PNG media update

Freedom House

While news media in Papua New Guinea (PNG) remain among the most vibrant in the South Pacific, they faced setbacks in 2011, with allegations of corruption tainting the independent Media Council of Papua New Guinea (MCPNG) and a “constitutional coup” in December that effectively left the country with two prime ministers and two administrations.

Under Section 46 of the constitution, freedoms of speech, press, and information are guaranteed. Journalists can be sued for defamation in civil cases, but defamation is not a criminal offense. In November 2011, the Malaysian timber company Rimbunan Hijau, which operates the single largest logging operator in PNG and owns the country’s top-selling daily newspaper, filed a major defamation suit against its press rival, the Post-Courier, over its coverage of an official investigation into the company’s logging interests in the Pomio District of East New Britain Province. The Post-Courier had reported several stories of police, allegedly sent by Rimbunan Hijau, assaulting landowners who were unhappy with logging operations in the area. Threats of defamation suits were also leveled at reporters covering the sale of the former prime minister’s official jet by the chief executive officer of the state-owned Air Niugini airline, Wasantha Kumarasiri.

PNG does not yet have an access to information law. The MCPNG serves as a buffer against government pressure by lobbying for media freedom, managing a complaints process, and undertaking media research. The council also has a well-developed code of ethics, which member journalists follow. However, the council’s executive director, Nimo Kama, was suspended in June 2011 after an independent audit of Australian government funding to the organization found evidence of fraud.

Threats and harassment against journalists and attempts to interfere with their work occur occasionally, particularly in reprisal for investigative reporting on corruption issues. In June 2011, the government banned a reporter with the popular radio station FM 100 from seeking information on the controversial District Services Improvements Grants and told her that her e-mail messages would be ignored. However, FM 100 said in a statement that it would not back down from investigative reporting. A Nau FM reporter was also reportedly threatened and intimidated in an e-mail message from a staff member at the MCPNG while investigating the council’s administrative problems.

In August 2011, the majority of Parliament members rescinded their confidence in Prime Minister Michael Somare while he was out of the country receiving medical treatment, and voted in former cabinet minister Peter O’Neill to replace him. O’Neill remained in office until December, when the Supreme Court ruled that his election had been unconstitutional and that Somare should be reinstated. However, O’Neill arranged to be reelected by Parliament in a one-sided vote and declared himself the legitimate prime minister. Both administrations refused to back down and conducted media relations as well as the business of government. Although there were no direct threats or reports of harassment against the media in connection with the crisis, relations between politicians and the press became increasingly strained toward the end of the year.

Both daily newspapers are foreign owned. The Post-Courier is owned by an Australian subsidiary of the U.S.-based News Corporation, while the National, which has a larger circulation than its older rival, is owned by Rimbunan Hijau. Broadcast media consist of the main public broadcaster, the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), as well as several major commercial radio networks, such as Nau FM and FM 100, and the main television station, EMTV. A number of the private outlets are owned by Fijian companies. Radio is an important source of news due to the country’s isolated settlements and low literacy rates. According to a media monitoring website, radio news services in PNG are seen as leading the fight against endemic corruption, whereas newspapers are alleged to have been compromised by corporate interests.

The government does not restrict access to the internet, but lack of infrastructure limited internet penetration in the country to 2 percent of the population in 2011.

PNG offers 800 scholarships and K20 million support to Solomon Islands

Solomon Star

PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill (r) chats to Gordon Darcy Lilo during their meeting on Thursday.

