FLORENCE CASTRO-SALLE

I THOUGHT of you in the early hours of this morning. I do not know why but I remembered when and how we first met and how we became the best of friends.

Although our friendship was short-lived due to circumstances beyond our control, I know in my heart that we are turanas, sisters and best friends still.

As my contemplation drifts to the good times we had - crazy moments of laughter, tears, arguments and pain - I smile as I picture your lopsided grin and your thoughtful face.

I remember how we sang Christmas carols whatever time of year it was because we wanted Christmas to come sooner.

Had I known you would be gone so soon, I would not have longed for Christmas to come so quickly because that would mean I would lose you earlier.

I recall how we would swoon every time we saw something we loved. We shared the most wonderful times, and the worst and sad times.

We shared our deepest and darkest secrets and we swore we would take them to each other’s graves. I know mine are safe with you as yours are safe with me. Even though you are gone, I keep my promise to you.

I reflect of what could have been; I wonder who you would have married and where you would be living, how many kids you would have and what you would be now.

Every time I watch a new movie or cartoon or hear a new song I know you would like, I imagine us repeating our favourite lines and killing the song by singing it over and over.

I wish I could take a day, an hour or even a minute to sit by your side so we could tell each other about everything happening in our lives.

I wish I had been given the chance to say goodbye. You left so soon eight years ago, that 18 August 2008.

All I had was your voicemail that I replayed over and over just to hear the sound of your voice. But that has gone too. The sun will never shine the same without you in my life.

I would give anything to have a random conversation with you where we would laugh ourselves silly over something funny to us but not to others.

The memories are bittersweet and I miss you every day and I will always wonder what our lives would have been like had you not left so soon.

It has taken me all of those eight years to write this down. You filled my mind this morning and I am sorry I did not do it sooner.

Rest in peace beloved turagu, sister and best friend Lesher Kel, until we meet again.

My heart is at peace feeling that you are at peace. All my love my dear Elly and I will see you again when the good Lord calls me home.

GEN HOBDEN

GENDER equality has been an issue for decades.

In earlier centuries, laws were written by men and women were largely kept out of decision making, voting, and owning property.

Women were to bear children, take care of them and perform chores like cooking and cleaning leaving the important decisions to men.

Over time, women became involved – or forced their involvement - in various activities, including paid work, holding higher office, exercising the right to vote and engagement in other areas. Women began to emerge in society with equal rights and opportunities as men.

I grew up up in the 1980s, mostly in remote places of Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea. Dad was a primary school teacher and mum a housewife. We moved every year and life in these small and remote places was tough - friends were left behind, new environments had to be adjusted to, there was no electricity, few shops, sometimes no roads and mostly no resources in the schools.

Teachers would use sticks and stones as learning tools. We would sit under a tree with a little blackboard and chalk learning the ABC or singing songs with the birds. It seemed more like survival of the fittest as if the government didn’t care much about the future of the nation’s children.

If one of her children was ill, mum would carry us in a sling to the nearest health centre. If she didn’t think our sickness was serious, we would have bitter leaf juices forced down our throats. And if you didn’t drink it, it was a coconut broom across the bumbum.

Despite the hardship, mum raised seven healthy children. She made sure we had the basics - food, shelter, a clean house and clothes.  Dad was the boss and everyone followed his instructions if they wanted to avoid the broom.

When my parents had disagreements, we all ran to find a safe hiding place. The fear followed by hot tears. As we got older we would run faster. Growing up in such an environment, I believed violence was normal and that everyone had this sort of life.

Furthering my education at boarding school made me learn new things and, most importantly, realise that what dad did was not right.

It made me appreciate life more and understand that there were other ways to solve conflicts other than with a broom or violence.

I also reflected and questioned myself on why my dearest dad could be loving and all of a sudden become a different person.

I realised it may be how he was disciplined when he was growing up and that perhaps he could not truly understand that his actions were unacceptable.

Well, I never blamed dad for the way he acted. Being more educated than him clarified my experiences and my attitudes. Girls doing all the cooking, washing up, carrying food, taking care of children – and even as a child being busy while the boys just waited for the meal to be served – it’s all out of my life these days.

So today I’m a modern educated woman living in a totally different setting to those old days. With a wonderful and supportive husband and two gorgeous children, I want the best for my kids just like all parents, moulding them to be good and responsible citizens.

This means no violence, no unequal treatment and respect for everyone including themselves.

Apart from violence, PNG women and girls frequently witness and hear of other types of unfairness and ill treatment, especially if they live in the cities and big towns.

Every day is a nightmare for a girls and women in the street, shops, markets and all public places in general.

If you’re in a club or a crowded area, you’re lucky if your behind or boobs are not touched. The clothing you wear has to have everyone’s approval, the males seem to have every right to yell from vehicles calling you names and harassing you.

You are branded a ‘two kina’ (prostitute) just because of your make up, hair style or short skirt. A male driver will slow down if he sees a woman or girl walking along the street and thinks he can pick you up.

In a disagreement with men, you are told to ‘shut the fuck up woman’.

Of course it can get worse – punches, kicks if you’re pregnant and even being shot, as we hear reported in the news.

And we hear how so much of this is swept under the carpet and we ask “is there no justice?”

And what about those poor women who are branded witches and burnt alive or killed on the spot. Our individual rights and freedom to exercise those rights are taken away.

Yes, there are changes. Women breaking barriers into male dominated jobs such as pilots, doctors, judges, lawyers, engineers, parliamentarians and more. However the viciousness is never ending. Rape, domestic violence, education and denied job opportunities are still major issues that require addressing.

I feel lucky and I am grateful to have that opportunity to be better educated. It has given me a better understanding of issues of gender, discrimination, freedom and women’s rights.

It has given me different perspectives on better ways of raising my children and I’m just happy to be accepted in society.

I believe unequal treatment starts with your family in your own house.

Negative attitudes reflects individual upbringing, social issues faced within communities and influences by others that contribute to reacting to situations and negative actions.

I think that lack of health facilities, institutions and awareness of various mental conditions and stress contribute to a lot of these issues.

Better law and order and better government will also assist the creation of a harmonious society and country.

I have made the choice to accept the way I am, to dress in my own way, stand up and speak out for my freedom and rights without fear and not be governed by what others think of me.

I’d like to add that not all PNG men and boys are violent and abusive. And only a few men and women think this is normal behaviour.

Genevieve Hobden is from Milne Bay and is studying a double degree in Accounting and Laws at James Cook University in Cairns. She says she loves change and challenge and desires a fair, just and equal society

WENDY JEROME

This poem is dedicated to the memory of late Hon Justice Davani, the first female Papua New Guinean judge and a role model to many, who died too young in 2016

On the Bench, I sat
In confidence, holding time in suspense
My head held high, shoulders square, eyes flared
Fighting back tears, laughing at my fears
Looking back, at the chapters of my lifestory
Being the first female Judge, would go down in this country’s history
An additional, exciting sequel
The struggles and sacrifices, made me soar like an eagle
I have conquered, have accomplished, and am now proud,
To be called ‘equal’.

