PNGBLOGS

By LUCAS KIAP When the Nation was in grief over the continuous violent crime against women and children and obsessed with the hunting down of the escapee bank robber Kapris last week, there was another story crept into the mainstream media unnoticed with less attention.  On Wednesday, May 15, 2013, the headlines of the mainstream media reported that the Bank robber William Nanua Kapris was escaped with two other high profile criminals from the maximum prison cells in Bomana prison outside of Port Moresby the previous day. On the same day in Australia, there was another event unfolding with Australian Authorities seized properties belong to PNG’s own businessman from East New Britain, Eremas Wartoto as reported by the Age Newspaper. What made these two stories stood out from the other events happening around the country on the same day, notably the National Haus Krai by the Women Arise PNG movement?  Walliam Nanua Kapris is a celebrity yet a convicted criminal, murderer and rapist who h

By LUCAS KIAP When the Nation was in grief over the continuous violent crime against women and children and obsessed with the hunting down of the escapee bank robber Kapris last week, there was another story crept into the mainstream media unnoticed with less attention.  On Wednesday, May 15, 2013, the headlines of the mainstream media reported that the Bank robber William Nanua Kapris was escaped with two other high profile criminals from the maximum prison cells in Bomana prison outside of Port Moresby the previous day. On the same day in Australia, there was another event unfolding with Australian Authorities seized properties belong to PNG’s own businessman from East New Britain, Eremas Wartoto as reported by the Age Newspaper. What made these two stories stood out from the other events happening around the country on the same day, notably the National Haus Krai by the Women Arise PNG movement?  Walliam Nanua Kapris is a celebrity yet a convicted criminal, murderer and rapist who h

By LUCAS KIAP The poor nation has jumped ship again. This time, they want the convicted criminal, bank robber and murderer Walliam Nanua Kapris shot to death or worse, captured and hanged alive. Yes he has escaped at a time when the country has been plagued with violent crimes against our women and children. He is seen to be adding salt to a wound yet to be healed. All the anger, frustrations, and wrath of the seven million people of Papua New Guinea are now upon this man. He is more than a condemn man now as the verdict for his death sentence is seen to be handed down by himself because of his second escape from prison. He would have been crucified alive if we were living during the time of Jesus but how far he can run is the guess of those who are betting heavily on his final death verdict. However, if all countries were free of convicted criminals, murders, or rapists PNG is seen to be creating history and hitting the news headlines across the globe for all the wrong reasons. One ma

By LUCAS KIAP The poor nation has jumped ship again. This time, they want the convicted criminal, bank robber and murderer Walliam Nanua Kapris shot to death or worse, captured and hanged alive. Yes he has escaped at a time when the country has been plagued with violent crimes against our women and children. He is seen to be adding salt to a wound yet to be healed. All the anger, frustrations, and wrath of the seven million people of Papua New Guinea are now upon this man. He is more than a condemn man now as the verdict for his death sentence is seen to be handed down by himself because of his second escape from prison. He would have been crucified alive if we were living during the time of Jesus but how far he can run is the guess of those who are betting heavily on his final death verdict. However, if all countries were free of convicted criminals, murders, or rapists PNG is seen to be creating history and hitting the news headlines across the globe for all the wrong reasons.

By  Jonathan Schultz  Prime minister Julia Gillard returned from her first official visit to Australia’s nearest neighbour and former colony Papua New Guinea (PNG) on Saturday with little to show for it. Reports of the visit – the first by an Australian prime minister since Kevin Rudd’s visit months after his election in 2007 – focused on PNG prime minister Peter O’Neill’s complaint about the difficulty of obtaining Australian visas and the A$16 billion Australian investment in PNG. This was set against a background of horrific stories of the treatment of women accused of sorcery. Indicative of the nature of the relationship is the small number of Papua New Guineans who live in Australia. The 2011 census counts under 27,000 people born in PNG of whom fewer than 6,500 identify primarily as Melanesian or Papuan, which is less than half the number of Australians who live in PNG. Gillard’s announcement of measures to simplify access to Australian visas, though falling short of

