New Bougainville Copper CEO Johnny Auna and team. "A once in a lifetime opportunity," says Johnny.

BUKA - Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) has announced the appointment of Johnny Patterson Auna as chief executive officer.

Mr Auna, from Laguai Village, Buin, in South Bougainville, joined BCL in March last year as chief financial officer and company secretary.

JAMES KOYAPO *

Colonel (ret) Reginald Renagi (left) receives a copy of Bitcoin Dream from Peter Kinjap

PORT MORESBY - 'Bitcoin Dream: Hope Hype and Chaos' by Peter Solo Kinjap is interesting, catchy and of educational benefit not only to Papua New Guineans readers but to readers everywhere.

Its purpose is to educate people about the facts underpinning society’s attitudes towards money and recent developments in how our conception of money is changing.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

PORT MORESBY - After 20 years of operation, Heli Solutions has shut down. The local company couldn’t survive fuel shortages and a lack of foreign currency.

But there was a deeper problem. Poor decisions by politicians—especially by the prime minister.

ALLAN BIRD MP
| Academia Nomad

Papua New Guinea's annual real (orange) GDP and nominal (blue) GDP, 2017-2023

WEWAK - This graph, recently released by National Statistics Office, shows clearly that Papua New Guinea’s real gross domestic product (the orange line) has remained fairly stagnant over the past five years.

Real GDP is the money value, adjusted for inflation, of all goods and services produced within PNG, typically over a year.

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.

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.

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.

IAN LING-STUCKEY *
| Academia Nomad

PORT MORESBY - Once again, the opposition is trying to mislead the people of Papua New Guinea in recent statements that PNG is printing money to fund the budget deficit.

This is just wrong. The International Monetary Fund verifies this is wrong. It is a condition of the IMF program that PNG does not print money to finance the deficit.

ALLAN BIRD*
| Academia Nomad

WEWAK - I disagree with the position of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in relation to the devaluation of the kina now underway.

The IMF believes that depreciating the kina will encourage exports and assist PNG production. In fact the opposite is true.

In the last 49 years, the PNG economy has not diversified much and therefore a significant depreciation is not going to automatically result in increased production and exports.

We had a significant depreciation 24 years ago which did not result in any significant benefits. It just led to more hardship for ordinary people.

This is because PNG has not invested in the productive capacity of the economy.  It is not possible to quickly increase production.

Only the extractive sector is able to do that, but almost all of these companies are operating at peak or declining capacity.

I just saw a 10kg bag of rice increase from K50 to K56, the second price increase this year.

Depreciation is already hurting ordinary people. While some low income earners are getting a tax break, the vast majority of people in the informal sector cannot access similar assistance.

The Marape government in chasing cheap loans and having resorted to printing money may have unknowingly placed a rope around the necks of ordinary citizens.

I believe a reasonable kina trading band of around 30 US cents and 40 Australian cents is what we should be aiming for.

We must restrain government borrowings and improve fiscal discipline. We must live within our means.

We must also redirect spending not just on economic enablers but also on the productive capacity of the various sectors.

We must also look at tax incentives to encourage private sector investment to help diversify our economy.

We must decentralise our government structure as a means of encouraging spread of private sector investments. The engine room for growth is in the provinces, not in Waigani.

We must have a smaller central government that oversees provinces and doesn't compete with them.

We need to expand private sector investment and support private sector to grow both the economy and jobs. It is not government that grows the economy, private sector does that.

Too much government control, coupled with corruption is killing our economy.

The Marape government has borrowed K32 billion over the last five years but has only proven that it is incapable of growing the economy. Economic growth has lagged behind this government borrowing.

I hope all current and future leaders learn something from this grave mistake and not repeat it in the future.

We have a situation in our country where the government thinks it should be running businesses - and it fails miserably. We should focus on governing and leave business to the private sector.

It's time for a reset. Marape has taken PNG backwards by 20 years. It's time to take PNG forward.