Looking down, at the sea of lawyers
Black and white, with black gowns all over
Hundreds of them, but most being males, that superior gender
I stretched my neck, and strained my eyes
Searching for a female, far and nigh
They were less, much, much lesser
Drowned in the sea, of that superior gender

They all bowed, meekly, before me
Addressing me, sweetly, as “Your Honour”
Culturally, this would have been impossible
For intelligent males, to show respect and be so humble

That sense of fulfilment, of hope and faith replenished
That new surge of courage, one I’d always cherish
To finally realise, that a mighty barrier had shattered
Like glass, into a thousand pieces it had scattered
Paving the way, for aspiring female lawyers
To join the Bench, be the Decision-Makers

And I believe, that being of the weaker gender
Does not in any way matter
If you aim high, you dream and you strive to achieve
Despite all odds, perceptions and human theories
Still that basic principal, that all are equal
Will surely over ride
And in every profession, I need not mention
That women can always, match the stride.

Wendy Jerome, 34, is from Milne Bay and now lives in Lae as a lawyer. She loves writing and has been inspired by the late Justice Davani since graduating from law school 10 years ago

PHIL FITZPATRICK

The Melancholy Chronicle of a Reluctant Librarian by ACT Marke, Frogmouth Press, 2016, ISBN: 978-0646958057, 375 pages, AU$30, including postage, from the author, frogmouth07@live.com.au

TEMLETT Conibeer is a much misunderstood character.

And, I suspect, so too is his faithful chronicler, Andrew Marke.

Andrew likes to read 19th century Victorian novels. I think he might have read them all. And, as he has observed, people in those days knew how to write.

Essentially, what he has done in the five Temlett Conibeer novels is take a 19th century character, with all his repressed and conservative views and mannerisms, and dropped him into the 20th century - in particular the liberated 1960s and 70s.

This is where a lot of readers misunderstand Andrew’s intent. They take Temlett much too seriously and assume that he somehow represents a literal characterisation.

I suppose, because I also write, I was able to quickly understand the intent of the novels. Or at least I think I did. Andrew could be having me on too.

I don’t think so, though, because this fifth novel makes it pretty clear what Temlett Conibeer has been all about. That is, he’s a comic and idiosyncratic character. An anachronism. A fish out of water.

While the four previous novels were largely based in Papua New Guinea, this one has an Australian setting. However, the Papua New Guinean theme is not lost.

After PNG, Temlett, like many of us, had a hard time re-adjusting to Australian life. Gone were the days of the unexpected to be replaced by days of tedium and sameness.

That took a lot of getting used to for many of us expatriates and Temlett is no exception.

The poor bugger ends up as a librarian, no less. Or maybe that was really a good thing for a reader of Victorian novels.

The post-independence Temlett decided to live in Canberra, where he has a peripatetic existence gravitating from one temporary library job to another with a series of house-sitting gigs interspersed with motels, hostels and cars as living spaces.

Along the way he pursues a chaste Victorian courtship of the delectable Charlotte while fending off a number of not altogether unwanted attentions from a bizarre collection of other ardent ladies, including a rough diamond from Simbu who reckons he’s the father of her child.

To complicate matters, Temlett has spun his lady love an improbable tale about being an amateur fossicker with a series of fabulous mineral prospects, which his lady love enthusiastically wants to investigate.

Temlett, like our current governments, is adept at getting embroiled in pickles of his own making.

Does he survive to live another day? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

There are a couple of minor things that are a bit disconcerting. The first is the occasional tangent in the narration. One example is a tale from his ex-Nazi friend, Eric, about an affair with Adolf Hitler’s English friend, Unity Mitford. I’m not sure these diversions add much to the book.

The second is the unusual number of typos. This is strange because the four previous books were scrupulously edited.

Temlett Conibeer may be an acquired taste, but if you liked the previous books this one is a bottler and well worth reading. And, if you haven’t read any, hop into this one with confidence.

By the way, PNG Attitude’s now departed contributor and friend, David Wall, gets a tiny cameo mention as the best man at Temlett’s wedding.

I think this is the best of Andrew Marke’s novels so far. And it can be read in its own right. There is no need at all to have read the previous four books.

GARY JUFFA

MY fellow Papua New Guineans, leading up to the 2017 elections I urge you to take to the villages settlements and rural areas and help create awareness on the need for genuine leadership.

Our people lack vital information. They are very much unaware of the state of our nation.

They do not realise that their resources and future are being sold under their very feet without their consent by a conspiracy of evil and selfish politicians, conmen and transnational criminals posing as investors.

They must be informed and prepared to resist this evil cancer that is spreading nationwide.

But who will do it?

We cannot just post emotional outbursts from the comforts of our air conditioned offices or living room and expect change.

We must engage and we must inform.

It is our land. It is our duty. It is our very future we are fighting for.

We must bring about the change we desire.

We cannot rebuke and voice disgust and outrage at our people when they vote selfish imbeciles into parliament.

By failing to inform them and help in the vital process of seeking out and electing good leaders we too are guilty.

So get out there and educate and inform our people and fight for your land and future too.

Awareness. Awareness. Awareness.

Preparation. Preparation. Preparation.

Help inform our people. Help protect our land and future

If 2016 was just a bumpy entree, let's pull those seat belts extra tight for 2017.
Good luck & happy landings to readers for what appears to be an exciting new year.

WARDLEY D BARRY-IGIVISA

A good poem is the one that makes you think;
When it makes you see everyday things in new light;
When it ferries your soul beyond the ink,
And moves your hand to pick up your own pen and write.

A good poem is the one that tells you
One thing but means something totally different.
The meaning hides in a picture or two.
You have to read many times to get the intent.

It uses a lot of imagery.
It stretches your imagination way beyond
Your own depths to speak of the mysteries
Of the gods, mankind, the universe and their bond.

A good poem is highly quotable.
The words are simple, but the message is profound.
It can touch as many as possible.
Its meaning transcends the barriers in which we're bound.

A good poem is far better than this one.
For though it is written in fixed rhythm and rhyme,
It lacks wordplay, imagery and pun.
It's mere prose penned in half sentences in each line.

But that's just me and my philosophy:
I say what I don't mean, and mean what I don't say
In poetry. You don't have to follow me.
Just write! So long as your pen scribbles anyway.

BETTY WAKIA

DESPITE domestic violence, gender inequality and other challenging issues, Papua New Guinea has produced many powerful and inspirational women of real accomplishment.

