O’Neill to head caretaker govt

Source: The National, Tuesday 15th May 2012 By ISAAC NICHOLAS PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill will retain the finance portfolio and head a caretaker administration to run the nation’s affairs until a new government is formed. He revealed this as parliament enters its final session today before it is dissolved to allow for fresh elections. The issue of writs is scheduled for Friday. Voting begins on Saturday, June 23. The return of writs is on or before July 27. A new government is expected soon after that. O’Neill told The National yesterday he would keep the same team of ministers in the careta­ker government. He will be caretaker prime minister and finance minister. Other key ministers in the interim administration included Belden Namah as deputy prime minister and forest minister, Don Polye (treasury), William Duma (petroleum), Sam Basil (national planning), Dr Allan Marat (attorney-general), John Boito (police), Bart Philemon (public service) and Sir Mekere Morauta (public enterprises). Leader of Government Business and Esa’ala MP Moses Ma­ladina said the final session was to formally close parliament and to give MPs a chance to make final statements. He said parliament would also deal with outstanding legislations which needed to be passed including the Women Against Violence Bill. Community Development Mi­nister Andrew Mald is expected to table that bill. “This will be the formal closure of parliament until the return of writs,” Maladina said. “We will give opportunities to members to speak for the last time before we formerly close parliament.” He dispelled rumours that the government would move a motion to defer the election by six months. “There are a couple of members who wanted to defer the election due to concerns about the preparedness of the Electoral Commission and security of the election,” he said. “However, the government, including Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and his coalition partners, agreed that there is no need to defer the election. “Everything is on target and schedule for us to go for election. Everyone wants the election to go ahead now. “It is not in the interest of the nation to defer the election. We need to go back to our people to seek their mandate once again to come back as elected representatives of our electorates.”

Abel: K100 million expected from casino

Source: The National, Friday May 11th 2012 THE 4-Mile Hotel Casino project is expected to bring in foreign investment of more than K100 million over the next 12 months, Commerce Minister Charles Abel said. It is also expected to create employment and support business activities in Port Moresby. “The project will create over 500 direct employment and more than 2,000 indirect employment opportunities and create income earning opportunities for our youth and women,” he said. He re-launched the project yesterday after it was suspended last year due to lack of financial support and administrative delays. Steven Khan, representing the new investor AusPNG Ltd, said the re-launching of the project was a positive step forward for the nation and Port Moresby in terms of job creation opportunities. He said as an experienced development organisation registered in PNG, AusPNG had no hesitation in becoming the major shareholder for the project. To ensure the success of the investment, Khan said AusPNG had engaged a number of globally recognised companies to assist in specific areas of the development stage. These include Accor Group and Casino Austria. The construction phase would first look at the completion of the hotel, shopping areas and the casino. Later it will look at the completion of the hotel and accommodation. Approval for the Hotel Casino was given in 2005.

PNG runs out of ARV drugs

Source: The National, Friday May 11th 2012 By LESLIE OMARO ANTIRETROVIRAL (ARV) drugs used to treat people living with HIV/AIDS have run out, forcing them to rely on alternative medication. HIV health project coordinator Maura Elaripe from Igat Hope Inc said there were many frustrated people wondering why their medication regime had been changed suddenly. Elaripe said they were against the use of the drug stavudine (D4T) because the World Health Organisation had stopped its use. But she said the health department continued to treat people with HIV/AIDS with the wrong drug combination. Elaripe said in September last year, stocks ran out and the then health secretary had assured people the situation would not recur. “More than 50 members of our organisation who were on ARV drugs had to go on a drug holiday,” she said. Health Department programme manager Dr Nick Dala said yesterday K8 million had been spent to purchase new ARV drugs that would arrive from Copenhagen, Denmark, in five weeks. Elaripe said the health department had undertaken to monitor those who had gone on drug holidays for signs and symptoms of resistance and provided necessary follow-up care as needed. “The National Department of Health failed to buy more drugs and distribute them to the 70-plus sites ... whatever drugs were available in the country have been exhausted and we now have a critical emergency in the country.” She said in February they alerted the health department again on the stock situation and its failure to keep its promise to monitor those that had gone on drug holidays.

