PNGBLOGS

PAPUA NEW GUINEA'S newly elected leader is willing to negotiate with Australia to open a detention centre for asylum seekers on Manus Island. The Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill, said it was a tragedy when boats full of people sank, pledging PNG would help Australia tackle what was a regional problem. His comments came in a statement issued after the review headed by the former Defence chief Angus Houston called for Australia to immediately seek to open a centre on Manus Island. Mr O'Neill said last year he was willing to reopen the centre, which last operated during the Howard era as part of the so-called Pacific Solution. The last refugee left Manus Island in 2004 after 10 months as the sole detainee, at a cost to Australia of $250,000 a month. The negotiations with PNG that coincided with Labor's push for a refugee swap with Malaysia last year stalled when a constitutional crisis engulfed the country. A small-scale army mutiny and a police rebellion followed a High Cou

PAPUA NEW GUINEA'S newly elected leader is willing to negotiate with Australia to open a detention centre for asylum seekers on Manus Island. The Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill, said it was a tragedy when boats full of people sank, pledging PNG would help Australia tackle what was a regional problem. His comments came in a statement issued after the review headed by the former Defence chief Angus Houston called for Australia to immediately seek to open a centre on Manus Island. Mr O'Neill said last year he was willing to reopen the centre, which last operated during the Howard era as part of the so-called Pacific Solution. The last refugee left Manus Island in 2004 after 10 months as the sole detainee, at a cost to Australia of $250,000 a month. The negotiations with PNG that coincided with Labor's push for a refugee swap with Malaysia last year stalled when a constitutional crisis engulfed the country. A small-scale army mutiny and a police rebellion follow

By CHRISTOPHER PAPIALI Recorded Police brutality in Papua New Guinea ought to be brought to the fore as more and more Papua New Guineans experience extreme physical suffering and death in the hands of rogue policemen. Reported and unreported cases of police brutality is causing extreme violence and it becomes a national issue as some foreign observers have also discussed it at various forums and meetings. A far more appalling reaction from United Nations is contained in a fact finding report titled Level of police violence in Papua New Guinea. In this report, Manfred Nowak, the UN Special Rapporteur states “This regular practice of police violence, corroborated by medical evidence, often reaches the level of torture.” Every year the government’s allocation of police budget increases without any improvement and reduction of police brutality and not even the rank and file of the police force inform the nation how the increase spending is accounted for. We are left in awe whether or not t

By CHRISTOPHER PAPIALI Recorded Police brutality in Papua New Guinea ought to be brought to the fore as more and more Papua New Guineans experience extreme physical suffering and death in the hands of rogue policemen. Reported and unreported cases of police brutality is causing extreme violence and it becomes a national issue as some foreign observers have also discussed it at various forums and meetings. A far more appalling reaction from United Nations is contained in a fact finding report titled Level of police violence in Papua New Guinea. In this report, Manfred Nowak, the UN Special Rapporteur states “This regular practice of police violence, corroborated by medical evidence, often reaches the level of torture.” Every year the government’s allocation of police budget increases without any improvement and reduction of police brutality and not even the rank and file of the police force inform the nation how the increase spending is accounted for. We are left in awe whether

By SANJAY BHOSALE PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill deserves to be congratulated for putting together a coalition of unprecedented proportions in the aftermath of the recent elections. Any questions of legitimacy and credibility have now been emphatically answered. And the new government enjoys a level of acceptance around the country and abroad than perhaps any other before it. The challenge for O’Neill lies in keeping his grand coalition together for the duration. They say a week is a long time in politics, and five years is an absolute eternity. To use an Olympic analogy, holding the government together for five years is like running a marathon. The runners know that only one of them will win gold. Still, it won’t stop them from trying to breast the tape first. Those who had ambitions for the top post have been kept at bay. But for how long? It would be wishful thinking to hope that O’Neill will not face any challenges to his leadership until 2017. And as has been pointed out on this pa

By SANJAY BHOSALE PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill deserves to be congratulated for putting together a coalition of unprecedented proportions in the aftermath of the recent elections. Any questions of legitimacy and credibility have now been emphatically answered. And the new government enjoys a level of acceptance around the country and abroad than perhaps any other before it. The challenge for O’Neill lies in keeping his grand coalition together for the duration. They say a week is a long time in politics, and five years is an absolute eternity. To use an Olympic analogy, holding the government together for five years is like running a marathon. The runners know that only one of them will win gold. Still, it won’t stop them from trying to breast the tape first. Those who had ambitions for the top post have been kept at bay. But for how long? It would be wishful thinking to hope that O’Neill will not face any challenges to his leadership until 2017. And as has been pointed out on

Triumph Heritage Empowerment (THE) Party leader Don Pomb Polye is the most upset man in this country right now. Sources close to Mr Polye said the Kandep MP was fuming that Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has “lied” to him over the Finance and Treasury portfolio. Last night when Mr O’Neill made the announcement, Mr Polye was at a function to celebrate the election victories of Delilah Gore and Julie Soso Akeke for the Sohe Open and Eastern Highlands provincial seats respectively. At that function, he remained calm when told that he was given only the Treasury portfolio but sources close to him said, the man felt cheated. “He had to forgo the Deputy Prime Minister’s post for the Finance and Treasury portfolio. What can he do as Treasurer,” a senior member of the party told Post Courier. At that party, senior MPs and officials from THE Party informed Post Courier that they were also concerned that none of the economic portfolios were given to any of their members and what was allocated to t