The next International Women’s Day on 8 March will be a wonderful opportunity to honour these heroes and, with the assistance of PNG Attitude and Pukpuk Publications, the collection of women’s writing, My Walk to Equality, edited by Rashmii Amoah Bell, will do just this.

Traditionally, Papua New Guinean society views women as playing a role that is second fiddle to men. As a result, PNG women who journey along the path of equality and independence find it a road less travelled.

The woman I have selected in this brief catalogue inspire hope and a promise of a greater tomorrow. They can be held high as examples for young PNG women who have historically suffered from a lack of female role models.

History will remember them and their work will continue to greatly inspire upcoming generations and their trail-blazing lives will encourage others to travel their path.

Dame Josephine Abaijah

Dame Josephine is an educator, businesswoman and political leader, being PNG’s first woman to be elected to the House of Assembly in 1972.

She was born in Wamira village, Milne Bay Province, and her career encompassed health administration, several retail businesses and chairmanship of the Interim Commission of the National Capital District.

In 1991, she was named a Dame of the British Empire. In the same year, she published A Thousand Coloured Dreams, based on her life story and the first novel published by a PNG woman. In March 2014, she was awarded the US Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award.

Dame Josephine stepped into politics at a time when deeply embedded cultural perceptions of women’s role precluded them from public life and women’s leadership at the political level was non-existent. She is one of the recognised inspirational role model for advancing the status of women in PNG.

Justice Catherine Anne Davani

Catherine Davani, whose recent early death from breast cancer saddened the nation, came from Dorom village, Rigo, Central Province, and was PNG’s first indigenous female judge. She was also a soccer international.

After graduating from the Legal Training Institute in 1984, Justice Davani started her career with the Public Solicitors office.

In March 2001, she was appointed a judge of the national and supreme courts becoming a great role mole for all PNG girls.

Dame Meg Taylor

Dame Meg, a daughter of Australian explorer Jim Taylor and Yerima Taylor from the Eastern Highlands, is a Papua New Guinean lawyer and diplomat who became the first PNG and a Pacific Islands woman to become Secretary-General to the Pacific Islands Forum.

She hold an law degree from Melbourne University and an master’s degree in law from Harvard University. She began her career as private secretary to then chief minister Michael Somare before PNG independence and continued in this role during his tenure as prime minister.

She was a member of the Law Reform Commission and ambassador to the United States, Mexico and Canada from 1989-94. In 2002, she was made a Dame Commander of the order of the British Empire.

In 2014, Dame Meg became a vice president of the International Finance Corporation and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency of the World Bank Group.

Her appointment as secretary-general of the Pacific Islands Forum was a significant breakthrough for women throughout the Pacific.

Hon Julie Soso Akeke

Julie Soso Akeke, from Eastern Highland Province and the daughter of a paramount chief, is a businesswoman and former radio broadcaster.

In 2012, she became PNG’s first female governor and the first woman from the Highlands region to be elected to parliament.

Before entering politics, Julie Soso was known as a humble and outspoken women’s rights leader and was president of Eastern Highlands Women’s Council and deputy chair of the Eastern Highlands AIDS Council.

Hon Delilah Pueka Gore

Delilah Gore is a daughter of a chief in the Sohe electorate and was elected at the 2012 elections as the first female political leader from Oro Province being appointed as Minister for Higher Education, Science, Research and Technology.

Currently in the role of Minister for Religion, Youth and Community Development, she is one of the inspirational female political leader who urge PNG women to stand together to address women’s issues and women’s rights.

Loujaya Toni Kouza

Loujaya Toni, from Lae, is a poet, teacher, journalist, singer, songwriter and the first woman from her province to become an elected politician. As a schoolgirl, she was nominated as the PNG’s youngest poet by University of Papua New Guinea.

In 1985, she beginning a career as a singer and songwriter and launched a string of solo gospel music albums. In 1991, during the South Pacific Games in Port Moresby, she performed her song Keep the Fire Alive with the group Tambaran Culture. Her poetry was subsequently published by the Education Department in 1998.

In April 2012, shortly before being elected to parliament, Loujaya graduated with a master’s degree in Communication Development Studies at PNG University of Technology.

Florence Jaukae Kamel

Florence Kamel has gained internationally renown as an artist and designer and was elected as a local government councillor in 2002.

She is a founder of Jaukae Bilum Products, managing director of the Goroka Bilum Weavers Cooperative and principal artist of the Goroka Bilum Festival.

She learned the art of the bilum – an integral part of the identity of Papua New Guinean women and, in more recent years, men - from her grandmother.

The work of the Goroka Bilum Weavers Cooperative is now on the walls of leading international galleries including the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane and the Australian Museum in Sydney. Artists from the cooperative have travelled as far as New York and London to mentor design students in their craft.

Florence is an outspoken advocate for women’s rights, a respected leader in the Eastern Highlands and supports more than 50 female artisans by providing a source of income to supplement the seasonal cash crops many women rely on.

Janet Sape

Janet Sape is a founder and executive director of first Women’s Micro Bank in PNG, the first bank of its type in the South Pacific region and fourth in the world. She’s also the founder of Women in Business, established to develop financial literacy among PNG’s women.

She was named by APEC as the first winner of PNG’s Iconic Women in 2015. In the same year, she also became Westpac’s Outstanding Woman of the Year.

In her youth, Janet was a professional netball player who represented PNG in the world championships, going on to coach the national team and eventually becoming president of the PNG Netball Federation.

She has been an unsuccessful candidate in the last three national elections and is one of the Pacific’s best known advocates on women’s issues, particularly on the need for economic empowerment and financial freedom.

Francesca Rhianna Semoso

Francesca Semoso was a radio broadcaster and one the first women to be deputy speaker of the Bougainville House of Representatives. She was elected to parliament in 2005 for the North Bougainville Women Constituency.

She also serves as deputy chair of the Standing Orders Committee and as a member of the Parliament Business Committee.

Francesca is an advocate of women’s leadership in PNG and ardent supporter of temporary special measures (TSMs) to increase the number of women in the region’s highest decision making body because she believes “the women of Bougainville are natural leaders”.

Bosa Togs

Bosa Togs is general manager of information technology at Telikom PNG. She won the 2016 Westpac Outstanding Women award after successfully campaigning for equal pay for women employed by Telikom, taking up the case of two female colleagues, both engineers and single mothers struggling to support their families.

Mary Handen

Mary Handen is one of the only female to have been elevated to the Steamship Trading Company’s expatriate male-dominated senior management team after being appointed General Manager of Human Resources.

Moale Leah Vagikapi

Moale Vagikapi is a female entrepreneur, founder and co-director of IM Associates, a property development and management business that has expanded into other areas including mobile medical services.

She was recognised for her long service to the now disbanded Australian International Development Agency (AusAID). Moale has been also recognised by the Royal PNG Constabulary for her contribution to the human resource development in the police force.

