PNGBLOGS

By RENATA LAVEIL “Seabed Mining is a risk not worth taking”, said Governor for New Ireland Province, Sir Julius Chan in September, 2012. Almost a year later, he is involved in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing with the Nautilus Minerals Ltd, New Ireland Provincial government (NIPG) and the National Government. The MOU was signed minus the presence of the Resource Owners of West Coast Central New Ireland (within the corridors of the Solwara 1 Project), this action has given the impression of the Governor selling out for the Experimental Seabed Mining despite his declaration in 2011 that under the Malagan Declaration, the provincial government’s stance was to protect the people of New Ireland. Under the MOU signed a working group was formed to oversee the project into fruition; members comprising of representatives from the Provincial Government, National Government and the Nautilus Minerals Ltd. Quite noticeably the local landowners were left out of the MOU signing and to what

THE AUSTRALIAN THE High Court battle over the federal government's asylum-seeker deal with Papua New Guinea has escalated to the level of a constitutional challenge, potentially curtailing any future government's plans to restore offshore processing. Lawyers for a 27-year-old plaintiff, an Iranian detainee referred to in court documents by the pseudonym S156, yesterday filed an amended statement of claim arguing the government had no constitutional authority to designate another nation, such as Papua New Guinea, as an "offshore processing country". They will also argue that immigration minister failed to consider Australia's obligations under numerous international treaties when deciding to declare Papua New Guinea an offshore processing country. Those treaties include the Refugees Convention and the Convention Against Torture. The detainee's Sydney solicitor, Adrian Joel, said a favourable judgment would raise "constitutional issues as to the validity of