IS AUSTRALIA TRULY PAPUA NEW GUINEA’S FRIEND?

By Paul Amatio

Opinion on this is divided. I was once naive enough to think that Australia was the one and true friend that we have who can be counted on to provide good guidance, helpful advice and strong admonition if we strayed off the path they had set for us. As a good friend, they would have respected our right to explore other options and ways to ensure that we all advanced in the same direction even if we shoes differing paths to the same outcome. But then, in those days, I did not understand the differing views as to the national interests and long term outcomes and aspirations of different countries, especially an Anglophile society like Australia that has historically viewed blacks as second or third class people.

The Story of how 25% of Porgera was Merged with a Unknown Company

 WE HAD 25% OF PORGERA IN THE 90s. WE MERGED IT WITH A K2 COMPANY WHICH CREATED PNG FOCUSED AUSTRALIAN OIL AND GAS COMPANY, OIL SEARCH LTD– AND NOW WE WANT PORGERA BACK AT COST – A TALE SHROUDED IN HIGH LEVEL CORRUPTION AND CONTROVERSY MASTERMINDED BY GREEDY POLITICIANS AND THEIR COHORTS.

Sam Jay Kaupa
Admin – PNG Mining & Development Forum
20th June 2021

When our forefathers gained independence in 1975 they established the Mineral Resources Development Company Limited (MRDC) which was 100% owned by the Government of Papua New Guinea.

MRDC was incorporated on 27th May 1975 under the Companies Ordinance 1966. It was not until 1981 that it became fully functional as a company entrusted with the duty to manage mining and petroleum resource equity interests on behalf of the State and Landowners.

It was the ultimate State Nominee to acquire the State and Landowner equity interests in mining and petroleum projects and to manage the equity funds for landowner companies from the major resource development areas of PNG.

In 1996 during Sir Julius Chan’s term as PM, MRDC was subjected to a partial privatization of its major interests resulting in the creation of Orogen Minerals Limited (OML), of which MRDC held 51 percent controlling shares while other major corporate bodies and individuals collectively held the remaining 49 per cent in OML.

OML at the time was a holding company which controlled stakes in Papua New Guinea resource companies. The Company had a portfolio of high valued assets developed by subsidiaries of major international resources companies. OML had interests in oil development, producing oilfields, gold mines and gold deposits including Kutubu, Gobe, Porgera, Lihir and Moran.

𝗦𝗶𝗿 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗹 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗲: 𝗗𝗿𝘂𝗺𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀

 𝘉𝘺 𝘙𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘯 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬 - 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯

Michael Somare, bearded, eager, proud and secure within his own remarkable culture, became the face of Papua New Guinea to the world from the time the first daring troublemakers there began to dream of independence in the 1960s. Even more extraordinarily, he remained to his own people the face that mirrored their national aspirations over almost 50 years.

Other prime ministers came and went — Julius Chan and Paias Wingti, twice each — but when Somare returned to the top job in 2002 after a 17-year gap, he began his longest term in power.

He was knighted, and was awarded the top honour, a member of the Grand Companion of the Order of Logohu, after PNG also introduced its own honours system under his prime ministership in 2005. But he was ubiquitously known as “The Chief”.

His political longevity was principally owed to three chiefly skills: as a public speaker, both in the national language, Tok Pisin, and in English; as a chairman of the board, maintaining his fissiparous ministers in some kind of order; and as a parliamentary coalition builder and political numbers man, keeping track of the countless trade-offs required to maintain a majority in the PNG political bearpit.

Celebrating 40 years as an MP, Somare said: “I know what PNG politics tastes like.” And to ordinary Papua New Guineans, he remained the embodiment of their bright hopes, which he articulated at independence.

GO - Last Man Standing

BY PATRICK LEVO

OLD George leaned against the tree, resting his troublesome knees. They creaked in places when he trotted, the price one pays from years of playing rugby in his youth.

The sun was hot last Friday in Port Moresby. George forgot to bring a bottle of cold water, but never mind, all around him, Papua New Guineans from all walks of life were gathered, each in his and her own state of grief, water or no water. The grand hall of the Reverend Sione Kami Memorial Church at 5 Mile was packed with mourners and VIPs. There was no seat for George. The crook of the neem tree was better than nothing.

George looked ash in his whites, his maroon PX tie looked great. His smile even greater, but it masked the agony of the moment, of the heartache, of having come here to say goodbye to a close friend and rugby mate.

SIGNIFICANT OPPORTUNITY TO LEVERAGE UPON (Daru Fisheries Industrial Park)

By Western Province - Governor Taboi Awi Yoto
20^th December 2020

There are has been concerns raised recently regarding the Building of Fisheries Industrial Park on Daru Island by a Chinese Fishing Giant. 

Firstly let me start off by saying, why why do we keep voting in leaders and demand us for development. Do you expect us to develop the Province with the little we get from DSIP, PSIP, and resource benefits from whatever we get from the few resource extraction from the Province like Ok Tedi alone. If every one of you were in my shoe, you would understand the amount of financial resources I have at my disposal and the wish list of expectations you demand my government to deliver to you, the roads, the classrooms, the hospitals, etc etc. Yes we are not so poor, we have some money stored away, like in PNGSDP but that’s not at my disposal and they don't even listen to us. To me, it’s a grand scam of the century in the name of WP established by BHP and their friends for themselves and not for WP.

Many of us have continued to ask, why do we call ourselves a resource-rich Province yet we are so poor.? Yes we are a resource-rich Province but we need to convert those resources into monetary terms and use those funds to build better hospitals, schools, roads, create employment opportunities, improve the HDI, improve GDP improve our living standards etc. Thus, we as your leaders are challenged to think outside of the box. We just concluded a vote of no confidence, basically those of us who stood with Hon. James Marape, MP, PM, wanted to see an increase in benefits from our resource by tweaking, turning, and amending laws. That's thinking out of the current colonial introduce norm. But if we want to remain the same then let's forget everything, let's stop talking about change, let’s stop talking about electing good leaders who can bring development, let’s stop demanding leaders to think outside of the box to bring about developments etc etc. But if we want change, we must also prepare for the challenges that the change we aspire will bring.