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?

ALPHONSE HUVI

Every no has a better yes
It is now or never, I think
when any opportunity arises
So I try my best to go for it
Hoping for the better
Every no has a better yes

KEITH JACKSON

Pacific Odyssey: The Curious Journey of Lew 2.0 by Chet Nairene, Banana Leaf Books, March 2024, paperback, 392 pages. ASIN‎ B0CYLXCGW7. Available here as ebook or paperback from Amazon Books

NOOSA – After five years of what he admits has been especially hard work, Chet Nairene (a nom de plume) has published his second novel, Pacific Odyssey - The Curious Journey of Lew 2.0, which I hope will soon be reviewed in PNG Attitude.

Chet tells me that Pacific Odyssey is “a quirky mashup, something like Poltergeist meets Wall Street in rural Asia.

ISO YAWI

"The integration of industry and academic experience is essential for driving progress and development"  -  Iso Yawi

LAE – Next Friday - 5 April - marks a significant day for the Papua New Guinea University of Technology, which hosts its 56th graduation ceremony.

With the theme, ‘Impacting livelihood through the advancement of science and technology’, this event underscores the crucial role of education and innovation in shaping the future of our nation.

KEITH JACKSON

 Anthropologist husband-and-wife team Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson working in their home near the Sepik River where they studied the Iatmul people (Gregory Bateson, 1938)

NOOSA - I’m pleased to be a member of the Oceanic Art Society, a small and energetic organisation that provides continuing focus on and support for the visual arts in the Pacific Islands region, including an excellent lecture series.

The first OAS lecture for 2024 is being held in Sydney next month and features emerging scholar Enzo Hamel, a PhD student at the Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich (UK).

ALLAN BIRD
| Governor, East Sepik Province

The gold refinery of our dreams (Generated with AI, 22 March 2024, 7.49 am)

WEWAK - The Marape government’s proposed legislation to establish a gold refinery in Papua New Guinea seems to be another cargo cult endeavour that will bring little or no value for money for our country.

The proponents have zero experience in refineries or gold bullion and they don't understand the refinery business or business in general.

PROFESSOR JAMES CHIN *

Prime Minister James Marape - looks good for now but feelings are he will be deposed before the year is out (Rhiannon Johannes, DFAT)

HOBART - The past several months has seen an escalation of violence in Papua New Guinea, Australia’s nearest neighbour.

Given the recent developments, prime minister James Marape’s hold on power looks tenuous, and we may soon see a change in leadership.

MICHAEL CHOW & DINAH LEWIS BOUCHER
| Nesia Daily

PORT MORESBY - Papua New Guinea is considered the most linguistically diverse place on earth and according to a published study its national language takes the crown as the most beautiful.

Surpassing famed love languages like Italian and Spanish, the research published in the Journal of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences showed Tok Pisin was the highest-rated.

ANTHONY WAGAMBIE JNR
| Academia Nomad

Anthony Wagambie Jnr is well known as a corruption fighter and one of the most respected police officers in Papua New Guinea.  Following the 10 January riots he was one of a number of senior police officers who were demoted and transferred, in his case from the Port Moresby to Bougainville as Deputy Commander.  There was an immediate wave of support for Wagambie throughout the country.  In response Wagambie wrote this reflection on his commitment to policing....

__________

BUKA - I grew up as a son of a police officer. I am the first born son of Anthony Wagambie Snr. He was then an Inspector of Police based in Lae and my mum, Mrs Elizabeth Wagambie nee Saun was a paediatric nurse at Angau Hospital.

MEDIA STATEMENT

New CEO of Bougainville Copper, David Osikore, has worked for more than 30 years in the PNG and Australian mining industries 

BUKA - Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) has announced the appointments of David Osikore as managing director and chief executive officer and Johnny Patterson Auna as chief financial officer and company secretary.

The appointments follow significant progress made by BCL over the past five months as it prepares to transition from a caretaker mode to a more operational exploration phase.

ALLAN BIRD
| Facebook | Academia Nomad

The police hierarchy warn possible prime minister Allan Bird of death threats even as they move his trusted police commander to a distant post (Facebook)

Allan Bird has been nominated to succeed prime minister James Marape in a forthcoming vote of no confidence

WEWAK - Am I desperate to be prime minister of Papua New Guinea? Short answer is no. But someone needs to step up and seriously address the issues which are destroying our country. Those problems will not fix themselves.

Since my nomination, I have been advised by a deputy police commissioner that my life is under threat and the police are monitoring the situation.

KELA KAPKORA SIL BOLKIN

The Baptism of Howa and Tagali (Generated with AI by Bing Copilot,  9 March 2024)

PORT MORESBY - Brothers Howa Matiabe, five, and Tagali Matiabe, four, were two neighbourhood friends of my children.

Most days they were part of a large group of boys who would play in our banana patch or under the house.

