CAROLYN BLACKLOCK
| East Asia Forum

Carolyn Blacklock (Ipsum Pacific)

BRISBANE - Political and economic pressures are rising in Papua New Guinea, with escalating social tensions suggesting a need for focused regional support.

Critics argue that given ongoing civil unrest, political instability with Rainbo Paita’s challenge to prime minister James Marape and substantial economic challenges such as a stagnating minimum wage and increasing poverty, financial aid and strategies should be directed towards supporting the PNG populace rather than bolstering the political elite.

MARK PALM
| Samaritan Aviation Newsletter

WEWAK - One of our amazing stories is about the first patient Samaritan Aviation ever flew in 2010.

Her name was Antonia and she had been in labour for three days. She was unconscious when we got the call on Good Friday from the Timbunki Health Centre, located along the Sepik River.

NOOSA - A blue screen with a phony 'survey' form and three purported 'questionnaires' appeared on screen when you try to access PNG Attitude. 

This was some geniuses way of indicating I had not renewed the blog's domain name.

With some help from the USA I've now got on top of this, parted with a few bucks and we should be back in business.

Nobody was hurt in this process, although my feelings are telling me they were shamed.

BOB LAWRENCE

Tim Bowden reviewing tapes in the process of producing Taim Bilong Masta

SYDNEY - Hobart born author, radio and television broadcaster, producer and oral historian, Timothy (Tim) Gibson Bowden AM, who was part of the trio who produced the book, tapes and radio program ‘Taim Bilong Masta: the Australian involvement with Papua New Guinea’, died in his sleep on Sunday aged 87.

While the people may remember him as compere of the ABC television program, Back Chat, most of his media work included reporting the Vietnam War, as the ABC foreign correspondent in the USA, founding the Current Affairs programs This Day Tonight on television and PM on radio and heading the ABC's Social History Unit.

KEITH JACKSON

The Kiaps' Award  -  Police Overseas Service Medal

NOOSA – I am told that the sometimes bitter division between a small group of former kiaps and the great majority of their ageing comrades continues.

I had thought it all over until recently, when it was brought to my notice that some of this seriously ageing and rapidly extinguishing band of brothers want further public memorialisation for themselves in the form of a public monument paid for and constructed by the government.

SAHAR SHALOM
| Academia Nomad

PORT MORESBY - I wanted to share with you how the Covenant Day tradition of 26 August started and clarify some misconceptions and distortions in relation to it.

In 2007, Michael Somare, the nation's then grand chief and prime minister, signed on behalf of the people a new covenant with the God of Israel.

PAUL OATES

This article was written by a reflective and analytic Paul Oates 16 years ago. It is both prescient and insightful.

Indeed, it makes me regret that an emaciated PNG Attitude, limping along at my own slow, health-restrained pace, ain’t what it used to be. But who is?

I compliment Paul on his literary output over the years.  His articles and books have made a real contribution to our knowledge about Papua New Guinea and other issues. 

Son in 2008, concerned about events and trends in Papua New Guinea, Paul has written a paper describing how these problems manifest themselves and making some recommendations for their alleviation. So here is a brief extract from ‘PNG: How to achieve a change in direction’. Unfortunately the link to the full paper has been lost - Keith Jackson

CLEVELAND - At Independence in 1976 Papua New Guinea was on the threshold of developing into a stable and prosperous nation.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Australia built up a regional government infrastructure throughout the country that provided essential law and order, education, medical assistance and all manner of essential support services in every area in PNG.

Australia then had a wonderful opportunity to bring PNG into the modern age and stand together with it as a friend and neighbour. Unfortunately, that opportunity was allowed to atrophy for want of interest. There was a mutual disregard.

In 2008, 33 years after Independence , much of the PNG government infrastructure has disappeared completely and yet the wages bill for PNG public servants continues to rise. Why is this so?

Among the recommendations I have made for securing a change in direction in PNG are:

1. Fund, strengthen and reform the PNG government infrastructure as a first priority for AusAID.
   
   
2. Reissue an updated PNG Government Code of Conduct and Ethics agreed to by government, unions and business. The Code of Conduct must be signed on behalf of all citizens by the PNG Prime Minister and disseminated to all levels. This must be encouraged by Australia as a matter of priority.
   
   
3. Issue a deadline for correct, ethical practice to commence. Offer an amnesty for people to come clean and testify.
   
   
4. Institute anti corruption tribunals and, after the deadline expires, use them to investigate and send new cases for trial to the PNG courts.
   