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Lupari: Future of country hinges on new parliament

Source: The National, Tuesday 08th May 2012 THE future of the country will hinge on the new parliament and government after the general election, economics and former chief secretary Isaac Lupari said in a presentation during the National Alliance party fundraising dinner last weekend. Lupari said there were greater prospects and opportunity to create a better Papua New Guinea but all those opportunities would depend squarely on a strong and disciplined leadership. He said this when making a presentation on the state of economy since 2002. He said the prospects for growth looked positive as a result of the LNG project and the Gulf LNG project, which would create a stable economy. Lupari said the LNG project “will general K100 billion over 30 years, K3.3 billion a year, starting 2014”. He said that much revenue would be parked in the Sovereign Wealth Fund overseas but the country must avoid “similar Cayman Island experiences”. He said there were big challenges ahead for the new government. He said among those tasks would be the management of the SWF. Lupari said since the collapse of fixed ex-rate regime in 1996, and adoption of the flexible regime (IMF/WB), “the kina has not gained or strengthened and it still remains volatile”. He said the value of the kina had improved against major trading currencies largely because of macro-economic stability, (instigated by fiscal stability) and intervention by BPNG, and was unlikely to further depreciate because of increased import activity (LNG) and government’s reckless spending in recent months. He said looking back to the past decade, PNG almost went into default in early 2000s from the mismanagement and reckless spending by the government under the late Bill Skate. He said debt is expected to rise from 2012 onwards because of the large borrowings by government to finance the LNG project. He said high interest rates were bad for the economy as there “will be no new investments, businesses collapses, unemployment rises, Public debts (domestic debts) rises; lesser resources in the Budget”. He said from the period 1997-2002, PNG suffered from bad economic management and uncontrolled spending. Lupari said from 2003-2009 there were signs of great improvement but that was now under threat “if current Government fails to curtain excessive spending”. He said inflation was high between 1997-2003, largely because of fiscal instability caused by budget blowouts. He said from 2003-2008, there was great improvement and inflation was brought under control by fiscal stability and discipline but inflation “is again on the rise from 2008 largely due to LNG project but significantly due to deterioration in fiscal discipline”. He said if the trend continues, “PNG will re-enter the late Skate’s and Mekere’s era”.

4,000 racing for 109 seats

Source: The National, Monday 07th May 2012 NEXT month’s general election could see more than 4,000 people chasing 109 seats in Parliament compared with about 2,800 in 2007, the Electoral Commission has revealed. The director of the Papua New Guinea’s Institute of National Affairs, Paul Barker, says it is no surprise that there are a large number of candidates signing up for next month’s general election. Barker said in a radio interview recently there was a significant amount of frustration over the way politicians had been running the country. Gaining political office in PNG also carried a lot of status and was financially rewarding. “It’s almost sort of seen to be a passing of age exercise to come along and have a go, people are often encouraged to do so by their own local communities,” he said. “By and large you are seeing a lot of people who may not have a lot of money to start with becoming quite a bit more affluent during their term in office.” The Electoral Commission is accepting nominations until May 18. The contestants, however, have coalesced into two major rival camps – one containing incumbent Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah and Treasurer Don Polye. The other is led by deposed prime minister Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare and his National Alliance party. Sir Michael is expected to team up with Pangu Pati, Peoples Party and the People National Assembly. The O’Neill-Namah-Polye combination have a headcount of 68 sitting lawmakers in total. O’Neill’s People’s Congress party has 25 MPs, Namah’s Papua New Guinea Party has 21 and Polye’s Triumph Heritage Empowerment Party has 22. Somare, who was ousted after missing three consecutive sittings of parliament last year while he was hospitalised in Singapore, has endorsed 89 candidates. He said although he had thought of retiring from politics, he had decided to prove to his rivals that his East Sepik people still wanted him in parliament.

Philemon says K2.5bil paid to public servants

Source: The National, Friday 27th 2012 THE government pays public servants K2.5 billion a year as salaries and wages, Public Service Minister Bart Philemon told parliament yesterday. And he said the main reason for the non-delivery of public service was because of too much political involvement. He said another reason was the lack of capacity in the public service. Philemon was res­ponding to questions from Tari-Pori MP and chairman of Hela Transitional Authority James Marape in parliament. Marape said public servants in the Southern Highland and Hela provinces were confused because most had not been confirmed to their substantive posts. He said positions had been advertised in 2008 but there were still no confirmed positions for public servants. “What is the maximum time it takes to fill public service positions?” He said another contributing factor was the position of the provincial administrator that had not been filled as yet and why the delay in the appointment of a permanent administrator. Marape said some public servants had left to work in the oil fields, mine sites and gas fields because of the attractive salaries there. He also claimed that most public servants in the province were getting paid for doing virtually nothing. “Can an investigation be conducted to ascertain the status quo of public service in the province?” Marape also brought up the issue of K7 housing allowance, asking whether that can be increased to K500 or K1,000 a fortnight.

