PNGBLOGS

By BEN ELTHAM - New Matilda The difficult art of government has many challenges, and its practitioners know many failures. But there is something about asylum seeker policy that seems especially corrosive to Australian democracy. If you need a recent example, look no further than the legal challenge being brought by Papua New Guinea opposition leader Belden Namah to Australia’s immigration detention centre on Manus Island. Namah plans to challenge the legality of the centre in PNG’s Supreme Court. He argues that the PNG Constitution protects individuals against detention without charge, and that asylum seekers being held there have not been charged with any crime. The Gillard Government has already lined up to attack Namah, describing his challenge as political. Labor Cabinet Secretary Mark Dreyfus told Sky News today that "I think when you’ve got the Opposition Leader in Papua New Guinea bringing a proceeding in the Supreme Court in Papua New Guinea, it does smack of politics to

By BEN ELTHAM - New Matilda The difficult art of government has many challenges, and its practitioners know many failures. But there is something about asylum seeker policy that seems especially corrosive to Australian democracy. If you need a recent example, look no further than the legal challenge being brought by Papua New Guinea opposition leader Belden Namah to Australia’s immigration detention centre on Manus Island. Namah plans to challenge the legality of the centre in PNG’s Supreme Court. He argues that the PNG Constitution protects individuals against detention without charge, and that asylum seekers being held there have not been charged with any crime. The Gillard Government has already lined up to attack Namah, describing his challenge as political. Labor Cabinet Secretary Mark Dreyfus told Sky News today that "I think when you’ve got the Opposition Leader in Papua New Guinea bringing a proceeding in the Supreme Court in Papua New Guinea, it does smack of pol

THE winner in the constitutional challenge to the Manus Island asylum-seeker centre just launched in Papua New Guinea will be the PNG judiciary, whatever the ultimate verdict. Whether the Peter O'Neill government or opposition leader Belden Namah - scourge of judges - is declared the victor, the courts will have showcased their ability to frustrate the nation's politicians. It is a serious challenge the Gillard government's Pacific Solution is facing in the PNG courts. The independence of the PNG judiciary was an important sub-theme in last year's political drama as rival prime ministers and governments struggled for supremacy - eventually resolved decisively in O'Neill's favour at the July election. Luther Wenge, a former acting judge who became for a decade the elected governor of Morobe province, won a succession of constitutional challenges. The most important were his overturning in 2002 of the 10 per cent value added tax, PNG's then new GST - ripping a

THE winner in the constitutional challenge to the Manus Island asylum-seeker centre just launched in Papua New Guinea will be the PNG judiciary, whatever the ultimate verdict. Whether the Peter O'Neill government or opposition leader Belden Namah - scourge of judges - is declared the victor, the courts will have showcased their ability to frustrate the nation's politicians. It is a serious challenge the Gillard government's Pacific Solution is facing in the PNG courts. The independence of the PNG judiciary was an important sub-theme in last year's political drama as rival prime ministers and governments struggled for supremacy - eventually resolved decisively in O'Neill's favour at the July election. Luther Wenge, a former acting judge who became for a decade the elected governor of Morobe province, won a succession of constitutional challenges. The most important were his overturning in 2002 of the 10 per cent value added tax, PNG's then new GS

Australia's offshore processing faces a fresh legal threat, as Papua New Guinea's Opposition Leader alleges asylum seekers are being held illegally on Manus Island under PNG's constitution. Two Australian lawyers say Opposition Leader Belden Namah's challenge has a good chance of success. Mr Namah launched proceedings on Friday in the National Court of Papua New Guinea, claiming the processing centre was the result of ''many abuses of PNG law and of ministerial powers'' ''Our claim, that the asylum seekers detention scheme is unconstitutional and that the detainees on Manus are held illegally in PNG, has never been legitimately addressed by the government and must now be answered in our highest courts,'' he said. The opposition's legal team would also seek an injunction to have asylum seekers released from the processing centre, and to prevent PNG from receiving or detaining any more asylum seekers from Australia. The memorandum of un

Australia's offshore processing faces a fresh legal threat, as Papua New Guinea's Opposition Leader alleges asylum seekers are being held illegally on Manus Island under PNG's constitution. Two Australian lawyers say Opposition Leader Belden Namah's challenge has a good chance of success. Mr Namah launched proceedings on Friday in the National Court of Papua New Guinea, claiming the processing centre was the result of ''many abuses of PNG law and of ministerial powers'' ''Our claim, that the asylum seekers detention scheme is unconstitutional and that the detainees on Manus are held illegally in PNG, has never been legitimately addressed by the government and must now be answered in our highest courts,'' he said. The opposition's legal team would also seek an injunction to have asylum seekers released from the processing centre, and to prevent PNG from receiving or detaining any more asylum seekers from Australia. The memor

LAST Thursday night after 8 pm (PNG Time), a Boeing 737 touched down at the Port Moresby Jacksons International Airport and taxied to the international terminal. Airport staff, including Customs were caught off guard because they were not given prior notification, as is the norm under civil aviation regulations. By the weekend Papua New Guineans woke up to radio news bulletins and social media postings on the detaining of Vanuatu diplomats – brothers Vu Anh Quan Saken and Charles Henry Saken – and their alleged liaisons with two PNG cabinet ministers and Vanuatu Foreign Minister, Albert Calot. Papua New Guineans took to social media demanding an investigation and criticizing Prime Minister Peter O’Neill for not getting his ministers to tow the line, as negotiations continued behind the scenes between the various parties. While the acting PNG Foreign Affairs Secretary, Lucy Bogari yesterday brushed off any ulterior motives behind the mysterious flight by saying the Vanuatu Foreign Minis

LAST Thursday night after 8 pm (PNG Time), a Boeing 737 touched down at the Port Moresby Jacksons International Airport and taxied to the international terminal. Airport staff, including Customs were caught off guard because they were not given prior notification, as is the norm under civil aviation regulations. By the weekend Papua New Guineans woke up to radio news bulletins and social media postings on the detaining of Vanuatu diplomats – brothers Vu Anh Quan Saken and Charles Henry Saken – and their alleged liaisons with two PNG cabinet ministers and Vanuatu Foreign Minister, Albert Calot. Papua New Guineans took to social media demanding an investigation and criticizing Prime Minister Peter O’Neill for not getting his ministers to tow the line, as negotiations continued behind the scenes between the various parties. While the acting PNG Foreign Affairs Secretary, Lucy Bogari yesterday brushed off any ulterior motives behind the mysterious flight by saying the Vanuatu Foreign

Media Release The Opposition Leader, Hon. Belden Norman Namah made it clear, when the plane landed at 8:30pm that night, he was already aware of it. Prior to the 17th of January 2013, he had already been alerted through Vanuatu Post Publication of the involvement of the two persons of Vietnamese origin holding on to Vanuatu Diplomatic Passports, he was also made aware of the involvement by the Vanuatu Foreign Minister. On the afternoon of Thursday at about 2pm, he went to the International VIP Arrival and Departure Lounge to see one of his friends off to Singapore, he realised that the Minister for Foreign Affairs Hon. Rimbink Pato and Minister for State Owned Enterprises Hon. Ben Micah were in the company of the Foreign Minister for Vanuatu, Mr Karlot. He knew something ‘fishy’ was happening at the very highest level in our country similar to the incident involving Djoko Tjandra. He said; Papua New Guinea is continuously being used as a launching pad by fugitives who are seeking freed