being charged by the landowners on top which is up to K500 per group,” he said.

“When the bridge was in operation, the landowners didn't charge people for crossing the bridge, so now that the bridge is gone and people are swimming across, we don't understand why the landowners are suddenly charging people to cross the same river by different means of transportation.

“What about people who fly across the river by plane or chopper, are the landowners also charging them for crossing?”

Mr Hayes said his company’s  prices for trekking packages were set 18 months ago,  based on anticipated costs,  and allowing only a modest profit margin because the Kokoda trekking industry was now very competitive and it had to keep our prices as low as possible.

“Extra unexpected costs like these river crossing fees charged by landowners are not budgeted for in our trekking package, and we can't put our prices up halfway through the season, or ask our clients to pay more after they have already pre-paid for their trekking package many months ago,” he said.

“Therefore, our only option is to either pay these unreasonable fees out of our profit margin - which then makes the trek package uneconomical to operate via Popondetta - or re-route all our groups direct to Kokoda and skip Popondetta. 

“If they can make the river crossing costs reasonable, then we can still keep operating via Kumusi and pay them something, but if they maintain these high fees we must stop operating via Popondetta and the Kumusi people will get nothing at all from us.”

 

New online Pacific media service launched

AUCKLAND (AUT University/Pacific Media Watch): A new online Pacific media service, Pacific Scoop (www.pacific.scoop.co.nz) was launched today at AUT University’s Maori Expo by Scoop co-editor Selwyn Manning in a live video panel with Maori and Pacific communications students.

 A partnership between Scoop Media and AUT’s Pacific Media Centre, Pacific Scoop is hosted on the existing Scoop website (www.scoop.co.nz).

 The new site provides up-to-date news stories about Maori, Pasifika and ethnic diversity issues written by student journalists with support from experienced editors, reporters and commentators.

 Contributors will include students from AUT’s School of Communication Studies, the Divine Word University (Papua New Guinea), the National University of Samoa and the University of the South Pacific.

 Manning said today: "The Pacific Scoop hub provides AUT's journalism students and staff a place to foot it with other practising journalists and respected commentators around the region. I'm looking forward to seeing this project grow in popularity and focus on major Pacific issues.”

 Dr David Robie, director of AUT University’s Pacific Media Centre, is the chief editor of Pacific Scoop.

 He says the service introduces a fresh and independent voice of the greater Pacific.

 “We are keen to tell the hidden stories and address important Pacific issues like climate change, human rights and resource development,” says Dr Robie. “Pacific Scoop allows us to highlight important Pacific issues, while also showcasing student journalism.

 “The site will provide a great resource for journalists and members of the public who are interested in detailed and up-to-date information about what is happening in the Pacific.”

 Pacific issues have had prominence on the Scoop website since it was launched in 1999.

 But Alastair Thompson, Scoop’s co-editor and co-founder, says the launch of Pacific Scoop will enhance the website’s Pacific coverage.

  “This partnership will greatly increase our capacity to deliver news and commentary from the Pacific at a time when reporting resources in the Pacific are under great strain,” says Thompson.

 

·        Contact:
Assoc Prof David Robie, AUT University
Editor, Pacific Scoop www.pacific.scoop.co.nz
drobie@aut.ac.nz  , 021 112 2079

 

* Comment on this item www.pacificmediacentre.blogspot.com

 

ABAC urges dialogue on regulatory capital changes, fiscal reforms

Issued by the APEC Business Advisory Council

 

Meeting in Da Nang, Vietnam on August 24-28, the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) urged the G-20 Finance Ministers to delay changes in regulatory capital requirements until global economic recovery is assured. This is important to avoid restricting lending at a time when it is most needed to fuel economic activity.

In a letter urging APEC Finance Ministers to communicate its views to the G-20, ABAC recommended that such changes be undertaken in dialogue with the private sector. In addition, they should form part of a comprehensive financial reform package that addresses risk management and corporate governance practices, among others.

ABAC also urged governments to carefully implement and coordinate exit strategies from emergency fiscal and monetary measures taken in response to the crisis, in view of their huge scale and impact on the real economy and financial markets.

The Council reiterated its firm and continued support for the work of the G-20 on financial reforms. ABAC expressed its satisfaction with current efforts to promote activity-based regulation and central clearinghouses for credit default swaps, which it proposed in its previous report.

ABAC members will discuss these and other recommendations during their dialogue with finance ministers and leaders of APEC’s 21 member economies this coming November in Singapore.

 

About ABAC

ABAC was established by the APEC Economic Leaders in November 1995 in response to a call for a private sector body that could advise them on matters of primary importance to business in the region. It brings together up to three business leaders from each of APEC’s 21 economies.

 

For more information, please contact:

Mr. Martin Yuoon, ABAC Executive Director 2009 at (65) 6827-6886 or at mkhyuoon@sbf.org.sg

Mr. Antonio Basilio, ABAC Secretariat at (632) 845-4564 or at abacsec@pfgc.ph

Mr. Naoki Sawaoka, ABAC’s FEWG Lead Staffer 2009 at (813)3240-7264 or at naoki_sawaoka@mufg.jp

 

Business Leaders push for Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific

Issued by the APEC Business Advisory Council

 

Key business leaders of the Asia Pacific region have agreed that it is now time for APEC to take more decisive actions towards establishing a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) in view of the financial crisis and the stalled Doha Round negotiations. The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) met in Da Nang to finalize their recommendations to APEC Leaders prior to their dialogue in the November APEC Economic Leaders Meeting.

ABAC members expressed caution about signs of the economic recovery and urged Leaders to take steps to ensure that this is sustained. They believe that this can be done if economies resist protectionism, promote global demand rather than just domestic and that they take the opportunity to undertake economic reforms. And that setting a firm timeframe for bringing a FTAAP into reality would send a very strong signal about APEC’s commitment to accelerating the integration of their economies.

