PNGBLOGS

FINANCIAL TIMES Papua New Guinea’s government has upset conservationists, landowners and parliamentarians after amending environmental laws last Friday that will make it harder to prosecute mining projects that damage the environment. Tiffany Nonggorr, a lawyer representing close to 1,000 landowners, including those opposed to China Metallurgical Group’s US$1.4bn Ramu nickel mine, said the changes meant landowners had lost the right to sue for negligence. “If they [the miners] did in PNG what BP has done in the Gulf of Mexico, they could escape liability for damaging the environment,” she said. Coastal landowners are particularly worried about the impact on marine life from waste that the Ramu mine will be allowed to dump into the ocean. Powes Parkop, a PNG parliamentarian, lawyer and conservation advocate said the government had granted itself “almost absolute power” to grant environment permits and assess the standards required of those permit holders. He said at the same time it had

FINANCIAL TIMES Papua New Guinea’s government has upset conservationists, landowners and parliamentarians after amending environmental laws last Friday that will make it harder to prosecute mining projects that damage the environment. Tiffany Nonggorr, a lawyer representing close to 1,000 landowners, including those opposed to China Metallurgical Group’s US$1.4bn Ramu nickel mine, said the changes meant landowners had lost the right to sue for negligence. “If they [the miners] did in PNG what BP has done in the Gulf of Mexico, they could escape liability for damaging the environment,” she said. Coastal landowners are particularly worried about the impact on marine life from waste that the Ramu mine will be allowed to dump into the ocean. Powes Parkop, a PNG parliamentarian, lawyer and conservation advocate said the government had granted itself “almost absolute power” to grant environment permits and assess the standards required of those permit holders. He said at the same time it h

ABC RADIO ELIZABETH JACKSON: Covering politics can be a tough gig for journalists; there's always lots of speculation and big egos. Reporters are often critical of politicians, but it's relatively rare for the criticism to flow the other way, publicly at least. Not so in Papua New Guinea, where journalists recently received a tongue-lashing, courtesy of the prime minister Sir Michael Somare. And as our PNG correspondent Liam Fox reports, it's not the first time it's happened. LIAM FOX: Press conferences with the 74-year-old prime minister of Papua New Guinea are pretty rare these days; they only happen once every few months or so. Recently Sir Michael Somare returned from an overseas trip and wanted to set the record straight on several matters he felt the media had covered poorly. He shuffled into the conference room with the help of a walking stick, sat down and unloaded onto the waiting press pack. MICHAEL SOMARE: I go out as a prime minister, everywhere promoting th

ABC RADIO ELIZABETH JACKSON: Covering politics can be a tough gig for journalists; there's always lots of speculation and big egos. Reporters are often critical of politicians, but it's relatively rare for the criticism to flow the other way, publicly at least. Not so in Papua New Guinea, where journalists recently received a tongue-lashing, courtesy of the prime minister Sir Michael Somare. And as our PNG correspondent Liam Fox reports, it's not the first time it's happened. LIAM FOX: Press conferences with the 74-year-old prime minister of Papua New Guinea are pretty rare these days; they only happen once every few months or so. Recently Sir Michael Somare returned from an overseas trip and wanted to set the record straight on several matters he felt the media had covered poorly. He shuffled into the conference room with the help of a walking stick, sat down and unloaded onto the waiting press pack. MICHAEL SOMARE: I go out as a prime minister, everywhere promo