Kiwis want June polls

Source: The National, Wednesday 25th 2012 NEW Zealand’s Foreign Minister Murray McCully says his government would like to see Papua New Guinea hold the national election as originally scheduled. McCully said New Zealand was trying to be supportive of efforts to hold the election on time. “PNG will need to understand that this is something that other countries are taking a close interest in,” he said. “We hope they will land in a good place. “There are a number of players with differing views, and conveying them is a problem.”

YAKAMORE

Paska: New bill will make House supreme

Source: The National, Wednesday 18th April 2012 By CALDRON LAEPA THE PNG Trade Union Congress has urged parliamentarians not to vote for the Supreme Court (Amendment) Bill 2012 because it will make parliament superior to the two arms of government. Congress general secretary John Paska said the government was also using the legislation to make parliament more supreme than the Constitution. The bill stated that the Supreme Court cannot make consequential orders if they invoke the powers of the Supreme Court to give an opinion on matters under section 18 and 19 of the Constitution. The bill also provided that the decision by the court on the East Sepik provincial government and Morobe provincial government references is null and void. Paska said the proposed bill aimed to throw out a matter currently in court in relation to the legitimacy of the government. He said MPs must stop voting for any bill brought by the government and start thinking more seriously about the people. He urged Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and Speaker Jeffery Nape to think about the nation. He said it was bad for the economy when the government made decisions and then later reversed them. He warned the MPs that the election was approaching and the people were watching them closely. Paska cautioned that the unions and civil society organisations would “rise” if the need arose. He said O’Neill should now be getting the message that the people, unions and civil society would not back down following last Tuesday’s protest.

Recruits given two weeks

Source: The National, Tuesday 17th April 2012 By YVONNE HAIP PUBLIC servants selected for positions within the Southern Highlands administration have been told to take office within two weeks. Deputy administrator Dr Bravy Koensong called for acceptance letters to be returned because a complete manpower audit and roll-call on the public service would be carried out. He said lax attitude towards work would not be tolerated. Koensong said the provincial public service machinery had deteriorated because of poor performance of staff. He said the public service needed to be united to improve and restore all services in Southern Highlands. He said a payroll audit would be done to remove ghost names on the payroll and other financial responsibilities. He said the payroll, would be brought back to Mendi from Waigani and the relevant government departments and institutions would help ensure this. He claimed indivi­duals had walked off with more than K200,000 as a result of the payroll being hijacked. Koensong called on all public servants to move into the province within two weeks. He said those who were not in office during the roll-call would be dealt with through normal disciplinary processes. He said a complete restructure of the province had begun and would continue until December. Koensong said by January and February next year, jobs within the administration would be on the market. He said public servants who had been lazy would have to find employment elsewhere.

Kidu asks Australia to relax visa laws

Source: The National, Monday 16th April 2012 AUSTRALIA’S immigration laws for Papua New Guineans need to be reconsidered, a symposium has been told. Opposition leader Dame Carol Kidu said there were too many processes citizens of Papua New Guinea were required to go through to obtain a visa. She said the Australian government needed to loosen its visa policies for Papua New Guineans if it was serious in assisting PNG change. Dame Carol, Public Service Minister Bart Philemon, academics and researchers attended the symposium titled “Securing a prosperous future” at Deakin University, in Geelong, Victoria. She said a Papua New Guinea woman married to an Australian and with two children had applied for an Australian visa three years ago and was still waiting. She said it was the kind of hardship Papua New Guineans had to go through when applying for a visa. Private lawyer and pro chancellor of the University of PNG Camillus Narokobi, who was one of the conference participants, said although he had been frequent visitor to Australia since he first visited there in 1971, he continued to find it difficult to obtain a visa. He said Papua New Guineans were genuine people who wanted to visit and spend holidays there, visit friends or conduct business. They were not boat people who sought asylum or permanent residency, he added. Prof Kenneth Sumbuk, who shared his experiences of travelling to Europe, said obtaining visas to visit places in Europe was easier than obtaining a visa to go to Australia. Meanwhile, PNG can change if good decisions are made, Australian parliamentary secretary for Pacific Islands Affairs Richard Marles said. Marles said PNG was one of the seven fastest growing economies in the world, something the people of the country should be proud of. He said with the mineral boom, the country was going to change significantly. However, he said there were many problems that needed to be addressed if PNG was to prosper. He said the health, education and social status of the people had not change despite the riches the country had.

