Garnaut quits mining board after PNG travel ban
ECONOMIST Ross Garnaut has quit as chairman of Papua New Guinea's biggest-earning company, Ok Tedi Mining, as a result of PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill's declaration in parliament two months ago that he was barred from entering the country. Professor Garnaut, who has been involved with PNG for 47 years, said in his resignation letter: "It is undesirable for development in PNG that the government's use of its immigration powers should be seen as having been effective in forcing changes in the board of a major private company. "For this reason, there was value in allowing some time for the Prime Minister to lift the ban should he be of a mind to do so." But now, he said, "it is not possible for me to fulfill my responsibilities as chairman of this large, complex mining company for an indefinite period while the government is preventing me from travelling to PNG" - which he had been doing seven or eight times a year. Mr O'Neill said in Novem