John Kuri and daughters. "It still amazes me when each year politicians and bureaucrats announce that more than half of school leavers will have to fend for themselves"

JOHN KURI

PORT MORESBY - The newspaper headline late last year said that only 9,000 out of 27,000 Grade 12 leavers would get a place in a tertiary institution.

We’ve all seen headlines like this previously in Papua New Guinea. They happen each year.

Along with a story about the imminent disaster waiting to happen if the government doesn’t do more.

MAJELLA DIULEN SOALILI

A tribute to the Grand Chief
Sir Michael Thomas Somare

In the midst of the battlefield
Stood a Hero
Who had a heart of Gold and
A mind full of dreams.

He fought without fear.
But with the stoutest
Of weapons: Confidence, Courage
and such great Determination

Covid testing in Port Moresby (Matt Cannon St John's Ambulance PNG)

NEWS DESK
| CoronaCheck | RMIT ABC Fact Check

MELBOURNE - As a wave of coronavirus cases in PNG threatens to spill over into Australia, experts are sounding a warning about online misinformation in the Pacific nation.

Amnesty International has lambasted Australia and New Zealand for what the group's Pacific researcher, Kate Schuetze, called a "woefully inadequate" response to the pandemic.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - Many writers, especially creative writers, use fiction and poetry as a kind of therapy.

For these people, and I’m one of them, writing about matters of concern or anxiety - be they personal, political or otherwise - can be as effective as visiting a psychiatrist or some similar therapist.

RAYMOND SIGIMET

The mountain stream is young and sometimes reckless
From a tiny trickle, vexed and irritated, looks for outlet

After the rainbow when the storm rests up on the hills
He rushes down ravines and gullies, his fist full of water

This irate adolescent behind cover of the storm and bush
Surges down knocking and swiping at rocks, soil and roots

DUNCAN GABI
| Aunamelo | Edited

PORT MORESBY - While many people think decolonisation means just breaking away from colonisers and getting political independence, there’s more to it than the average mind can ever comprehend.

I am not going to write on political or economic decolonisation but on cultural decolonisation which I believe is the first step to take in the decolonisation process.

BARBARA ANGORO
| Duresi’s Odyssey | Edited

AUCKLAND - Last week I saw much social media commentary by fellow Papua New Guineans following a newspaper article on the supply of Covid-19 vaccines to PNG and other countries by GAVI.

GAVI is an international organisation that was established to improve access to vaccines for countries like PNG that are considered to be low income.

KOIVI R BIWA

Once no cries were heard nor bitter tears shed,
This time when ancients and babes mingled calm,
Love and respect were their constant companions,
When no one stood bewildered by enmity or anger

But it happened that the tuneful war cries sounded,
Heard, known, accepted by all far and near,
Wigmen danced fluidly to the beat of the kundu,
Warrior elegance betrayed the combat ahead

CHRIS OVERLAND

ADELAIDE - There are two observations I wish to make about Keith Jackson’s story on Australia’s response to the Covid crisis in Papua New Guinea.

The first is that the Australian government has yet to grasp the scale of the disaster unfolding in PNG and, consequently, has yet to realise that only a truly massive intervention by Australia (perhaps with the help of New Zealand) will ensure a timely and comprehensive implementation of a national vaccination program.

Mathias Kauage - Independence celebration 4,  1975  (National Gallery of Australia)

MICHAEL DOM

Bik nem lidasip 

Papa bilong yu 
Emi gat bikpela nem turu
Long olgeta hap ples mi raun
Mi ken i harim ol manmeri 
Litimapim nem bilong em
Taim oli toktok long ol kainkain wok 
Emi bin mekim long en

LIVIA ALBECK-RIPKA
| New York Times | Extract

Link here for the full story in the New York Times

PORT MORESBY - The emergency rooms are heaving, health care workers are falling sick, and misinformation about the coronavirus is running rife.

