JULIE BISHOP’S PNG VISIT: A PLOT SO SINISTER!

By KELVIN R. NATATA

When the Pope or Queen of England visited PNG last, full State protocol was observed and red carpet laid out for them, with all the ladies and gentry of the former Territories turned up in their finest regalia, and happy flag waving school children lined the streets, shouting and singing various welcome songs composed in their honour. The faithful flew in from every part of the country to pay homage, went away fulfilled and satisfied.

One such visit in the early 1970s was by then Australian Prime Minister, Hon John Gorton MP and his wife Lady Gorton. There was a guard of honour led by a very sharp young military officer trained in Australia named, Edward Diro, who was eager to impress. The renowned and ward winning Police Band from the Bomana Police College took their place and played few Frank Sinatra numbers for the tense crowd gathered at the old terminal. The usual who is who among the 100,000 strong expatriate community sat on white chairs.

Around the low wire barrier or fence were Policemen with police dogs acting as perimeter guards against the throng of anticipation building up and pressing, with the sound of the approaching official DC3 aircraft.

As soon as the engines stopped, the doors opened, a white gloved Mrs Gorton with neatly coiffured hair and Mr Gorton alighted from the aircraft to the tarmac, to meet awaiting dignitaries and inspect the guard of honour.

However, as soon as Lady Gorton’s feet touched the tarmac, someone in the crowd released a white greasy pig onto the tarmac. The frightened little pig ran straight between the soldiers, directly for Lady Gorton, who upon seeing the squealing pig running at her, suddenly fainted on the tarmac. As Prime Minister Gorton and other dignitaries tried in vain to resuscitate Lady Gorton on a hot sweltering day, the pig for the seated expatriate who is who. Many ladies fainted in their finery; some simply scaled the low fence, while the pig ran straight for the Police Band playing, knocking over music stands and causing the band to erupt in hitherto unknown tunes of disarray.

Meanwhile, the police dogs observing this harmless little pig decided this was fun, or the pig would make good lunch, decided to give chase. There were Police Dog handlers being dragged all over the tarmac, while Edward Diro struggled to keep his white gloved parade lines straight.

Of course, we know now it was Gorton who took the (initial) unilateral decision upon return to Australia, to prepare the Territories of Papua and New Guinea for immediate political self-government and independence.

The reception of a banner saying “WELCOME : JOHN GORTON, PRIME MONSTER OF AUSTRALIA” followed by a demand for self-determination and Independence, coupled with a pig tackling lady Gorton at the tarmac, affected Gorton deeply. So deep was the affectation that the decision to trigger self-determination was taken unilaterally by Gorton without consulting the TP&NG Administration.

Julie Bishop on the other hand has been well received in PNG.

In Lae she stood out in her creamy white suit top and her dark slacks, well complemented by Governor Naru in his white top and dark slacks (minus buai), while the MP for Lae looks like a gypsy emerging from a second-hand outlet, swaying like the hanging gardens of Butibum, clad in assorted buai red of Sipaia by the sea.

Bishop made 2 significant statements while in PNG.

Firstly, she said Australia will counter-fund AUD$250 million for rebuilding of ANGAU Hospital (named after the Australia New Guinea Administrative Unit that took the two territories under one Administration under certain mandates from the UN). However, Bishop did not outline where this fund will come from and how it will be given to PNG.

In recent times, we have seen so many empty promises made by Canberra to PNG. In the case of the Manus Refugee Processing Centre, Australia promised PNG would benefit, and the people of Manus would benefit to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. That has been a lie told by then Australian Prime Minister. Recent Newspaper adverts taken out by Australia with glossy figures of PNG benefits are all a calculated sham. The main contractors earning 90% of the contracts are all Australian and British companies on Manus, and off Manus.

At a time with a very high budget deficit and the Abbott government struggling to meet its own balance of payments, Julie Bishop has not told us where this extra $250 Million is going to come from. We can only assume it is from budgeted aid funds. It is not clear whether the $250 Million is part of the normal $300 Million aid to PNG or not.

The Abbott government upon election abolished Ausaid, and parked all aid funds with Julie Bishop’s Department of Foreign Affairs. That way, she can carry Australia’s aid cheque book around and play Father Christmas/ Salvation Army and Mother Theresa, all rolled in one, all over the Pacific.

The PNG and Pacific’s experience of Ausaid has been a bitter-sour one. Australia uses its aid as a control tool of the Pacific countries. It sends in its Briefcase/Suitcase Brigade, commonly known as “consultants” and sucks back every dollar it gives, while in the meantime, it rewires all the politics and economies of the pacific to its advantage. A certain Statesman has branded this “Boomerang Aid”. Today, along with consultants, it sends Australian companies to implement aid projects.

From our past experience, every PNGian can bet their brown arses that no PNG individual or company will see the $AUD250 million that Bishop so generously announced. It will be spent in Canberra by Australians on Australians, but in our name. How magnanimous in that?

In the meantime, Julie Bishop has successfully put a bomb through the credibility and reputations of our own national Ministers for Health (Michael Malabag) and Planning (Charles Abel) who have already planned and agreed on a way forward for ANGAU. With their plans, reputations and credibility in tatters, let alone the national Health Plan, where will they find the extra K600 million to pump into ANGAU, when they are struggling to fund Port Moresby and other General Hospitals? Port Moresby Hospital’s budget has already been cut in half, where is Julie’s announcement going to leave the patients of Port Moresby?