   
5. At the same time, improve Public Service wages, salaries and conditions of service on the premise that all PNG government employees sign performance based pay agreements specifying compliance with the new Code of Conduct.

If Australia does nothing, PNG will continue on a downhill slope to further poverty and corruption, notwithstanding increasing amounts of external aid funds.

If the process of ‘sweeping the dust under the carpet' continues, then potential to prevent a humanitarian disaster on our doorstep will be lost forever.

BUKA – The Bougainville Constitutional Planning Commission (BCPC) extended its consultations to Brisbane this week.

This will be the second international consultation to gather views from Bougainvilleans living in Australia.

PORT MORESBY - Community advocacy group Act Now! says a new logging operation in Milne Bay Province could be yet another example of a bogus agriculture project being used as cover for a large-scale forest grab.

The new logging operation began on Sideia Island earlier this year as part of the Loani Bwanabwana Integrated Agro-Forestry Project.

ROB BARCLAY

ADELAIDE – Former policeman, long-term MP Peter Dutton has finally awoken from his torpor and started to make some welcome statements.

Unfortunately, he has a tendency to cherry-pick only those subjects he is interested in.

ISO YAWI

A pure work of fiction based on a poem, The tale of a long road, that I wrote for the 2015 Crocodile Prize - IY

LAE - I was not sure whether Serah would make it to Menyamya station or not.

It would be a three-day walk on the harsh mountain track.  But there was a nurse at the station. This would be our second child. We wanted everything to go well.

KELA KAPKORA SIL BOLKIN

PORT MORESBY - The Marape-Rosso government has announced a Papal state visit to Papua New Guinea from Friday 6 – Monday 9 September and approved a K15 million budget for preparations and security.

At about the same time, the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference made an announcement calling for unity and participation in the visit amidst an array of cooked-up myths and criticisms.

History records that the first Catholic missionaries from France arrived on Yule Island in 1885, establishing the first mission station there.

CAMERON HILL
| Bougainville Copper Limited

Sir Mel Togolo and Andrew Cooper sign the remediation agreement
(PNG Post-Courier)

BUKA - The Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG), Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) and Rio Tinto have signed a memorandum of understanding to address concerns around future risks of ageing infrastructure in the former Panguna mine area.

The agreement is a response to several ageing structures requiring prompt attention identified by an independent legacy impact assessment.

MARK PALM
| Samaritan Aviation Newsletter

WEWAK - One of Samaritan Aviation’s amazing stories is about the first patient we ever flew in 2010.

Her name was Antonia and she had been in labour for three days. She was unconscious when we got the call on Good Friday from the Timbunki Health Centre, located along the Sepik River.

I remember putting the stretcher in the airplane and taking off into the rain and clouds for the 35-minute flight.

ALEX MITCHELL
| Come the Revolution

Alex Mitchell

TWEED HEADS - Former Labor Party prime minister Paul Keating is Australia’s foremost public intellectual.

Love him or loathe him, when he speaks on the ABC, the national broadcaster, people stop eating or talking, and listen.

Keating commands such public attention: he doesn’t ask for it, we give it to him with the same respect we gave prime minister John Curtin when he declared war on Nazi Germany.

MARY PEACHIN
Inside Tucson Business

Tucsonans who know him would agree, Ron Perry has enjoyed one hell of an adventurous live.

For more than 40 years he collected what is considered by experts to be the finest museum of quality Papua New Guinea artifacts.

KEITH JACKSON

Keith in the big person's chair at the exclusive Park Hyatt Dubai.  Right arm bandaged to restrict bleeding from capillary breaches.  Walking stick in hand to restrict falling over.  Sitting in chair also restricts falling over.  "Chairs are of key importance in not falling over," Keith said in a rare public statement. (Photo taken by Ingrid Jackson with Keith's full knowledge )

DUBAI - I'm now in the United Arab Emirates which, the way things are going, could one day own Australia.  Life is very comfortable here. Who needs democracy when you've got plenty of parking, plenty of retail, plenty of billionaires, plenty of air links to everywhere and don't care about the end of the world?

Rome, Spain, Barcelona, Casablanca, Malaga, Gibraltar, Valencia.  Three weeks on a small ocean liner traversing hither and thither on the Mediterranean. Plenty of time for the tropical breezes I recall from my youth to magically spring up and work wonders on my back and my soul.  Being with a splendid wife assists.