It has all left Papua New Guinea, an island nation just north of Australia, in the grip of a deadly crisis, as a tripling of infections over the past month has swamped an already fragile health care system.

The Australian government got enormous media coverage for what was little more than this public relations exercise. Its real response to PNG's Covid crisis is woeful

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – Some of the most important windows into the operations of the federal government in Australia government are provided by Senate Estimates Committees.

The title may sound unexciting, but these committees – established to enable Senators twice a year to quiz government departments on how they are spending public money – provide a unique opportunity to allow Senators to determine how the government is operating.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - Papua New Guinea kiaps who ventured into new areas, or areas that had only recently been contacted, became acutely aware of the value villagers placed on items that otherwise would have been thrown away.

These included tin cans, glass jars, bottles and cardboard boxes with brightly coloured exteriors.

BEE DURESI
| Duresi’s Odyssey | Edited

AUCKLAND – There have been many questions asked about the four Covid-19 vaccines approved for use to date in many countries.

In response I have compiled some important information on them in the table below.

PHILIP KAI MORRE

KUNDIAWA - Drug problems and their associated risks are of pandemic proportions in Papua New Guinea and affect hundreds of thousands of people.

The criminal activities associated with illicit drugs cost human lives, affect businesses and damage our social cohesion.

Bryan Kramer MP - engaged in a struggle to ensure the people of PNG take up vaccines in the face of a virulent social media campaign against them

BRYAN KRAMER MP
| Kramer Report

Social media in Papua New Guinea has been running hot with false information about Covid vaccine, with the rumours fed by fear mongers, conspiracy theorists, religious objectors, mystics, political opportunists, self-styled ‘experts’ and plain old troublemakers.

Many politicians, some of whom have had the disease, have spoken out strongly against those people who are undermining vaccination. But there’s one MP who can’t do that: Richard Mendani, 53, the member for Kerema, who died of the disease on Friday.

In this article Justice Minister Bryan Kramer (who has recovered from Covid), continues to try to bring science and sense to the people he calls ‘Covidiots’ - KJ

ISO YAWI

FICTION - I walked slowly, dragging my legs. This was some monster weekend hangover. The taste of beer still hung on the inner roof of my mouth.

My tongue stroked it with my saliva and then I swallowed the residue down my throat.

I felt I didn’t have enough strength to go to work but pushed myself anyway.

MICHAEL DOM
| Ples Singsing

LAE - I had been following Caroline Evari’s poems on PNG Attitude for some time and was very glad to see her publish ‘Nanu Sina: My Words’ in 2019.

The book is presented in four sections: Conflicts, Relationships, Hope, and Family.

Michael Dom - "People think English is the only language ‘good enough’ to demonstrate their capacity to write creatively. This is a silly notion that needs to change in order for PNG to really have a thriving creative writing culture"

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – Michael Dom, an established and most readable poet, has in recent years occasionally delved into the intricacies of translating his poetry between English, Tok Pisin and Hiri Motu.

Translation of this kind is a high art because it goes beyond the literal into often complex metaphors that do not translate readily from one language to another.

Great writers and great friends, the late Francis Nii and Daniel Kumbon at the 2016 Brisbane writers festival

DANIEL KUMBON

An edited extract from ‘The old man, his wife & the young girl’, a short story in Daniel’s book, ‘Survivor: Alive in Mum’s Loving Arms’, available from Amazon at this link for $16.26 (paperback) or $1.26 (Kindle) - KJ

WABAG - Akali Wakane had met Rosemary at university – he was a law student and she an arts student majoring in social work.

At the time he claimed her as his soulmate, they were both in their second year of study.

NEWS DESK
| PNGi Forests

PORT MORESBY - For more than 25 years, deep in the remote and inaccessible tropical forests of Papua New Guinea, a huge industrial complex has been operating.

Foreign owned companies have been bulldozing tracks, felling huge trees, cutting logs and dragging them to the coast to be loaded onto ships and sent overseas.