Rita Jaima Paru

Rita is owner and manageress of Dial-A-Lunch services, a catering business operating in Port Moresby supplying affordable catering for government, business and the public. In 2014, she won the Westpac Outstanding Women Awards and was a finalist for the SP Brewery Entrepreneur Award.

In 2016, she was a Global Women in Management leadership training program recipient awarded by Exxon Mobil and Plan USA. Rita is an inspiring community leader and businesswoman who help girls and women in local churches to learn basic cooking, food handling, baking and other skills.

Penny Sage-embo

Penny Sage-embo is a professional social work counsellor and trainer. She is founder and Director of Joy’s Social Training Institute, which aims to help women by empowering and motivating them through counselling, formal supervision, awareness raising and focused training programs for businesses and the community on gender equalities and the roles and responsibilities of women in the business world.

Joyce Kiage

Joyce Kiage is a tailoring entrepreneur and became a successful businesswoman by providing sewing services and making uniforms for major businesses. She was the winner of the 2015 Westpac Outstanding Women SP Brewery Entrepreneur Award. Her businesses expansion has been driven largely by commitment to service. Her goal is to own a garment factory in PNG.

Lady Winifred Kamit

Lady Winifred has led change to improve the economic of women in PNG. She is a commissioner of the Public Service Commission, founding chairperson of the Coalition for Change and patron of the PNG Business Coalition for Women.

She also a senior partner in Garden’s Lawyers and board member for numerous businesses, where she helps PNG develop a consciousness about domestic violence and workplace equality.

KEITH JACKSON

ON THE eve of the new year – which is 2017 not 1984 – Papua New Guinea’s cumbersomely named ‘National Information and Communications Technology Authority’, NICTA – continued its surreptitious assault on the nation’s freedom of speech.

According to its own propaganda, NICTA is “taking steps towards addressing the gross misuse and abuse of social media in Papua New Guinea”.

While there are undoubtedly reckless cowboys using PNG’s social media, one would have thought that the existing body of law related to defamation, privacy and related issues might be sufficient to deal with the slanderers, recalcitrants and other low life that unfortunately frequent every aspect of human existence – including the internet.

But no, the social media apparently require special oppression.

NICTA chief executive officer, Charles (Punish ‘Em) Punaha says he’ss soon start a print (not social) media advertising campaign to outline the criminal offences itemised within the new ‘Cybercrime Code Act 2016’.

"Currently NICTA does not have any specific powers to order an ICT service provider to block off a website,” Punish ‘Em complained.

"This responsibility has to be given to the police department and other law enforcement agencies.

"NICTA will assist in the event that the aggrieved person or a victim of an allegation makes a formal complaint with the police.”

Punish ‘Em asserted that NICTA was receiving “numerous complaints” but did not reveal how many, where they were from or what they were about.

Part of what NICTA requires is for every internet service provider to appoint staff who will “monitor and screen everything that is appearing on the websites and undertake appropriate actions."

The ‘appropriate actions’ were not defined but presumably include taking censorship, bans and reporting to police and intelligence authorities.

GARRY ROCHE

IN the 1970s the coffee industry was booming in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea. 

Expatriates managed many plantations but the local people also cultivated relatively large coffee gardens.

The harvested coffee beans were transported by open backed jeeps or utilities; the tray on the back referred to as the ‘coffee tray’.

Toyota Stouts and LandCruisers and various Nissan and Subaru vehicles were in demand as carriers. The Stout, while not a four-wheel drive, could carry a big load along roads which, while not sealed, in those days were kept in relatively good condition.

At that time Kala Motors was the main Toyota dealer in Mt Hagen.  Named after nearby Kala creek, the operation was owned by Norm Camps, for a time in partnership with the wonderfully-named Neptune Blood.

A small group of coffee growers from the Baiyer River valley decided the Toyota Stout would be best for transporting their coffee, but instead of buying in Mt Hagen they decided to go to Ela Motors in Lae for the purchase.

This group of five or six men, some still in traditional dress, travelled to Lae and made their way to Ela Motors.

There were a large number of LandCruisers and Stouts on display in the yard. They looked carefully at the Stouts, checking tyres, springs and the coffee tray and made their way into the salesroom.

The salesman looked at them with curiosity.  He thought they seemed a bit overawed by the number of vehicles and their prices. A spokesman approached the salesman said they were interested in the Toyota Stout and started asking detailed questions about price, insurance, road tax, delivery and so on.

The salesman doubted the men had enough money to buy a Toyota Stout, but told them what they wanted to know.

The spokesman returned to the group, which went into a huddle. Bundles of notes were extracted and rough calculations made. They compared the price with what they knew about the cost of the same vehicle in Hagen. They could drive back to Hagen and there would be no delivery charge.

They returned to the salesman. They queried him again on the price.  He told them that he could not lower the price and that, if they could not afford the Toyota Stout, they should get a cheaper vehicle. He even told them that the nearby Nissan dealer probably had Datsun utilities at a lower price.

The spokesman said they wanted the Stout.  He double-checked with the group about their financial situation and came back with a decision.

“We like the Stout, the price is OK, we have enough money.

“We will buy six of them.”

The astounded salesman watched in amazement as the Baiyer men counted out the several thousands needed to purchase six Toyota Stouts. 

A day or two later, the Baiyer men drove in convoy back to the Western Highlands, horns blaring in triumph as they proceeded through Hagen town on their way to Baiyer with six new vehicles.

PAUL FLANAGAN | Edited extracts

Read the complete article at the PNG Economics website

IN an extraordinary step, and for the first time in Papua New Guinea’s 41 years of independence, its government has refused to release the International Monetary Fund’s assessment of the economy.

An IMF mission visited PNG mid-2016 and the O'Neill-Dion government is clearly embarrassed by its economic performance over the year.

Its reticence moves PNG to the bottom two percent of world governments which are unwilling to be transparent about the state of their economy.

The IMF’s final press release before Christmas indicated that “the [PNG] authorities need more time to consider the publication of the staff report and the related press release.”

This appears to be polite diplomatic-speak to suggest the PNG government does not want to release the information.

There has been more than enough time for the IMF’s views to be considered and for the PNG government to respond.

In the absence of any explanation for this unprecedented delay, an action so out of step with nearly all other countries, it is impossible to conclude other than that the PNG government disagrees with the IMF's assessment.

But, rather than engaging in open public debate, it simply doesn't want alternative views published at this time, to an emerging pattern of reduced transparency from the O'Neill-Dion government.

Why does this matter?

Firstly, PNG has been actively seeking international financing to cover its foreign exchange and budget funding shortfalls following the largest budget deficits in its history. With this lack of transparency, the chances of obtaining a sovereign bond are effectively zero. International investors will be looking for adequate information from a trusted international source (the IMF) to assess the risks of investing in a PNG bond.

