The first international consultation was done in June this year with Bougainvilleans living in the Solomon Islands.

Australian-based Bougainville News editor Colin Cowell with be in attendance

The three BCPC chairs will be travelling with selected commissioners to attend the consultation.

They are president of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville and BCPC chairman, Ishmael Toroama, Bougainville vice president Patrick Nisira, and deputy BCPC chairman, Attorney General and Minister for Justice and Independence, Ezekiel Masatt.

Since the BCPC was established in April 2022, the first round of consultations to gather views from Bougainvilleans to draft a new autochthonous (home-grown) Constitution were only conducted within Bougainville and various provinces on mainland Papua New Guinea.

These views collected were used to provide a report that assisted constitutional lawyers Professor Anthony Regan and Dr Katy Le Roy to engage with the commissioners in six consecutive meetings to receive drafting instructions to produce a draft constitution.

Following the six consecutive meetings, a first draft constitution was completed in March this year, which resulted in the second phase of consultations in May to present the first draft and collect more views to create the final draft.

The second phase consultation was conducted within Bougainville, the New Guinea Islands Region of mainland PNG, three provinces in Southern Region, and Morobe Province in the Momase Region of PNG. Other provinces in these regions and in the Highlands Region of PNG are yet to be conducted.

The BCPC consultations in Brisbane will be from today (31 August) to 1 September.

Bougainvilleans in neighbouring states can attend if they are able to, however, they can also email their submissions to [email protected].

Bougainville Constitutional Planning Commission (BCPC) will be extending its consultations to Brisbane, Australia this  week.

This will be the second international consultation to gather views from Bougainvilleans living in Australia; the first international consultation was done in June this year with Bougainvilleans living in the Solomon Islands.

Please note our Australian based Bougainville News Alerts editor Colin Cowell with be on attendance

The three chairs to the BCPC – President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville and BCPC Chairman, Hon. Ishmael Toroama, Alternate Chairman of BCPC and Vice President of AROB Hon. Patrick Nisira and Deputy Chairman of BCPC, Attorney General and Minister for Justice and Independence Hon. Ezekiel Masatt will be traveling with selected Commissioners and secretariat to attend this consultation.

Since the BCPC was established in April 2022, the first round of consultations to gather views from Bougainvilleans to draft a new autochthonous constitution were only conducted within Bougainville and various other provinces on mainland Papua New Guinea.

These views collected were used to provide a report that assisted constitutional lawyers Professor Anthony Regan and Dr Katy Le Roy, to engage with the commissioners in six consecutive meetings to receive drafting instructions to produce a draft constitution.

Following the six consecutive meetings, a first draft constitution was completed in March this year, which resulted in the second phase of consultations in May to present the first draft and collect more views to create the final draft.

The second phase consultation was conducted within Bougainville, the New Guinea Islands Region of mainland PNG, three provinces in Southern Region, and Morobe Province in the Momase Region of PNG. Other provinces in these regions and in the Highlands Region of PNG are yet to be conducted.

The BCPC consultations in Brisbane will be from the 31st of August to 1st September 2024. Those Bougainvilleans in neighbouring states can attend if they are able to, however, they can also email their submissions to [email protected].

Download a copy of the first draft of the Constitution here