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.

Why I walked out of Parliament on Friday - East Sepik Governor Allan Bird

By East Sepik - Governor Allan Bird

Tuesday 17th November 2020

Whenever something I consider wrong is happening on the floor of the Parliament, I will walk out in protest.

The Parliament is designed based on a sacred Abelam construct. I am an Abelam elder and I will not stand by when members deliberately abuse their privileges on the floor disrespecting my culture.

I have walked out of Parliament 3 times in protest so far. The first time was when Hon Kramer was referred to the Privileges Committee. I felt that was wrong. The second time was when Hon Yama was arguing on his personal interest against Hon Kramer. I asked the Speaker to send him out. When he did not, I walked out.

Friday last week I walked out for the 3rd time. As soon as I realized after Hon Paita raised a point of order that the Deputy Speaker was in collusion and the Law was about to be broken, I walked out in protest.

In 2011, when the Constitution was abused by MPs, I spoke up for the Constitution and the Rule of Law.

To me the Constitution is a sacred place, not to be trifled with or treated with contempt and disdain. I am not perfect but I will maintain my respect for our sacred places. It is something central to Abelam culture.

In my hausman we are told "Ples tambu, em ples tambu, yu nonap katim diwai, kisim saksak or Kanda long em. Yu nonap lo painim abus tu long hap. Tambu tru"

It is not ours to question why the laws are there it is only ours to obey. So any time anyone breaks the rules to pursue an interest I will not be party to it. You have lost me the minute you do that.

To my mind, anyone who is willing to break the law at one point will continue to break the law if it suits him. It's a principle, once you break into a sacred place, you never stop.

A pig who learns to break a fence and raid the garden will never stop doing it.

Why I walked out of Parliament on Friday - East Sepik Governor Allan Bird

LATE MALIPU BALAKAU'S VISION ON THE PORGERA GOLD MINE DEVELOPMENT / SCANDALOUS MINING CONTRACT FIASCO

Elwyn Pupang Pilyo

May 23 at 1:20 PM

The Porgera Mining Contract of ‘89’ was significantly altered, devoid of the aspirations of then Enga Regional MP, late Hon. Malipu Balakau. The final paper excluded clauses that had been vigorously pushed for by Hon. M Balakau during the forums with the State and Joint Venture Partners months earlier. Had this visionary leader’s radical and nationalistic agenda been captured in the final draft, the course of history, including the socio-economic landscapes, of both Enga Province and PNG, been without doubt positively different.

After his election victory in ‘87’ late Hon. M Balakau set out to do exactly what he had promised his voters during his campaign. He was determined to underpin his dream for Enga’s radical advancement at the back of EPG’s greater participation in developing the gold discovered at Porgera, and therefrom, launch his pitch to be the first PM from Enga Province.

His famed speech ‘to reverse the wind that is blowing’ fanned the hopes of a predominately illiterate but prideful and headstrong people. Though new comers to the outside world the Engan men’s ideals and beliefs of greatness were deeply entrenched in the dynamic and complex cultural setting that had been passed on untainted from a far but traceable past.

Prime Minister Marape urges Oil Search to Pay Tax

Monday, 15 July 2019

Prime Minister Hon. James Marape, MP has urged Oil Search to pay its fair share of tax due to the Government and people of Papua New Guinea.

Mr Marape was speaking at the occasion to mark the 90th anniversary of Oil Search operations in the country last week.

He said Oil Search and PNG Government have been sharing this journey for a long time since PNG gained independence in 1975.

“I like to believe that PNG governments in the past and present have had quite a significant input into what Oil Search is today and without that support, Oil Search shares will still be pegging along the same track as Santos and many of the companies operating in the country.

“I want to pay my respects to the landowners of the entire areas in which Oil Search has operated since 1929, some of them here tonight, me included.

Prime Minister Marape Demonstrates True Leadership In Opting To Resign

Prime Minister Marape demonstrates true leadership in opting to resign It is rare for a Prime Minister, Premier or President of any given nation to opt to resign from office instantly if found guilty of having committed a crime over controversial State deals.

July 4, 2019

It is rare for a Prime Minister, Premier or President of any given nation to opt to resign from office instantly if found guilty of having committed a crime over controversial State deals.

In this case it is PNG’s newly elected Prime Minister James Marape who genuinely told Parliament yesterday he would not have any qualms at all about resigning from office if he is found guilty of having breached any law relating to the scandalous K4 billion UBS loan.

It only takes leaders of integrity, standing and uprightness to openly declare their commitment to the high office they hold to make such a bold and daring statement.

Too often leaders do not readily want to declare themselves subject to the laws of the land but try their utmost best to circumvent and prolong the legal process to ensure they are not subjected to close and detailed scrutiny over scandalous deals involving public money and resources.

