EDITED BY KEITH JACKSON

A BIT OF AN EXPLANATION
| Keith Jackson

It’s something of a tribute to this near 20-year old blog that, despite its irregularity and constraints, it still manages to reach between 700 and 1,000 people a day and something like 3,000 across each month. Regular readers will know that the cause of its problems is my continuing ill health. A condition known as ME/CFS (Google it) affects my cognition, including greatly limiting my ability to read and write. That confessed, I’m committed to publishing PNG Attitude for as long as I can. In the meantime, thanks for sticking with us.

JOSEPH TAMBURE

MT HAGEN - I was attending Denglagu Community School in the Gembogl District of Simbu Province when Papua New Guinea got its independence in 1975. I was a small boy doing Standard 3 at that time.

On Independence Day, all the schools in the district were told to gather at the headquarters in Gembogl. Standards 1 to 6 were instructed by teachers to cover our bodies with grey clay.

Extract from article by Deb Werrlein in English Lit:

I drafted and revised this article in longhand, something I haven’t done since the mid-1990s, unless you count the occasional brainstorming I do in my journal.

I made this choice because I’ve been worrying about how technology might be encroaching on my writing skills. I wanted to know what it would be like to return to the old ways.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

Impression of the proposed kiap memorial in Canberra

TUMBY BAY - Following endorsement by the Papua New Guinea government, a number of former kiaps have been collaborating with Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to erect a memorial in the Senate Gardens at Old Parliament House in Canberra to honour those officers who lost their lives while on duty.

DON WOTTON

Earlier this year, Papua New Guinea lost a national treasure with the passing of the renowned artist Elisabet Kauage following a short illness.

Elisabet was born in Kambu, Kerowagi in Chimbu Province in 1958, moving to Port Moresby in 1983 where she commenced painting in 1986.

EDDIE TANAGO
Act Now!

The Papua New Guinea Prime Minister’s promise to stop issuing new forestry licences will do nothing to stop illegal logging destroying Papua New Guinea’s tropical forests.

Addressing the recent meeting of the Green Climate Fund in Port Moresby, the Prime Minister is reported to have said no new forestry licences will be issued after 16 September, the 50th anniversary of PNG’s Independence.

EDITED BY KEITH JACKSON

PNG’s BOGUS LOGGING COMPANIES
| Eddie Tanago, Act Now!

I want to inform you that we have released a new video on the abuse by bogus logging companies and are calling on the PNG Forest Authority to act.  The video is currently being played on National TV in PNG. It can also be seen on the following platforms:

1. ACT NOW! YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5SgII-s2RI
2. ACT NOW! Facebook https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1266378552200535&set=a.630415212463542
3. ACT NOW! Facebook Reels https://www.facebook.com/reel/744156151674423/?s=fb_shorts_profile&stack_idx=0

Please share far and wide to get the message out!

REBECCA BUSH, MARJORIE FINKEO
& VIRGINIA HARRISON
| The Guardian
| Bethanie Harriman, Prianka Srinivasan & Martha Louis contributed to this report

SYDNEY - In the early 1970s, Dame Meg Taylor remembers a sense of immense optimism as Papua New Guinea stood on the brink of independence. At that time she joined the staff of Sir Michael Somare, who would later become the country’s first prime minister.

“There was a lot of hope,” said Taylor, diplomat and former secretary general of the Pacific Islands Forum.

CHRIS OVERLAND

ADELAIDE - I have greatly enjoyed Bernard Corden's writing even if, at times, I have felt that he might have been slightly kinder to at least some of the people he has verbally skewered.

The neo-liberal experiment triggered by Milton Friedman and the Chicago School of Economics has helped lift many millions out of poverty, notably in China and South East Asia.

CAMERON HILL
| for Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL)

BUKA - In a report released last December, the independent Panguna Mine Legacy Impact Assessment identified safety risks associated with the geotechnical instability of the slopes of the open pit at Panguna.

Long-term alluvial and small-scale mining activities contributed to these risks along with erosion and water run-off.

BERNARD CORDEN

We know that no one ever seizes power with the
 intention of relinquishing it - George Orwell

BRISBANE - Amidst a cesspit of escalating sleaze, organised spivvery and systemic incompetence the LNP coalition government under its sanctimonious mooncalf attempted to win a fourth consecutive term in office.

It announced a federal election, which was held on 21 May 2022. The hubris increased exponentially but the SS Neoliberal saw the writing was on the wall and rapidly deserted the rat.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - Located within Creative Australia, Writing Australia - which launched yesterday - will provide direct support to the literature sector to grow local and international audiences for Australian books, planning for new investments and providing strategic advice. 

Writing Australia was established by the Creative Australia Act 2023. This was the final piece of legislation in establishing all the functions of Creative Australia under the National Cultural Policy, Revive: A place for every story, a story for every place.

BERNARD CORDEN

A feminist is anyone who recognises the equality
 and full humanity of women and men - Gloria Steinem

BRISBANE - Over recent decades, female representation in senior federal and state parliament roles has generated significant media attention across Australia. The incumbent federal government caucus under Anthony Albanese has over 50% female representation with almost two dozen women securing senior ministerial positions.

Less than a decade earlier, under the helm of the fecund mad monk, the coalition cabinet’s sole female representative was Posh Spice, who served as Australia’s foreign affairs minister.

ALLAN PATIENCE
| John Menadue’s Pearls & Irritations

MELBOURNE - An aging generation of mostly male leaders is presently occupying the commanding heights of the most powerful states around the world.

They share a similar narcissism, they are intellectually limited and all are morally bankrupt. The good thing is that they are a dying breed.

