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.
Sir Brian Bell was a passionate supporter of sports such as cricket, and
was, until the time of his death, patron of Cricket PNG
Sir Brian Bell…leaves
behind a legacy in the Brian Bell and Company Ltd
Sir
Brian receiving his award from the Salvation Army for his services during the
Army’s 50th anniversary in PNG in 2006. He is flanked by Andrew
Kalai on his right and General Shaw Clifton, international leader of Salvation
Army
Sir Brian was a great supporter of charitable causes
such as Port Moresby GeneralHospital until the time
of his death
By ROBERT KEITH-REID in Paradise Magazine, June 2004
April, 2004. It’s the month in which Brian Bell rings up 50 years of life and business in Papua New Guinea.
Back in April 1954, the then 26-yearold pharmacist arrived at Port Moresby.
He wanted to escape a small town life in Chinchilla, Queensland, with a population of 1500. His sense of adventure had been fired up by a newspaper report of the killing of two Australian patrol officers in the
StarMountains of Papua New Guinea.
“That’s the place for me,” he thought, and was told by a friend that “when you get there, get in touch with my brother at the government store. He might have a job for you.”
In 1954, Papua New Guinea was an Australian colonial backwater.
Burns Philp and W R Carpenters with Steamships were the great mercantile trading names in the land.
“There were phones and they were free, no taxation, no public transport and we had to get a quota for our imports. When that was used up, you’d either try to get it extended or you went to the person down the road and paid them to use their quota. There was no tax, but then again there was no money either. There was no money going into the community. The houses were built of sisal. The expatriates would come up to work and save their money to go south and didn’t spend it here at all, so as a result there wasn’t much money here.
“The Australians drove all the tankers and trucks. Papua New Guineans didn’t do driving of any kind. Now, it’s the other way round. They weren’t allowed to drink until 1956. Things have changed, but in those days we had what was called the Native Women’s Protection Ordinance.
“All the whites were not allowed to go into the villages between six at night and six in the morning because they were having too many little babies.
“When I came in ‘54, we had the Australian Petroleum Company (APC) and they’d been drilling for oil in PNG since 1935. When they folded up and closed down, we thought the game’s over and that was the end of it. But it wasn’t, although APC used to keep Papua alive. We didn’t get much money from Papua because the Australian government didn’t put much into it because the United Nations gave us New Guinea to administer, so Australia put all their window dressing there to keep the UN happy. We still feel Papua has been a bit neglected.”
That, says Sir Brian Bell, as he is now titled, was a little bit of Papua New Guinea as it was 50 years ago. In ringing up his golden anniversary, Sir Brian can deservedly ring his bell loudly and clear. He’s chairman and managing director of Brian Bell & Company Ltd, one of Papua New Guinea’s great business success stories. You’ll find Brian Bell outlets in 10 retail stores and represented by 25 distribution agencies throughout
Papua New Guinea.
W R Carpenters, as it was, and Burns Philp, as it was, are no more, although Steamships remains a competitor with such newcomers as Courts.
Brian Bell & Company flourished to absorb bits of the fading Carpenters and Burns Philp empires. One bit of that was a disaster. The company bought the Burns Philp branch at Rabaul 18 months before a volcano blew its top to destroy much of the historic old town. The insurance company denied cover. “It cost us millions and millions,” says Sir Brian. Today, the Brian Bell organisation employs 1100 people and sells and services practically everything except food and clothing.
It’s in refrigeration, electrical appliances, chemical cleaners, furniture, toys, agricultural machinery, seeds, tools and fertilisers.
When business conditions got tough and banks cut credit off to small borrowers, Brian Bell established its own credit divisions, enabling customers on small budgets to pay instalments from their fortnightly pay.
The Brian Bell business just grew and grew, its founder agrees. One opportunity led to another. How does the company rate, measured by volume of business? “About half of Steamies, I reckon.”
After first landing at Port Moresby, young Brian landed a temporary job - thanks to his friend’s brother. A few months later he moved on to the government pharmacy.
“I got out of the pharmacy and started a small business at Boroko in agency lines. We used to bring in a lot of guns in the old days; a lot of guns from every part of the world.
The patrol officers used to take firearms out, shotguns and handguns and that continued for four or five years.
“We used to make the old Australian point-303 rifle, taking the barrel out and put in a conversion to a point-22. We used to re-barrel and rebuild guns. We used to do a lot of shooting at home in Chinchilla, pigs and ducks. That gave us a fair sort of income.
“I have nothing to do with them now, we don’t sell or repair them.
You don’t want to tell people you’ve got guns in the place because people might come and say ‘where’s that gun you’ve got here?’
“In ‘54, you see, there was no licensing. Some of these characters used to pick up sub-machine guns. I mean all these young patrol officers; they were a bit like footy players
from Australia. They used to shoot the trees, etcetera. That all ceased when licensing came in.
“The first store was over at Boroko. It ran for about a year or two. Then we went into town at the igloo, as it was called, down at the beach where the multi-storey building right on the beach is now, then we came back to about somewhere where we were in 1969. The Brian Bell lines of business grew out of each other, more or less. One thing led to another.
“In 1955, the South Pacific Brewery had been built and was producing beer like onion water. Every Saturday morning they used to have this special on this beer of theirs. You could go down and buy it at a very cheap price because no one liked it. They liked Richmond, Tiger and Becks, all imported foreign been. At one stage a fire burnt down the shed on the wharf, so there was no imported beer. Everyone had to drink SP. The beer changed for the better when ownership changed. Times have changed because now they make world class beers. The owners used to sell refrigerators and when they moved to Lae they used me as their agent in Port Moresby. Then they wanted to get out of refrigerators, so I raised the money and took the agencies over.