Bishop’s Second Statement on the issue of reciprocal visa on arrival treatment of PNGians is most sinister indeed.

When Prime Minister ONeill has pushed for Visa on arrival in Australia, seeking long outstanding reciprocation from Australia of PNGians visiting Australia, Bishop said, if PNG wants visa on arrival then Australia demands the following:

1. Close co-operation on border security management systems,
2. Integrate foreign affairs and Immigration systems,
3. Integrate the Judicial systems,
4. Integrate the behind the border systems.
5. In the meantime PNGians have been offered online visa application using their own computers or laptops.
The writing has been on the wall for PNG citizens and Mr ONeill for a long time on this issue.

Australia has a phobia about Melanesian people. It is a phobia that Australia obviously does not have with Polynesians, who gain easy visa access to Australia. Every town and city of Australia now has many Cook Islands, Samoan, Rotuma and Tongan Communities, replete with churches football clubs and other ethnic endeavours.

However, there is not even one PNG community with its own church and clubs etc. The Polynesians with less than 300,000 people have done it, while PNG with over 7 million people, a former colony of Australia, has been kept out of Australia by deliberate government policy for over 40 years.
New Zealand allows its former colonies and protectorates easy access to New Zealand and its universities and colleges. As a result Polynesians have advanced relatively fast. England, France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands etc have various relaxed rules about their former colonies. But not so Australia against PNG.

Singapore does not ask PNG to integrate or put its government apparatus under the control and interference of the Singaporean government in order to grant us visa on arrival, yet a plane load of PNGians land there almost every night of the week.

Malaysia does not ask PNG to integrate PNG’s sovereignty with Malaysia to grant us visa on arrival.
The Republic of Philippines does not ask PNG to integrate PNG’s sovereignty with its own yet 5 PNG flights land there every week.
Fiji, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu, black Melanesian, where PNGians could easily run away and melt into their communities, do not ask for us to integrate our country’s sovereignty with theirs.
All European Union countries under the Shengen Visa arrangements, including Great Britain, has not asked us to integrate our sovereignty with them.

What Julie Bishop has just made public is most sinister. As crazy as it may sound, it is part of a naked and shameless plot to hi-jack the sovereignty of PNG.

What John Gorton said, what subsequent Australian Prime Ministers Whitlam and Fraser said, granting of Self Government and Independence was that PNG was a difficult country to manage for Australia; grant them Independence, and when they fuck it up, we can justifiably march in and take control without firing a single shot. That way they (PNG Leaders) shoulder political responsibility to manage a tough country, but we (Australia) can harvest the benefits economically without much investment. A brilliant strategy!

In this sinister plot, Peter ONeill is actively complicit. He has sold out PNG.

Upon refusal by Australia to grant reciprocity 3 months ago, O’Neill should have denied them visa on arrival immediately. There is a NEC decision to this effect. But as Chairman of NEC he has not signed it, and therefore it has not been implemented. The fact that he has waited, and worked with Australia for this announcement by Julie Bishop, and taking into account other decisions O’Neill has unilaterally made on the asylum deal and the ECP Program, it is clear Peter O’Neill is part of a plot to sell out PNG’s sovereignty.

The entire hype and recent radio talk back program on this visa issue by ONeill is just public grandstanding and a smokescreen. Just like Bougainville, where he has gone to pave the way for Australia to re-take the mine, just like all the hype and talk to immediately sell the Kumul Falcon Jet, and the Lae–Nadzab road contract price inflation investigation; he is good at saying one thing and doing another.

It is now questionable who Mr O’Neill really works for.

As for Julie Bishop, she is as two faced as they come, and it is clear her intentions concerning PNG are not honourable, nor are they in PNG’s best sovereign interests. She is not a friend of PNG. However, she is putting to effect that pre-Independence “brilliant strategy” that was in place all along.

If Australia didn’t have this “brilliant strategy”, it would have granted free visa access to PNG citizens just as New Zealand did to its Polynesian protectorates, and we would be far advanced by now. We would have high education and health statistics, more economically developed with strong infrastructure because of advanced manpower, skilled population, strong middle class and business community just like Malaysia is now. We would have managed our natural resources for better returns, and would already have emerged as a major power in the region.

Australia has deliberately down played PNG and its potential in the region to create and maintain this dependency syndrome- a curse!
Now the real reason finally emerges from the lips of Julie Bishop!
There are many decent Australians, people who have worked tirelessly in PNG for its welfare and advancement, people who believe in this country and its people. However, what is coming out of Canberra in terms of foreign policy posture is troubling most decent Australians because of its hostile overtures. It indeed troubles us decent PNGians.

The people of Australia best rise up and tell their government to stop this madness. Leave us alone. Allow us to develop as equal partners with mutual respect and co-exist peacefully in the region.

As first boat people who just arrived only 200 years ago in our waters, Canberra must show restraint and respect, and not take advantage of the weaknesses of our leaders like ONeill. We the people have eyes and can see what Canberra is really doing no matter how sugar coated the prose may be.

Peter ONeill, Julie Bishop and Canberra, and this madness must be stopped immediately!