BERNARD CORDEN

Under conditions of tyranny, it is far easier to act than to think - Hannah Arendt

BRISBANE - During the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison carousel, a miasma of malfeasance, skulduggery, intimidation and incompetence shrouded almost every ministerial role and portfolio.

It increased exponentially following the Great Financial Crisis of 2008 and has since degenerated into a pernicious paradigm of Gangster Capitalism, reminiscent of the illegal narcotics trade with its rancorous gangland turf wars.

BERNARD CORDEN

Even if the workers die like flies, they will never
be able to pin anything on CSR - Norman Irving

BRISBANE - During the many cabinet reshuffles over the past decade, one of the most intriguing sinecures involved the appointment of a celebrity woodentop as Australia’s foreign minister.

The Menzies glamour puss represented the constituency of Curtin in Western Australia, which encompassed several of Perth’s exclusive beach side suburbs.

DOUGLAS PATIKEN BARARA

PORT MORESBY - On the eve of our 50th anniversary, the identity of our country is slowly being erased by Western dictate but none of us cares about it let alone wants to stop it.

Cheerfully we rejoice in the dilapidation of our motherland. Not only is Western influence colonising our land and resources (the very fabric of our identity), the real takeover is happening in our minds.

CATHY TUKNE
| Information Coordinator | Act Now!

Papua New Guinea (PNG) stands at a crossroads. For decades, its development narrative has been dominated by resource extraction gold, copper, oil, gas, timber, and palm oil, promising prosperity but delivering inequality.

While foreign corporations profit, most Papua New Guineans remain marginalized, their environments scarred, and their futures uncertain.

BERNARD CORDEN

Where there is shouting there is no true knowledge - Leonardo da Vinci

BRISBANE - Another insufferable and irascible cabinet minister was an instantly abhorrent loudmouth senator for Western Australia. The Subiaco Xanthippe must use the same hairdresser as Donald Trump and has a unique, but rather endearing, ability of making her face disappear when she opens her gob.

At most of her media conferences, the harridan senator appears to be following the bouncing ball on an autocue or karaoke machine. The ensuing stentorian racket could be used much more productively as a foghorn on the Manly ferries or for scaring ibises from the runways at Sydney’s international airport.

PAUL FRENCH

LONDON, UK - Papua New Guinea, or simply PNG, sandwiched between Indonesia and Australia. A confection of over 800 languages and dialects.

The capital, Port Moresby (Pom City) is generally regarded as a tough town, a hardship posting for diplomats and foreign correspondents, a potentially dangerous place for business executives.

JOSEPH GUENZLER
| First Nations Writers Festival

Daniel Kumbon

FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND - Pacific authors have been honoured in Townsville for their stories of culture, conflict and resilience.

Winners of the 2025 First Nations Writers Festival have been announced, celebrating authors from Papua New Guinea, Bougainville and the broader Pacific who are using literature to share vital cultural and personal narratives.

Daniel Kumbon, from Enga Province in Papua New Guinea, received a book award for 'They Chose Peace', a deeply personal reflection on tribal conflict, national identity and healing.

EDITED BY KEITH JACKSON

51-YEAR RELATIONSHIP
| John Gordon-Kirkby

Author Daniel Kumbon and I first met in 1974 when I, as a kiap, was on a pre independence educational patrol. He was at home from high school. We corresponded for a while till I “went finish”. Fifty years later, with the internet, we linked up again to renew the friendship , now stronger than ever.

BERNARD CORDEN

Never seen so many men ask you if you wanted to dance - Chris de Burgh

BRISBANE - The Fly-In-Fly-Out (FIFO) regime of working at parliament house in Canberra would be better described as Fit-In-Or-Fcuk-Off and underpinned by the traditionally masculine aphorism…. What happens in Canberra, stays in Canberra.

Under Malcolm Turnbull’s administration back in 2017, the human services minister Alan Tudge and his media adviser, Rachelle Miller, were involved in a clandestine but consensual extra-marital relationship.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY  BAY - Humans didn’t start killing each other on a large scale until after they discovered agriculture and became sedentary about 10,000 years ago.

That was when land and its possession first became an integral part of human life. The further conglomeration of land into nation states turned that possession into something positively evil. 

That evil has dogged humanity ever since.

EDDIE TANAGO
| Campaign Manager | Act Now!

PORT MORESBY - Recent news story about communities in Morobe using profits from cocoa farming to pay for solar powered street lights in their villages is encouraging and positive.

Such initiatives drive economic independence, a sense of community and self-reliance.

LUKE HAMER
| Chief Pilot, Samaritan Aviation

WEWAK - At Samaritan Aviation, our mission to bring the hope of the Gospel to remote hospitals begins long before we reach a patient’s bedside. Serving the people along Papua New Guinea’s Sepik River takes preparation.

In our Aviation Department, we need both a plane and a pilot ready. One without the other, and we’re grounded.

Pamela Cowley Virtue
| PNG Association of Australia

SYDNEY - I was one of the two European survivors from Higaturu at the eruption of Mt Lamington. The full details are in our book, The Volcano’s Wife (from which I take no proceeds at all). I’d just like to clear up a few points.

Mt Lamington had not started to erupt ‘some week or so previously’. The local people and government officials were not at all upset at that time.

KEITH JACKSON

The Cricketer (illustration by Harry Lake, Kundiawa News 1964)

NOOSA - The dateline tells you we're back in Noosa after one of those nightmare trips you'd want to forget except for the fund of future yarns it will yield.

I was discharged from the France-Vietnam Hospital in Saigon on Monday after a week in situ with sepsis, which triggered a bunch of other unpleasantness around the body.

Some of the details even made my GP, usually so composed, appear bemused.

But now's the time for apologies and a promise to make up time when the opportunity arises over the next week or so.

Meanwhile the weather in  Noosa is sublime. As am I.