Eric Tlozek with Ikundi villagers - the land and its people captured Eric like it captures most of us

ERIC TLOZEK | Australian Broadcasting Corporation

PORT MORESBY - I learnt about Papua New Guinea through the struggles of my staff and of strangers.

One staff member had a premature baby, which died at just six days old. Sitting with the grieving family around the body of that tiny girl I witnessed a deep and terrible sadness.

Another staff member nearly died from tuberculosis, then a subsequent bout of pneumonia.

One's brother was shot and killed, another endured horrible domestic violence.

I treated others for infections and took them to hospital when they had been beaten and robbed.

I did the same for a woman I found bleeding on the street, who'd been hit in the head with a rock.

Early in my posting, I stopped to help my neighbour, who subsequently died from a heart attack as I drove him to hospital.

I stopped a man who was bashing his girlfriend's head into the footpath.

I was greatly affected by this violence, and it's something PNG is known for, but it is actually the country's greatest contradiction.

People are absurdly helpful to each other and to outsiders — particularly Australians, but they can show great cruelty to their fellow Papua New Guineans.

That saddened and shamed me most of all.

I would be welcomed in villages where women had been gang raped, or people tortured after being accused of sorcery.

The same officials who would seek bribes from poor people who needed their help would fast-track my documents.

Men who were killing their neighbours in brutal tribal conflicts would hug me like a brother.

It's my great hope that Papua New Guineans — who are so kind to everyone else — will stop accepting such levels of violence and cruelty to each other.

After I became the PNG Correspondent in 2015, I encountered two prevailing Australian viewpoints of the country.

One view is of a corrupt, violent and failing state, the other is of a place of fond memories, warm, friendly people and potential.

The first view implies a kind of arrogant disgust at PNG's failings, and the second parental affection for Australia's colonial offspring.

It was Australia that gave PNG its independence and an underfunded push into the modern world.

Both views contain some truth, and both are incomplete.

You can't look at PNG without seeing its flaws, and you can't live in PNG without being touched by its warmth.

I still don't fully understand the place or its people — in fact, my time in PNG taught me a lot about the corruption and lack of accountability in Australia.

Of course there are grave problems in PNG and much of the violence I mentioned is caused or aggravated by failures of government.

The absence of the state — its failure to provide essential services — is stark in rural areas where the bulk of the population live.

The most awful violence — the worst tribal fighting for which PNG is known — occurs around the country's biggest resources project.

It's where the army and police guard a gas plant, while some women and children are raped in surrounding villages, then ransomed back to their families by the men of warring clans.

Eric Tlozek filming solo in Chimbu - the days of travelling with a crew of three or four are long gone

Corruption and mismanagement of medical supply contracts left PNG dangerously short of HIV medication recently.

A visit to those rural health centres which are still open will show you crumbling buildings without medicine.

These failures contribute to the mutation and spread of dangerous communicable diseases — "superbugs" on Australia's doorstep.

Maternal and child mortality rates are the worst in the region.

Government relief efforts for the recent highlands earthquake were slow, expensive and inadequate.

Profiteering was rife and dysfunction at local levels painfully evident.

Tens of thousands of people were excluded from voting in last year's elections — the results of which were highly questionable, and in which not one woman was elected.

Corruption stops people from getting essential identity documents or even the most basic help from their government.

Almost half the nation's children are undernourished and will be stunted, with problems in their cognitive development.

That's a litany of failures to write about, judge and wring one's hands over.

Documenting those is a critical task of the sole foreign correspondent in Papua New Guinea — but it's only part of the story of PNG.

The other part of the story is one of resilience, pride, joy and incredible warmth.

I've cursed Papua New Guinea many times; for its dysfunction, the short-sightedness of its leaders, for Port Moresby's drivers or infuriating roadworks, for the difficulty of doing even simple things sometimes.

But never for its people, who were busy blessing me with experiences, with learning, with growth and with love.

I've never felt more welcome than in parts of PNG, particularly the highlands.

I was hugged by crowds of strangers and had my messy hair fixed by tough, burly men for an election rally piece to camera.

Kids — and their parents — were so keen to touch me they overloaded the back of the coffee truck I was hitching a lift around western highlands in.

Papua New Guineans live hard lives, but their uncomplicated capacity for happiness and generosity is impossible to forget.

Their self-reliance is incredible, and their willingness to share their ancient culture is a huge gift to visitors.

But PNG showed me how sheltered Australians are from death and from hardship, and how our affluence wraps us in a soft cocoon of sanctimony.

Papua New Guineans have simple desires.

They want education and opportunity. Like anyone, they want a society that's fair and just.

They profess to hate corruption, yet for reasons of culture and poverty, all too frequently engage in conduct that perpetuates it.

Being the Papua New Guinea correspondent is a wonderful and ridiculous job.

Not only are you a journalist, cameraman and video editor — you are a bureau manager, book-keeper, home and office repairman, satellite technician, visa agent, part-time doctor, marriage counsellor, gardener, dog handler and pest exterminator.

I've bandaged wounds, treated infections, fixed pumps, toilets and hot water services, provided counselling, re-trained a homicidal German shepherd dog and killed many, many rats.

I didn't do all the stories I wanted to, and I didn't do all the stories that needed doing.

PNG is an important country to Australia — we helped create it, now we're fighting China for influence over its future.

I hope that future will be just and free from violence, and that Australians develop a new view of PNG, seeing more than Kokoda and more than Manus Island.

When people look north I hope they will see a prosperous nation of happy people, a place more of them will visit and learn about.

I will miss it terribly.

Chris Overland's forebears were Cornish tin miners like these - he can't speak their language but knows how to bake a mean Cornish pastie

CHRIS OVERLAND

ADELAIDE - In a recent article, ‘Do You Understand Who We Are?’, Vanessa Gordon talks about culture and what this means to her as a proud Tolai, as well as to other Papua New Guineans. Clearly, Vanessa’s cultural background is important to her as it is to virtually all humans.

As I reflected upon her writing I started to wonder about this thing we call culture and what we really mean when we talk about it.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines culture as “the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time”.

It then proceeds to give examples of the use of the word culture in reference to things like ethnicity, age, gender, religion and civilisation.

It immediately struck me that culture is a very slippery concept which we routinely use in a variety of different contexts to mean very different things.

So, for example, I had a colleague of English descent who was openly gay and thus a member of a particular cultural group based upon sexual orientation, but who publicly identified himself very specifically as Jewish.

I thought to myself, I wonder what culture he believes he belongs to?

I also thought about my own cultural heritage. I identify as a fifth generation, 100% true blue, dinkum Australian. My family history, the language I speak, my accent, my way of thinking and my apparent racial characteristics are distinctively post-1788 Australian.

However, my genetics tell a rather more complicated story.

From my father’s side of the family I have inherited genes that originated in Norway some time before 1592 when the name Overland first appears in England’s official records.

My surname is distinctively Norwegian, not Dutch as many have wrongly assumed (Overlander is Dutch) and some of my very distant relatives still live in and around Telemark in Norway.

The English Overlands appear to have lived for many centuries in the villages of Outwel and Upwel in Norfolk and Hilgay in Cambridgeshire.

I have tracked them back to 1772 in Outwel (which is exactly one mile from Upwel) and have little doubt that they had been there for a long time before then. My very distant relatives still live in these villages.

On my mother’ side, I have inherited genes that, so far as I can tell, originated in Cornwall. I have been able to track my Cornish ancestors back to a specific place called Nancledra.

This is a tiny village with a current population of 150 people. For at least 200 years (but probably very much longer) it was the home of my ancestors, who engaged in mining tin.

No lords of the manor are found amongst my Cornish mob, just a long succession of poor miners, most of whom would have died relatively young from silicosis or TB contracted in the mines, assuming some other awful communicable disease didn’t get them first.

The Cornish will proudly tell you that they are definitely not English, despite being part of England. There is a good deal of historic evidence that they are right, not the least of which being that they once spoke a completely different language.

Old Cornish, as it is now known, is still spoken by a small number of people, but was widely spoken until the latter part of the 18th century.

Accordingly to Wikipedia, Cornish (Kernowek) is a BrittonicCeltic language that is native to Cornwall in south-west England. The language is considered to be an important part of Cornish identity, culture and heritage.

Sadly, I cannot speak a word of it although I am proud to say that I can make the famous Cornish pasties thanks to my Mother’s tuition in my youth.

The English long regarded the Cornish as peculiar, regarding their oddities as being derived from their ancestral connection to the ancient Britons, the remnants of whom fled from the Roman invaders in the first century and took up residence in what is now Cornwall.

They had a reputation for being suspicious of strangers and rather secretive. This was probably because they were notorious smugglers and wreckers and so engaged in constant low key warfare with the despised excise men who strove to stamp out both activities.

With this background, I have to admit that identifying a specific culture for me and my family to claim can be a bit tricky. I am proud of my Cornish, Norwegian, English and Australian heritage but completely stumped as to what this really means in a cultural context.

For example, when I visited my ancestral villages in both Cornwall and Norfolk I felt profoundly out of place. I felt no particular emotional or sentimental attachment to these places. I was just a curious tourist looking around two small and obscure villages where life still proceeds at the very placid pace I imagine it has for centuries. I had no yearning to be amongst “my people”, let alone take up Morris Dancing.