The nation is actually watching the new leadership right now in light of the revelations of the Ombudsman Commission report into the UBS loan which highlight the path played by this country’s top leaders and bureaucrats when the money was obtained for the purposes of buying into Oil Search. The deal is so complex that the ordinary person will not have any idea of how these sort of complicated arrangements are made. Why it is complicated is because it involves mega dollars and international financial advisers, financial institutions, banks, legal companies and a host of specialist consultants.

Being the leader of a nation is a special calling, a personal ambition, commitment and sometimes can be by default depending on whatever the political circumstances that prevail at any given time. Other reasons are intentional when there is a need to change the leadership of a country where circumstances are no longer conducive for a functioning democracy or where there is rampant corruption. Other reasons include financial and economic crisis where the leadership of a nation blindly leads its populace into believing well orchestrated announcements of resilient progress to the contrary. Prime Minister Marape exited from the O’Neill government in protest over certain decisions made by the executive government together with his now Deputy Prime Minister Davis Steven.

They both protested actions which seemingly were not in the national interest and perhaps did not adhere to the legal requirements of the laws governing the country. They are both commended for their brave stands despite their having had to forego their ministerial privileges when they did so.

For Prime Minister Marape, he has taken that conscious decision to step down from the land’s highest office if found guilty of any wrongdoing over the UBS scandal. There has to be a bench mark set for leadership requirements of this country where they have to resign instantly from office when confronted with such controversial questions over their ability to hold such high office.

Post Courier Editorial

ROBBERY OF THE 21ST CENTURY

By:  Hon. Philip Undialu, MP
         Governor for Hela Province

Some commentators think that this problem can be solved by me moving to the opposition. But my problem is, opposition is made up of people who signed this particular deal in 2008 & 2009.

Through this government, am pushing hard to secure the 4.27% free carry. It was initially agreed for a price of K3b. No responsible government will ever charge landowners K3b for the very resources they owned.

Kokopo UBSA and respective LBBSAs were signed without complying to Section 47 of OGAS or the requirement of full scale social mapping and landowner identification studies. This blunder has prevented us from releasing the royalty and equity funds. So far, Clan Vetting process completed from Portion 152/Plant Site, Pipeline, Angore to be completed this month, Juha in progress, and this year they'll complete Hides PDL1 & PDL7. Meanwhile, more than K600m in royalty and equity funds held on trust by MRDC & BPNG. I'm also pushing for the missing K1.2b with the project operator.

Certain provisions to the Oil and Gas Act need to be amended as proposed at Governor's Conference in Madang. Government support is needed for this exercise.

There are more reasons why I need support from both opposition and government so in the future, we avoid giving away too . Experience of PNGLNG project has to be shared with fellow leaders so future deals can be done for the best interest of the nation.

All in the name of fair return to landowners, affected provincial government and the country as a whole. Our laws were not too bad. What has gone wrong is, our then government and bureaucrats seen fit to give away what we already had. Following are some examples;

1. Oil and Gas Act provides for State Participation of 22.5% Equity. We decided to reduce to 19.4%. Image how much we stand to loose from 3.1% we lost?
2. Under the Kutubu and Moran oil project, State enjoyed 50% Tax regime. Came PNGLNG Project, we reduced to 30%. Monthly revenue ranges between K3b to K4b for Oil only. Again, 20% loose to the National.
3. We made amendment to the Oil and Gas Act to transfer liability of 2% Royalty Well Head Value to State. In practice, 2% Royalty is treated as Tax Credit. Industry is not paying royalty. It's the Government paying it. What a crazy concept we agreed to?
4. During the construction stage, project was exempted from duties. That exemption even extended to subcontractors which is not permissible in law but we did. We lost nearly K5b.
5. Oil and Gas was amended to allow cost deduction for 2% Royalty and 2 Development Levies. They are now deducting OPEX, CAPEX, Amortization and even charging Premium on CAPEX. Effectively, 1.6% dedicated and paying only 0.4%. Total lost for four years stands at K1.2b. A Notice was served to address this. Failing that, I will institute legal action.
6. During design and construction stages, we were told that they're building pipelines to carry 6.9 Million Tone annually (MTA) but only to discover 9MTA transported. A 25% increase. Exxon was not honest enough.
7. There's no Review Clause for 20 years.
8. Initial costs agreed was $15b but later increased to $19m. Exxon is yet to justify this increase.

All partners had to pay 30% of $19b or $5.7b whilst 70% or $13.3b will be paid for by our gas under 70:30 Depth to Equity ratio. So practically, shareholders invested only $5.7b only. Balance of $13.3b were borrowed from a syndicate of lenders that our own resources will repay.

So my proposal during the Governor's Conference was to inform the leaders that we made fundamental error on the first LNG Project. We need to take stock of what we lost and sign a better deal for at future projects. I am also taking the matter to court for this unfair deal.

I call this "Robbery of the 21st Century"