People in the Torres Strait islands just south of PNG are already being vaccinated

BRYAN KRAMER MP
| Kramer Report

PORT MORESBY - After recently being infected and having recovered from Covid-19, I’m not considered high risk of becoming seriously ill or dying from the virus.

I do not require the immediate protection of the vaccine. So why will I take it?

PAUL OATES

CLEVELAND QLD - The widening credibility gap between Canberra and Papua New Guinea is not just about how aid is or has been previously spent.

PNG Attitude and others of us have been banging on about this problem for years and getting nowhere.

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – The inaugural Tingting Bilong Mi [My Opinion] essay contest for Papua New Guinean writers under the age of 35 resulted in some great writing.

The contest was the brainchild of Dr Michael Dom and the ‘Mastermind’ team and the topic asked the young writers to expound on the subject of whether the PNG government should set its mind to encouraging and supporting home-grown literature.

PATRICK LEVO & KEITH JACKSON

PORT MORESBY – On behalf of the Ples Singsing Blog, and having cast our tired but sparkling eyes over the organisation of the Tingting Bilong Mi essay contest, we are ready to announce the winners of this inaugural competition.

And they are all women.

ILLEANA MALDOA DOM

Winning entry in Ples Singsing Blog Essay Contest edited for publication by Keith Jackson

The last time I entered my now former school library was in November last year during one of the last Language and Literature classes of my high school career.

MICHAEL DOM

Yesterday was International Poetry Day and Papua New Guinea’s unofficial poet laureate, Michael Dom, hauled out his trusted, rusted, almost busted Olivetti typewriter to do justice to the occasion with a salute to Bob Dylan’s renowned 1962 protest song, 'Blowin’ in the Wind' - KJ

How many books may a Maserati buy
Before it rusts in a shed
How many crooks make a government bad
Before it gets through our heads
Yes, and how many times may a prime minister lie
Before we know he's a thief
Those politicians are blowin’ smoke up our arses
They're blowin’ smoke right up our arses

Kavali, Somare, Chan and Guise in 1973 - independence leaders whose idealism was compromised by the realities and opportunities of government

ALLAN PATIENCE
| John Menadue’s Pearls & Irritations

Published as 'On the death of PNG’s first MP, Sir Michael Somare'

MELBOURNE - The death of Sir Michael Somare, first prime minister of Papua New Guinea, has occasioned an outpouring of national grief and heartfelt obituaries for ‘the Father of the Nation’, ‘the Chief’.

That he was, and remains, widely respected, even loved, across the country is beyond dispute.

Simon Pentanu - 'Covid is not nice. I would not wish it on anyone'

SIMON PENTANU MP

BUKA – It is not a conspiracy. It is not fake. It does not choose between nationalities, race or countries. Covid-19 is in Papua New Guinea, including Bougainville.

After an agonising three days from its symptoms, my test 48 hours ago returned to confirm that I am Covid-19 positive.

ERYK BAGSHAW & RACHEL CLUN
with BEVAN SHIELDS
| Sydney Morning Herald | Extracts

SYDNEY - Two of Australia’s top infectious disease and immunology experts say Papua New Guinea should take up the offer of Chinese-made vaccines if they are safe, as Europe threatens to withhold vaccine deliveries and PNG teeters on the edge of a Covid-19 disaster.

China has made repeated overtures to Papua New Guinea in recent months, offering to send vaccines to the country to “support each other’s core interests”.

REPORT
| National Democratic Institute | Extract

Link here to the full report

The National Democratic Institute (NDI) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nongovernmental organisation that since its founding in 1983 has worked with local partners to support and strengthen democratic institutions and practices and promote citizen participation in government

WASHINGTON - Women are historically underrepresented in politics in the Pacific Islands; Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands are no exception.

At the same time, women in all three countries experience shocking levels of violence, in the home and in public.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - It’s ironic that in his death Michael Somare seems to have united Papua New Guinea in a way that he could never achieve while he was alive.

