Banning journos is suspicious
LET there be no mistake: Foreign journalists do have access to PNG, whether it be one operating in Peru, Azerbaijan or Timbuktu. They have the local media whose work is published instantaneously on the worldwide web. They have the social networks. They have the non-governmental organisations. Many have local contacts. What the fortnight-old government of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has done in banning foreign journalists from entering the country to cover the Manus detention centre issue is to take a highly inflammatory decision which can have no real impact except to attract criticism and bad publicity. All the issues are out in the public. The PNG government has made its decision: The centre on Manus island will be available to asylum seekers which the Australian government wishes to detain for processing. The Manus people, or as many of them as the governor can speak for, have come out in support of the government decision. Governor Charlie Benjamin has said Manus was used before f