CHRIS ASHTON

Chris Ashton, journalist and author - recorder of a time now past in a land we loved so much

PREFACE BY KEITH JACKSON

It was in the late 1990s when Chris Ashton – a fine man and an exquisite writer – accosted me on a Sydney street and re-established what had been a collegial but not close relationship formed in the exciting swirl of 1970s Papua New Guinea.

In pre-independence PNG, we both had exacting roles. Arguably Chris was the leading public recorder and analyst of the massive changes occurring almost daily as the Australian colony hastened towards self-government.

JOE MORRIS & WARREN (WAZA) TURNER

Champion footballer tough politician accomplished diplomat. John Kaputin (centre) seen here at Rabaul airport in 1970 with Australian territories minister Barnes and prime minister Gorton

'The crowd erupted and stormed the fence'

JOE MORRIS
| Original article published 4 December 2007

NEWCASTLE - Digger Annand’s given name was James and he now owns a bottle shop in Newcastle.

I was a member of the DCA side that won in 1966. Barry Kenny, also in the side, later played for Queensland.

JOHN GATES

The 'Pride of Our Nation' Coast Watchers memorial statue in Honiara, Solomon Islands (Courtesy of Martin Hadlow)

NEWSTEAD – On behalf of more than 750 petitioners, late last year I drew the attention of the Brisbane Lord Mayor and Councillors that there is no memorial on the Australian mainland to the Coastwatchers who performed such courageous and vital service in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands during World War II.

Brisbane was the site of the Coastwatchers’ headquarters in the second half of the war and recognition of their amazing achievements and sacrifice is long overdue in Australia, which benefited so much from their bravery.

PAUL KEATING
| Pearls & Irritations

Below Keith Jackson's preamble; overleaf Paul Keating's analysis ....

PREAMBLE - In Anthony (Albo) Albanese, Australia has one of its most timid, dare I say frightened, prime ministers ever to hold the office. It has been clear since the beginning of his term two years ago that his main objective was to not cause any ripples while he secured a further term. Not the Albo I knew 30 or more years ago. A loud-mouthed agent provocateur against the conservative enemy. Provided, of course, he had the protection of more stout-hearted politicians like former prisoner of war Tom Uren (whose protégé he was from a young age) and prime ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating (neither of whom ever thought of him as anything other than a lightweight). Eventually, Albo discovered he’d been around long enough to be considered for greater rewards: leader of the house, then leader of the opposition and now prime minister. A lesson in surviving long enough to become whatever you wish. In this piece, Paul Keating shines light on how the meek Albo and his hapless deputy Marles has turned Australia’s back on Asia and thrown in our lot more comprehensively than ever with the USA and, hard to believe this, with the UK, once of the British Empire - KJ

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

PORT MORESBY - Reports of criminals being paid K300,000 for the release of hostages is troubling, but not a surprise. In Papua New Guinea, we pay for everything.

Our politicians bribe electoral officials to win elections. Prime ministerial candidates pay other politicians to join various camps to form government. When prime ministers underperform, they pay other politicians to keep them in power.

ROB BARCLAY

| A Patrol Officer’s view of modern Australian society

MELBOURNE - In the 1960s and 70s, I found that we Australians were warmly welcomed even in such far-away places as Sri Lanka, Thailand and Mexico. This was because everybody has heard about our Colombo Plan that educated huge numbers of South East Asian people in Australia at our expense.

“We love you white men, you have invented such wonderful things as the airplane, the radio, TV, the refrigerator, the car – even put men on the moon,” people would say. “You have improved our lives with new cash crops and better agriculture, and given us hope. We want to be just like you.”

CHRIS ADAMS

This article records what might otherwise be a forgotten part of the story of rugby league in Papua New Guinea. It is based on discussions with past players and what I’ve read in clippings from old newspapers. It’s not definitive, and I encourage and welcome additions and corrections.

From the 1920s until PNG’s independence in 1975, the then colony was divided into the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea.

Australia jointly administered both territories, having been given a League of Nations mandate over the former German New Guinea in the early 1920s. The two territories were physically separated by a spine of mountain ranges running east to west across the middle of the island.

MICHAEL DOM

For Sola Gracia

This morning, I heard my mother singing hymns in her bedroom
And I can’t remember a day growing up
When her sometimes slightly off-kilter melody
Was not, for me, the joyous sound-track of dawn

Her faithful reverence filled those spaces in my life
That I may otherwise have silently ignored
Those uninhabited moments were somehow so full
And I know that one day I shall wish them full again.