PRIME Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo has secured 800 scholarships from the Papua New Guinea Government and a 20 million Kina budget support after bilateral meeting with his counterpart Peter O’Neil on Thursday in Port Moresby.
Mr Lilo who attended the Wednesday Special Pacific African, Caribbean and Pacific (PACP) Leaders’ Meeting participated in his first bilateral engagement with Mr O’Neil during which both leaders agreed to further deepen the relationship between the Melanesian neigbours.
He said he was very impressed by the outcome of the engagement as PNG had again showed its unwavering commitment to support Solomon Islands in a number of sectors.
He confirmed that Mr O’Neil had committed to sponsoring 800 students from Solomon Islands to study in various universities and tertiary institutions across Papua New Guinea.
Mr Lilo in accepting the offer assured the PNG leader that recipients of these scholarships will be fairly chosen from all the provinces in Solomon Islands.
Already, he said the Government is looking at shifting some of its sponsored students from the University of the South Pacific in Fiji to PNG universities especially those who undertake courses that are also offered by the PNG institutions.
The prime minister said PNG’s assistance in the tertiary education sector will significantly reduce the tertiary education bill which has continued to increase over the recent years.
Aside the offer to support the education sector, Mr Lilo and Mr O’Neil also agreed for PNG to contribute 20 million Kina as part of budget support for next year’s budget.
He said this is a significant injection of cash and that now places PNG as a member of the core economic working group.
Mr Lilo said the 20million Kina which translates into about $70 million will help Solomon Islands to effectively deliver public services to its people.
Also at the meeting, both leaders agreed to implement a visa-free work scheme to allow for the free movement of nationals from both sides to work in the Solomon Islands and PNG without having to acquire work permits as now practiced.
The discussion was believed to have also prompted other leaders to explore similar arrangements in the Pacific and it was anticipated to also send a clear message to Australia and New Zealand to be flexible with their work visas to Pacific Islanders.
Mr Lilo said the realisation of the proposal would greatly benefit Solomon Islanders to tap into the booming PNG market.
Under this proposed scheme Solomon Islanders can travel to PNG with their valid passports and work there without having to apply for a work permit.
The Prime Minister said he had also agreed with Mr O’Neil for his Government to help facilitate the return of Solomon Islands medical doctors now working in various parts of the country.
He said that this has come about after repeated calls for Solomon Islands to have its trained doctors return home after some of them were employed by the PNG Government after they completed their studies.
Meanwhile, Mr Lilo said that Solomon Islands and PNG officials will commence dialogue to establish formal understanding for a prospect of entering into a double taxation agreement by the two Melanesian states.
Both leaders also discussed ways to further improve border control between the two countries.
On PNG and Asia, Mr Lilo said that Solomon Islands appreciated the membership of PNG in the ASEAN which he hoped will bring spin-offs to the Solomon Islands economy.
According to Mr Lilo his engagement with PNG has been very fruitful and he was thankful to Mr O’Neil for his commitment to help Solomon Islands.
Commentators in PNG believe that the deepening bilateral relationship between two countries and the new shift in support is attributed to the two leaders’ personal relationship which was dated back to their university days at the University of Papua New Guinea.
PM Lilo and Mr O’Neil were class-mates at UPNG.
To further deepen their relationship, Mr O’Neil has already invited Mr Lilo to a state visit to PNG in February 2013 to be followed by visits by the Prime Minister of Fiji, Prime Minister of Australia and the President of Indonesia.
In another development Solomon Islands new high commissioner to Papua New Guinea William Haomae on Thursday presented his Letter of Introduction to Prime Minister O’Neil.

Weather, pilot blamed for PNG plane crash

AAP

PILOT error and bad weather were to blame for an August 2010 crash on a Papua New Guinea island that killed three Australians and a New Zealander, according to the final report on the crash.

A Trans Air charter plane carrying five people slid off the runway and burst into flames at Misima Island, Milne Bay, in PNG's southeast, on August 31, 2010.
Among the dead were Trans Air's co-owner and pilot Lesley Wright, 59, from Queensland, marine pilot Richard "Chris" Hart, 61, from Sydney, and Darren Moore, 44, from Leonora in Western Australia, who was a PNG civil aviation flight operations inspector.
A New Zealander, Alexei Filyaev, 50, the sales manager for medivac company International SOS, was also killed.
The co-pilot Kelby Cheyne, 25, miraculously survived although he was injured in the crash.
PNG's Accident Investigations Commission, which released the final report on the crash, said the runway was flooded, which made it hard for the plane to land and affected its brakes.

Australia defends tough media detention centre restrictions

By Phil Mercer of Voice Of America

SYDNEY — Australian immigration officials have defended restrictions that limit press access to detention centres.  
While the media are barred from offshore processing camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, journalists are allowed into facilities on the mainland but are subject to strict rules and barred from formally interviewing detainees.
Eighteen months ago the Australian Broadcasting Corporation said that the country’s immigration centres were “less open and transparent than Guantanamo Bay.”
Since then, the Immigration Department has given reporters limited access to detention facilities under a Deed of Agreement on media access.
Journalists are permitted to speak with detainees but are not given permission to formally interview them or record their comments, nor are they allowed to publish images of inmates’ faces.
Immigration officials say the restrictions are in place to protect the privacy of asylum seekers, in much the same way that school children or hospital patients have their privacy protected from the press in Australia.
While reporters are allowed to visit mainland immigration facilities, they are barred from recently reopened camps in Papua New Guinea and on the tiny South Pacific island of Nauru, which houses asylum seekers from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan.
Senior Australian immigration department spokesman, Sandi Logan, told a forum at the University of Technology Sydney that he hoped the press will eventually be allowed in.
“I have got to say that operationally there are much greater priorities for us in Nauru at the moment than a media access policy. 
"But having said that, I think it is absolutely essential that journalists have access to that facility and likewise to the facility in Papua New Guinea, and that will be something that in time, in time, will be negotiated.  
"And when those two parties i.e. the government of Australia and the government of Nauru have agreed on the settings, the parameters for that media access then it would be my expectation that will occur," said Logan.
Australian journalists say that the Deed of Agreement that governs visits to detention centers is too restrictive, and prevents them from telling the true story of conditions behind the razor wire fences.
The head of the Australian Press Council, Julian Disney, says the public does have a right to know.
“People in those detention centers are there because of government policies," he said. 
"They are the policies adopted by the governments we have elected and they are having a very substantial impact on people, even if those people are not our citizens. 
" Therefore as citizens of Australia people are entitled to know what the impact of their government policies are.  
"But we think there are substantial ways in which these restrictions go too far.”
Since the restrictions were brought in a year ago, about 50 journalists, including reporters from Switzerland and Germany, have toured mainland immigration centers in Australia.
It is unclear when press access will be granted to Australia’s two offshore detention centers on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, which reopened Wednesday, and another on the tiny South Pacific republic of Nauru, which reopened in September.
Both facilities were used by the former conservative government in Australia.  
In the past critics derided the policy as cruel and ineffective, and they are taking aim once again. 
Amnesty International this week said conditions on Nauru were responsible for a ''terrible spiral'' of hunger strikes and suicide attempts.
Australia grants protection visas to about 13,000 efugees each year under a range of international agreements.