Second, such actions will also flow into assessments of PNG by other international lenders.

Third, international credit agencies will view this development with concern. The question becomes, “What are they trying to hide?”

Fourth, it will affect broader investor confidence in PNG. It is not just the quality and availability of the resource riches in PNG that attract investors – it is a broader set of issues including economic management and transparency. Hiding information will affect future economic growth possibilities.

Finally, and most importantly, the people of PNG have lost a key source of reasonably independent information for judging the performance of the O’Neill-Dion government.

During 2016 there have been growing doubts about the credibility of information provided by the PNG government. Relevant issues include: the Treasurer's confusion about the actual size of the economy; the severity of PNG's falling growth performance; the unfortunate retreat to printing money; serious credibility issues around budget revenues, expenditures and financing; the move to a fixed exchange rate and linked foreign exchange shortages; and what are increasingly seen as anti-growth policies.

If the O'Neill/Dion government is doing as well as it claims on such issues, it should have been in a position to welcome the IMF report.

I have been critical of many of the PNG government's numbers during 2016.

My articles have pointed to statistics lacking credibility, policy confusion and fraudulent practices in the latest budget.

The IMF report could have proven the PNG government was right and that I was wrong.  Instead, the government has chosen the dishonourable path of suppressing information from a well-recognised international source.

In 2015, the only two IMF members that did not publish a press release with the Board’s assessments were Suriname and Dominica. Less than 12 months later, both countries were in IMF programs trying to sort out economic crises.

If there is a change of PNG’s government in mid-2017, it is likely that assistance will have to be sought from the IMF and other concessional sources of finance to help deal with PNG’s partially hidden economic mess.

If there is no change of government, and even with the boom of another few big resource projects, PNG is likely to continue down a slippery slope of poor economic outcomes for its people and declining transparency on economic management.

That the O’Neill-Dion Government felt the need to hide feedback from the IMF is a shameful way to start 2017.

PETER S KINJAP

THERE are many good politicians, public servants and private citizens who want a corruption free and prosperous Papua New Guinea.

But there are many others who are rotten within the system of government and in the public service.

While last week’s news about a public servant sentenced to nine years gaol for defrauding the state of K5 million sends a signal, there is much more corruption; very much more.

What is exposed is the result of the fine work of the anti-corruption team, which works hard to expose such abuse.

The most recent fraud concerned K5 million awarded for three Bailey Bridges to be constructed; but the culprit completed just one, pocketing the remaining money.

A crude crime, but so common in many PNG government departments.

It’s even got its own slang - “kicks & cuts”.

There are also “grips & grabs” - funds paid for doing favours, especially for people in a position to award contracts.

Both “kicks & cuts” and “grips & grabs” are popular forms of corruption in PNG today.

As graft finds its way into new twists and turns, those with criminal minds look for ways to make their deals look “legal”, providing us with yet another term - “legalised corruption”.

Sometimes, common people are confused about whether something is corrupt or not, especially if it’s “legalised corruption.”

A country with a population approaching eight million where about half the people are illiterate offers a much higher prospect of continued “legalised corruption”.

It is sad to see a country blessed with abundant natural resources with so much being grabbed by a very few corrupted hands. Corruption will continue until politicians and public servants change their ways and the rest of us vote in good political leaders who can truly fight against corruption.

The question many Papua New Guineans ask is why we continue to elect political leaders who have been implicated in a corruption?

It’s depressing to witness this happening with same old recycled politicians manipulating the same old public servants.

Let’s hope 2017 will bring change.

JOHN MURRAY

PAUL Milton Jones, who died in Canberra just before Christmas, was born in Sydney in 1942 and grew up with a love of bush-walking and no inkling that he would get more than his fill of it in the mountains of Papua New Guinea.

In 1962 he successfully applied for acceptance as a cadet patrol officer and after initial training found himself at Bolubolu, PNG, in 1963.

Even while patrolling the remotest parts of the country, Paul sought to maintain his cultural connections with Australia.

Just before 1 pm each weekday he would instruct a carrier to shinny up a tree with a radio aerial so he could listen to the latest episode of Blue Hills transmitted on shortwave by the ABC.

His feeling of independence as a single man was undermined when he met Brenda McInherny, a young Australian girl teaching at the Ladava Mission School in Milne Bay. They were married at Port Macquarie in 1967.

Returning to PNG to a posting at Morehead, Paul was selected to undertake the 12 month ‘long course’ at the Australian School of Pacific Administration in Sydney.

Here he was trained in local government and law, which added magisterial duties to his other roles. He returned to a post in Popondetta and was there until he resigned in 1971.

After a short time with the Blue Mountains Council west of Sydney, Paul joined the Australian Capital Territory Police - later absorbed in the Australian Federal Police.

Here he undertook a wide range of duties including two years in London as a liaison officer attached to the Australian High Commission. He had a long and successful career of 26 years, opting for early retirement in 2000 with the rank of Superintendent.

Toward the end of his career Paul worked closely with community agencies engaging with young people on the edges of society through Project Saul near Wee Jasper, a cause close to his heart.

He remained committed to many smilar roles including volunteering as a guide at Old Parliament House, Lifeline and the University of the Third Age but never neglecting his love of boats and travel. 

In recent years Paul experienced cardiac problems, one of which prevented him leaving a cruise ship visiting Alotau.

On 18 December 2016, in the words of his family, Paul "passed away peacefully at home in the arms of love".

A devoted family man, Paul is survived by his wife Brenda, three children and two grandchildren.

EMMA WAKPI

MY motherland, I am writing this letter on the eve of Christmas to let you know how much I love and appreciate you.

This time of the year reminds us of what we should be thankful for and of what love is really all about.

Often times we argue so much about what is wrong and right and how it’s supposed to be done nowadays but at the end of the day, you are family, you give me my identity and I find my comfort in your coarse gruffness which conceals a heart so fiercely loyal to me.

At times I pine for things other nations can offer their children and am ashamed to admit that in my youth I’ve oft rued the fact that destiny saw fit to make me a Papua New Guinean.

But as I have grown and experienced what life has had to offer - as opportunities have allowed me to visit other countries and cultures; I have discovered that no one is perfect and even the most ideal of situations have their faults.

Looking back I realise the privilege of growing up as a Papua New Guinean and the unique traits that helped create my identity.

Nowhere else on earth can I find a family so diverse and realise the feat it takes to congregate hundreds of nations into the single entity known as PNG and to keep it functioning.

Individual identities are not smothered but like jigsaw puzzles are being pieced together to complete a picture. How this picture will turn out, only God knows.

I am an integral part of that overall puzzle - my piece of the picture you are designing. The way you are shaping me is altogether unique, the experiences and memories are what constitute my mind, body and soul.

I realise this now and do not want to take for granted the encounters which you have allowed to mould and shape me.