In truth, I reckon I am actually a very multicultural person, albeit cunningly disguised as a bog standard English blow-in to Australia. To my great disappointment, I cannot find any family links to Aboriginal people which would allow me to anchor myself firmly in the continent I love very much.

These days, when identity is such a hot topic, we collectively seem to have permission to define ourselves however we choose.

For example, one woman in America, despite being born into a white Anglo Saxon family, has consciously chosen to redefine herself as an African American. She has persisted with this fantasy despite her parents pointing out the blindingly obvious. She argues that her belief negates any of the more obvious signs that her cultural background may not be as she claims.

Bearing this in mind, perhaps I should self identify as, say, a Viking. There are enough Scandinavian genes in me to make this plausible, although I would probably look rather silly in a helmet decorated with cow horns and I absolutely hate snow.

Of course, more than a few Papua New Guineans may have my problem these days. There has by now been a lot of inter marriage between tribal groups, so figuring out if you are a Simbu or Tolai or Orokaiva or Goaribari or Huli or something else may be a bit tricky.

These days we know that, if you go back far enough, we are all related somehow. We all ultimately spring from the same root stock. Our collective ancestor was a small, nervous, primate who somehow contrived to survive, thrive, evolve and multiply to produce we homo sapiens sapiens.

So we are all one family really, with the annoying collective habit of insisting that we are not.

Culture is important but our collective humanity is more so. I reckon that is something we should all bear in mind.

_________

Ever so sightly edited by Keith Jackson whose genetic make-up is 80% English (who were puzzled by the Cornish), 10% Italian, 5% Spanish and 5% Finnish

Australia's undersea cables in the Asia-Pacific region

HAMARTIA ANTIDOTE | Pakistan Defence | Edited

KARACHI - The leaders of Australia, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea have marked the start of a project to lay an undersea internet cable between the three countries amid criticism from China that Australia is trying to contain its influence in the region.

Australia is spending nearly $137 million to lay the cable and prime minister Malcolm Turnbull described it as a "very practical way" of providing foreign aid

Back in 2016 the Solomon Islands government signed a deal with Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei to lay a cable to Australia.

But the Australian government was concerned Huawei would be permitted to plug into Australia's telecommunications infrastructure.

It believes that while Huawei is an independent company, it retains links to the Chinese government and could pose a threat to Australian infrastructure in the future.

Last year senior government officials told the Solomon Islands government that Canberra was unlikely to grant the company a so-called "landing point" for the cable on the Australian mainland.

The Australian government then announced its support for the PNG cable and a few months later said it would foot most of the bill to lay the cable to the Solomon Islands as well.

In June, Australian company Vocus was awarded the $136.6 million contract to manage the construction of the 4,000-kilometre cable.

Some observers believe the decision was not only due to security concerns but also to counter China's growing influence in the region, particularly its use of loans and grants to build infrastructure projects.

The formal start of the cable project comes amid criticism from within China that Australia is trying to contain Beijing's influence in the Pacific.

In an editorial yesterday, the state-owned newspaper Global Times said, "China's emergence is an irreversible trend and any attempt to contain the country's growth runs contrary to the trend of the times".

The newspaper was responding to Australian media reports that Australia and New Zealand would sign a new security pact with Pacific Island nations later in the year to counter the growing influence of China in the region.

The Global Times warned it would be a "strategic mistake" if the new security agreement was aimed at China.

"Instead of being overly cautious about China's rise, Australia and New Zealand should avoid misleading the region on China's role, and other regional countries should be clear about the consequences of being misled," its editorial said.

The New Zealand government has also copped criticism after it released its strategic defence policy statement last week which said China was challenging the existing international rules-based order.

At a press conference in Beijing yesterday, China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying urged New Zealand to "correct its wrong words and deeds and contribute more to the mutual trust and cooperation between our two countries".

German native police on parade in 1909

ROB PARER

BRISBANE - I lived most of my life in what was formerly German New Guinea. In Wewak for the first four years of my life and then, after schooling in Australia, in Aitape for the rest of my working days.

In recent years, the history of German New Guinea has become available in books translated from German into English and am learning some astounding information not known by the Aitape people.

For example, I was amazed to find in a 1910-11 report a bridge 165 metres long was planned to be built across the Raihu River and villagers from Wokau, Pro and Lemieng worked tirelessly at felling heavy ironwood logs of and dragging them to the site.

And a permanent public ferry service had been established at rivers and creeks so people could travel dry-shod from Aitape to the great Sissano Lagoon 45 km away. Now, in 2018, long gone.

The road east from Aitape through Tadji, Vokau, Pro, Lemieng, Paup to Yakamul had been completed. The construction of a 121 metre stone jetty through the surf had been completed and soon would be extended another 80 metres. When a bridge over the Aitape (Maldic) River collapsed, it was replaced immediately. Overall, with limited resources, the German Administration did extraordinary feats.

Only the remnants of the reinforced concrete jail is still standing today. The German police force was the largest in the Pacific, numbering 1,000 men by 1914, and yet it was still too small to handle unrest, especially when it occurred in different areas simultaneously. The people did not give way so easily to the intruders.

Off shore from Aitape is Seleo Island where a trading and plantation operation was established by the Neu Guinea Compagnie in 1895, was run by Herr Paul Lucker. Eventually the company had 5,875 coconut palms at Seleo and 700 on Tarawai Island.

Layout of the derelict German-built Seleo school as seen from the air in 1950

When I went to stay overnight at the Catholic School at Seleo in 1955, Fr Martin Schmach OFM was headmaster and Br Jerome Sweeney OFM the other teacher. By then there were no signs of the coconut palms that had been there in 1930. I presume they were all destroyed during the war.

I have a photo of American aircraft bombing the island in 1944 and also a photo of the nice layout of the school from the air.

At Seleo between March and December 1899, 120 tonnes of copra was produced, four tonnes of trepang and two tonnes of green snail shells. And an order had been placed in Sydney for a sailing schooner of about 50 tons which would have a German crew of five and a local crew of three who would replace the Germans upon delivery plus  two Germans to pearl dive.

The North German Lloyd ships called at Seleo and Aitape but found it almost impossible to unload cargo at Aitape during the north-west season from September to April. On many occasions the small boats capsized and all cargo was lost.

There were also lives of missionaries lost in the huge surf, including two nuns. The ships ceased calling into Aitape in 1904 because it was uneconomical – and dangerous.

In July 1912, there were reports of plans for a chain of high power coastal wireless stations in the German Pacific territories. These would include two stations in New Guinea, at Rabaul and Aitape. All would have a full time operators. These were captured by Australian troops in 1914, upon the outbreak of World War I, when all German property was also expropriated.

Before the price of copra collapsed in 1930, Burns Philip ships called at Seleo Island and Boram Plantation near Wewak.

Seleo Plantation was purchased in the 1920s by Rupert Colyer of Colyer Watson. Billionaire Bob Oatley, famed in Australia, was trained by Rupert from age 15 and calls him ‘The Prince of Merchants’.

In the 1950s Rupert gave his property on Seleo Island to Bishop Ignatius Doggett OFM and the Franciscans built the first primary boarding school there. Students came from throughout the West Sepik and the better ones went on to St Xavier’s High School on Kairiru Island, offshore from Wewak.

Let me move earlier in time to the late nineteenth century and further south to near the border of German and British New Guinea to relate the story of the ill-fated Otto Ehlers who decided to cross the rugged Owen Stanley Range in 1895 from near Salamaua in German New Guinea to Kerema in British New Guinea.

Ehlers planned 1895 crossing from the Huon Gulf across the Owen Stanleys to the Gulf of Papua

Ehlers, a newspaper correspondent and professional traveller, was determined to make the trek. Despite being warned by Administrator Rudiger not to attempt the precipitous crossing, he set out on the journey from the Huon Gulf to the Gulf of Papua accompanied by Wilhelm Piering, a police officer, two Buka policemen and supported by 41 carriers and one servant.

Ehlers calculated his 44-man expedition would average six kilometres a day, therefore reaching the south coast of British New Guinea in 30 days.

Other than rations for five weeks and some trade goods, eight government supplied rifles and two shotguns, the explorers carried no more than the clothes on their backs. Geographical instruments were left behind as was photographic and other scientific equipment as these were regarded as unnecessary baggage.

The party started inland from the mouth of the Francisca River just south of Salamaua on 14 August 1895.This was not far from the German patrol post of Morobe which was just near the boundary of British New Guinea.

Nothing was heard or seen of them until 20 members of the party were picked up by the Mobiabi tribe on the Lakekamu River in British New Guinea on 20 October, 67 days after they had begun the overland journey.

Ehlers and Piering were not among them.

It seems rain had set in before they reached the only inland village on their track, with the first carrier dead within 10 days. After five weeks exposure to rain and cold, cutting their way through dense rain forest, climbing steep mountains and across precipitous ravines, and wading through leech infested creeks, Ehlers and his men had run out of food.

Reduced to eating grass and leaves and distressed by dysentery and other ailments, fewer than 35 men reached a tributary of the Lakekamu River around 30 September. They hacked their way along the crocodile infested river for nine days before the waterway could be negotiated by two rafts they fabricated.

After another six days of navigating rapids and narrow waterways, 20 men reached the village of Motumotu. But when one raft capsized, the two Buka policemen with the party, Ranga and Upia (Opiha ) decided that, to make room on the remaining raft, they would kill Ehlers, Piering and several carriers. So they shot them.