Some of this is owed to the cult of the haus krai but more is owed to the nation’s overwhelming need for a universal hero who can be celebrated across all language and tribal groups.

A Philippines double outrigger canoe (Mariners Museum, Virginia, USA)

CAPTAIN STEVEN JOLLY

ALI ISLAND - I want to share with you all a special tribute to our late great Great Grand Chief Sir Michael T Somare with a short story from my home, Ali Island in the Aitape District of Sandaun Province.

During the childhood years of our Great Grand Chief at Rabaul during World War II, a late gentleman by the name of Makarius Menik from Jaltaleouw village on Ali Island, with some of his fellow comrades, sailed out of Rabaul to Murik in a traditional double outrigger canoe.

GEMBA RAYMOND DEWANE

Dedicated to Lady Veronica Somare

I could have found a man in a million
But faith has found me millions in a man
I have no idea what was in your mind
I just kept faith in your constant gravity
You raised your country, I raised your family
Sana, now I understand your dream

Women's March 4 Justice in Canberra on Monday

ALEX McINTYRE

SYDNEY - There were no mixed messages about violence against women from Australia’s former foreign minister Julie Bishop when she launched the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s gender equality and women's empowerment strategy in early 2016.

“It's insidious, it's endemic in some parts of our region and we have done a great deal to shine a light on it and to find ways that we can tackle it,” Ms Bishop unequivocally stated.

Writers Baka Bina, Daniel Kumbon and Jimmy Drekore, Gembogl, Simbu Province, 2016

DANIEL KUMBON

WABAG - I have published many books based on facts and actual events, but I haven’t yet attempted a novel.

I guess one road to writing a novel is to first publish short stories.

I attempted a short story just once. It’s included in one of my books, ‘Survivor: Alive in Mum’s Loving Arms’. The title of the fictional tale is the title of this piece.

RAYMOND SIGIMET

I came from my father’s spear 
This spear came down generations
He alone could hold this spear
From his father and father’s father

As a man amongst his people
His spear gave me name and place 
This spear fought during times of war
This spear talked in times of peace

St John’s Ambulance member sanitises hands at Covid testing at Taurama Aquatic Centre (Kalolaine Fainu - The Guardian)

GLEN MOLA
| Guardian Australia

PORT MORESBY - At Port Moresby General Hospital, about 20% of women presenting in labour have symptoms of Covid-19. Of these, about one-third (four to five women a day) test positive.

We get the test results back about two to three hours after we take the swabs, so often by the time the woman is delivering her baby it is too late to transfer her to the Covid isolation ward for the birth.

Medical staff at a health clinic  (Alex Ellinghausen)

CHRIS OVERLAND

ADELAIDE - It is little short of astounding that the Australian government has, until now at least, utterly failed to grasp the potential scale of the catastrophe looming on our door step.

Once again, our government has been effectively "asleep at the wheel" when it comes to what he terms “our Pacific family".

Port Moresby residents line up at Rita Flynn sports complex to get Covid tests (Kalolaine Fainu - The Guardian)

LYNDAL ROWLANDS
| Guardian Australia | Extracts

SYDNEY - Papua New Guinea could have received Covid-19 vaccines before its current crisis if Australia had not been part of a group of countries that blocked a proposal to free up access to Covid-19 medicines, say Médecins Sans Frontières Australia.

“There’s no doubt [if] the intellectual property waiver had been hastened and scaled at an earlier time there was a higher probability that PNG would have been able to get vaccines [by now],” Jennifer Tierney, Executive Director of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Australia said.

Australia's foreign minister Payne and prime minister Morrison at this morning's media conference in Canberra (Channel 9)

MEDIA CONFERENCE
| Transcribed by Peacifica | Edited

Peacifica supports and advocates peacebuilding in the South Pacific. Its philosophy is that building and sustaining peaceful societies is a critical challenge that Pacific islanders and Australians can meet together. Read more about Peacifica here

CANBERRA – What follows  are the major points from a media conference this morning addressed by Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison, foreign minister Marise Payne and chief health officer Dr Paul Kelly.