Lae, 7 August 2024

IVAN BIRYUKOV

BERLIN - I found this map on PNG Attitude and I’m really interested about the tracks it shows.

Some colleagues and I want to test our skills and embark on an extreme hiking adventure in Papua New Guinea.

MIKE JELLIFFE

BRISBANE - I’ve continued to plug away with publishing Nenge Books and this year celebrate 10 years since I self-published The People of the Bird and started the Nenge Books publishing journey.

I now have over 60 publications, including novels, children books, autobiographies a number of tok ples publications, reprinting literacy primers, a hymn book and a number of training books ranging from management to rural airstrip operations to Christian and Bible teaching books.

RONALD MAY
| Pearls & Irritations

Image by The Cartoon Movement

CANBERRA - In May 2023, I was approached by media sources for a comment on the cancellation of a visit to Papua New Guinea (and Australia) by US president Joe Biden.

Biden was travelling to attend a G-7 meeting in Japan and the cancellation was prompted by a domestic US crisis resulting from the failure of Congress to pass the budget.

ANDREW RUNAWERY
| PNG SME Magazine

Image courtesy of  PNG SME Magazine

PORT MORESBY - Since 2020, the PNG SME Awards, an initiative of Strategic Communications Limited and the publisher of the PNG SME Magazine, has celebrated the success stories of Papua New Guinea’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

These awards recognise the hard work, excellence and innovation of this vital sector of the economy.

KELA KAPKORA SIL BOLKIN

Under 16 girls players of Iobuna Kouba (yellow) and Morata (blue)
take the field for a grand final (Inaka Image)

PORT MORESBY - Pacific Islanders supply 45% of the players in Australia’s National Rugby League some of them are paid a million dollars a season.  They earn every toea of it.

Papua New Guinea, a Melanesian country with a bulging youth population, has rated rugby league as its national sport - but the sport has never lived up to its promise.

KEVIN SWEENEY
| Convenor, Refugees Off PNG Working Group

Image by Refugee Action Coalition

“It is extraordinary that these refugees and people seeking asylum are still trapped in PNG after more than 10 years; unable to see their families, unable to build a new life for themselves. The endless waiting and hopelessness has taken a huge toll on their mental health” - Dr Kevin Sweeney

NEWCASTLE - On 19 July it will be 11 years since prime minister Kevin Rudd announced that asylum seekers who arrive by boat will never be resettled in Australia. This resulted in the offshore detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and on Nauru.

There are still approximately 50 refugees and asylum seekers in PNG and they have now been trapped there for eleven years.

It has been revealed in a recent Guardian article that Australia is negotiating a new agreement with PNG to provide support for the remaining refugees and asylum seekers trapped in PNG. This is good news but it is only a small step forward.

Hopefully, it means that the refugees and asylum seekers will again receive essential supports and will not starve to death or be put out on the street.

It takes the situation back to where it was before November 2023 (when the supports were withdrawn by the service providers in PNG).

Let’s hope that the Australian Government manages this agreement better than the last one so that the funds are actually used to provide support to the refugees and that the supports are adequate and appropriate.

However, it does not solve the fundamental problem that the refugees and asylum seekers remain trapped in PNG, their physical and mental health is being harmed, some are seriously ill and need urgent mental health care that is not available in PNG, and that only some of them have any chance of resettlement in a third country – and this resettlement is proceeding at a snail’s pace.

We need to keep raising these issues with the government and demanding a just and humane solution.

Will you write a letter or email to Minister Clare O’Neil, plus a letter or copy to Minister Andrew Giles, Minister Penny Wong, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and your local MP.

An individually written letter/email has more impact than a pro forma letter/email.

You can write about any aspect of this issue that you like. To assist, I have provided a suggested focus and some dot points below.

If you choose to use these dot points please rewrite them in your own words.

It would be wonderful if you could take up this call to action.

Suggested focus

There are around 50 refugees and asylum seekers who have been trapped in PNG for eleven years. This is unjust and inhumane. They need to be brought to Australia while awaiting resettlement.