A visit to the Taipei 101

By MALUM NALU

You ain't seen Taipei until you've been on the Taipei 101!

Taipei 101 reaches up for the heavens on the evening of Saturday, November 10, 2012

And that's exactly what I did on the evening of Saturday, November 10, 2012.

That's me on the 89th floor of the Taipei 101

This, in fact, was my third time on the Taipei 101, haven got up twice during my previous two visits to Taiwan in 2007, however, this visit was more comprehensive.
According to Wikepedia, Taipei 101 (Chinese: 台北101 / 臺北101), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a landmark skyscraper located in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan.
 The building ranked officially as the world's tallest from 2004 until the opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010. In July 2011, the building was awarded LEED Platinum certification, the highest award in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system and became the tallest and largest green building in the world.
Taipei 101 was designed by C.Y. Lee & partners and constructed primarily by KTRT Joint Venture.
The tower has served as an icon of modern Taiwan ever since its opening, and received the 2004 Emporis Skyscraper Award.
Fireworks launched from Taipei 101 feature prominently in international New Year's Eve broadcasts and the structure appears frequently in travel literature and international media.
Taipei 101 comprises 101 floors above ground and 5 floors underground.
The building was architecturally created as a symbol of the evolution of technology and Asian tradition (see Symbolism).
Its postmodernist approach to style incorporates traditional design elements and gives them modern treatments.
The tower is designed to withstand typhoons and earthquakes.
A multi-level shopping mall adjoining the tower houses hundreds of fashionable stores, restaurants and clubs.
Taipei 101 is owned by the Taipei Financial Center Corporation (TFCC) and managed by the International division of Urban Retail Properties Corporation based in Chicago.
The name originally planned for the building, Taipei World Financial Center, until 2003, was derived from the name of the owner.
 The original name in Chinese was literally, Taipei International Financial Center (Chinese: 臺北國際金融中心).
Below are more pictures of my visit.

Manus Island gives Australia, PNG deadline

ABC

A landowners group on Manus Island has given Australia and Papua New Guinea until Tuesday to meet their demands surrounding its asylum seeker detention centre.

 Australia flew in its first group of asylum-seekers to the Manus Island detention centre on Wednesday but locals are threatening court action.

 Mary Handen from the Los Negros Landowner Group told Pacific correspondent Sean Dorney Australia has neglected to involve Manus Island residents in the running of the detention centre.

 "We're not happy at all," she said.

 "We wanted a chance to be given some of these contracts so that we're able to provide services and benefits from the economic spinoff of the processing centre."

 She says the landowners had agreed to give the government two weeks, which ends on Tuesday, November 27.

 "But in the meantime we're looking at our legal options, get a court injunction," she said.

 Earlier this month, landowners shut down the airport on Manus Island over their demands for work.

Divided opinions

Pacific correspondent Sean Dorney told Australia Network opinion about the processing centre on Manus Island is divided.

 "People who are going to benefit economically are rather welcoming of having the asylum seeker processing centre there," he said.

 He says groups like Los Negros do not oppose the asylum seeker processing centre but they are upset at being left out of negotiations completely.

 "Mary Handen's objections was that they're constantly hearing from Australia that Australia is supporting economic empowerment of people and trying to get economic development going in Papua New Guinea but something like this comes along and all the contracts seem to be going to companies based outside," he said.

 Dorney says Los Negros would be open to going into joint ventures with outside companies as well.

 There are, however, Manus Island residents who oppose the existence of the asylum seeker processing centre in the country.

 "There is a certain body of opinion on Manus - my wife is from there - that feels this is vey much Australia's problem and it's been dumped on Papua New Guinea and they don't think it should be happening," he said.

Eaglewood announces start of PPL 259 Drimgas seismic programme

Eaglewood Energy has announced the start of a new 2D seismic survey over Petroleum Prospecting License PPL 259 in Papua New Guinea, in support of selecting a drilling location in 2013.
The Corporation will initially carry out a 63 line km shoot over the western portion of the licence area, primarily focussed on high-grading the Nama and Malisa Leads delineated by seismic acquired in April 2012, as well as an exploration line over the Ekelesia Lead. A second phase of seismic data acquisition will be considered following the analysis of results from this first phase.
The first phase of the survey will take approx. three months, with interpreted results available by February 2013. The Corporation anticipates that results from the contingent second phase would be available by April 2013. The PPL 259 joint venture is scheduled to begin work commitment drilling operations in the licence next year.

Original article link
Source: Eaglewood Energy