* Allan Bird is Governor of East Sepik Province in Papua New Guinea and is seen as a likely candidate for prime minister after the next national election

ALLAN BIRD
| Academia Nomad | Edited

We must spend our money wisely (Generated with AI ∙ 8 May 2024)

WEWAK - Papua New Guinea prime minister James Marape’s response to concerns raised by ordinary people about the rising cost of living leaves much to be desired.

The biggest contributor to inflation and the depreciation of the kina over the last five years is the spending behaviour of the national government.

EDDIE TANAGO
| Campaign Manager, Act Now!

PORT MORESBY – The community advocacy group, Act Now, has urged the Papua New Guinea government to stop the ongoing abuse of agricultural clearing permits being used as a cover for large-scale logging.

Forest Clearing Authorities are routinely misused to facilitate large-scale illegal and unsustainable logging.

MICHAEL E MILLER
| Washington Post | Extract

Bougainvillean guerilla fighters of the 1990s civil war. Thirty years later the Toroama government faces challenges of equal enormity

ARAWA— On a warm morning in November, a barrel-chested and battle-scarred man arrived to Capitol Hill in Washington USA for a meeting he hoped would help save his struggling homeland.

Ishmael Toroama was introduced to two members of the US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party as the president of Bougainville. But his previous occupation was evident in the arm that hung limply at his left side as he shook the lawmakers’ hands.

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.

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.

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.

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
| PNG Business News

PORT MORESBY - Minister for International Trade and Investment, Richard Maru, wants to see the establishment and commercialisation of the kava industry in Papua New Guinea.

Minister Maru expressed his enthusiasm after learning from Fijians who attended the recent World Indigenous Business Forum in Port Moresby that the demand for kava in Fiji and the Pacific had outgrown supply.

ISHMAEL TOROAMA
| President, Autonomous Bougainville Government

PANGUNA - I am pleased to advise that good progress has been made in our ongoing discussions with Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) aimed at amicably ending long-running Judicial Review proceedings in the National Court of Papua New Guinea.

Back in January 2018, the ABG refused an extension of BCL’s EL01 exploration licence and three months later the company was granted leave by the court for a judicial review of the decision. The proceedings have remained ongoing ever since.

NEWS DESK
| PNG Business New

An informal street dump in Boroko. The once garden suburb must be cleaned up says prime minister Marape   (Image by Malum Nalu)

PORT MORESBY - James Marape has expressed confidence that the Papua New Guinea economy is on the brink of an unprecedented surge, fuelled by the advancement of major resource projects.

The prime minister emphasised that this remarkable economic expansion will inevitably foster the growth of the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) sector.

NEWS DESK
| Radio New Zealand

Trade minister Richard Maru is frustrated with Australia's lazy attitude to trade with PNG and has his eyes on China - “Enough is enough. Starting from this year, we are moving on"  (Image - Johnny Blades,  Radio New Zealand)

AUCKLAND - Papua New Guinea's trade minister Richard Maru has complained that its trade deal with Australia has been skewed in the Aussies' favour for decades and says the country will trade more with China.

Maru said Beijing should now become PNG's focus for trade and investment because not enough is being done to assist exports to Australia.

KEITH JACKSON

Panguna copper and gold mine, 2021 - the end of the rainbow for Australian (and the world's) con artists

NOOSA - Bougainville president Ishmael Toroama has firmly stated his government will not allow foreign investors on Bougainville to breach its laws to exploit its people and resources.

Toroama made the statement after the Bougainville Executive Council decided to refuse two mineral license applications from the Paruparu Joint Venture, a partnership between Wyndale Holdings and local company Karatapo Resources.

KEITH JACKSON

Sir Kostas Constantinou - “His impact will be greatly missed but his  vision will be cherished, especially through his philanthropy"

NOOSA – The death of leading Papua New Guinea business figure and philanthropist, Sir Kostas Constantinou at the age of 66, has deprived the country of the head of its most prominent, wealthy and politically-connected family.