“We believe that APEC is in a position to be the champion of free and open trade. Our vision of a FTAAP would not just cover trade but encompass services, investments and behind-the-border issues of concern to business. We see it as an instrument for bringing about inclusive growth where no one is left behind.” said Mr. Teng Theng Dar, the ABAC Chair of 2009.

ABAC also sees the successful conclusion of the Doha Round no later than 2010 as not only providing a major stimulus to global trade and investments but also to deal effectively with persisting protectionism.

Recognizing the upcoming negotiations in Copenhagen in December for an agreement on climate change, ABAC called on the Leaders to empower their negotiators to conclude a meeting with an agreement that provides business with a predictable and stable environment in which they operate. The business leaders are also developing their recommendations on key issues of critical interest to Leaders including climate change, energy, food security and the impact of demographic trends on the availability of labor.

In a separate communications to APEC Finance Ministers, ABAC urged more dialogue on regulatory changes regarding capital requirements and financial reforms.

 

About ABAC

ABAC brings together up to three business leaders appointed by each of their Leaders of the APEC’s 21 economies. They provide APEC Leaders with information regarding the priorities and concerns of the business sector in the region.

 

For more information, please contact:

Mr. Martin Yuoon, ABAC Executive Director 2009, Tel: (65) 6827-6886, Email: mkhyuoon@sbf.org.sg

Mr. Antonio Basilio, ABAC Secretariat, Tel: (63 2) 845-4564, Email: abacsec@pfgc.ph

Ms. Tran Bao Ngoc, APEC Secretariat, Tel: (65) 6891 9616, Email: tbn@apec.org

 

Land, resources and regulation in Papua New Guinea

By James Wanjik

E-mail: jameswanjik@hotmail.com

 

LAND is very important to people of Papua New Guinea. It is a way of life. No manner of legal gymnastic can change this way of life. Land is Western people’s most prized resource. Thus they do land-banking in Papua New Guinea with licences. Now they are very exposed. No licence processed by the Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) is legally valid. I warned the government but miners were very influential. MRA was set up in breach of law. Today my warning is proven true.

No Waigani legal eagle lived life of truth. More questions were raised without legal advice. Keeping MRA guessing I started publishing truths. No lawyer provided response on my views. Today MRA is under siege. It has no way out.

Resource ownership is not a politically powerful issue. It will push MRA mad. This madness we have seen in the media propaganda of late. It pulled wool over the eyes of Waigani that it should be consulted by Members of Parliament on resource ownership. It is a politically suicidal mission. MRA will pay for its arrogance.

Landowners are redirected to MRA. They must take on MRA to be free. Saddling landowners with resource ownership issue MRA thought it would hide. Not so. Plot and plotters are exposed. MRA, its offshoot the new Department of Mineral Policy and Geological Hazards (DMPGH) and the PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum are the plotters.

PNG would have been totally powerless had I not warned the government. MRA’s plot was to destroy PNG’s national unity. It would have started with Bougainville. I made MRA to seek Autonomous Bougainville Government’s (ABG’s) consent in a 15-step Alotau Pact in March 2008. It was a political pact.

Legally MRA was already on Bougainville under the MRA Act 2005. It was there in breach of National Constitution. Under section 288 and 290 of the National Constitution the ABG was responsible for mining matters on Bougainville. MRA regretted taking me on just because I had warned Bougainville leaders.

More and more people and leaders are slowly and surely seeing MRA for what it is. It is a counterfeit. It only works for money. Money in illegal tax in illegal production levy. Parliament had been made to look totally powerless. Under section 209 of the National Constitution all government agencies and statutory authorities are required to get prior parliamentary approval of their budgets for a fiscal year. And this includes any revenue measure that might be taken or imposed in a fiscal year. The MRA has been illegally collecting illegal tax in illegal production levy indirectly in 2006 and directly in 2007, 2008 and now 2009. No leader has paid attention to this MRA rot.

The Somare – Temu government lost the plot when they took me on. They did not want truth known. They thought by removing me as Secretary for Mining would be enough to send me powerless. They were mistaken. Position, pay and privileges I lost or were denied me. My voice of conscience they could not silence. Today my voice is more true than their collective lies and deceits.

Landowners would have paid dearly if I was not the Secretary for Mining in 2006 though only for 9 months. The World Bank had in 2005 prepared host of amendments to the Mining Act 1992. Among other amendments the landowners would have paid with no review of exploration licence and licensees would have kept land away from landowners under retention licence. Also the Warden would have assessed compensation. Very disempowering proposals indeed. These proposals are still in the works. The World Bank is back in PNG. This time MRA is the keeper of World Bank money.

The new DMPGH has shown very recently that it has no mandate and cloud to lead review of the Mining Act 1992. Setting up a committee is a cover for weakness.

The truth is the new DMPGH has no legislative basis. The MRA Act 2005 is silent on its roles and functions. No contrary legal advice has been published by the DMPGH to date. It also pulls up some reasons for Waigani’s plot. They did not want me to lawyer MRA out of PNG. Only lawyer who would not do that was Nellie James. She was rewarded with Secretary for new DMPGH. Instead of “appointing” her the government saw it fitting to legally kind of pay paltry sum of “confirmation”. It was odd because Nellie James was not appointed to act in the position of Secretary for DMPGH. No such position was on offer when I was removed as Secretary for Mining.

Landowners will open up can of worms when they take on MRA. MRA will collect DMPGH and PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum to the showdown where landowners will win. Land is our way of life. Resources in or on land are for all people of our land. We must protect our way of life. MRA must go. Long live PNG.