PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - Over the last few of years I’ve been trying out different genres for the novels I write.

I mainly write to entertain myself but every now a then someone actually buys one.

KENNETH MIAMBA
| Ples Singsing

Papuan infantry on parade,  World War II (Australian War Memorial)

In New Guinea's wild, where jungles breathe,
A tale of courage, weaved beneath the trees.
Papuan sons, with hearts so bold,
Stood as brothers, in tales untold.

Through dense green canopy, they tread,
Their spirits forged, their fears misled.
With every step, they held the line,
Bound by valour, their destinies entwined.

MEDIA RELEASE
| Act Now

PORT MORESBY - The Malaysian owned Giant Kingdom group of companies, which is logging Papua New Guinea’s besieged tropical forests, has failed in an unprecedented bid to silence public comment on the money laundering risks associated with its chequered activities.

At a time when international standard-setting bodies are calling on civil society to help combat the money laundering risks associated with illegal logging, the Giant Kingdom group has engaged in lawfare to stop civic voices in PNG from documenting these risks.

MEDIA STATEMENT
| Thanks to Academia Nomad

Belden Namah chastises James Marape for being too weak on Biden cannibal comments (One Papua New Guinea)

 PORT MORESBY - The chairman of Papua New Guinea’s parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, Belden Namah MP, has condemned utterances by United States president Joe Biden describing a situation in World War II when his uncle was ‘shot down and eaten by cannibals in New Guinea’.

“There is no such country called New Guinea in the Pacific,” Namah said. “But if President Biden was referring to Papua New Guinea, his utterances were unfounded, unacceptable and utterly disrespectful.

KEITH JACKSON

Photograph from the National Archives of Australia

NOOSA - In 1958, Adelaide based writer Alan Seymour put the finishing touches on a major project, his play The One Day of the Year was at last finished.

The play was drawn from Seymour’s observations of the poor behaviour of Australia’s ex-servicemen on Anzac Day, which had been instituted in 2016 to mark the invasion of Turkey by Australian and New Zealand troops on 25 April 1915.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

Image from YouTube

PORT MORESBY - Following President Joe Biden’s claims that his uncle Bosie was eaten by cannibals in Papua New Guinea, the US embassy in the national capital issued a statement without an apology.

Thousands of people in PNG had taken to social media calling for an apology but it looks like there won’t be one - and here’s why.

KEITH JACKSON

Bishop Dariusz Kaluza MSF and Fr Casimir Niezgoda SVD

BUKA - Bishop Dariusz Kaluza MSF  (the Catholic Missionaries of the Holy Family), who is based in Bougainville, conveyed the sad news of the death of Fr Casimir Niezgoda SVD in Kundiawa Hospital on Sunday afternoon.

“On Good Shepherd Sunday, God called his good shepherd from Papua New Guinea to eternal rest,” Bishop Kaluza said.

CHRIS OVERLAND

Map based on Penguin Atlas of Ancient History, Atlas of Past Times, DK Atlas of World History and also a Roman Empire expansion map at the University of Texas (Wikipedia)

ADELAIDE - While trying hard to be an objective historian, I find it hard to disagree that we are at some sort of hinge point in human history.

These seem to come along from time to time, always driven by the cumulative impact of many past decisions.

REBECCA RATCLIFFE & BETHANIE HARRIMAN
| The Guardian | Extract

SYDNEY – President Joe Biden’s suggestion that his uncle may have been eaten by cannibals in Papua New Guinea during World War II has been met with a mixture of bemusement and criticism in the country.

Biden spoke about his uncle, Second Lieutenant Ambrose J Finnegan Jr, while campaigning in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, describing how ‘Uncle Bosie’ had flown single engine planes on reconnaissance flights during the war.

REBECCA RATCLIFFE & BETHANIE HARRIMAN
| The Guardian | Extract

SYDNEY – President Joe Biden’s suggestion that his uncle may have been eaten by cannibals in Papua New Guinea during World War II has been met with a mixture of bemusement and criticism in the country.

Biden spoke about his uncle, Second Lieutenant Ambrose J Finnegan Jr, while campaigning in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, describing how ‘Uncle Bosie’ had flown single engine planes on reconnaissance flights during the war.

NEWS DESK
| Samaritan Aviation Newsletter

Two of Samaritan Aviations' three float planes at their home berth on the Sepik River

WEWAK - Samaritan Aviation has grown from having just one pilot in Papua New Guinea back in 2010 to now having three pilots flying every day.

After we started flying we conducted 48 life flights that first year. With three working planes and three pilots we are breaking records by logging 342 flights.

NEWS DESK
| Samaritan Aviation Newsletter

WEWAK - Samaritan Aviation has grown from having just one pilot in Papua New Guinea back in 2010 to now having three pilots flying every day.

After we started flying we conducted 48 life flights that first year. With three working planes and three pilots we are breaking records by logging 342 flights.

THERESA MEKI *
| Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs

CANBERRA - A call for submissions to participate in the PNG Dictionary of Biography Project is now open.

The project is about documenting and celebrating the lives of Papua New Guinea’s nation builders and we are looking to identify a group of writers to collaborate and conduct historical research about significant and representative Papua New Guineans.

ALLAN PATIENCE *
| Pearls & Irritations

Dr Allan Patience writes that Australia's racist tradition was originally articulated by white supremacist Henry Parkes (Sir Henry Parkes Archives)

MELBOURNE - In 1890 Henry Parkes [who was premier of the colony of New South Wales] spoke of “the crimson thread of kinship running through us all.”

He believed this ‘crimson thread’ – evocative of blood – united all white people in the Australian colonies and bound them to Britain.

BOBBY JR
| Twitter (aka X)

Tyla Singarok (FK Photography)

LAE - On Friday, Miss Papua New Guinea, Tyla Singarok, graduated from the PNG University of Technology with a Bachelor of Mining Engineering at Unitech's 56th graduation ceremony.

Tyla also won the prestigious University Council Medal.

JOSEPH KETAN
| Academia Nomad

Joe Ketan (Linked In)

PORT MORESBY - It is hard to keep track of politicians. We cannot hold them accountable for their actions if we do not know what they are doing – or not doing – with respect to their duties.

We have got to keep our politicians honest by keeping an eye on them at all times!

MICHAEL DOM

LAE – My latest poem, published online in August 2022 was titled ‘The Political Economy of a Pig Farmers Life, Chapter 2’.

Chapter 1 of the same title was produced by BBC Scotland as a poetry postcard for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

STEPHANIE ALOIS

Old Malificent
She is magnificent
But was never content

I'll have me own company
when I am a business woman
Wealth shall I have many
No more will I worry
Being the one who's wealthy
Money shall be my weapon

Ed Brumby and collaborators are working on a project to bring Yokomo back to the masses after 60 years (Illustration by John Lucas)

The emails with your poems, articles, commentaries and questions are arriving but I'm overseas and experiencing difficulties in responding. So to Stephanie (with a new poem), Ed (with an exciting Yokomo project), Jerry (preparing a major book for PNG's 50th anniversary next year), John, Kagua and others who have communicated with PNG Attitude there will be delays before I can respond to you.

UPDATE. All messages seem to be getting through and I'm able to respond via WhatsApp to readers using this channel. Email and some other channels still unavailable - KJ

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

After the cyclone the flood (Generated with AI, 1 April 2024 0804 am)

PORT MORESBY – The history of disaster response in Papua New Guinea is fraught with delays, inefficiency and corruption.

Under the Public Finance Management Act, tendering processes are suspended when a disaster is declared to ensure the response is faster. And this opens the door to corruption. How?