“That was how Brian Bell’s electrical appliance and refrigeration business began.
“I went down to Sydney to see the manufacturer of Crosby refrigerators and Bendix washing machines and persuaded them to give me some refrigerators without payment untilI could pay them. I got the brewery manager to put them on his floor for 1% a month until they were sold or he would take them over on hire 21purchase.
“In those days the Commonwealth Government had a rule that if you live in a place where you needed assistance, you had a staff house, and if water and services were available you could have an automatic washing machine.
“So we sold hundreds and hundreds of washing machines and refrigerators. Then the PWD said, ‘okay it costs us thousands to build staff quarters, so how about we buy washing machines and put them on a back verandah’. That was the Hoovermatic. We sold thousands and used to bring them in containerloads from England. So I’ve a lot of good things happen and a lot of good luck.
“The opportunities came and it grew like Topsy. When I first came here, we had Burns Philp here, and they used to come down and count the number of people that came in and came out of our doors. Competition was very keen.
“Now Burns Philp has gone and we bought quite a few of their stores. A lot of old timers have gone; W R Carpenters, we bought quite a few of their assets. Steamies used to sell electrical appliances, and Carpenters and Burns Philp.
“We specialise more in service, I suppose. Courts came in as a new competitors for us.”
“When independence came in 1975, we decided that we wouldn’t drop our business down to that of a general trade store. We realised that Papua New Guineans and expatriates and foreigners would want a reasonable standard of facilities, so we kept the standard up of giftware and chinaware and appliances, etcetera. It’s still the best store in town.
“Last year, we opened a new place in Lae. Bart Philemon says it’s the best store in Papua New Guinea.”
Sir Brian’s family retains two-third of the business, with the remaining third held by the public service officers service fund.
At the age of 76, Sir Brian still retains a great head of steam for keeping competitors like Steamies at bay. It takes a few calls to catch him on the telephone because he’s liable to be on the phone talking to someone else.
“People ring me because I sort of get involved with everything. I’m secretary of half a dozen organisations.I’m chairman of the hospital board; chairman of the Salvation Army committee. I get involved with the community; the Port Moresby city mission. They are the charitable organisations where you can help the community be a little bit better than it would otherwise have been. That’s what life is all about, isn’t it?”
Being a pharmacist, he’s got a soft spot for the hospital.
“It’s the biggest hospital in Papua New Guinea. There’s 900 beds and there’s quite a lot to do there. Unfortunately, I spend more time in business than anything else. You go home and go to bed and think of the things you should have done today and you have to do tomorrow. Relaxing? A bit of swimming and TV.”
Ringing that golden anniversary bell is time for reflection. So much has happened during the passage of 50 years.
“Oh, there’s always a problem,” he says. “My people lived in Chinchilla and you get a letter once a month that the drought has hit us, the sheep are dying, the cattle are dying, that there’s no food.Three months later, you get a letter saying the cattle are dying, the sheep are dying because they’re all getting caught in the floods. In other words, you are up and down all the time.”
“Things go up and things go down. Generally, where Papua New Guinea is concerned, there’s always a problem.The economy’s not very good at the moment, but it’s improving.
“Nothing ever goes the way you want it all the time. But we’re on a fairly level playing field now. The exchange rate of course shoots us in the bloody foot.”
By that he means that the exchange rate trends make it more costly to buy from Australia, although it becomes cheaper to import from the United States.
Despite the ups and downs of business, the Brian Bell group is strong and intends to grow.
“We’re looking for new fields all the time,” Sir Brian says. “We’re looking around the Pacific. We’re looking at the Solomons and Vanuatu. You see the place is growing all the time, Papua New Guinea and the PacificIslands.”
“There’s very few old-timers left. There’s a couple over at Rabaul.
“Where’s the line drawn between old timers and not? Well, they used to talk about the Befores, the Before the Bloody War, but there’s a lot of 30-35-year-old people here”.
Looking back, looking at now, and looking ahead, the grand old man of Brian Bell becomes philosophical about Papua New Guinea.
His wife, from Glebe, near Sydney, died in 1992. His stepson is with him in PNG and his stepdaughter lives in Brisbane.
“I’ve got a good group of people in all the branches,” he says. Sitting in the company’s small boardroom, decorated with commissions that proclaim him to be honorary consul for Sweden and Norway, the ambience is one of an amiable family outfit. He is the big boss but his staff evidently don’t regard him as an ogre. On the wall also is a photograph of young Brian, as portrayed in the company logo, with Sir Albert Maori Kiki.
“In the olden days village elders had more control,” he says.” They used to have a consensus attitude. They used to make sure that the younger generation behave themselves. I guess it’s the same in a lot of societies. ‘You’re old-fashioned dad
and mum, that’s gone by the board. This is the way we do it now,’modern kids say.”
“In PNG, we’re a bit like the Spanish and Mexicans. You know, at a football match they get excited and wreck the place. Papua New Guineans are having to make great adjustments in having moved so recently from centuries old traditional life to cope with the 21st century pressures, he says.
“You can’t expect them to be all a complete success in making that transition.”
“The community’s so small here that everybody knows each other and I don’t have any trouble, although there are some places to stay away from at night. There are places in Sydney and Brisbane and England where I wouldn’t go.
“The thing is you’ve always got a commitment to your staff. I’ve got a thousand people. They’ve got women and kids; with the wantoks you’ve got a commitment to five or six thousand people. You might employ only a thousand but their income is spread over the community. That’s one side.
“Why get out of business? What would I do? It’s like going south. Up here you’ve got someone to look after you all the time. I’ve got staff to look after me. I’ve got a housekeeper at home working since 1974.
“I like to keep things going. I don’t like to see things going backwards. I don’t want to knock the community. The community looked after me well and it’s up to me to look after them.”