I therefore would like to reminisce and share with you the impact that you have had on me and how you’ve helped shape my life up to now. I’ll start with the colours and times of my early childhood, the experiences of my village. Those days are tinged with a golden light.

Adults sitting around the open fire in the evening as I lie at the back drifting hazily upon the quiet conversations about the garden and its yields.

That stubborn pig that’s always escaping from its fenced parameter.

The recounting of bygone days with revered ancestors admired for their feats of hunting, fighting and gardening.

Then rising at dawn to hear my grandfather sharpen his axe as he sings old chants; seeing his toothy, bearded grin as he stoops to enter the hut to prepare our smoky breakfast of sweet tea and roasted bananas – his specialty.

I hear my grandmother lovingly calling out to her pigs in the pig house as she ties ropes around the front ankles, leading them to good feeding grounds for the day.

My attention is caught and catapulted to the surrounding kunai hills as my uncle lustily exchanges the morning news with yodelling neighbours while my aunt and mother listen in and make ready their bilums with the supplies needed for a day of gardening.

I see myself straddling my grandfather’s shoulders, clinging to his hair like a young kapul as he effortlessly carries me along, balancing his spade and other working tools on one shoulder while climbing the small hill to work the family garden.

And of him letting me sneak off to play with other children hunting cicadas, grasshoppers and any critters we can safely eat.

The bursts of emotional experience now sweep over me.

The sheer excitement as groups of children and older teenagers go mushroom hunting when the season has started and the cautionary voices of my grandparents telling us to bring everything home to identify before it can be consumed.

The feeling of complete contentment and fun as I see my mother and older cousins and aunts fill bilums full of bedding and clothes, talking and laughing as they take them to the nearby river to launder.

I find myself playing tag with other children, diving and splashing about in the cool shallow pools and drying ourselves, basking lazily like lizards on the big stones.

In the afternoon I follow my older cousins and their friends to the nearby hill which has been laboriously watered to make a slippery slope. Each child has brought along banana trunks with carved designs stylized from twigs and leaves.

The fun as teams are formed and pairs race each other to see who can reach the bottom first while successfully clinging to the banana trunk. The exhilaration of speeding down that hill and taking a risk; whilst bathed a dusky red by the wet mud.

I see my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins clinging to me and crying as my father gently pries me away from them and carries me into an airplane. The people inside look fresh and crisp and I am in awe of the air stewardess.

The straight hair, red lips and pencilled eyebrows fascinate me but this is swooped aside and my heart soars as the plane takes off and a complete sense of surreal wonder overwhelms me as I watch everything fade and cars and houses become like the toys that Dad always brought home when he came on his breaks. 

He is taking my mother, sister and I to that place where he works. When we arrive, the place is green and dense, blanketing and swallowing up everything.

It is a colour I’ve never experienced - my own village canopy allowed sunlight to at least filter through and tinge everything a yellowish gold; it is not so here, and it is a bit frightening.

But slowly it grows on me and envelopes me in its mountainous embrace, solid and soothing. It is in this mass of green comfort that I learn to speak and read English, to bond with my nuclear family, to make friends in church and school and to become comfortable with neighbours from other countries.

There is a sense of wonder at the modern world I’ve stepped into. Walking into our kapa house for the first time, it seemed hollow and so full of air and light. Everything is new, white and exciting – the light and fan switches, taps, shower basin, flushing toilet and we even have a washing machine.

Oh the wonder of turning things on and off at the switch of a button or a twist of a knob – no smoky lamp and fires to blow, no running down the slope to cart water from the watering hole, no more pit toilets in the middle of the night where my imagination terrorises me with shadows cast from the kerosene lamp. 

And Dad shows me the television for the first time. What words can describe that feeling? (I learn to speak and read English watching Sesame Street and Play School every morning and afternoon with Mum.)

The sense of awe extends to the start of my education. As I walk into my prep class, Mrs Bignal intrigues me. The red hair, nails and lips contrast sharply with her pale countenance and she seems rather stern but I soon find out she is fun as she untangles me from behind my mothers’ skirt and tells me to go play.  

Mr Canham, my 2nd grade teacher (reading a portion of the Arabian Nights every afternoon), introduces me to the world of books and helps me discover the magic of the cool library with soft bean bags and captivating shelves holding imaginations of every kind.

Many a lunch and after school session finds me holed up devouring anything that grabs my interest.

The jungle green now transforms into a deep red hue with flickers of black. This is the dawning of my self-realisation - of trying to discover who I am and how I should live in this country called PNG.

My existence consists of several dimensions -my family, my culture, my peers, my faith; I attend high school and university and interact with various nationalities and cultures. How do I balance them all?

I find my friends “don’t get” my village life so that becomes my private world where I escape to every school holidays to fall into the loving arms of family and where modern amenities are exchanged for a more primitive setting in smoky huts as I snuggle close to my grandmother and listen to her singsong voice retelling tales of old.

Of squatting next to my grandfather as he operates on the slaughtered pig for our “family Christmas” feast.

Of wandering into the jungle with my aunt and uncle to see them clear land for new gardens, of following my cousins as they participate in the Christmas games of volleyball and basketball where the rules are made up and which I find a bit too rough for my now town bred self.

But I enjoy watching and cheering and every now and again brave the swinging arms and thrusting hips to play.

My culture has certain expectations of me as an educated man’s daughter. How I conduct myself in the village, how I dress, how I react to situations, knowing my place - there is a structure which places me on a certain level and this is in stark contrast to the independence I am so used to in school.

I huff and puff and grumble but know that I must comply or else bring shame to my family.

How do I do it so I don’t feel as if I’m being coerced into something? How do I do it so that I am not condescending but sincere? I realise love, respect and understanding of world views is crucial to achieving this balance.

Having been exposed to a broader view of the world and having decided toward the end of my high school days to accept Christ and follow his teaching, I realise that unconditional love and seeing things from another’s perspective brings understanding.

For this I am thankful for my parents counsel; they too have had to tread this path - my nuclear family helped me fit better into my extended family, culture and Papua New Guinea as a nation.

And now, as I accept myself and my place, I can with understanding address issues that to me are wrong - the flickers of black. Not all things are rosy recollections. There are kinks in the cultures and ways of my people and I continue to struggle against them.

But for the most part I am at peace, I love and am loved fully in return and find contentment in my identity – I have a place in this world where I can wholly belong - to know who I am even as I interact and am drawn in by an ever increasingly global world and its persuasions. 

My dear PNG, as I ponder all this, I realise the privilege and richness of my life.

I thank God for creating me and choosing me to be your citizen and placing me in your care to be shaped and fitted; to experience what I have experienced and to work toward an even better future.

I love you and honour you and at Christmas, as we reflect on the meaning of giving; of love unconditional bestowed with abandon to all mankind, I pray God grant me the grace to live out a life of integrity and love so that I can make you proud.

