Comments

I cannot applaud the authors enough for shining light on such an important issue facing Bougainville, and sadly one that hardly ever gets a mention but constantly manifests itself everyday. There is deep and inter-generational trauma here that, aside from the important work of a small handful of dedicated NGOs and CSOs, is given no attention to addressing. I do not yet believe that Bougainville itself recognises that a crisis of trauma exists here, and that acceptance is a crucial first step. I also believe the ABG needs to step up and take the lead in a collaborative and multi-sector approach to addressing these issues. Thanks again for a great piece and we look forward to part two.

I have read several books written by the great man Davies. I last saw him in 2018 when I did my first year in UPNG. Those Geologists who have been taught by Davies are lucky people and today they are dominating the mining industry in PNG and outside world. What a touching story and brief history of this great man. He is truly a PNG man with Gold heart. May his memories linger in the heart of all the Geologist in PNG. May God bless his generation.

This topic can be re-interpreted to give us a confusing topic that read: Decolonising colonization as the terms colonization, civilization and development are different words of the safe meaning as when the time suited them, the Europeans just colonised the south and developments found the word colonization as harsh so a much kinder word "civilization" was brought in and in the years of development effectiveness the new term development came in. These words mean the same - capitalism and the creation of a cheap labour corps made up of those that do not make the cut. Whilst decolonization is in need of the colonies, the need can also be discussed within the Pacific where colonization is rife.

Resolving our FX & Fuel Crisis Dear Editor, Please allow me space to state a few facts regarding the above, since it seems that our ongoing Forex & fuel crisis have really become an issue, when in reality they are not that difficult to comprehend, understand and or resolve. These two (2) pertinent issues are intertwined and closely related and should be easily resolved if we understood their complexities and how they work. These issues are not rocket science to figure out and resolve. The following are the two (2) main (key) approaches that we must take immediately to resolve these current outstanding issues; 1. Review, renegotiate and re-sign all our resource (especially oil & gas) project agreements, so that all foreign currency (including USD), are repatriated back to our country (PNG). This is the surest, most sure-fire action to take to relieve our current forex issue. Especially since, revenue from our oil, gas and mineral resources make up the bulk (more than 60%) of our total exports. We are talking about hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars here. This approach will most definitely resolve our current forex crisis in the next 6-9 months if we are serious and embark on it in early 2025. When most resource projects started and were initially signed into agreements, (during the Somare and then subsequently O’Neil led governments), project developers such as OilSearch, Barrick, Exxon and Santos argued that they needed to trade using their Singapore and other foreign, offshore accounts. Under the pretext, that BPNG did not have the capacity to deal with the substantial volume of forex trade that they would require for their operations. This lame excuse of using offshore accounts has directly led to our current forex shortage and backlog. Our FX backlog is only circa K1 billion. If we can get all these giant resource project developers to remit all, or a certain percentage of their forex earnings onshore, using BPNG and our domestic banks, I can safely and confidently assure the current Marape-Rosso government that our forex backlog issue will be largely (and mostly) resolved, eased and tamed by September 2025. In time for our 50th Independence anniversary celebrations this year. 2. The second approach to use to resolve the aforementioned issues would be to use Domestic Price Parity (DPP) pricing when setting the price for our oil, gas and mineral resources. This would most definitely and vastly reduce the price of our fuel, oil and gas products in PNG. Rogue multinationals like Puma have been using International Price Parity (IPP) and import parity pricing when setting the price of all their fuel, oil and gas products being sold domestically. Leading to fuel, oil and gas products being sold in the country, being sold at international market prices, when these goods and services should be bought and sold at low domestically affordable rates. Puma and our project developers aren’t entirely to blame for this arrangement, however. Our previous incompetent regimes and State negotiation teams (SNTs) must also be held to account for this blunder, since they are the ones who agreed and signed on these agreements and arrangements in their current formats. No wonder our current PM Marape was blaming the war between Russia and Ukraine for our fuel problems, when that clearly shouldn’t be the case. Any fool knows that we don’t even have any trade with Russia and or Ukraine! Why would a war between them, thousands of mile away, have any bearing on the fuel we own and extract from our own country? Just outright stupid, silly and nonsensical. Our current oil, gas and other resource project agreements, must be reviewed, re-analyzed and re-negotiated so that we can resort to DPP pricing and other more sensible and beneficial arrangements to monitor to price of fuel produced domestically. So that wars in foreign unknown, unheard of countries such as Iceland or Greenland etc… don’t have any bearing on our domestically owned and operated fuel, oil, gas and other mineral resources! Charles Malu Dept of Finance

Participate in sharing ideas and support developing sustainable horticulture industry in Gumine District.

Thanks Stephen, This is a heartfelt tribute to Sir Charles Lepani. His remarkable career and contributions to PNG, both nationally and internationally, are well captured in your reflection. I appreciate how you highlighted his views on aid, the Pacific Engagement Visa, and his deep sense of humour, humility, and family values. Regards.

I am interested in working for a company which recruits RSE workers.I have been going to New Zealand for two years working under the program and would like to know if there's some company that would recruit me to work for them in Australia. I have Two years experience in working in the horticulture sector and interested to try out new working environments.

This proposal for the Pacific Skills Visa is a great solution to address Australia's mid-skill worker shortage while empowering Pacific nations with training and migration opportunities.

Thanks Betrina. This is question that opens up a deep set of issues. Our understanding is that the new EBC report supplants the old one. This is something that would need to be looked at by courts. What happens when the new EBC report is inconsistent? Does it revert to the previous map? Are electorate boundaries something that can be reviewed by the judiciary? What if there is more than one map of the same territory in the EBC report? (That is in fact the case, as the index map is not the same as the detailed maps in every case, an additional complication I left out of this text) The Organic Law is clear that the district matches the electorate. We're are in 'unknown territory here' here in more ways than one. The 1977 map has many shortcomings, but one advantage is that it is consistent.

Dr Thiago, well articulated in this article, thank you for sharing these findings on electoral boundaries. I concur with your findings on the electoral boundaries given the discrepancy in the electorate boundaries created in 1977 and one done by the electoral commission in 2022. Which boundaries are constitutional valid and establish a district? your findings also shed the light on the issues currently faced in PNG with the DDAs and service delivery in the districts. Therefore the proposed review of District Development Authority Act 2014 is relevant.

Hi Talitha, Congratulations on your selection. I will email you separately as there are ongoing concerns with visa delays for people who have secured jobs. Regards, Natasha

Hi Richard, Acknowledged, yes the professions of those industries. There are lessons to be learnt from NZ too. Regards, Natasha