Election on schedule

Source: The National,Wednesday 11th April 2012 THE national election will be held as scheduled with only a slight change. The writs will be issued on May 18 instead of April 27 as previously gazetted. In a day of public demonstration and protest, it was the official line from Electoral Commissioner Andrew Trawen, who Prime Minister Peter O’Neill admitted yesterday, alone had the power to defer the dates of the election. The decision will not affect date for polling which falls on June 23 and for the return of writs on or before July 27. Also yesterday: qHundreds gathered at the Sir John Guise Stadium to protest the deferral of the election and passage of the Judicial Conduct Law; qSchools and many business houses in Port Moresby were closed as fears spread that the demonstration might turn violent; qDemonstrators earlier stoned cars and damaged a shop in Koki; qHundreds converged at the Eriku oval in Lae to protest the deferral, led by the University of Technology students; and Madang, demonstrators said they were ready to go to the poll

Grand Chief files bid to stop judicial law

Source: The National, Wednesday 4th April 2012 By JACOB POK GRAND Chief Sir Michael Somare has asked the Supreme Court to stop the government from implementing and enfor­cing the judicial conduct law. His lawyer Kerenga Kua yesterday appeared before Justice Derek Hartshon in an ex parte hearing to seek the court’s orders. The bill was rushed through parliament in a space of 24 hours and passed on March 21. It was certified into law by Speaker Jeffrey Nape and parliament clerk Don Pandan last Friday. There was public outrage with civil societies, university students and businesses advising the government to have it repealed. Kua filed an urgent Supreme Court application seeking injunctive orders to restrain parliament from implementing and enforcing it. He told the court that enfor­cing the law would affect the hearing of the two Supreme Court references currently on foot looking into the issue of the legitimacy of government. He said if parliament enforced the new law against some of the judges hearing the references, it would disrupt the entire proceeding. He therefore asked the court to issue a restraining order pending the actual hearing of the substantive matter which sought to nullify the entire judicial conduct law. But Hartshon told Kua he would not hear the matter ex parte. He ordered that the application be served to all parties named in the proceedings and to return to court at 9.30am today. The substantive issue in the originating summons filed by Kua will be based on rele­vant clauses in the Constitution which relate to constitutional office holders including judges. He will argue that the new law should be nullified on the basis that section 221 of the Constitution opposed it. Section 221 states that “a judge may not be suspended, dismissed or removed from office during his term of office except in accordance with a constitutional law” and not by an ordinary act of parliament.

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State loses bid

Source: The National,Tuesday 03rd April 2012 By JACOB POK THE Supreme Court has thrown out a bid by the government to reopen last December’s constitutional case which had declared Sir Michael Somare as prime minister. The application by Attorney-General and Justice Minister Dr Allan Marat was described by Justice Nicholas Kirriwom, a member of the five-man bench, as a “delay tactic”. But the court is yet to decide on whether Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia and Kirriwom should step aside amid allegations of bias against the government. The bench comprised Sir Salamo, his deputy Gibbs Salika, Bernard Sakora, Les Gavera-Nanu and Kirriwom. It was supposed to be the first day of hearings into the legality of parliamentary decisions since the government of Peter O’Neill took office. But Marat’s lawyer Tiffany Twivey filed three new applications, including the one to have the Dec 12 case reheard. The other two relate to whether Sir Salamo and Kirriwom should remain on the bench. Twivey filed the applications last Thursday and had served copies to all parties involved in the proceedings. She told the court the slip rule application to revisit the Dec 12 case should be heard and determined first as it raised a series of issues relating to the current references. Sir Salamo told Twivey that such application would require the same bench and parties from last year that had been involved in the proceeding and it would require more time. He said the court was prepared to proceed with the two references which were made returnable for hearing and not new applications. “The procedural aspect of the matters should be considered and things must be done properly because such applications required extensive time and effort for parties to prepare and get instructions from their clients properly before the matter proceeds,” Sir Salamo said. Sakora told Twivey that the application was filed late as it was done four months after the Dec 12 decision. Kirriwom told Twivey that there was no need to revisit the previous case when the current reference stemmed from that case. “Your client did not agree with the decision of SCR 3 (Supreme Court reference) of 2011. “That is why these two current references have been filed,” Kirriwom said. He described the application as a “delay tactic”. Sir Michael’s lawyer Duncan Kerr and the lawyer representing the East Sepik provincial executive council, Ian Molloy, opposed the application. After a brief adjournment, the judges unanimously rejected the slip rule application.