In the 1950s, his father George migrated to PNG with his Greek Cypriot family to make their fortune.

TONY DEGEN

The plantation homestead before and its demolition by villagers angry at the PNG government's land use practices

MADANG – I’m an investor in the Papua New Guinean agricultural and livestock industry and purchased a state agricultural lease on the north coast near Madang.

By August last year, I had paid all the required fees and charges like stamp duty and assured myself that the title was clear.

DUNCAN GABI

Despite calls for more public consultation, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and PNG defence minister Win Bakri Daki ink the defence cooperation and shiprider agreements at APEC House in Port Moresby (Radio New Zealand | Samuel Rillstone)

WEWAK - The defence cooperation agreement between the United States and Papua New Guinea signed late last month, and its associated shiprider agreement offer potential benefits for our fisheries industry.

But in addition to helping PNG protect its sovereignty, it’s crucial to consider the agreements broader implications and to explore other avenues for economic growth and development.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - Australia, like many other developed nations, claims it has no responsibility for CO² emissions from the coal, iron ore and gas it exports.

If Australia accepted that responsibility it would blow its emission reduction targets sky high and fail every test of being a responsible and ethical nation.

From the song ‘Me and Bobby McGee’, written by Kris Kristofferson in 1969 and most famously sung by Janis Joplin, who recorded it shortly before her death from a drug overdose in 1970

CHRISTOPHER OVERLAND

ADELAIDE - In the distant past, there arose priestly castes, or classes, whose members purported to have special insight and understanding about the world; an understanding that hugely surpassed that of ordinary folk.written by

Through certain rituals and the possession of uncommon skills - such as the ability to read and write, or through mastery of astronomy or great talent for mathematics - they secured influence, authority and power.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - Australia has changed considerably since the sleepy 1950s and a major influence can be put down to immigration.

Left to our own devices we’d probably still be dozing in the warm sunshine of national complacency.

Complacency about climate change and its effects is beginning to look more and more like a scourge, even a killer. And yes, we're bloody complacent

Warime Guti - "Let us work together to create a sustainable future that values the protection of our natural resources and respects the rights and well-being of its people"

WARIME GUTI

LAE - The Papua New Guinea Environmental Alliance (PNGEA), a representative of civil society organisations, is deeply concerned about the national government’s push to establish special economic zones throughout the country.

We’re concerned about the impact of the Special Economic Zone Authority Act of 2019, legislated to identify environmentally important areas and consider the well-being of communities within and near planned zones.

ANDREW KORYBKO
| Andrew Korybko’s Newsletter

MONTREAL - India is the only Great Power whose growing ties in any region aren’t seen by the New Cold War’s Chinese and Western protagonists as a threat to their interests.

This makes these nations amenable to accepting India’s envisaged balancing role in the countries they’re competing over, like those in the Pacific.

'Blackbirding' in Melanesia in the late 19th century was an approved way of stealing people's liberty to profit business. Later governments became smarfter and sold the people's property instead (State Library of Queensland)

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY, SA – In the world over, for many years now, both conservative and progressive governments have been privatising public services.

The argument runs that services like health, water, electricity, gas, transport and telecommunications can be operated much more efficiently, effectively and cheaply by business than government.

That this is a capitalist fallacy is now readily apparent.

The pick of the crop (New Guinea Highlands Coffee)

NEWS DESK
| PNG Business News

PORT MORESBY – Papua New Guinea’s agriculture sector has experienced a major upswing in production, says agriculture minister, Aiye Tambua, with coffee, coconut, and oil palm leading the way.

According to the Coffee Industry Corporation, the country exported 840,000 bags of coffee in 2022, up from the previous year's 750,000.

Maryanne Hasola (PNG Report)

MEDIA RELEASE
| Bougainville Copper Limited | Edited

PORT MORESBY - Bougainville Copper Limited has confirmed the appointment of Maryanne Hasola to the company’s board as an independent non-executive director.