Dot points

(You only need to choose a few of these to make a compelling letter)

• These refugees and asylum seekers were sent to PNG by the Australian Government eleven years ago and remain the responsibility of the Australian Government
• For eleven years they have been trapped in PNG
• The endless waiting and uncertainty has taken a huge toll on their mental health
• They have been unable to reunite with family and to build a new life
• They have been denied adequate medical care
• They have been subjected to violence, robbery and assault and continue to live in very unsafe conditions
• The Government of PNG has not been providing adequate support
• The local providers of supports in Port Moresby withdrew their services in November 2023 as they had not been paid by the PNG Government for more than 12 months
• The refugees and asylum seekers have had no food, money to buy food, electricity or gas, safe transportation or medical care provided since November 2023
• They have only been able to survive because of donations from concerned Australian citizens
• I understand that the Australian Government is now developing a new agreement with the PNG Government to provide support and funding for the remaining asylum seekers and refugees. This is a very welcome step and will hopefully alleviate their current dire circumstances. The Australian Government will need to manage this agreement better than the last one so that the funds are actually used to provide support to the asylum seekers and refugees and that the supports are adequate and appropriate.
• A small number of the refugees are being resettled in third countries, but this is painfully slow and will take years for those who are eligible to actually be resettled
• Some are not eligible for NZ, Canada or the US and have no resettlement option
• Others are too ill to participate in any resettlement process
• Leaving them in PNG is actively harming their mental and physical health

Solutions

• Those who are seriously ill need urgent transfer to Australia for medical care
• Adequate supports need to be promptly reinstated in Port Moresby – and I understand that there are negotiations underway to try to achieve this
• All should be offered the option of being transferred to Australia while awaiting resettlement
• Those who have been approved for resettlement in a third country need to have their resettlement expedited
• This situation can be resolved by bringing them to Australia so that they are safe and can receive the support and medical care that they require
• This was successfully done in 2023 for those who had been trapped on Nauru for ten years, and it can be done for those in PNG

Contacts

The Hon Clare O’Neil, Minister for Home Affairs
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
[email protected]

The Hon Andrew Giles MP, Minister for Immigration
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
[email protected]

Senator the Hon Penny Wong, Minister for Foreign Affairs
PO Box 6100
Senate
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
[email protected]

The Hon Anthony Albanese MP
Prime Minister
Parliament Office
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
https://www.pm.gov.au/contact

DANIEL KUMBON

The late Paki Pupukai

WABAG - A day ago, I cried heart to heart with Paki Pupukai on his sick bed. I knew this was the last time I would hold his warm hands.

I cleared his tears with tissue paper from my pocket. Paki was my brother and lean-to man in the Kondo Nauk hausman of our Aimbarep Pumbuti tribe in Kandep.

CATHY TUKNE
| Act Now!

PORT MORESBY - The lack of proper planning at district level is a critical failure undermining the delivery of quality health and education services across Papua New Guinea.

Research by community advocacy organisation Act Now reveals that only 25% of districts have published a five-year development plan for 2023-27.

ALLAN BIRD*
| Academia Nomad

Governor Allan Bird

WEWAK - I spent five years in government as a nice flower pot, a decoration of parliament.

I disagreed with many bad government decisions. But you can only say so in caucus, otherwise you are not a team player.

WEDFINE DAI

“The loss of a twin is a pain that never goes away, but you still have to live
because you are living the life of and for another”

Some people say that losing a twin is like losing a part of yourself, a part of your identity gone that can never be replaced because it is a void that can never be filled and a hole in your heart that can never be healed.

I lost someone so close to me that I hold dear to my heart, someone with whom I shared 9 months of my first days, and being a twin is like being born with a best friend for life.

JOSH SNADER
| Samaritan Aviation

'Thousands engage with hope virtual assistant during PNG for Christ Program' (Image by Seventh Day Adventist Church in PNG)

WEWAK - We here at Samaritan Aviation fly people to hospital on our float planes but that's just half of what we do.

Communicating the Gospel to our patients and Papua New Guinea is our ultimate priority. How do we do that?

MARIAN DAI

Heartache lingers (Generated by AI, June 25 2024)

I've watched old women cry
at the mention of twins.
And never understood the heartache
caused at mere mention of this.
But...
Now I do.
Heartache of losing a dear one lingers.

There are times I sit and ponder that emotion
and again the realisation creeps up on me
I too bear those same deep feelings.
My first heartbreak came when my sister died.
Grief is a constant tug of war
between trying to move forward
and not wanting to at all.
Grief is the Courage to feel loss.