BEE DURESI
| Duresi's Odyssey 

It's Our Day (Generated with AI by Bing Copilot, 8 March 2024)

Happy International Women’s Day to all the women who follow Duresi's Odyssey. You are amazing!

The theme for 2024 is “Invest in women - accelerate progress.”  I love this theme for many reasons.

SINA ALWYN WALLACE
| Facebook | Thanks to Rob Parer

All now gone from our midst: Bishop Austen Crapp OFM CBE,  Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, Bishop Tony Burgess (Gianni Gattei)

AITAPE - I am deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Bishop Austen Crapp OFM at Sydney Royal Hospital yesterday at 5 am, a day after his 90th birthday.

An era has ended with Bishop Crapp's death, for this great man was the last  missionary priest of the Franciscan Diocese of Aitape. He had served our people as parish priest and bishop for more than 40 years.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

John Rosso - well poised to become PNG's next prime minister as James Marape miscalculates and Opposition fails to strengthen its ranks (PNG Blogs)

PORT MORESBY - Let’s be honest. If there was a vote of no confidence in February 2024, prime minister James Marape would have defeated it.

Governments in PNG are usually destabilised from within - not without.

Leading up to the vote of no confidence, the numbers in the senior coalition partner, Pangu Pati, actually grew. So did coalition numbers overall.

BARRY TAVERNER

Barry in PNG's uplands - the cover of his 2014 book

ADELAIDE - In March of 1970 I was sent by Dave Schupp, Assistant District Commissioner, Wabag, to try to stop a war between the Ambulin and the Wabulin clans whilst ensuring that I did not get killed myself.

I was shot at numerous times during that rather fateful day but not by men with guns, they had bows and arrows.

MARK PALM
| Samaritan Aviation

MESA, ARIZONA, USA - On my recent trip to Papua New Guinea, I found myself pulling alongside the dock in Kapuna in our seaplane to begin our first-ever medical patrol in the Gulf Province.

This side of the island has never had a medical service like Samaritan Aviation and we will be bringing long-overdue hope and access to this part of the country.

STEPHANIE ALOIS

Who can love me more than her?
Whose heart is of purest diamond
Whose love for me is too good
Whose love is second to God's
Oh my angel mother
You leave me speechless

Who can measure your gentle patience?
You are resilient and composed when handling crisis
You persevere in the face of extreme difficulty
You believe in me unceasingly
Oh my angel mother
You are sweeter than honey

BRISBANE - On this day of tragedy for PNG, Keith was discharged from Wesley Hospital this afternoon.  Keith asked readers to be told that his eighth spinal surgery has been a complete success but that he is distressed by the extent of the killings in Enga.  “This one can be laid at the feet of the politicians, “ he said. 

I'm in hospital in Brisbane for further surgery on my spine - operation number eight, which I am told is a lucky number.  PNG Attitude has been ailing for some time now but manages a presence. I'm aware of the blog's continuing importance both for the great reservoir of information it has stored over 18 years and also for its useful function as a place where people can regain contacts long lost.  You needn't expect more much from me in this space until near the end of the month. Bai mi lukim yu - KJ

GOVERNOR ALLAN BIRD
| Thanks to Academia Nomad

Timely reminder to the Australian people about where their aid money goes: PNG prime minister James Marape addresses the Australian parliament this week sporting a K340,000 ($US90,000) Audemarc Piguet wristwatch

WEWAK - I will not be the lookout, standing guard while the riches of Papua New Guinea are plundered. My conscience will not allow it.

I remained in government hoping that this government would solve our cost of living crisis, our power crisis, our FX [foreign exchange] crisis, our law and order crisis and our employment crisis.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

Miss Pacific Islands contestants turn up at lotu. With one million social media users, PNG should be a shoo-in for the People's Choice

PORT MORESBY - The Miss Pacific Islands Pageant is underway.  But the dynamics, particularly the People’s Choice Award, appear to be lopsided.

That is, despite the title, the People’s Choice seems to favour Papua New Guinea.

A GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL *

Village in Aoke-Langalanga electorate, Malaita

MALAITA, SOLOMONS – An official in the office of the Deputy Provincial Secretary of Malaita Province has expressed great concern to me that an announced candidate for the 2024 Solomons election, Mathew Wala MP, is trying to force other highly ranked candidates not to stand for election.

Wala has announced he will contest the seat of Aoke-Langalanga and last month he invited other prospective candidates David Filia, Vincent Anisi and David Faradalolo to a meeting.

MEDIA RELEASE
| Bougainville Copper Limited

Bougainville president Ishmael Toroama and BCL chairman Sir Melchior Tomot (centre) hold the ELO1 exploration licence extension in the presence of government and company officials

BUKA - Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) yesterday confirmed that the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) has taken a decision to award a five-year extension of the company’s exploration licence for the Panguna project in Central Bougainville.