Ms Hasola, from Bana District in Bougainville, is a well-regarded women’s leader who brings to the role more than 23 years’ experience in accounting and auditing in the Internal Revenue Commission of Papua New Guinea.

MEDIA RELEASES
| Act Now PNG | Edited Extracts

PORT MORESBY - More than 30 large-scale logging projects in Papua New Guinea appear to be operating in defiance of a court ban issued by the deputy chief justice in June 2021.

Together the logging operations accounted for 40% of PNG’s total log exports in the 12 months to June 2022.

This Kauage painting is the first thing visitors see when they enter my house. PNG paintings have been sold for up to $US5,000 (K18,000), yet PNG does little to  promote art as an industry - KJ

HAZEL KUTKUE
| Sipikriva Girl

BRAUN, MOROBE – I have observed that many Papua New Guinean artists and artisans, hoping to sell their work, display photographs of their art in social media, at local fairs and at monthly craft markets.

Among these artists and artisans are people who are extraordinarily talented.

And these people share a common opinion: Why doesn't their own government, and even their own people, recognise that art is a goldmine?

Anthony Walep is a lawyer assisting the Alliance of Solwara Warriors and the Centre for Environmental Law and Human Rights (CELCOR)

PAUL OEKA
| PNG Business News

MADANG - The Alliance of Solwara Warriors, a coalition of coastal communities, has appealed to the Papua New Guinea government to cancel seabed mining and exploration licenses in the country.

The Alliance also called for the termination of Nautilus Minerals’ mining license, which is still active even though the company went bankrupt in 2019.

Richard Maru and Melvin Aun (Richard Maru)

NEWSLETTER
| PNG Business News

PORT MORESBY - Outgoing Malaysian high commissioner to Papua New Guinea, Melvin Cheah Chee Aun, has left the country with one regret: Covid-19 had prevented him from assisting many more Malaysian investors keen to invest in PNG.

In his parting message to international trade and investment minister, Richard Maru, Aun requested him to travel to Malaysia to meet five major Malaysian investors who want to explore investment opportunities in PNG.

Bougainville chief secretary Shadrach Himata (Roselyn Ellison, Nationalpic)

KEITH JACKSON
| Sources: Bougainville News & New Dawn FM

BUKA – In a comprehensive statement on the Bougainville economy, chief secretary, Shadrach Himata, has stated that the province’s internal revenue of K20 million could increase to as much as K55 million this year.

Himata said there are many economic projects in the pipeline including a gold refinery in Arawa, due for completion in the second quarter of this year, a limestone project at Manetai, powered by the Panguna hydro, and a water bottling plant in Toniva scheduled to begin operations mid-year.

LNG tanker 'Spirit of Hela' (Santos)

NEWSLETTER
| PNG Business News

MAKATI, PHILIPPINES - The PNG LNG project generated K16.5 billion for Papua New Guinea over the eight years of production from 2014 to 2022.

This includes K7.5 billion paid to Kumul (PNG’s national petroleum company) from the state's 19.4% equity, K1.3 billion to the Mineral Resources Development Corporation, K800 million in royalty payments, K700 million in development levy payments and K6.2 billion in tax payments.

ADB Director for PNG & Pacific David Hill and PNG Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey ('ADB in the Pacific' Facebook)

NEWS DESK
| PNG Business News

PORT MORESBY - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Papua New Guinea government have signed loan and grant agreements of more than $66 million (K90 million) to help improve PNG’s technical and vocational education and training (TVET) program.

The agreements, part of the Improved Technical and Vocational Education and Training for Employment Project approved on 29 November, were signed by PNG Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey and ADB Country Director for Papua New Guinea David Hill.

Prisilla Manove

PRISILLA MANOVE
| Prisilla’s Notes*

GOROKA - My father’s father lived in a complete agrarian society. What that means is that everything they ate they grew; everything they needed they made.

All labour and life revolved around both the harvest and ceremonies celebrating the harvest.