By  Jonathan Schultz  Prime minister Julia Gillard returned from her first official visit to Australia’s nearest neighbour and former colony Papua New Guinea (PNG) on Saturday with little to show for it. Reports of the visit – the first by an Australian prime minister since Kevin Rudd’s visit months after his election in 2007 – focused on PNG prime minister Peter O’Neill’s complaint about the difficulty of obtaining Australian visas and the A$16 billion Australian investment in PNG. This was set against a background of horrific stories of the treatment of women accused of sorcery. Indicative of the nature of the relationship is the small number of Papua New Guineans who live in Australia. The 2011 census counts under 27,000 people born in PNG of whom fewer than 6,500 identify primarily as Melanesian or Papuan, which is less than half the number of Australians who live in PNG. Gillard’s announcement of measures to simplify access to Australian visas, though falli

Papua New Guinea's Justice Minister is expected to table legislation this week to apply the death penalty and introduce a raft of tougher sentences. The country is grappling with a string of gruesome murders and increased violent offending. ONE News Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver told TV ONE's Breakfast that sorcery in PNG is one of the reasons behind the planned legislation. The Government is looking at repealing the Sorcery Act, 1970 for a start, she said. "They've had a terrible raft of violence. And the Sorcery Act, 1970 means that someone can murder someone else and burn them to death, and under the Sorcery Act if they say 'Well, I thought they were a witch or a sorcerer', that gives them a defence in court." Dreaver recalled recent cases where a 20-year-old mother of one died after being tortured and set alight in front of a big crowd, and another woman was beheaded in front of police. "It's because of those types of cases which have

Papua New Guinea's Justice Minister is expected to table legislation this week to apply the death penalty and introduce a raft of tougher sentences. The country is grappling with a string of gruesome murders and increased violent offending. ONE News Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver told TV ONE's Breakfast that sorcery in PNG is one of the reasons behind the planned legislation. The Government is looking at repealing the Sorcery Act, 1970 for a start, she said. "They've had a terrible raft of violence. And the Sorcery Act, 1970 means that someone can murder someone else and burn them to death, and under the Sorcery Act if they say 'Well, I thought they were a witch or a sorcerer', that gives them a defence in court." Dreaver recalled recent cases where a 20-year-old mother of one died after being tortured and set alight in front of a big crowd, and another woman was beheaded in front of police. "It's because of those types of cases which hav

A PAPUA New Guinea businessman accused of misusing millions of dollars of government funds in his home country still holds a 457 visa and is free to return to Australia. Eremas Wartoto came to live in Cairns in 2011 after he was granted the temporary permit. He reportedly obtained the visa, a type which is at the centre of a federal government crackdown over claimed rorting of the system, for a car hire company he owns because there was a shortage of general corporate managers in the area. It is understood he left Australia last week after media reports that he was wanted in PNG. Following a request by the PNG National Court, a Queensland judge ordered the seizure of some of his Australian assets earlier this week. They included several rental properties, vehicles at a car rental agency of which Wartoto is the director and a number of bank accounts. PNG Director of Crimes Peter Guiness told AAP that Wartoto has been charged with misappropriation of funds. He was granted permission to r

A PAPUA New Guinea businessman accused of misusing millions of dollars of government funds in his home country still holds a 457 visa and is free to return to Australia. Eremas Wartoto came to live in Cairns in 2011 after he was granted the temporary permit. He reportedly obtained the visa, a type which is at the centre of a federal government crackdown over claimed rorting of the system, for a car hire company he owns because there was a shortage of general corporate managers in the area. It is understood he left Australia last week after media reports that he was wanted in PNG. Following a request by the PNG National Court, a Queensland judge ordered the seizure of some of his Australian assets earlier this week. They included several rental properties, vehicles at a car rental agency of which Wartoto is the director and a number of bank accounts. PNG Director of Crimes Peter Guiness told AAP that Wartoto has been charged with misappropriation of funds. He was granted

INCREASINGLY, in circles where Papua New Guineans with some knowledge of history gather, there can be heard references to the continuation of the “White Australia policy”. This unfortunate reference is made in the context of Australia’s very strict immigration policies and the agonisingly painful delays for most Papua New Guineans seeking visas into Australia. The lines outside the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby stretch into the street at times. Questions, checks and counter-checks stretch to weeks before any visa is granted. Often they are refused. Particularly annoying is the insistence that the Papua New Guinean applicant for a visa comes up with bank statements showing balances of no less than K10,000 in the bank. The unfortunate event in recent years where Sir Michael Somare, then the prime minister, was forced to remove his sandals by Australian immigration officers and the repeated references over the weekend by Foreign Minister Bob Carr to Papuans rather than Papua