The event was attended by Peacifica and its transcription has been edited  for publication by PNG Attitude.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - If you write books, people will seek you out.

They will write letters to you, send you emails and come knocking at your door.

Even my abject and humble efforts have had that effect.

When I lived in Hervey Bay, Queensland, it was a regular occurrence.

I’m not talking about a deluge, but every few months I’d be sought out.

I thought our move to the relatively remote west coast of South Australia would put an end to that. But it hasn’t been the case.

RAYMOND SIGIMET

Once I heard the fire talk
He talked in my lifetime
This grand man in the fire
That coughed and crackled

His voice lit up the dark
While embers danced the night
His voice in the leaping flames
That could be seen from afar

I listened into the night
For I was mesmerised
I put in more tinder wood
And I sat there and listened

Hon Scott Morrison MP

SCOTT MORRISON MP

Motion to acknowledge the life and service of the late Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare delivered in the Parliament of Australia by Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison on 16 March 2021, as recorded in Hansard.

CANBERRA - Mr Speaker, I move that this House acknowledge the passing on the 26th of February 2021 of Papua New Guinea Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare and place on record its gratitude of his long-standing and respected relationship with Australia and tender its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement.

Jim Taylor - artwork from Port Moresby Craft Market,  1996 (Pacific Manuscripts Bureau)

ROBERT FORSTER

The Sky Travellers by Bill Gammage, Melbourne University Press (1994). ISBN 9780522848274. 348 pages. Paperback $49.99

NORTHUMBRIA, UK - A re-examination of Professor Bill Gammage’s book, The Sky Travellers, published by Melbourne University Press in 1994, is timely.

It is especially relevant now given that many Papua New Guineans want to know more about their early colonial history and the attitudes of those who made it.

BRENDAN CRABB & LEANNE ROBINSON
| The Conversation | Edited extracts

MELBOURNE - The COVID epidemic in Papua New Guinea has significantly accelerated, judging by the available reports of case numbers.

Since its first case was diagnosed 12 months ago, PNG has avoided a large number of reported cases and corresponding deaths.

Annastacia Palaszczuk - "It’s a serious situation up there so I think we need to look at our coordinated response" (Darren England AAP) 

SEAN PARNELL
| In Queensland | Extracts

BRISBANE - Authorities may have contained the latest Brisbane Covid-19 outbreak but they are alarmed by the scale of the threat posed by Papua New Guinea.

Of the six new cases detected in Queensland, two came from Papua New Guinea.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk revealed that half of the 500 tests that Queensland Health had done in PNG to support local health services had come back positive.

Michael Somare at Sogeri National High School, 1963

TANYA ZERIGA ALONE

PORT MORESBY - A champion of freedom. A man of his time, 50,000 years in the making. A man destined to preserve the dignity of a free people: a thousand primitive tribes.

Innocent, bright eyed; we blinked in the Stone Age and happened in the Modern Era.

Our forefathers could not have prepared us for this. How could they?

Papua New Guinea's leaders in 1973 - Thomas Kavali, Michael Somare, Julius Chan and John Guise

CHIEF MARK TONAR

Chief Mark Tonar is a former kiap from the United Nauro Gor community in the Kundiawa-Gembogl area of Simbu. He is also a former Pangu Pati Simbu branch secretary (1982-1992). He has fond memories of meeting the late Grand Chief Somare during Pangu Party conventions – Sil Bolkin

Somare son of Somare
Sana son of Sana
Shone like a morning star

Time (Loren Zemlicka)

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - Some curious things happen when you get old. Among other things, time seems to speed up.

Now that I’m well into my seventies I’ve discovered that there are only 305 days in a year instead of the usual 365.

Another interesting thing is the overwhelming sense of déjà vu that I get when I check the news.