When interviewed by Mekeo District government agent, Kowald, the two conspirators concocted the story that the Germans had drowned. Only after the British administration in Port Moresby returned the few survivors to their home did the truth emerge.

Imprisoned for murder, Ranga and Upia managed to escape and when pursued shot dead the newly appointed Administrator, Curt von Hagen. The two escapees were then speared to death by the Gogol people, their heads severed and taken to Stephansort as evidence for a reward that had been posted by the New Guinea administration.

Summary of likely sources used to understate Papua New Guinea's 2017 budget deficit

PAUL FLANAGAN | PNG Economics | Edited extract

You can read Paul Flanagan’s full article, including charts, here

CANBERRA - Deputy prime minister and treasurer Charles Abel’s credibility was on the line. He had made a commitment. Now could he deliver on it?

So did Charles Abel keep his 100-Day Plan promise to reduce Papua New Guinea’s 2017 budget deficit from its unsustainable level?

The answer is almost certainly “no”.

The actual 2017 budget deficit is conservatively estimated at more than one billion kina larger than claimed – largely because the government has not paid its bills or its GST refunds.

The conservative estimate lifts the size of the 2017 budget deficit from 2.4% to just under 4% of GDP. However, the upper reaches of the deficit estimate could be K2 billion more than the K1.8 billion deficit reported in the 2017 final budget outcome.

That’s more than double.

The government made its budget reductions in the wrong way. Expenditure was cut entirely in areas key for PNG’s future growth and concessional loan projects were delayed.

Even using the government’s preferred figures, the blow-out in operating expenditure entirely consumed the claimed increase in revenue. This would have been bad enough.

But operational expenditure K700 million more than revealed and revenue likely K350 million lower than revealed means only one thing.

The operational side of the budget is not under control.

One is left with a sense of unease. Some claimed cuts are just not believable - such as the K535 million cut to education.

The cut of K229 million to superannuation is also not credible.

Games seem to have been played with trust accounts, such as likely deferred payments of GST to provinces of at least K200 million.

The large jump in GST collections is not credible – and can be explained only by a deferral of GST refunds by at least K250 million.

There are clearly large expenditure arrears – the issue is acknowledged by the treasury but one needs to go to parliamentary statements to get an idea of their magnitude. For example, the public works minister alone has acknowledged arrears of K700 million.

Ultimately, the final budget outcome as presented to the public is just too convenient. Treasurer Abel wanted a result no more than the 2.5% budget deficit he promised, and preferably something better. A d his treasury secretary duly delivered a deficit of 2.4%.

The political convenience of the outcome combined with the games in under-reporting expenditure and over-reporting revenue indicate the deficit was adjusted downwards to hide the likely truth.

Abel should have accepted the budget did not turn around as quickly as he had hoped, allowed a bit more time for correcting likely errors in a rushed report and maintained trust in a genuine, even if disappointing, final budget outcome.

But he did not do that. And it is still not clear that he understands the difficulty of turning around five years of poor fiscal management.

The budget itself is not sufficiently transparent to deal with some key issues, especially around the level of expenditure arrears and GST refund delays. Including more information on these two critical areas in the forthcoming mid-year update would help restore some trust.

An implication of this analysis is that budget pressures will be greater in 2018.

In the same way as a household which does not pay its bills on time, deferring spending simply builds up pressure in the future. The 2018 budget was already built on some dubious numbers and adding at least another K1 billion to these highlights the challenge of PNG’s continuing high deficit.

Unfortunately, given the political situation, I do not expect the mid-year budget update due by the end of July to provide a more transparent or honest statement of the government’s actual fiscal position.

One can no longer trust the government’s budget documents. Papua New Guinea will likely go into APEC with many questions hanging over its true economic situation.

FRANCIS NII

KUNDIAWA -  There have been certain things that signify the bond between Australia and Papua New Guinea despite what appears to be a quickly eroding relationship.

Amongst them was ABC’s shortwave service and the program Pacific Beat, which has had a history of its own in playing a vital role in the Australian-PNG relationship and development process.

But these connectors between the people of PNG and the people of Australia are disappearing.

It is ABC’s Tok Pisin service Pacific Beat that reaches all corners of PNG and the Pacific with news and other information.

It is Pacific Beat that connects people in the region and collects news and other stories and relates them to listeners.

I live in Kundiawa, Simbu Province, in the central highlands of Papua New Guinea and the most effective way I get Pacific regional news is through Pacific Beat.

When I read about the axing of the program it brought tears to my eyes because I twice participated in it and one of them was directly from Kundiawa.

My friends and relatives who heard the interview asked me when it was I had gone to Australia. I laughed and told them that I did not go to Australia; I was interviewed by phone. They were amazed.

Pacific Beat and its dedicated staff should be given special recognition for their excellent service in bringing together the region through this program.

My family and I here in Kundiawa are in no uncertain terms appealing to the Australian government and ABC to rescind their decision to axe Pacific Beat and their shocking earlier decision to get rid of shortwave radio

Instead they must revitalise and enhance their radio transmissions with special recognition for the programs they produce and the staff who make them.

Please bring back to life our Pacific Beat.

WARDLEY D I BARRY

We beat our women
For breakfast, kill them for lunch
Pigs of New Guinea

We rape our women
At night and boast about it
Pigs of New Guinea

Every day we hunt
Them down like wild animals
Pigs of New Guinea

Every night we beat
them for pleasure, pow’r, prestige
Pigs of New Guinea

They’re meri nating
So we spit on their faces
Pigs of New Guinea

They are sangumas
So we burn them at the stake
Pigs of New Guinea

Women are machines
They exist just to give birth
Pigs of New Guinea

Our mothers are whores
To be used, abused, misused
Pigs of New Guinea

We don’t have sisters
Or aunts, we only have slaves
Pigs of New Guinea

We don’t send them to
School, they stay home to be sold
Pigs of New Guinea

We’re savages de
-vouring anything sans balls
Pigs of New Guinea

We’re not fathers or
Brothers, we are murderers
Pigs of New Guinea

We’re not uncles or
Kanderes, we are rapists
Pigs of New Guinea

We’re not men, we are
Kanakas with hungry cocks
Pigs of New Guinea

There is only one
One-eyed saint, charged to keep us
Pigs of New Guinea

But even the most
Saintly among us is still a
Pig of New Guinea

Michael Dom

MICHAEL DOM

This commentary from Michael Dom was written as a contribution to a continuing and intense discussion in PNG Attitude about gender equity and violence against women in Papua New Guinea. More pertinently it was written before Ward Barry’s harrowing verse published below.

Many Papua New Guinean men admit they have committed sexual violence against their partner, 80% in fact. But solutions are not enhanced by blaming all men for this perfidious behaviour any more than solutions are assisted by using the humanity of decent and innocent men to dilute the case against the perpetrators.

One thing is for sure, it will take the combined efforts of wise men and women to solve this shocking social and cultural problem. And that’s what I like about this comment from Michael – it recognises that reality and shows that – in some circumstances - it is already occurring – KJ

SOMEWHERE IN PNG - While conducting agricultural surveys in many isolated communities across Papua New Guinea, my team regularly comes face to face with gender and equity issues.

Gender and equity are mainstreamed into development policy and are often crosscutting within our extension, research and development programs.

As you probably know I'm not an expert on gender and gender equity, but what I do understand about approaching these issues is that it's always a social and therefore a cultural negotiation.

[Most folks have no idea the trouble we have to go to, except maybe Phil Fitzpatrick and the kiaps. Tasol em ol waitman, eh laka– But they’re white men eh?]

There are many elements involved and, to each community, there is always a sense of uniqueness, a feeling and expression of difference in their own way of living.

It's a challenge talking about social similarities in those situations.

Also it's less useful, as Julie Mota expresses, to try to impose a 'foreign' paradigm in a local context, especially a rural one.

Good outcomes are often achieved when programs are inclusive of the local context of core societal elements including gender and gender equity, as defined in their own terms.

Nevertheless, for specific needs of identified groups, an active bias – or, more aptly, gender favouring - is required.

This gender favouring is promoted to achieve a critical outcome, which may be entirely dependent on taking such an approach.

We've found that a straightforward approach and an open attitude to organising gender favouring activities is a positive way to negotiate an otherwise tricky situation.

One starting point is discussing the roles of men and women and the services and value which they each offer to their households and the community.

Your poem, Jordan, inscribed at the end of this piece, is a good expression of changing status and value placed on women.

There's always a balance to be struck and for critical development needs the women's role and their interests is often one that needs championing.

There's lots more involved in our agricultural program and project planning process and thank goodness I don't do it all myself.

Personally I find it much simpler to feed my pigs so I'll leave off here.

____________

I am my father’s son

JORDAN DEAN

My father
Grew up during the colonial era
Sold coffee for his tuition fees
He wanted a better future
For his sons and daughters.

My father
Worked tirelessly, day and night
To provide a roof and food for us
He paid for our tuition fees
Now, we’re all educated
Eight of us have degrees.

My father
Is proud of his daughters
Two are legal eagles
One is a political scientist
And the other is a chemist
They’re his money.

I am my father’s son
I provide for my family
I give the best I can
For my daughter
She’s my future lawyer
Or accountant
Just like her father.