KEITH JACKSON

EDITED by Rashmii Amoah Bell, My Walk to Equality, the first ever collection of women’s writing from Papua New Guinea, has entered the final stages of production.

The book, of more than 200 pages, is published by Pukpuk Publications and will be launched in Port Moresby and Brisbane in March.

The collection of 70 essays includes commentaries, stories and poems by 40 writers and has been elegantly organised to provide a comprehensive insight into the range of issues that affect women in PNG today.

The first section, a compilation of writing, concerns relationships – how they operate, become dysfunctional and can be revived.

Then follows contributions on self-awareness and self-empowerment, two significant psychological phenomena that determine the efficacy with which women can cope with and manage the discrimination and prejudice they all too often confront.

The third section consists of works on breaking the glass ceiling - challenging society’s views about women.

And the final segment looks at legacies, stories on what the women of today have been bequeathed by some great female role models who went before them.

In addition to this abundance of writing, there are forewords by Elvina Ogel and Tanya Zeriga-Alone and an introduction by Rashmii Bell backgrounding the book, highlighting its themes and referring to some of the contributions that stood out for her.

As I write this, it seems we have not succeeded in gaining financial support for book distribution from either the United Nations Development Program or the Australian High Commission in Papua New Guinea.

UNDP was never keen, despite its stewardship of the United Nations sustainable development goals which PNG is seeking to achieve and which this book articulates.

My Walk to Equality also falls squarely into two of the critical objectives of all external development assistance to PNG – the elimination of violence against women and the promotion of gender equality.

The Australian representatives in PNG expressed enthusiasm for the concept but have so far made no firm commitment. I’m still hoping

That said, the project continues, albeit on a smaller scale than we would want, and we again thank Jo Holman and the Paga Hill Development Company for their support.

They appreciate the important statement the publication of this book makes about Papua New Guinean women receiving recognition and support in the struggle against prejudice and their striving for equality in society.

My Walk to Equality offers both direct action and the opportunity to be a catalyst for even more positive developments.

Meanwhile, the publication in PNG Attitude of stories from the book has attracted much positive comment from readers of the blog and elsewhere in social media.

It seems what this book has to say is already having an impact especially in assisting to empower those women who are in a position to take a lead.

WARDLEY D BARRY-IGIVISA

I had to laugh tonight
A hero wannabe
Trying to tell PNG
How to write

Only succeeded
In him being narrow
Like the hollow
In a brain that's dead

So much travel
Yet so little perspective
So many years lived
As a literary rebel

Ha, what makes you think you can hold my pen?
Who told you to hold my hand?
My friend, I too have a hand
And I myself am a better man

Too much pride and it's reeking hell
Come down, we're all the same
Each with a rhyme, each with a name
Each with a story to tell

Let our art be free
Inspiration is not bound
Lest our souls be buried in the ground
I must pen what my dreams see

Ha, you fool!
How can you trap imagination?
How can you restrict inspiration?
Who on earth gave you the rule?

Take back your gibberish!
Let me run the corners of the earth
Let me speak of its myths and mirth
To unite the world is a true poet's wish

I deny not my roots
Deep down I'm Melanesian
Though I write Shakespearean
And wear black boots.

Take your words elsewhere
I don't need a hero
But one who can see beyond his ego
And tell me run where my dreams are.

CHRIS OVERLAND

ON New Year's Day, I sit before my computer contemplating the fact that it is now some 48 years since I first set foot in Papua New Guinea.

It seems a very long time ago that I first walked down the stairs from an Ansett Airlines Boeing 727 and made my way across the shimmering tarmac towards a somewhat dilapidated terminal building at Jackson's Field.

In doing so, I entered a world that was utterly different to anything I had experienced before, in which I would do, hear and see things that were beyond my wildest imaginings. It was as if I had been suddenly transported to a place and time that was not quite of this world.

As I subsequently discovered, I had indeed been catapulted back in time in more ways than one, not least because I was amongst peoples who were the living embodiment of humanity's (mostly) distant past.

Because, like most Australians of my age, I was a naive, semi-educated idiot, I naturally failed to truly grasp the full significance of what had occurred until long afterwards.

At the time, I only recall marvelling at the differentness of PNG and, to my shame, feeling a bit superior because I represented "civilisation". Oh, the folly and arrogance of youth!

I had only the dimmest insight into what was happening to the people of PNG, who were in the middle of a veritable maelstrom of change and disruption, as their ancient cultures and traditions crashed head long into ideas, knowledge and technologies that were, for them, little short of magical.

Now, I am amazed by the intelligence, resilience, fortitude and adaptability with which the Papua New Guinean people embraced the changes imposed upon them. Their collective decision to go with the changes rather than blindly oppose them are what made it possible for a mere handful of kiaps to exert control over the country.

We ex-kiaps do, I think, fancy ourselves as a special breed and there is some truth in that idea. There has seldom been a stranger collection of adventurers, misfits and restless souls to end up effectively running a country.

However, no amount of arduous and, sometimes, truly courageous patrol work could or should have allowed a few hundred of us to govern the lives of millions of people.

I think that the truth is that the people of Papua New Guinea decided to endure us because they judged the actual and potential advantages to be worth the annoyance involved. This is the only way that I can explain how a 19 year old from Murray Bridge could get away with sometimes behaving like a feudal lordling in medieval England without wearing an axe behind the ear.

That said, because we were mostly Australians, we carried with us an instinctive tendency towards egalitarianism. I think that this gave rise to unique form of colonialism that was at once patronising and condescending, yet mostly motivated by genuine concern for Papua New Guineans.

Basically, most kiaps believed that the country had a vibrant future if and when its full potential could be realised. I thought then as I think now, that had PNG been a state of Australia, it would now be the richest state, not to mention the most beautiful by far.

I think that it is very telling that, at no stage, did I or any kiap I knew, consider that Australia "owned" Papua New Guinea. We always knew that we were merely there for the time being, not forever. And so it proved.

Now, 48 years later, it is not just Papua New Guineans who find themselves enmeshed in a veritable maelstrom of change.

The whole world seems to struggling to find a new way of being in the face of an onslaught of ideas and technologies that really are magical in some respects, but carry with them profound implications for the future.

If 2016 is any guide, we are not doing very well in adapting to this new world order, with some of us preferring to retreat into a facsimile of an idealised past that never actually existed.

As a consequence, some very old and very bad ideas like ethno-centric ultra-nationalism are, like some sort of zombies, clawing their way out the graves into which my parent's generation thought they had consigned them.

Our increasingly complex world is now dominated by the relentless advance of technology, coupled with the huge and disruptive socio-economic changes that are the logical consequence of the triumph of neo-liberal capitalism and globalisation.