For my people, these practices happened up until the mid-21st century in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Fragments of them still happen today.

Papua New Guinea's prime minister James Marape greets his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese (PNG Business News)

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – It’s always good to see Rowan Callick’s byline in The Australian or anywhere else, and the other day it was a delight to read the commentary that followed.

Callick’s an excellent journalist - a former Australian Journalist of the Year with a couple of Walkley Awards and three books to his credit.

A G SATORI

PORT MORESBY - I am not as pessimistic as Mathias Kin about the future of Papua New Guinea as a capable and united country.

Highlanders are most enterprising and will pull a good sweat to achieve something.

It is this attribute the nation should try to harness in a proper way.

KANNI WIGNARAJA & DIRK WAGENER
| United Nations Development Programme

PORT MORESBY - Papua New Guinea’s natural beauty is undeniable. Home to lush tropical rainforests, magnificent mountains and pristine islands and seas, PNG is one of the world’s 17 megadiverse countries, accounting for about five percent of global biodiversity.

A little-known fact is that the country’s rainforest is the third largest in the world.

PNG also lies at the heart of the Coral Triangle – a region that is home to 76% of all known coral species.

JOHN KURI

PORT MORESBY - If Julie Bishop was from Papua New Guinea I reckon she would have started her opening address with, “Stay where you are, you have a lot going for you but you don’t seem to know it.”

But fortunately and unfortunately she did not.

Fortunately because the grand occasion of the investment conference at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney was probably geared to hear her telling PNG the truth. (Although a version of her comments which seems to be untrue went viral in PNG.)

The 17 million population estimate rang alarm bells in Canberra and was considered so sensitive the PNG government initially refused permission for it to be published

Koki, a suburb of Port Moresby best known for its market and other commercial activities

BEN PACKHAM & TICKY FULLERTON
| The Australian

CANBERRA - A new United Nations study has found Papua New Guinea could have a population of 17 million – almost double the official estimate.

The new population forecast would, if accurate, would slash measures of PNG’s living standards and ramp up concerns over its fragility as a nation state.

We have created a civilisation capable of destroying the environment on a global scale and that is exactly what is happening.  The warning bells from history are ringing loudly but our leaders and too many of the rest of us are not listening

CHRIS OVERLAND

ADELAIDE – The proposal by Newcrest Mining and Harmony Gold to dump plans to dump hundreds of millions of tonnes of mining waste into Huon Gulf shows why the people of Planet Earth are collectively doomed to disaster.

There is no chance this side of hell that international capitalism will stop despoiling the planet as long as there is money to be made.

“The legacy we want to leave our children is simple. We want them to be able to live in an environment that is clean, healthy and safe. We do not want an ocean full of toxic waste” - Reverend Yasam Aiwara

NEWS DESK
| Say No to Wafi-Golpu

LAE - A coalition of Papua New Guinean and Australian civil society organisations has launched an international campaign to stop plans to dump hundreds of millions of tonnes of mining waste into Huon Gulf.

The Say No to Wafi-Golpu DSTP group is fighting to protect the ocean, marine ecosystems and coastal communities of Huon Gulf from becoming a dumping ground for the Wafi-Golpu copper and gold mine, one of the largest in the world, operated by Newcrest Mining and Harmony Gold.

We live in a neo-liberal system that greatly benefits the few while harming the many who live in increasing poverty. It allows foreign companies to exploit and an elite to flourish while it subjugates the ordinary people by imposing limits on how they can benefit from development. It is a system that is unsustainable

The Buka passage (Pinterest)

CHRIS OVERLAND

ADELAIDE - It’s wonderful to read Leonard Fong Roka’s words about his beloved Bougainville once again. His is a voice that deserves to be heard.

Earlier this week, he drew attention to the grievous failure of Papua New Guinea's ruling elites to deliver anything of real substance to the people who elected them to govern (‘Independence? Can We Get There From Here?’).