Sissano Lagoon devastated after the 1998 tsunami (Jose Borrero)

PROF DAVE TAPPIN | Geoblogy | British Geological Survey

KEYWORTH, UK - 20 years ago this week, on the evening of the 17 July 1998, 2,200 people died when a 15-metre high tsunami devastated an idyllic lagoon on the north coast of Papua New Guinea.

The event was to prove a benchmark in tsunami science as the tsunami was generated not by an earthquake but by a submarine landslide.

Most tsunamis are generated by earthquakes and, previously, submarine landslides were an under-appreciated mechanism in tsunami generation. This was because there had been no recent historical event to prove just how dangerous they could be.

Back in 1998, there had been few recent destructive earthquakes, they were to strike later.  Although earthquake mechanisms were generally well understood in tsunami generation, the mechanisms by which submarine landslides cause tsunamis, were not. In fact it was generally believed that submarine landslides could not generate destructive tsunamis.

PNG changed all this.

It was a wake-up call for tsunami hazard. The tsunami was the most devastating event since Sanriku 1933, when a tsunami struck the east coast of Japan, leaving 1,500 dead and the same number missing.

The massive death toll, generated a surge of scientific interest in non-earthquake tsunami mechanisms, which subsequently extended outside of convergent margins, where earthquakes are most common, to passive margins, and to volcanic collapse.

The tsunami struck at a time when new technology was being used increasingly to map the sea bed as well as topography was being mapped on land.  New numerical models of submarine landslide tsunamis were also being developed, but were still theoretical, and PNG allowed these to be tested in real life conditions.

At the time of PNG, tsunami science was dominated by seismologists because earthquakes were seen as the only major hazard. Research into submarine landslide tsunamis requires the contribution from geologists, so geologists became much more involved. The research on the PNG tsunami was therefore to prove seminal.

As was later to prove, PNG was the first of a series of catastrophic tsunamis which over the next 13 years were to devastate the coastlines of the Indian Ocean (2004) and Japan (2011).

These tsunamis killed over 250,000 people and caused billions of pounds worth of damage. These events would ‘rock’ the globe, bringing home to world populations the previously unrecognised hazard from these events.

In the case of the Indian Ocean, there was a realisation that geological hazards, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis do not just impact on ‘other people’ in far distance places. With ever increasing international travel made so much easier by a general drop in prices, an idyllic holiday in an exotic location could quite rapidly turn into a nightmare.

Sanriku, 1933 was an earthquake-generated tsunami resulting from a Mw 8.4 event. The scale of the tsunami from Sanriku earthquake, although devastating, was commensurate with the earthquake magnitude.

Both Japan and PNG are sited along plate boundaries, termed convergent margins, where earthquakes are quite common. More recent events along these types of margins were in 2011 off the east coast of Japan and in 2004 in the Indian Ocean. The tsunamis from these events were also devastating, but in scale with their associated earthquakes.

The elevation of the tsunami which struck PNG, however, was completely out of proportion to the associated earthquake Mw of 7.1. Most earthquakes are caused by movement, or ‘slip’, along the interface between the plates which are colliding along convergent margins.

Although there are ‘special’ types of earthquakes, termed ‘tsunami earthquakes’, which may generate tsunamis larger than their magnitude would suggest. Tsunami earthquakes are usually associated with heavily sedimented convergent margins, and the Papua New Guinea margin is not of this type.

There were several other aspects of the PNG tsunami which suggested that the earthquake was not the cause. There was a 20 minute delay between the earthquake and the tsunami striking the coast. The earthquake was located quite close to shore, so this was immediately anomalous. Field surveys conducted immediately after the event also found that the distribution of the tsunami elevations along the coast had the highest wave heights focused on the low-lying Sissano Lagoon.

After the PNG event and as the results of the first field surveys were circulated, there was much discussion in science circles on why the tsunami was so elevated in relation to the earthquake magnitude. For example, at the AGU international scientific meeting in San Francisco in December of 1998 there was a special session during which the PNG tsunami was discussed.

Without further research the event would have remained an enigma. Except that, in response to a plea for help from Alf Simpson, the Director of the regional geo-scientific organisation, SOPAC, which assisted PNG in mitigating their geological hazards, the Government of Japan funded four marine scientific research expeditions on state of the art vessels, to survey the area offshore of the devastated area.

The USA diverted one of its vessels working in the region to acquire further marine data. This was the first time that marine surveys had been carried out in response to a major tsunami disaster, and the first time this region had been surveyed using these sophisticated technologies.

The first surveys took place in January 1999 and, from mapping the sea bed, discovered a submarine landslide just offshore of the area devastated by the tsunami.  Based on the mapping, the landslide discovered was used as the basis for numerical models of the tsunami. This was a major challenge as this had only been attempted once previously. The numerical models demonstrated that the landslide was the most likely cause of the tsunami.

Because landslides were considered not to cause hazardous tsunamis, this result on the tsunami mechanism was controversial, but gradually as other events were identified and more new numerical models were developed, they became more generally accepted.

The generous investment made by Japan in funding the marine research on PNG was to be repaid in full in 2011, when the east coast of Honshu Island was devastated by a tsunami up to 40 metres in elevation which killed 18,000 people and cost $200 billion in damage.

Although the earthquake magnitude 9.0-9.1 could explain most of the tsunami, the elevated 40-metre-high run-ups along the northern Honshu could not. So, a submarine landslide was proposed and numerically modelled as the cause of these. Without the research carried out on the PNG tsunami, this would have been impossible.

Since PNG, we have come a long way in understanding how submarine landslides generate tsunamis, but they are a major hazard which is still not fully understood or appreciated.

Dave Tappin after the first submersible dive on the Shinkai tsunami landslide, 1999 (Horst Letz)

Although mapping of the sea bed now demonstrates the almost universal presence of submarine landslides offshore of most coastal areas, there are still too few well studied events to form a sound basis for similar mitigation to that from earthquakes, which are addressed by warning systems in all the world’s ocean basins.

In addition, the numerous different submarine landslide mechanisms means that ‘one size doesn’t fit all’ so the development of generalised models is still in its infancy.

As with all high impact – low frequency hazards, our experience from the recent tsunami events identified here is that memories fade fast after the immediate response. As memories fade, so does the investment needed to understand and mitigate the impacts of tsunamis in the future.

Research into the submarine landslide hazard is ongoing, but is harder to fund as other research priorities take over.

The next major challenge is to tackle dual earthquake/submarine landslide mechanisms, such as Japan, 2011, and to extend the ocean basin early warning systems, now operational for earthquakes, to include tsunamis from submarine landslides – because undoubtedly, at some time in the future there will be another event.

JORDAN DEAN

PORT MORESBY - Colonial literature portrayed Papua New Guinea as an exotic and savage paradise. I am surprised that view is still maintained by Australians and some learned Papua Guineans.

One such view is that Papua New Guinean men do not respect and treat our women properly. This is a slap in the face for all the caring gentlemen in Papua New Guinea. We know how to open doors, buy chocolates and golden necklaces for our women. We love our women just like anyone else. We don’t live in the stone-age.

Let’s not confuse ourselves with ‘equality’ and ‘gender based violence’.  Equality – equal access to resources and opportunities between men and women. GBV – violence against women. Using economic terms, equality is macro whilst GBV is micro in nature.

I am all for equality and a level playing field. I believe PNG is a country of equal opportunities. In the process of trying to give a based view, I’ve been called names online and misunderstood.

We have laws protecting women’s rights and all our national policies involved equal participation. The government and all companies are equal employers. Men and women are paid the same based on education, qualifications and position ranking.

Our tertiary institutions enrol more females than male students. Australian Awards offers more scholarships to females than males. Infact, women have more opportunities than men in tertiary education.

Women have the same constitutional rights as men to contest in elections. Unfortunately, none of them won in the 2017 elections.

Yes, we have a problem with GBV which is often caused by alcohol, insecurity, jealousy, etc. This is micro in nature because it occurs within a relationship and family.

Both are global issues and not confined to PNG alone. Quantifying the issues is crucial in our understanding of where we stand and whether PNG is really a savage country.

The ‘Global Gender Gap Report’ from the World Economic Forum ranks 150 countries on gender equality. The Forum ranks countries against four main dimensions: economic participation and opportunity; educational attainment; health and survival; and political representation.

According to its most recent report of November 2017, the 15 worst countries for gender equality are; Qatar, Turkey, Mauritania, The Ivory Coast, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Mali, Iran, Chad, Syria, Pakistan, Yemen.

PNG may not be the best country to live in, but it is also not the worst. Let’s stop inflating issues without facts and figures and give a balanced view.

Vanessa Gordon

VANESSA GORDON

BRISBANE - I have so much to say. I don't know where to begin. I'll start with I do not think all men are savages.

I am not a misandrist in any way, shape or form. I appreciate that Papua New Guinean men play a pivotal role in PNG society. I get it. Mi save tu lo pasin lo ples ,na kastom. Iau nunure. Mi save!

Secondly, I will always support a PNG writer, male or female. I will read, share and buy your work. I will wave my PNG flag beaming with pride around the world. Your words come from a place from deep within.

Ward Barry, you have this thing called freedom of speech and right of assembly. You are able to express your thoughts. You can express your thoughts and creative gifts through poetry. And others that read your work can respond with the same rights.