Basically, a great deal of wealth has been transferred from the developed world to places like China, India and South East Asia, mostly at the expense of the least knowledgeable and skilled workers in places like the USA, Europe and Australia.

Huge numbers of people in the developing world have been lifted out of poverty by this shift in resources, but it has come at a cost to many others, who have seen their jobs disappear overseas and property markets grotesquely inflated by overseas investors anxious to park their money beyond the reach of their own, much more authoritarian governments.

Our political class seems unable or unwilling to develop policies that can ameliorate the worst effects of this process whilst still allowing necessary socio-economic change to occur in a semi-controlled manner.

Not surprisingly, many increasingly angry and disillusioned people are turning to those who offer clear, simple and entirely wrong solutions to these problems. Donald Trump has demonstrated the power such ideas can exert when the circumstances are right.

Perhaps we should collectively take a leaf out of Papua New Guinea's book and embrace the changes even if we don't much like them and not, whether literally or metaphorically, try to destroy the harbingers of that change.

Like PNG, we can decide to accept those changes that seem to make sense and adapt or jettison those that don't. This seems to me to be a plausible strategy and one that is broadly consistent with human history so far.

Sure, none of this means that we will have a trouble free ride into a distinctly uncertain future, but at least it confers a degree of control over the entire process and may allow us to avoid the worst possible outcomes that necessarily accompany resisting the irresistible.

Right now, I think that the jury is still out on whether humanity, collectively, is smart enough to make the same decision as those Papua New Guineans who so long ago decided to absorb, not fight, the shock of the new.

While the best hopes and expectations of those people have not yet been realised, I think that the wisdom of that collective decision is clearly evident. PNG is an imperfect state but its great potential may yet be realised.  It is merely a question of grasping it.

The same can be said for all of us.

NB: The title to this piece is borrowed from ‘The Shock of the New' by Robert Hughes. He was talking about art, not economics, but the title seemed apt - CO.

DAMIEN MURPHY | Fairfax Media

EIGHTEEN years after independence, Papua New Guinea was starting to cut ties with Australia and the Keating government was struggling with ways to maintain the relationship.

Just released Australian cabinet papers for 1992-93 reveal Australia’s view of PNG prime minister Paias Wingti as trying to diversify foreign and commercial relations away from Australia, under the banner of "Look North".

Since his 1992 election he had postponed his first official visit to Australia, but a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade report to the cabinet in November 1993 noted he had visited Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Nauru and devoted a lot of energy to developing relations with Malaysia, including encouraging a Malaysian logging company to set up a newspaper, and seeking to secure Malaysian investment in the Lihir gold project.

"The Wingti government is more aggressively nationalistic and reformist than its predecessors," DFAT said.

"Wingti is a populist, impatient for change. His actions suggest he takes the relationship with Australia somewhat for granted ...

“He and some of his ministers see Australian models as of declining relevance for PNG, and believe that in some areas we are holding PNG back economically. Some of his actions suggest he would be happy to see Australian influence diluted, especially in the economy."

The National Archives of Australia partially exempted parts of the DFAT report from public access because it could have an impact on the Commonwealth's relations with PNG.

DFAT clearly thought little of some PNG government members: "Foreign minister [John] Kaputin, who is something of a special case, believes bilateral relations are still characterised by colonialist modes."

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet's input to the DFAT report was also less than enthusiastic.

"The Wingti government's policy directions on internal security, Bougainville and trade policy – and its lack of attention to Torres Strait issues (where two Africans had entered Australia illegally the previous February) – are a cause for concern," the department said.

"We consider it is important to maintain the pressure for better management by the PNG government of security and law and order by holding to our policy of not agreeing to requests for new assistance to the security sector unless they are part of a clear PNG government strategy and are in accord with our objectives."

The cabinet was told the biggest impact had been on Australian business.

"The Wingti government's nationalist stance has created a more difficult environment for Australian companies. Australian food exporting, air charter and construction firms have been adversely affected by protectionist measures," DFAT said.

"The greatest impact has occurred in the mining sector. In March 1993, PNG secured an additional 15% equity in the Porgera gold mine from the three joint venturers (Placer Pacific, MIM and Renison). In the process, the value of PNG-exposed stocks on the Australian stock market fell by $1.43 billion.

"The PNG government was highly critical of CRA's role in Mt Kare (a factor in CRA's decision to abandon the mine) and appears intent on loosening CRA's grip on the (closed) Bougainville copper mine.

"At both ministerial and officials level, we have repeatedly stressed to PNG over the past year the importance of maintaining a stable and consistent investment climate, and our expectation that Australian companies will receive non-discriminatory treatment."

The Office of National Assessments' prediction was even bleaker.

"Wingti is mistaken in assuming that the Panguna mine (Bougainville) can be made operable in the forseeable future. This has encouraged him to believe that a military victory is imminent. As a result he risks losing a propitious opportunity to forge a compromise settlement."

THE State, Society and Governance in Melanesia program (SSGM) at the Australian National University is calling for applications to participate in the PNG Women in Leadership Support Program.

The deadline for application submission is 4pm on Monday 9 January 2017 and applications can be made online here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Module1Part1.

Following completion of this first phase of the application process, SSGM will review your responses and may contact you for more information to complete the application process.

This month SSGM commences a five year PNG Women in Leadership program.

Supported by the Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development program, the goal of the program is to improve women’s political participation by enhancing their competitiveness in elections.

Drawing on the latest research concerning successful electoral campaigning in PNG, prospective women candidates will be provided with a program of staged electoral cycle support to help them develop effective and tailored campaign strategies that respond to the distinctive circumstances of their particular electorates.

In doing so, it is hoped that the program will help to improve the overall performance of women candidates in elections, and ultimately the level of women’s representation in parliament and sub- national legislatures.

More information about the Program is available here: http://ssgm.bellschool.anu.edu.au/our-projects/png-women-leadership-support-program.

To be eligible for the program you must be a woman intending to contest PNG’s 2017 national general elections, the 2018 LLG elections and/or the 2022 national general elections.

Applications should only be completed by intending candidates and not family members or campaign managers.

If you are selected to participate in this program, you must be able to commit to attending a three-day training workshop to be held in late January or early February 2017. You will be advised of the workshop dates and locations as soon as possible.

We anticipate that workshops will be held in Port Moresby, Kavieng, Tari, Mt Hagen, Goroka, Wewak, Madang and Buka, though workshop locations will be determined according to applicant demand.

A globe-trotting journalist pays tribute to his own country

FREE DOWNLOAD

I Can See My Country Clearly Now. Much-travelled journalist Daniel Kumbon was born in Enga, university educated and is now back working among his own people. In this book, the award-winning writer tells of his global travels and reflects on how his many experiences revealed Papua New Guinea to him in a new light. Daniel's book joins other excellent works on offer absolutely free through PNG Attitude and all available by clicking the links just below the masthead....