ROB BARCLAY

Mutiny on the 37th day. “We want to go home now.” “Really?” Painting by Rob Barclay framed in New Guinea Rosewood (in the collection of Keith Jackson)

Rob Barclay writes letters that are as cheeky and entertaining as his books. And as energised and colourful as his paintings. Rob's just let me know that the publishing date of his next book, working title Cannibals, “has been shunted to next year as I’m busy renovating our house including a two-metre square painting for a new conservatory.” The painting here, "Mutiny on the 37th Day. 'I want to go home now.' 'Really'" depicts a young Rob confronting unhappy carriers as they realise the patrol is just settling into its work and home will be far away for some time. I hope you’ll enjoy Rob’s words which I share below and perhaps find yourself able to respond to some of his requests for help (which I’ve highlighted in bold) – KJ

CAROLYN BLACKLOCK*
| Pearls & Irritations | Republished from The Diplomat

Illustration from The China Times

PORT MORESBY - While Australia and China have very different approaches in Papua New Guinea, both are working primarily with political elites - and alienating the PNG public.

Two recent financial deals that seemingly benefit PNG indicate the problems at the heart of the country’s political and economic outlook.

DUNCAN GABI

WEWAK - The national population census has begun in Papua New Guinea, with the entire process scheduled to be completed in two weeks by 30 June.

From what I heard from PNG’s development partners during a briefing at the World Bank office in Port Moresby, a census questionnaire usually has 70-80 questions.

KEITH JACKSON

Timeline Papua New Guinea: 1949-1975 by Bill Brown MBE, a photographic memoir of the development and birth of a nation. Available free for viewing at YouTube here

The Brown family in 1966:  Michael,  Pamela,  David & the Great Man himself

NOOSA – A couple of years ago, Bill Brown emailed me a link to a project he was working on and which was nearing completion.

Timeline Papua New Guinea: 1949-1975 is a slide-based memoir that traverses PNG’s critical years from the early post-war period to 1975, the year of its independence.

DANIEL KUMBON

WABAG – Samuel Opop was studying Surveying and I Communications Engineering at the University of Technology in 1976.

The late Jeffery Nathan followed in our footsteps and completed that which we, his fathers, never did.

MARIAN DAI

Feelings shift and change.
Just like relationships change.
The passing of someone you hold close to your heart
is an experience that differentiates you from a group.
It's the feeling of standing outside a club
that doesn’t know how you feel.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

Illustration from The Gates of the Kingdom (John Birmingham)

TUMBY BAY – In 2013 I set up the book publisher Pukpuk Publications when I was looking for a lower cost alternative to the publisher we'd used for the first two editions of the annual Crocodile Prize anthology.

It was in that search for cheaper books that I came across Amazon’s CreateSpace online publishing tool as an economical method of producing the anthologies, my own work and, from 2013, books by Papua New Guinean authors.

COMPILED BY MARTIN HADLOW

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE)

Sir John Bangkok BEM. For services to Business and to the Community.

Knight Bachelor 

Sir Arthur Llewellyn Jones OBE. For services to Business and to the Community.

Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)

Andrew Charles Abel. For services to Surfing Industries.

Ahmad Bin Ismail. For services to Business and to the Community.

Commodore Phillip Poleware MBE

Ian Alan Tarutia OBE. For services to Business and to the Public and Private Sectors.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

The Chinese in Papua New Guinea: Past, Present and Future, Edited by Anna Hayes, Rosita Henry and Michael Wood. Published 2024 by ANU Press, Australian National University, Canberra.  Free PDF can be downloaded here. Paperback version also available for $60 plus postage

TUMBY BAY - My first extended encounter with the Chinese in Papua New Guinea was in Mount Hagen in 1967.

There were several Chinese stores in the town, and a great restaurant. I think the Chinese community also had something to do with the picture theatre that was built around 1968-69.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

PORT MORESBY – On Monday, not for the first time, the contentious matter of Bougainville’s future was debated on the floor of Papua New Guinea’s parliament.

The most controversial issue of all is that the result of the 2019 referendum, in which 97.7% of Bougainvilleans voted for independence, was intended to be non-binding.

DANIEL KUMBON

Johannes Kundal and family

WABAG - Sorry brother Johannes Kundal, I have just lately heard of your untimely passing and so I am late to express my sorrow.

You have gone at a sad moment when our Enga people are afflicted with all sorts of hardship and I was attending to the funerals of two relatives.