At a ceremony in Buka to mark the granting of the extension, Bougainville President Ishmael Toroama said Panguna was a high impact project for Bougainville and that the licence would pave the way for redevelopment of the mine.

NEWS DESK
| Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Taloi Havini (ABC)

BRISBANE - Brisbane-based artist Taloi Havini, originally from Buka Island in Bougainville, has won one of the UK's most important contemporary arts awards.

For her work, an ongoing exploration into the legacy of resource extraction and Australia’s fraught relationship in the Pacific, Havini collected the £40,000 (K190,000) prize at a ceremony last week in Cardiff, Wales, the home of the Artes Mundi prize.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

PORT MORESBY - I’ve had readers asking me to write about the steps involved in removing a prime minister in a vote of no confidence.

Instead of writing a new article, I’m reposting a blog I wrote for Australian National University’s DevPolicy Blog in 2020. It details steps involved in removing an incumbent prime minister.

KEITH JACKSON

Projection is a psychological phenomenon where feelings directed towards the self are displaced outwards towards others

NOOSA - As the Campaign for Noosa takes on the uneasy rhythm of all early political campaigns, my thoughts drift back to my first inklings that this seemingly laid-back seaside resort had Politics. So I dug out a five year old piece I wrote on Noosa Politics and blew off the dust before adding some contemporaneous notes.  Reader alert, at 2,000 words it’s quite a long read….

_________

This morning at a ridiculously early hour (OK, it was seven o’clock), I was interviewed by Tess Connery for the 2SER-FM Sydney breakfast show, a meal that now passes me by.  Tess had called upon me to reminisce about the first day of 2SER, which had begun broadcasting on 1 October 1979.

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – Many of my PNG Attitude friends, especially those who have met my wife, Ingrid, will be interested to learn of the next step she has decided to take in her association with Noosa.

In 2016, Ingrid was elected as a Councillor – the only woman amongst the seven members, a fact which turned out to be of some importance.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

Parliament: where no confidence votes take place
(Fantasy illustration generated by Bing AI, 27 January 2024)

PORT MORESBY – Papua New Guinea's long-serving senior minister Kerenga Kua yesterday announced his resignation from the Marape Coalition.

Since then people have been asking me whether this means there will be a vote of no confidence in prime minister James Marape.

ANDREW ANTON MAKO
| DevPolicy Blog

Economist Andrew Anton Mako delivering the 11th Henry Kila Memorial Address in Port Moresby last year (Roan Paul Business Council of PNG)

PORT MORESBY- This year started terribly for Papua New Guinea as civil riots rocked the nation.

What started as a protest by law enforcement officers (police, defence force and corrections staff) on 10 January over high deductions from their first pay of the year quickly escalated to looting and destruction of shops in Port Moresby as people took advantage of the security vacuum in the city.

RONALD MAY
| John Menadue’s Pearls & Irritations

A photo of a younger Ron May (amidst his filing system!) Ron, an Australian academic with an over 50-year association and an unparallelled knowledge of  Papua New Guinea (Australian National University)

PORT MORESBY - On 10 January, Port Moresby was rocked by riots, looting and arson on an unprecedented scale.

Rioting also occurred in Lae and several other towns. More than 20 people died and there has been extensive damage to property.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

Family Ponders an Unclear Future (Generated with AI by Bing,  22 January 2024)

PORT MORESBY - The only shop in Gerehu to have survived the 10 January looting and burning was burned down yesterday (Sunday). The suspects were apprehended: four children and one adult.

If you've been concerned about unemployment and its impact on Papua New Guinea, or the rise in criminal activities, lawlessness and inflation, you now have something more serious to worry about.

KEITH JACKSON

The bond of friendship [Generated with AI by Bing]

NOOSA – I once served a short and turbulent period as president of the Papua New Guinea Association of Australia.

One of the matters I attended to was a change in the Association's Constitution to mandate it to become even closer to PNG and its people.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

The tax bill [Bing AI]

PORT MORESBY - A few years ago, the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States faced some difficult challenges. 

They were more problematic than the situation in Port Moresby on Wednesday 10 January.

PAEOPE OVASURU

Sad Wednesday [Bing Image Inspiration Feed]

PORT MORESBY - Last Wednesday the tenth of January started off like any other day in Port Moresby.

As the sun rose, workers made their way from home and street vendors put their goods on display.

At Gordons market, the mothers from Brown River accompanied truckloads of fresh garden produce. Outside, the usual crowd of loiterers went about their business, whatever that was.

Phil Fitzpatrick ... the PNG tinder box has stepped up another notch

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - This latest violence in Port Moresby and Lae illustrates the incredible fragility of law and order in Papua New Guinea.

That a police strike could induce widespread and opportunistic looting in the country’s two lar gest cities is truly frightening, not just for people in PNG but for the whole region.