I have enjoyed your poetry in the past. Did I enjoy this particular poem? I am indifferent. I feel nothing.

My indifference is not against you personally. My problem is not with your poem. My problem is the way you have responded to the many women who have had valid and clear points regarding your poem.

Your perspective has been heard and read multiple times. Your message is loud and clear. You have proven a point. You are a great guy we get it. You love women. You love PNG women.

Thank you for not raping us; thank you so much for not molesting our daughters; thank you for not man-handling and groping us on PMVs, in the markets and on dance floors in the clubs. Thank you for not burning us at the stake.

You are commended. Did you want a medal? Or a certificate of appreciation?

Jordan Dean, you too are commended for defending your brother. I presume you don't understand what all the fuss is about? Why are so many women up in arms? What's the big deal?

Let me flip the scenario for you. A white guy writes a poem. Yes, I'll use white guy as an example because, Ward, I've seen your comments against the white man.

Apparently we PNG women folk need to "rausim galas blo waitman".

So maybe you will relate to this analogy.

White guy thinks to himself, "Hmm I'm a decent guy. I have never owned a slave. I have never used the N word. These 'people' have had so many atrocities and horrendous stories of mistreatment, brutality and death because of the colour of their skin."

Then he thinks, "I'll write a poem depicting how great I am and how kind and loving I am to my black brothers and sisters."

Sounds absurd, right? This is how you have made women feel this week.

Now I am only one woman and this is only my perspective. I appreciate yours. I don't expect you to appreciate mine.

Violence Against Women (VAW) and Gender Based Violence (GBV) are raw and sensitive subjects in PNG.

Women and men have been fighting for change. I won't fight battles that aren't mine to fight. However the fight against GBV and VAW in PNG is a personal battle.

You don't know me personally; you don't know my story just as you don't know the stories of the many women your comments have hurt and caused discord.

Before you dismiss my perspective or judge me, possibly berate or ridicule me for speaking out..... You see my words come from a place within.

My words come from real pain. They are not irrelevant. Just as your words have relevance, so do mine.

The scar between my inner thighs caused by a stab wound, that has relevance. Stabbed by a PNG man.

My permanent drooping eye caused by a man's fist, that has relevance. Punched by a PNG man.

My permanent injury caused by a kick in the head, that has relevance. Kicked by a PNG man.

And still not one part of me feels or thinks that all PNG men are abusive.

That's just my story. There are hundreds of women with similar stories. All relevant.

Let’s just leave it. You have spoken. The women have spoken. Your friends have spoken. And now I have added my opinion, thoughts and liklik two toea.

Enough now. Nur vue.

ALLYN HICKS

SYDNEY - The recent death of Papua New Guinea’s former director of public prosecutions, Kevin Egan, in Hong Kong brought memories of two interesting cases he handled in Port Moresby in the late 1970s.

One was the jailing of former member of parliament Nahau Rooney, who was released the next day after the intervention of then prime minister Sir Michael Somare. The other was the conviction and jailing of a German national, Rene Gorlitz, 29.

In mid-1977, Gorlitz and his girlfriend, Ingrid Koch, also 29, stole a yacht in Sydney Harbour and sailed it to Milne Bay where they were arrested and transferred to Port Moresby.

Gorlitz was found guilty and ended up in Bomana. Koch was deported.

Around the same time, on the other side of the world, a leader of the notorious Baader Meinhof Gang, Andries Baader, was sentenced to life in prison. His partner, Ulrich Meinhof, had committed suicide in May 1976.

Baader Meinhof was a ruthless terrorist organisation responsible for numerous murders, hijackings, bombings and kidnappings throughout Europe. The gang subsequently morphed into the Red Army Faction which continued to operate until the end of the 1990s.

The first hint of a PNG connection to the Baader Meinhof Gang came when the government-appointed defence lawyer for Gorlitz received a message, purportedly from a Gang cadre, indicating that the organisation was not happy with the effort he had put into defending Gorlitz.

The message hinted that further action would be considered. The lawyer decided it was a good time to take extended leave.

There was another twist. On 13 July 1977 the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked a Lufthansa jet in a failed attempt to secure the release of Baader and several other gang members. On hearing of the failure, Baader and his cohorts committed suicide.

Not long after Baader’s death became public knowledge, Gorlitz hung himself in his cell.

Whether he did so in sympathy with the other Gang members is open to question.

However, as he had links to that organisation, it was a possibility.

Chinese navy destroyer - eyes on the Pacific as Australian influence wanes

ROWAN CALLICK | The Australian | Extracts

You can read Rowan Callick’s complete article here

BEIJING - Asia is heading into typhoon season, symbolising the rivalries being unleashed in the region with a fervour not seen for decades.

The great global powers are jockeying to position themselves to emerge on top from the big ­annual summits they increasingly seek to game to demonstrate their authority and attractiveness.

An early indication of where Australia stands will come from the annual Australia-US Ministerial Consultations in California next Monday and Tuesday.

Foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop and defence minister Marise Payne will meet US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and defence secretary Jim Mattis.

While Washington probably will look for Canberra to commit to greater efforts to challenge China’s militarisation of the South China Sea, it also will want to hear from the Australians about the legislation they have introduced to guard against undue international influence at home.

Discussions are set to ­include China’s fast-growing ­involve­ment in the Pacific Islands region, which has tended to be viewed by Washington as an area best managed — in terms of ensuring its political inclinations lean towards the West — by Canberra, assisted by ­Wellington.

Yet it will prove difficult to counter President Xi Jinping’s success in pushing China towards a dominant regional position — ­despite having only North Korea as an ally and having no real friends in Asia or the Pacific — by the brilliant device of weaponising economic interdependence.

The central role played in the Pacific by China will be showcased at this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation leaders’ summit, to be held in Port Moresby on 17-18 November.

China has spent $82 million on building and resurfacing roads in PNG’s capital ready for the summit, and $35 million  on a new convention centre where the meeting will be held.

The permanent sign outside the latter is eloquent — its Chinese characters equalling the size of the building’s title in English, and with “center” spelled the American way when PNG normally follows Australian spellings.

China is paying about $16 million for a new Independence Boulevard Precinct, focused on a six-lane road providing grander, more direct access to the national parliament building.

Port Moresby Governor Powes Parkop has boasted that this new boulevard is “of no economic cost to the national government”. He describes it as “another milestone, setting a benchmark for PNG and reinforcing Port Moresby as the capital city”.

Last month PNG prime minister Peter O’Neill took a delegation of about 100, including 19 government officials and 50 PNG-based Chinese businesspeople, to Beijing on a chartered Air Niugini plane.

O’Neill said after meeting Xi in the Great Hall of the People: “Papua New Guinea is committed to deepening its strategic partnership with China, firmly pursuing the One China policy, highly praising and actively supporting President Xi Jinping’s great ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative.”

He said he looked forward to increased “co-operation with China in the fields of economy and trade, investment, agriculture, tourism, and infrastructure”.

The PNG leader — the most successful and powerful politician to emerge in the nation after Michael Somare — was praised by Xi, who said “mutual political trust and mutually beneficial co-operation between the two sides have reached a new historical level”.

China, he said, “is willing to work together with Papua New Guinea” — which he described as “an influential Pacific Island country” — “to strengthen communication, deepen co-operation, expand exchanges and push bilateral relations to a new level”.

But O’Neill came under fire from former prime minister and now leading opposition MP, Mekere Morauta, who said mismanagement had turned PNG into a “hunting and gathering” economy. “The prime minister is now begging and selling the country into China’s lap,” he said.

Morauta said good roads in Port Moresby were being torn up “for the Chinese and his (O’Neill’s) friends to rebuild, just for APEC motorcades to ride on for one day”.

Meanwhile, he claimed, hospitals and health centres were running short of medicine, small PNG businesses were waiting for the government to pay its bills and some retired public servants were dying before their entitlements had been paid.

“We have signs of Chinese domination already, in the conduct of public finance and structure of the economy, and with Chinese doing the jobs of Papua New Guineans: driving trucks, bulldozers, tractors, sweeping roads, opening trade stores in every corner of the country. What is next?” Morauta said.

Xi was the first foreign leader to commit to attend the APEC summit in Port Moresby, and O’Neill announced during his speech to Fiji’s parliament during a recent visit that the Chinese President would host a summit of his own immediately before the APEC forum.

Xi was inviting the leaders of ­Pacific Island nations to attend this earlier event — though only, O’Neill said, the countries in the region that recognised Beijing diplomatically.

Six of the 14 island nations ­— Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu and Solomon Islands — instead recognise ­Taiwan.

O’Neill said he wants Pacific nations to participate actively during the APEC forum and to “highlight our issues to our Asian counterparts”.

“We want the ­Pacific to benefit from opportun­ities from Asia,” he said.

New Zealand released an unusually blunt defence policy paper this month that addressed the perceived threat from China.

Responding to O’Neill’s announcement of the Pacific summit in Port Moresby, Winston Peters — New Zealand’s acting prime minister, who is also the foreign minister — said: “It’s with great clarity you can see we live in a much more highly stressed area of geopolitical competition because we have left, some of us, a vacuum there which others would fill.”

____________

Last week Australia forestalled plans by Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei to build an underwater internet cable linking PNG and Solomon Islands to Australia, and connecting outer Solomon Islands with the capital, Honiara. It signed a deal with those countries to pay two-thirds of the project cost of $136.6 million.