INCREASINGLY, in circles where Papua New Guineans with some knowledge of history gather, there can be heard references to the continuation of the “White Australia policy”. This unfortunate reference is made in the context of Australia’s very strict immigration policies and the agonisingly painful delays for most Papua New Guineans seeking visas into Australia. The lines outside the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby stretch into the street at times. Questions, checks and counter-checks stretch to weeks before any visa is granted. Often they are refused. Particularly annoying is the insistence that the Papua New Guinean applicant for a visa comes up with bank statements showing balances of no less than K10,000 in the bank. The unfortunate event in recent years where Sir Michael Somare, then the prime minister, was forced to remove his sandals by Australian immigration officers and the repeated references over the weekend by Foreign Minister Bob Carr to Papuans rather than

By SEAN JACOBS The death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has caused a brief moment of pause and reflection throughout the world. Renowned globally for her convictions, Thatcher's economic policies discouraged inflation, introduced flexibility into the labour market, limited state ownership of enterprise and, in doing so, helped banish the cloud of economic malaise that hung over Britain in the 1970s. The philosophy behind this set of policy ideas – now known as Thatcherism – had clear proponents in intellectual heavyweights like Milton Friedman and, by overlapping with Reagaonomics, resulted in powerful repercussions in economic thinking beyond Britain throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), the import of similar Thatcher-type ideas into the plans of fiscal policymakers and political leaders, although late and incomplete, is apparent in some of PNG's economic policies. It is worth reflecting briefly on the impact of these ideas in PNG. The

By SEAN JACOBS The death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has caused a brief moment of pause and reflection throughout the world. Renowned globally for her convictions, Thatcher's economic policies discouraged inflation, introduced flexibility into the labour market, limited state ownership of enterprise and, in doing so, helped banish the cloud of economic malaise that hung over Britain in the 1970s. The philosophy behind this set of policy ideas – now known as Thatcherism – had clear proponents in intellectual heavyweights like Milton Friedman and, by overlapping with Reagaonomics, resulted in powerful repercussions in economic thinking beyond Britain throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), the import of similar Thatcher-type ideas into the plans of fiscal policymakers and political leaders, although late and incomplete, is apparent in some of PNG's economic policies. It is worth reflecting briefly on the impact of these ideas in

Fairfax Media/Sydney Morning Herald An alleged crime boss wanted in Papua New Guinea over the theft of $30 million has used a 457 visa issued by the Australian government to avoid arrest and prosecution. Eremas Wartoto, accused of being one of PNG's most corrupt figures by anti-graft authorities, has been living in Cairns since mid-2011. He obtained a 457 visa, the foreign skilled worker visa at the centre of a Gillard government crackdown, after learning PNG authorities planned to charge him in August 2011. Since then, Mr Wartoto has claimed to be too ill to face trial in Port Moresby over serious criminal charges laid against him in absentia two years ago. Advertisement But travel records obtained by Fairfax Media reveal that Mr Wartoto has travelled to Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Fiji and the Solomon Islands during the past two years and has been able to return to live in Australia each time because of his 457 visa. Mr Wartoto returned to PNG on Wednesday after Fairfax Media

Fairfax Media/Sydney Morning Herald An alleged crime boss wanted in Papua New Guinea over the theft of $30 million has used a 457 visa issued by the Australian government to avoid arrest and prosecution. Eremas Wartoto, accused of being one of PNG's most corrupt figures by anti-graft authorities, has been living in Cairns since mid-2011. He obtained a 457 visa, the foreign skilled worker visa at the centre of a Gillard government crackdown, after learning PNG authorities planned to charge him in August 2011. Since then, Mr Wartoto has claimed to be too ill to face trial in Port Moresby over serious criminal charges laid against him in absentia two years ago. Advertisement But travel records obtained by Fairfax Media reveal that Mr Wartoto has travelled to Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Fiji and the Solomon Islands during the past two years and has been able to return to live in Australia each time because of his 457 visa. Mr Wartoto returned to PNG on Wednesday after Fai