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State gives illegal immigrants 30-day grace period

Source: The National,Monday 02nd April 2012 ILLEGAL immigrants have been given a 30-day grace period to surrender to officials and leave the country. The grace period is from March 26 to April 27. The National Executive Council has directed the Immigration and Citizenship Services to coordinate a task force team to investigate and remove illegal immigrants. It should also investigate the activities of foreigners engaged in questionable activities in the country. Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Ano Pala confirmed the council’s decision of Jan 17. Pala said in a public notice that the task force team would comprise highly-skilled investigators and intelligence officers. It would be supported by hand-picked officers from various agencies. The economic boom and rapid development had attracted an influx of foreigners and organised crime syndicates into the country. “PNG has recently witnessed some trend of transnational crimes happening within our shores such as human smuggling, money laundering, smuggling of counterfeit goods, smuggling of illegal firearms and drugs while our domestic front is faced with organised prostitution, brothels and pirated goods,” Pala said. “I strongly advice that any foreigner who comes into conflict with the established laws of the country and found guilty of a criminal offence would automatically have his or her entry permit cancelled and be directed to leave the country immediately.” He said any illegal immigrants or foreigners who overstayed would be deported from the country without facing any prosecution.

Sydney casino sacks informers

Source: The National, Tuesday 20th March 2012 SYDNEY’S Star Casino has sacked three more managers, including one who forwarded an email revealing that it allows international high rollers to gamble non-stop for more than 24 hours. The organisation brought in outside lawyers last Tuesday to help sack mid-level managers with more than 40 years’ experience among them for breaches of its internet and email policies, a report in the Sydney Morning Herald said. A leaked incident report from the casino fingered Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah for sexually harassing a male dealer and consuming too much alcohol last April. The report said Namah was asked to leave but allowed back in when management discovered he had deposited A$800,000 with the teller. Namah has denied being the person named in the report and had advised lawyers to start legal proceedings against Australian newspapers that carried the story. The casino’s actions meant at least seven staff had been dismissed or had left in the fallout surrounding last month’s sacking of managing director Sid Vaikunta. One of those dismissed had forwarded an email, dated Feb 21, from the director of VIP services, Dean Wilson, explaining why responsible gambling rules used to stop locals betting for more than 24 hours at a stretch did not apply to wealthy foreigners known as international rebate guests. Wilson told senior staff he had asked the responsible gambling manager, Ron Wagemans, to clarify the po­licy after a staff member had wrongly advised two wealthy international guests, who had been playing for 21 hours, that they would soon be asked to leave under the casino’s policy of sending gamblers home after 24 hours of non-stop wagering. “For our (international rebate) guests we are under no obligation to stop their play at the 24-hour mark,” Wilson wrote to managers in the high rollers’ section. “These guests travel with limited time to play and they have an esta­blished amount of funds that they are prepared to gamble with.” A Casino Star spokesman said yesterday the employees “were dismissed for breaching several employment policies such as sending confidential company documents to third parties and private email addresses”’, including “highly sensitive customer information”.

Economist says no LNG earnings until 2023

Source: The National, Wednesday 14th March 2012 By MALUM NALU EARNINGS from the LNG project are not expected to be significant until after 2023, according to Asian Development Bank’s Papua New Guinea country economist, Aaron Batten. He told The National yesterday, after the release of the latest edition of ADB’s Pacific Economic Monitor, that this had to do with financing agreements of the project. “For the first five to 10 years of LNG production, revenues will be quite small,” Batten said. “This has to do with financing agreements of the project,” he said. Batten said: “This is accelerated depreciation (to do with tax benefits to the project). “LNG revenues for the first five to 10 years of the project will only replace the decline in other mineral revenues government receives. “In the long term, things will get better, but over the medium term, government will face a growing fiscal challenge.” Batten said government must ensure that enough funding was allocated to key service delivery priorities such as health, education and infrastructure. “At one level, this will require an increasing prioritisation of these areas (health, education and infrastructure) within the budget,” he said. “It will also require them to manage public expectations for improved service delivery as a result of LNG revenues, which are not expected to be large until after 2023.” Batten said the major challenge facing the government right now was the declining revenue over the next two to three years, mainly because of the winding down of LNG construction, declining output from mines and oil fields, and agriculture exporters to face loss of competitiveness as a result of the high kina exchange rate.