Canberra’s move to re-engage with the Pacific follows a period during which it had come under criticism for failing to develop a sufficient cadre of diplomats and others with knowledge of and networks in the islands region, including PNG.

Australia’s influence has diminished — not only because of the energy of China’s involvements but because of Canberra’s withdrawal from programs including broadcasts to the Pacific.

FRANCIS NII

KUNDIAWA - The recent surge of Chinese influence in the western Pacific and especially in Australia’s former colony Papua New Guinea should not be a surprise.

China has been in the region long enough to capitalise on weaknesses in the Papua New Guinea-Australia relationship.

Instead of Australia getting anxious and wringing its hands, Canberra should be asking where it has gone wrong as PNG’s big brother and start working on fixing the relationship.

The official Chinese presence in PNG goes back to 1976 when the People’s Republic of China established diplomatic ties soon after PNG gained independence in 1975.

So China has been here for over 41 years providing investment and development aid to PNG. But it was only after 2000 that bilateral ties with PNG in investment, health, education and infrastructure intensified. And this included military training for the PNG Defence Force in 2013. That was a signal.

Although Australia has provided billions of dollars’ worth of aid to PNG annually since independence – half a billion a year currently - debate about its impact has been contentious.

How has this huge amount of aid transformed the general development of PNG and the livelihood of its people, especially the rural majority who reside in traditional communities?

There have been many impediments to aid effectiveness. One good example is the road system.

Difficulty in service delivery posed by the lack of efficient transport has been a significant obstacle to success.

About 85% of PNG’s population dwell in rural communities scattered across remote and rugged terrain where road access is a major problem.

Most of these communities have no road access even in this 21st century. Villages and hamlets only accessible by plane or chopper make services delivery expensive and often impossible.

Australia knows about this and has documented it in numerous aid review reports. But its Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has largely failed to address this huge problem.

As PNG’s traditional ally and closest neighbour, Australia could have done much more in this sphere – a decent road system is imperative to equitable economic development in this country.

Instead DFAT has over the years tailored program predominantly toward human development, specifically health and education, and most recently good governance, law and justice.

All important, of course, but somehow ending up benefiting mostly the urban-based elite class who are out of touch of the rural population.

Australia doesn’t seem to have a comprehensive, workable plan to enable the rural majority to advance in terms of physical and economic development.

Instead it regards Papua New Guinea as an economically impoverished, politically weak and insignificant - only good for Australian companies to rip out her vast resources and walk away.

When PNG is faced with an economic crisis, which we are at present, Australia hasn’t come up with any special rescue package. Instead Canberra seems to have folded its hands and watched to see at which point PNG might sink. Hopefully after APEC.

Sure the sentiment is that Australia doesn’t want PNG to fail; but its passivity and lack of concern seems to belie the truth of that.

So it is good that China (perhaps aided by a bit of a shake from the Americans) seems to be waking Australia from its slumber. It is now time for Canberra to ask itself where it has gone wrong, why and what it can do to find ways to improve on its approach.

Australian aid to PNG apparently was being reviewed in Port Moresby last week. Hopefully something different, bigger and better will come out of that.

However, as long as the current focus of Australian aid to PNG continues to avoid the basic challenges, and the problem of transportation is really iconic, the meaningful delivery of services to the rural majority means that the bulk of Papua New Guineans will flounder.

If China through its ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ can make a difference in important but neglected infrastructure development, so be it.

It will make service delivery easier and cheaper. It will improve health and education services in rural areas.

It will stimulate business activity, especially small to medium enterprises in rural PNG.

It will stimulate agriculture and improve logistics to increase inter-provincial and regional trade.

It can be a new dawn for PNG, especially the rural majority.

Brianna

DOMINICA ARE

GOROKA - Her dazzling smile lit up the room. Her enchanting beauty amazed them all. Her liveliness made them feel alive. Their pain faded at her sight. She gave them hope. This little angel gave them hope.

Late last month, at about three in the afternoon, I had to rush my nine-month old daughter Brianna to our doctor.

She had an awful swelling on her left jaw after the mumps, which she had for a week, seemed to have subsided.

Well, there is a first time to everything and I panicked. Brianna was diagnosed with a parotid abscess and had to be admitted for surgery at Goroka Base Hospital for surgical drainage to remove the pus. The medical terms scared me. Even the term ‘minor surgery’ didn’t sink in well.

Myriad frightening thoughts raced through my mind. I wasn’t even listening to what the doctor was saying. We live in a time of uncertainty and I was worried and very concerned about something going wrong.

It hurts to see your children go through a difficult time - especially sickness. God only knows how they’re feeling.

Luckily, there was an empty bed in this ward for six patients so we settled Brianna in. I dreaded staying in the main wing but the five other patients and their guardians had warm welcoming smiles and I felt at ease despite the hospital’s gloomy atmosphere.

Brianna gave them all her best killer smiles and we quickly made friends. She has an enchanting smile that can melt ice and draw people to her.

Our first night at the ward went well. The female guardians were kind enough to take turns in carrying her around when she couldn’t sleep. She’d stay up smiling, showed off her only two teeth, waving at people, clapping and singing in her baby language.

Brianna didn’t show any sign of discomfort given the situation she was in. I, on the other hand, couldn’t help but worry. I guess it’s just human to feel that way.

That night, a boy, probably about four years old, passed away in the surgical ward. Tears welled in my eyes as I watched his innocent lifeless body being pushed away and the grieving mother. So inconsolable.

This precious gift was taken away from her too soon. She had him for these few short years. I felt such pity I was unable to sleep. I hugged my daughter tight and prayed my guts out that all would be well.

The next day, Brianna was scheduled for morning surgery. My younger sister and aunts and Brianna’s twin brother Brian were there. The twins were excited to see each other after what had been their first night apart.

We waited with other moms and babies outside the operating theatre. My heart skipped a beat as I heard Brianna’s name called. I undressed her and hugged her before handing her over to the theatre staff.

We waited impatiently outside. It was a long 30 minutes wait. I could not imagine this delicate, fragile skin being cut open. Then finally I was called to get her. A felt a stab of sadness in my core as I saw her on the gurney, half of her sweet round face all bandaged.

I wrapped her carefully in her blanket and held her close to my heart. She cried a bit when she saw me. But as we walked back to the ward, she hummed and swayed her head groggily. I fought back tears and smiled. She is truly a brave girl.

I anticipated the worst at night, there would be pain from the surgery, but Brianna didn’t give me hard time.

She was irritated by the big dressing on her face and pulled the bandages off twice and the nurses had to be called. But it was hilarious. Smiles, giggles and laughter even from this swollen face. The other patients, even the ones who had undergone surgery that day, couldn’t help but smile through their pain.

Her liveliness despite her discomfort cheered them up. Again, the female guardians took turns carrying her around until she fell asleep. She slept soundly, snoring gently. This was much for one little girl to handle and I was stunned by her courage.

The next day it was comforting to have someone lead us in our morning and evening prayers and to share messages of hope and healing. Food was shared and one female patient kept us entertained with funny stories. I felt grateful to be amongst them.

People’s experiences at being admitted at the hospital can be diverse. I’ve found hospitals to be a place where strangers turn into friends. The kindness of strangers when you are in pain and fear is indescribable. It made me forget my own anxiety and fear. It made me believe that angels do exist.

We were discharged a couple of days later and, although our stay was brief, we met some wonderful strangers. Their kind deeds will have left an imprint on my soul. It was heart-warming to hear them express how this little angel’s smiles and good spirits brought them hope and led them closer to their recovery.

Tears were shed as we thanked them for their kindness and said our goodbyes. A week later, Brianna has fully recovered and is still her jolly self.

ALLYN HICKS

SYDNEY - After two years of enduring the incredible hardships of the Australian School of Pacific Administration - endless lectures, compulsory assignments, practice teaching, lesson preparation and assorted other tasks - it was a relief for the Class of 1961-62 to be finally let loose as teachers on the unsuspecting students of Papua New Guinea.

I enjoyed my subsequent nine years in the Education Department, spent mostly drinking, socialising, smoking, womanising, gambling and playing sport with, I nearly forgot, some teaching on the side.

However in 1972 it was time to say farewell to chalk and blackboard as I was offered a position in an obscure government department squirreled away in Konedobu. (In fact I liked the new job so much I didn’t leave it until 2004 and, because I was once a teacher, I can tell you that’s 32 years.)

As was the case with most government agencies a Tea Boi was part of the establishment and ours was an unforgettable character who by the name of Bumbu Zab Zab, who hailed from Butibum in Morobe Province.

Bumbu was such a valued employee that I had no hesitation, when I attained some level of authority within our office, of nominating him for an MBE, which was subsequently awarded.

Naturally as the day of his investiture grew closer, Bumbu became more and more nervous about the big occasion. Things weren’t helped much when a staff member brought to the office a deck of playing cards with an obscene photo on the reverse side of a naked African American gentleman who was, shall we say, very well endowed.

Someone, who shall remain unnamed, decided to superimpose a photo of Bumbu’s head on this guy’s photo. The altered version was then attached to a letter, purportedly from the Governor-General’s Office, advising Bumbu that he was to present the attached photo at his investiture as proof of his identity.

