James Marape says Australia, with New Zealand and PNG, has a moral obligation to listen to the voices of smaller island nations
Australia has a responsibility to protect the Pacific region from the impacts of climate change, PNG’s newly appointed prime minister has said.
James Marape told the Guardian Australia had “a moral responsibility … to the upkeep of the planet”, particularly given the extreme effect it was having on smaller Pacific nations.
Continue reading...The shocking killing of 18 people in a highlands village may have ‘changed everything’, warns police minister
The pictures that came out of a remote highlands village in Papua New Guinea two weeks ago were not, at first glance, particularly graphic: bulging cocoons of blue mosquito nets hanging from wooden poles propped along a roadside.
But the story they told was gruesome.
Continue reading...Pregnant women among victims of killings in small village of Karida, in an area beset by internecine violence
At least 15 women and children have been killed in a massacre in Papua New Guinea’s Hela province, in one of the worst outbreaks of tribal violence in the country for years.
The killings happened on early Monday morning during a raid on Karida, a village of about 800 people in the interior of the country.
Continue reading...Abdul Aziz Muhamat delivers a plea for urgent action to the Human Rights Council
Since Abdul Aziz Muhamat left Manus Island for the last time, he has climbed a mountain in his new home of Switzerland, and then returned to advocating for the resettlement of the hundreds of men and women he left behind.
The Sudanese refugee spent more than six years in Australia’s offshore processing and detention system in Papua New Guinea, before he was granted residency in the European nation earlier this month.
Continue reading...James Marape says foreign contractors should not be doing work that locals can do
Papua New Guinea’s newly appointed prime minister wants Australia to cancel its controversial contract with Paladin to deliver services on Manus Island.
James Marape, who became prime minister after the resignation of Peter O’Neill last month, told PNG’s parliament on Tuesday he would summon Australia’s diplomatic head of mission “to provide an explanation”.
Continue reading...Gold and copper project for Sepik region also has potential to cause social conflict and unrest, report says
A gold and copper mine proposed for the Sepik region in Papua New Guinea by an Australian-based company threatens to destroy the health of a major river system, poison fish stocks and cause violent unrest, a report has found.
The Chinese-owned company, PanAust, says the Frieda river project could have a 45-year life span and generate A$12.45bn in tax, royalties and production levies for the PNG government and landholders.
Continue reading...Peter O’Neill struggled with tackling corruption, shoring up the economy and a refusal to share power
It has been just two weeks since Papua New Guinean politics erupted. The dramatic events saw politicians in our nearest neighbouring country camping out in two hotels, shouting matches in parliament, and threats of no-confidence motions, before eventually, realising he had lost the support of his colleagues, the prime minister Peter O’Neill resigned.
The subsequent transition has been smooth. The new prime minister James Marape has succeeded O’Neill and his newly-appointed cabinet has begun work.
Continue reading...Furious opposition calls to remove speaker fail and parliament is swiftly adjourned after stormy opening
Papua New Guinea’s parliament descended into chaos on Tuesday as prime minister Peter O’Neill showed no signs of stepping down, despite his promise to resign on Sunday.
Parliament resumed for the first time in three weeks, after a tense period in PNG politics during which a number of high-profile ministers defected from the government to join the opposition bloc, which is pushing to remove O’Neill and replace him with one of their own MPs.
Continue reading...Resignation of Peter O’Neill triggers political confusion in Port Moresby as his opponents plot to block anointed successor
Papua New Guinea is braced for a political reckoning after a tumultuous week that has seen prime minister Peter O’Neill announce his resignation following high-level defections from his party.
On Sunday, O’Neill, who has been prime minister since 2011, told a news conference in Port Moresby that he would be resigning and handing over the leadership to Sir Julius Chan, himself a former prime minister, whom O’Neill described as one of the nation’s “founding fathers”.
Continue reading...Parliament in turmoil as O’Neill speaks of a ‘need for change’ after series of high-profile defections
Peter O’Neill, the prime minister of Papua New Guinea, has resigned after weeks of high-level defections from his ruling party.
O’Neill told a news conference in Port Moresby that recent changes to political allegiances in parliament had shown a “need for change”.
Continue reading...Peter O’Neill says ‘fake news’ is destroying Papua New Guinea, which has faced a tumultuous few weeks in politics
The Papua New Guinea government is again flagging restricting or banning Facebook and other social media in the country, after a tumultuous few weeks in politics which may still see a vote of no confidence in the prime minister.
The prime minister, Peter O’Neill, has said he would order cabinet to conduct a “complete review” of social media as the first task of the newly appointed communications minister on Thursday.
Continue reading...High-profile resignations come amid growing lack of trust in Peter O’Neill
Papua New Guinea has lurched into a new political crisis, after a spate of high-profile resignations by government ministers led to MPs calling a vote of no confidence in the prime minister, Peter O’Neill.
Over the past week MPs from the government and the opposition have been engaged in a dramatic standoff, with groups from both camps in lockdown in two hotels in the capital, Port Moresby. About 1,000 police have reportedly been called in to patrol the city as the commissioner called for calm.
Continue reading...One clinic has treated at least 500 men in past two years with penile disfigurement and dysfunction from injections gone wrong
Doctors in Papua New Guinea have warned of a “nationwide problem” of men injecting foreign substances, including coconut oil and silicone, into their penises in an attempt to make them bigger.
A doctor at the Port Moresby General Hospital said that over the last two years his clinic has treated at least 500 men with penile disfigurement and dysfunction as a result of injections.
Continue reading...Authorities catch up with 57-year-old, wanted on drugs charges, after he travelled 150km across the Torres Strait
A wanted British man has attempted to flee Australia on a jetski, travelling almost 150km (93 miles) across the Torres Strait while armed with a crossbow.
The 57-year-old man is subject to an outstanding warrant for drug-related charges in Western Australia.
Continue reading...Move follows intense campaign by refugee advocates for all children sent to the island by the Australian government to be taken off
The last four children living in Australian government-run offshore processing on Nauru have now left the island, amid a group of 19 people flown to the US for resettlement.
The group includes a number of Iranians, according to refugee advocates, contradicting persistent suspicions that Donald Trump’s travel ban on six nationalities was blocking refugees from the resettlement scheme.
Continue reading...Company that was awarded $423m to provide services on Manus Island says reports linking it to bad debts are ‘offensive’ and ‘unsubstantiated’
Security contractor Paladin has broken its silence to attack suggestions of corruption as “offensive”, while rejecting reports linking it to a series of bad debts or failed contracts across Asia.
The firm said it is seeking legal advice about media articles it said had “failed to identify any evidence to sustain the damaging allegations being made against Paladin”.
Continue reading...Mike Pezzullo admits department faced ‘urgent’ circumstances when deal done with little known firm Paladin
The head of the department of home affairs concedes bureaucrats awarded a controversial $423m contract to Paladin to provide services on Manus Island because of an “urgent” set of circumstances, but Mike Pezzullo denies he was “desperate”.
Officials from the home affairs department told estimates on Monday they were, in essence, forced to conduct a closed tender process for the contract because the government of Papua New Guinea advised the then Turnbull government in July it could not provide services it had signalled it would provide because it had entered a caretaker period.
Continue reading...Penny Wong says it’s ‘deeply concerning’ a company with ‘such a poor track record’ was awarded a lucrative sum through closed tender
Penny Wong has indicated Labor will target the Paladin offshore detention security contract in Senate estimates this week, accusing the government of failing to explain why the company was awarded $420m in contracts through closed tender.
The Australian Financial Review has reported that Paladin Group’s $420m of contracts to provide security to refugees on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea was extended by the home affairs department in January after a closed tender process.
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