PNGBLOGS

FOREIGN Minister Bob Carr has threatened to consider sanctions against Papua New Guinea if it abandons plans to hold mid-year elections. PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has pledged a full, free and fair election for late June but is facing calls - including from his own deputy - to delay. Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah says the poll should be pushed back for 12 months to give the Government more time to implement its polices. He also argues there is potential for fraud because the electoral roll is only sixty per cent complete. Senator Carr today significantly hardened Australia's line on the Government's plans. "It is absolutely vital that Papua New Guinea, that the government of Prime Minister O'Neill commit unequivocally to this election," Senator Carr told Sky News. The failure to hold elections would create a "shocking model" for the Pacific, he said. "You've got Australia placed in a position where we'd have no alternative but

FOREIGN Minister Bob Carr has threatened to consider sanctions against Papua New Guinea if it abandons plans to hold mid-year elections. PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has pledged a full, free and fair election for late June but is facing calls - including from his own deputy - to delay. Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah says the poll should be pushed back for 12 months to give the Government more time to implement its polices. He also argues there is potential for fraud because the electoral roll is only sixty per cent complete. Senator Carr today significantly hardened Australia's line on the Government's plans. "It is absolutely vital that Papua New Guinea, that the government of Prime Minister O'Neill commit unequivocally to this election," Senator Carr told Sky News. The failure to hold elections would create a "shocking model" for the Pacific, he said. "You've got Australia placed in a position

Not true: Namah PAPUA New Guinea's deputy prime minister has denied his alleged involvement in threatening and sexually harassing staff during a drunken fracas at Sydney's Star casino last year . Belden Namah, who became PNG's deputy PM in August last year, is reportedly named in a Star incident report, which accuses him of refusing to leave the casino and propositioning the male blackjack dealer despite repeated protests. Speaking through his lawyer, Greg Sheppard, Mr Namah told AAP the accounts were inaccurate. "We confirm that if Belden Namah is named in those documents - and we couldn't see it because they are blacked out - they are mistaken and inaccurate," Mr Sheppard said. When asked if he could confirm Mr Namah's presence at Star on the night in question, Mr Sheppard said: "Whether he was there or not is not really relevant because it wasn't him. The incident wasn't him." Former prime minister Sir Michael Somar

Not true: Namah PAPUA New Guinea's deputy prime minister has denied his alleged involvement in threatening and sexually harassing staff during a drunken fracas at Sydney's Star casino last year . Belden Namah, who became PNG's deputy PM in August last year, is reportedly named in a Star incident report, which accuses him of refusing to leave the casino and propositioning the male blackjack dealer despite repeated protests. Speaking through his lawyer, Greg Sheppard, Mr Namah told AAP the accounts were inaccurate. "We confirm that if Belden Namah is named in those documents - and we couldn't see it because they are blacked out - they are mistaken and inaccurate," Mr Sheppard said. When asked if he could confirm Mr Namah's presence at Star on the night in question, Mr Sheppard said: "Whether he was there or not is not really relevant because it wasn't him. The incident wasn't him." Former prime minister Sir

By Susan Merrell Belden Namah, Deputy Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea is not homosexual according to his young, male, personal assistant.  Anu Yadav, an Australian recent law graduate who works as the Deputy Prime Minister's personal assistant and general 'gofor' and who was one of the passengers on the falcon jet last November when it was buzzed by Indonesian fighter jets, denied that Mr Namah was gay but would not reveal the source of his knowledge. Speculation as to the sexuality of Mr Namah and the conduct of a national leader was piqued by a report in Australia's Channel Seven news that spoke of a "senior minister from an overseas government" (this morning confirmed to be Belden Namah by a front-page exposé in the Sydney Morning Herald ) being ejected from the Casino last April for obscene behaviour. Internal casino documents , revealed this morning, tell how the now Deputy Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea sexually harassed a male dealer, and bec

THE Deputy Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Belden Namah, allegedly sexually harassed a blackjack dealer at the Star casino last year before being thrown out for threatening staff while drunk. Despite this, the casino readmitted Mr Namah, an opposition MP at the time, after it realised he and his colleagues planned to gamble hundreds of thousands of dollars, the Herald understands. But Mr Namah denies he is the person described in five separate incident reports, including one in which he is named by casino staff. His lawyer, Greg Sheppard, said Mr Namah ''did not misconduct himself'' at the casino.   Read the incident reports. Warning: people may find some language offensive. ''Until we are provided with the incident reports in question, Mr Namah is unable to comment further on how his name appears on these reports, except to say that if it does, they are mistaken,'' Mr Sheppard said. Mr Namah is a former PNG mi

THE Deputy Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Belden Namah, allegedly sexually harassed a blackjack dealer at the Star casino last year before being thrown out for threatening staff while drunk. Despite this, the casino readmitted Mr Namah, an opposition MP at the time, after it realised he and his colleagues planned to gamble hundreds of thousands of dollars, the Herald understands. But Mr Namah denies he is the person described in five separate incident reports, including one in which he is named by casino staff. His lawyer, Greg Sheppard, said Mr Namah ''did not misconduct himself'' at the casino.   Read the incident reports. Warning: people may find some language offensive. ''Until we are provided with the incident reports in question, Mr Namah is unable to comment further on how his name appears on these reports, except to say that if it does, they are mistaken,'' Mr Sheppard said. Mr Namah is a

By Antony Loewenstein At Port Moresby international airport in Papua New Guinea sits piles of free brochures labelled, "Map and Handy Mining/Petroleum Guide." Inside are emergency phone numbers alongside a foldout map that lists countless projects in more than a dozen places across the impoverished nation. The $15 billion, Exxon-Mobil LNG project dominates the page, with a red line representing proposed pipelines from the Southern Highlands straight to the capital. The glossy pamphlet is one of the first thing visitors see as they arrive in the resource-rich state and it speaks volumes about how Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and his government view the future prospects of the country. Minister for Petroleum and Energy William Duma, in comments given at the February opening of Shell offices in Port Moresby, proudly told the assembled crowd that, "in a small way and through consistent political leadership at the national level, PNG has been able to attract

By Antony Loewenstein At Port Moresby international airport in Papua New Guinea sits piles of free brochures labelled, "Map and Handy Mining/Petroleum Guide." Inside are emergency phone numbers alongside a foldout map that lists countless projects in more than a dozen places across the impoverished nation. The $15 billion, Exxon-Mobil LNG project dominates the page, with a red line representing proposed pipelines from the Southern Highlands straight to the capital. The glossy pamphlet is one of the first thing visitors see as they arrive in the resource-rich state and it speaks volumes about how Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and his government view the future prospects of the country. Minister for Petroleum and Energy William Duma, in comments given at the February opening of Shell offices in Port Moresby, proudly told the assembled crowd that, "in a small way and through consistent political leadership at the national level, PNG has been able to a