When the letter was delivered, Bumbu was not deceived (you don’t get MBEs for nothing), although the attached photo fascinated him. He gazed at the top and murmured: “Is me, is me!”

But then, as his eyes wandered slowly downwards a look of great sadness crossed his face and he wistfully whispered: “Is not me, is not me!” I thought he was going to burst into tears.

Anyway the investiture went off well and we had a nice celebration afterwards. Bumbu’s medal was put on display, though some office wag placed the following poem beneath it:

Our Bumbu’s got his MBE,
He is our pride and joy.
Missus Kwin has kissed him on his as
And the Governor shook his toy.
NAU,
BUMBU HARIM!
LUSIM TINGTING DISPELA SAMTING,
HARIAP WOKIM TEA.

Bumbu ZabZab’s MBE was an honour well deserved. However it was no protection against those in our outfit that were ever seeking to play practical jokes on unsuspecting colleagues.

I well recall the time Bumbu was being treated for an ulcer on his leg at Hanuabada Clinic and had to report there every week to get it dressed – those tropical ulcers could be hard to clear up.

One day, after treatment, Bumbu was foolish enough to leave the appointment card for his next visit on top of the fridge in the kitchen. It was no surprise in our office of practical jokers that one of the office lads took it.

The card gave details of Bumbu’s next appointment and in the section ‘Nature of Sickness’ was handwritten ‘Sore’.

Using the same coloured pen, the card thief added the letter ‘s’ to turn the word ‘sore’ into ‘sores’ and then carefully wrote ‘on anus and penis’. He then returned the card to the top of the fridge.

The matter was forgotten for a week or so before Bumbu burst into the office I was sharing with a colleague. He was very upset, dishevelled and agitated. Pointing at us he cried: “What you do my card? What you do my card?”

We feigned ignorance and surprise and questioned Bumbu as to what was bothering him.

For some reason he refused to disclose what had happened at the clinic but in time the story came out.

Bumbu had picked up the card from the fridge top and waltzed to the clinic for treatment of his leg ulcer. It seems the nurses at the clinic refused to accept that he was suffering from only this and gave him the full treatment. Poor Bumbu. It was several days before he spoke to us.

When I left PNG in 2004, Bumbu was preparing to return to his home in Butibum. I hope he made it and is enjoying a well-earned retirement savouring the sight of his MBE and free of those bloody practical jokers from Australia.

Oriol Mitjà examines a young patient, Jeremiah, who has an active infection which can be cured with a dose of azithromycin (Brian Cassey)

MARTIN ENSERINK | Science | Edited extracts

Read the complete article be Martin Eyserink here

LIHIR ISLAND—In a small village 15,000 kilometers from home, Oriol Mitjà jumped out of a white van one early May afternoon and started to look at people's legs.

"Any children with ulcers here?" he asked in Tok Pisin. "Can we see them?"

Soon, a young woman pushed a crying boy about five years old toward Mitjà. The boy was barefoot; he had a mop of blond curly hair, like most kids here, and was dressed only in dirty blue shorts.

A group of villagers, mostly women and children, had gathered to watch. "What's his name?" Mitjà asked as he sat down on a low wooden bench, pulled on disposable gloves, and gestured to the sobbing kid to come sit on his right leg. "Jeremiah," his mother said.

Mitjà, 38, a physician-scientist from Spain with earnest eyes and a friendly smile, has a way of putting kids at ease. As Jeremiah calmed down and began to wipe the tears from his eyes, Mitjà took a close look at his legs.

On each, the boy had a glistening pink ulcer the size of a coin, with slightly raised edges. Nearby were whitish, warty splotches. Mitjà also checked Jeremiah's arms, hands, and the soles of his feet; they looked fine.

Jeremiah's mother didn't seem overly concerned. The ulcers were common, and she said she hadn't taken the child to a clinic. "Does Jeremiah play with the other kids?" Mitjà asked. She nodded. "Does he go to school?" No, she said—not yet.

The ulcers and splotches, or papilloma, are symptoms of a tropical skin disease called yaws, Mitjà's professional and personal obsession.

Yaws affects people in hot, humid areas in PNG and at least 13 other countries in the western Pacific, Southeast Asia, and Africa. The disease is caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pertenue, a close relative of the organism that causes syphilis, and it spreads primarily through skin contact, often between children.

Yaws isn't fatal, but if left untreated it can disfigure the skin and bones, causing lifelong pain and disability.

When Mitjà arrived in PNG in 2010 to work at a local clinic, he had no idea what yaws was; the disease was so neglected that it didn't appear on many lists of neglected tropical diseases.

And yet eradicating it was once a major global public health goal. In the first half of the 20th century, colonial health administrators recorded staggering numbers of cases—an estimated 50 million worldwide in 1952—in 90 countries girdling the equator.

Then, in 1948, scientists discovered that a single injection of penicillin cured yaws, and in 1952, the World Health Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland—founded four years earlier and brimming with optimism—embarked on an audacious plan to wipe it out.

But the campaign fizzled out in the 1970s and '80s. Penicillin had its drawbacks. The injections—in the buttock, with a thick, hollow needle—are painful and can introduce bloodborne pathogens if not done safely; penicillin allergy is a problem as well.

After cases had been slashed by some 95%, the campaign became a victim of its own success. Yaws faded from a global priority to a forgotten disease.

That is now changing, thanks largely to Mitjà, an assistant professor at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health in Spain.

In 2012, he published a paper in The Lancet showing that yaws can be cured with a single dose of the oral antibiotic azithromycin. That much safer and easier treatment can be given not only to infected people, but also to entire at-risk populations.

The study—"perhaps the most important [paper] on yaws in the past 50 years," as David Mabey of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine wrote—revived the dream of eradication. WHO is now spearheading a new global attack plan.

If it succeeds, it would be a major feat, because only one human disease has been eradicated: smallpox, in 1980. (Campaigns to end polio and Guinea worm disease are in their final stages.) Yaws would also be the first bacterial disease to be wiped out.

But success isn't guaranteed. The scale of the challenge is uncertain because no one knows how many yaws cases remain—or just how many countries are still afflicted. Global health's usual benefactors, having picked other priorities, have refused to open their wallets.

And some scientists say Mitjà and WHO ignore an inconvenient fact: Unlike other agents marked for eradication, the yaws bacterium—or a close relative—also infects monkeys and apes, suggesting the disease could jump back into the human population at any time.

Those questions haven't deterred Mitjà, whose tireless campaign—mixing science, medicine, and advocacy—has made him a celebrity in Catalonia, his native region of Spain.

This year, together with PNG health officials and with modest funding from a group of donors, he launched the first of three mass treatments with azithromycin, each six months apart, to test the feasibility of eradication.

Jeremiah's village on the island of New Ireland is part of the study area. "Tomorrow, a team will come with yaws medicine. Everybody will get the drug," Mitjà said after the boy, now smiling faintly, had hopped off his lap. "Jeremiah's ulcers will be gone within a few weeks," he promised the boy's mother.

In 2010, a medical centre on Lihir advertised a temporary position for a doctor. Lihir has 18,000 inhabitants and one of the world's biggest gold mines, operated by an Australian company, Newcrest Mining Limited, which also supports the clinic. Mitjà, who had finished his residency and taken a course in tropical medicine, answered the ad.

Yaws often starts with a single ulcer, which can last for months if not treated; in the second stage, lesions can turn up elsewhere on the body, as they had in Jeremiah. In the long term, the bacterium can infect joints and the outer layer of bones, causing them to swell. It also can cause painful hardening of the skin on the palms and soles of the feet, as well as eruptions on the face.

One afternoon in May, Mitjà went to see a 15-year-old Lihir boy named Stanis Malom, who had suffered long-term damage from yaws. The bacterium had caused a symptom sometimes called sabre shin, in which the shinbone curves forward. This had likely made the leg prone to tearing of the skin, Mitjà said, and caused a permanent open wound the diameter of a teacup, which he covered with a bandage.

Stanis had stopped going to school because of the pain, his father said, and was now helping him grow vegetables. (Mitjà believed the stigma of disease may also have played a role.) Stanis had been treated with antibiotics and no longer had yaws, but the damage had been done; the open wound made him vulnerable to all sorts of infections.

In a richer country, an orthopaedic surgeon might be able to repair the leg—"You'd have to break the bone and put it back together in a better position," Mitjà said—but that option did not exist here. "The bottom line is, he's not going to have a happy life."

At home, his fight against yaws had made Mitjà a star and turned pian, Catalan for yaws, into a household word. But in the wider world, the disease remained almost as unknown as it was eight years ago. "Making people aware of this disease, not only in Barcelona but also in the rest of the world," he said, "that would be my dream."

JEWEL TOPSFIELD | Sydney Morning Herald | Edited extracts

SYDNEY - Major Australian mining companies face the prospect of higher royalties, tough restrictions on fly-in fly-out workers and the potential nationalisation of assets under reforms under consideration by the cash-strapped Papua New Guinea government.

The proposed law changes have sparked warnings from the country's peak mining body that they would pose “significant deterrents” to investment in future projects and “threaten the existing operations of current mines”.

Several Australian Securities Exchange listed companies including Newcrest, Highlands Pacific and St Barbara Limited operate mines in PNG, which has significant resources including gas, gold, copper, cobalt and nickel.

The PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum says the proposed changes to the Mining Act could clamp down on international fly-in fly-out workers, impose a right for the state to compulsorily acquire mining projects (on commercial terms) after 24 years and result in an increase in royalties.

It says some of the proposed changes – which have been under discussion for years – would have "severe negative impacts in the immediate and long term on both existing operations and proposed projects".

But the Resource Owners Federation of PNG claims existing laws are “primitive, unjust and self-harming”, and mining companies continue to reap benefits while keeping the landowners and citizens who own the resources poor.

PNG deputy prime minister Charles Abel told Fairfax Media the government was concerned about a number of factors including increasing the share of benefits to landowners.

“Any proposed amendment must address the underlying concerns and keep PNG competitive as an investment destination,” he said.

New copper and gold projects including the Newcrest-led Wafi-Golpu mine and PanAust's Frieda River mine are currently awaiting special mining leases from the PNG government.

At an update last month Abel said the PNG government was bringing on Wafi-Golpu, the expansion of a ExxonMobil-operated PNG liquefied natural gas plant and Papua LNG “under an improved fiscal template”.

The Wafi-Golpu project, a joint venture between Newcrest and Harmony Gold, is a key part of Newcrest’s future and is considered the company’s top growth asset.

Australian company PanAust holds an 80% interest in the Frieda River copper-gold project, which has an estimated initial mine life of 18 years.

PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum executive director Albert Mellam said some of the proposed changes had undermined investor confidence in PNG.

“We are concerned that some of the draft amendments are internationally uncompetitive, are a serious deterrent to investment in future mining projects in PNG and will threaten the existing operations of current mines in the country," he said.

Dr Mellam said the transitional arrangements were inadequate to protect existing operations and could affect permit applications that already been submitted. He also said businesses would have to wear increased royalties, fees and levies and “unreasonable penalties”.

He said the passing of legislation in February – which removed industry representation on the Mineral Resources Authority Board and doubled the production levy rate from 0.25% to 0.5% – had already created a “great deal of uncertainty in the minerals sector and for international investors watching PNG”.

“The industry has already observed a gradual decline of investment into mineral exploration over the past two years.”

Abel told Fairfax Media the current system had yielded good returns to government from mining projects in the past but a number of circumstances had combined to greatly reduce these flows as a share of government revenue.

These included projects approaching maturation, tax concessions, low prices, PNG LNG and Lihir, the gold mine owned by Newcrest, accessing accelerated depreciation provisions and greater use of the tax credit scheme.

“The state is not necessarily seeking to increase its take but wants earlier returns and smoother flows at lower cost,” Abel said.

“On the other hand the economy is in a very precarious state and the government is desperately looking for stimulus from new resource projects,” said Professor Stephen Howes, director of the Development Policy Centre at ANU.

“That’s the tension … I think the government is in a difficult position."

Professor Howes said he did not believe big new projects would go ahead until the uncertainty was resolved.

An outdoor assembly at Hagara primary school in more recent and peaceful times

ALLYN HICKS

SYDNEY - During my teaching years in Papua New Guinea, I worked with a variety of headmasters, but one in particular stands out.

His name was Fred Briggs and he was from Ireland. We worked together at Hagara Primary School in Port Moresby.

Fred was a reasonable enough bloke but had a violent, explosive temper, what is quaintly referred to as having a “short fuse”. In fact Fred had no fuse at all. His outbursts of temper were pretty much instantaneous.

Fred was also something of an odd ball. He would only eat sausages. On the plus side, he also liked a beer.

During recess break he would amble around the perimeter of the playground, dressed in khakis, military-style boots and a huge hat.

The students had a nickname for him but, due to his fearsome temper, none would dare utter it within his hearing.

I was surprised one day when on playground duty to find a star pupil - the quiet, intelligent and industrious Tarata - huddled in a corner, tears running down his face.

He looked most disconsolate and unhappy, apparently the result of a confrontation with the headmaster.

Between sobs he told me what happened. Apparently, as Fred was loping past Tarata with his peculiar bouncing style of walking, Tarata, for some reason known only to himself, called out loudly; “Hullo Cowboy!”

What induced this normally well behaved student to commit such an act of self-destruction is difficult to comprehend.

Fred’s reaction was predictable, hence Tarata’s discomfort.

One thing was for sure, no student at Hagara ever tried such a stunt again.

The ‘Hullo Cowboy’ nickname remained securely in the saddlebag.

James Sinclair on patrol at Lake Kopiago with Pami, 1952

KEITH JACKSON | The Australian

Middle Kingdom: A Colonial History of the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, by James Sinclair, Crawford House, 672 pp, $89.95)

NOOSA - British journalist Joshua Burt has written of “great scholars endlessly returning to excavate old terrain, to carefully study it from all angles and prod it gently with a stick”.

Burt could have been describing James Patrick Sinclair, whose final and monumental work about Papua New Guinea, Middle Kingdom, crowns 50 years of writing about Australia’s erstwhile colony.

Sinclair’s oeuvre was the exploration and development of PNG, a pursuit augmented by his vast knowledge and great love of its Highlands, the ‘‘middle kingdom’’ of the title.

When Sinclair died late last year aged 89, he ­bequeathed an opus of 35 works and an indelible reputation as the great recorder of PNG’s colonial history, especially after World War II.

Cumulatively, his books amount to a substantial ­contribution to the understanding of an important ­period in the development of PNG, and Australia’s critical ­involvement in the creation of this nation.

They tell the story of the Australian ­encounter (often more of a collision) with New Guinea, a land so ­unexpected and exotic that even ordinary people found themselves doing extraordinary, and sometimes exotic, things.

“Jim was a forthright and inspirational leader much esteemed by the people in the communities he served,” says former patrol officer Will Muskens, who served under him in the 1960s. He was one of the “very special group of Australian explorers who endured considerable hardship and deprivation (not to mention danger) leading government patrols into the previously uncontrolled and unexplored interior of the New Guinea mainland”.

The beautifully produced Middle Kingdom, described by the author as “a huge beast of a book”, offers Sinclair’s final and splendid ­fanfare to a mammoth feat of nation-building, particularly in the 30 years of change between the end of the war and PNG’s independence in 1975.

The large-format, hard-cased book, rich in information and with hundreds of photographs, many taken by Sinclair, offers the story of the misty and mysterious PNG Highlands from before the days of early Australian colonial exploration (which occurred only in the 1930s) to the colonisers’ lachrymose farewells when the new nation, one of the last ­significant colonies to be relinquished, achieved independence.

Sinclair was born in Dubbo, NSW, and in 1947, aged 19, joined the administration of what was then the Australian Territory of Papua and New Guinea. After attending an orientation course at the Australian School of Pacific Administration in Sydney, he landed in PNG in August 1948 as a cadet patrol officer, pikinini kiap in pidgin English. These young men, selected for their enterprise and physique, were tasked to explore, placate and introduce government to PNG’s 800 tribes.

Sinclair conducted exploratory and pacification patrols in the Highlands, opening Koroba station in 1955 and Lake Kopiago base camp in 1956, and exploring uncontrolled tribal lands in the far west of the territory. He steadily rose through the kiap ranks, finishing his career in 1975 as the last Australian district commissioner presiding over the fertile, populous and sometimes volatile Eastern Highlands region.

What he saw and experienced during his 26 years in the service of Pax Australiana was to influence and engage him for the rest of his life. His first book, Behind the Ranges, ­appeared in 1966, telling the story of his early exploratory patrols. It set a standard for thoroughness in research, insight and literary craftsmanship still evident 50 years later when he sat down to write Middle Kingdom.

Behind the Ranges almost came to nothing. Not long after he married Jan in 1959, Sinclair was struggling with the manuscript and doubted his capacity to complete the book he had envisaged. Late one afternoon, Jan saw him tearing apart a huge sheaf of papers held together by long bolts. She asked what he was doing and Sinclair replied, “Just some stuff I’ve written; everyone in New Guinea writes stuff.” Jan Sinclair stopped the destruction and ­prevailed on him to continue the task.

Sinclair’s first six books were published while he was still in PNG and, when he retired from the administration in 1975, it was an easy transition to full-time authorship and the prolific recording of colonial history. That said, his works remain unknown to most Australians who, after PNG independence, tended to lose interest in our nearest neighbour and our one great colonial experience.

Tony Crawford, whose Adelaide imprint published Middle Kingdom, first met Sinclair in the 70s, when Crawford worked at the PNG National Museum.

“He was after some photographs for one his early books on the art of Papua New Guinea and we built up a wonderful rapport as publisher and author that lasted till the last day,” Crawford says. “His superb photography and knowledge of PNG instilled a valuable history in many people worldwide: academics, historians, travellers and those who lived in PNG during the good old times.”

This 40-year relationship between publisher and author reaches its apotheosis in Middle Kingdom, which Crawford has produced with care and acumen.

The book fluently guides the reader from the early days of exploration (illustrated with many historic photographs), through the ­Pacific War, the greater urgency of post-war development and the challenges and turbulence of an independence that, in the view of many colonisers and most of the Highlands people, came far too early.

Middle Kingdom is as detailed and well ­researched as a history should be, but the ­anecdotes, illustrations, maps and superb index offer an outstanding experience for the reader. It is a book for every location between the coffee table and the university library, a wonderful compendium of a critical time in the history of PNG written by a man who understood the significance of the period in which he was both an important participant and an acute observer.