Author Archives: bougnews

Feb 11 2025

Bougainville News Alerts : Speaker of the House of Representatives Simon Pentanu, has announced the official dates of the 2025 ABG General Election

Speaker of the House of Representatives Simon Pentanu, has announced the official dates of the 2025 ABG General Election
Mr Pentanu said that he would be issuing the writs for the 2025 ABG General Election of the Bougainville House of Representatives on Monday 7th July 2025 as Speaker in accordance with Section 107 of the Bougainville Constitution.
He said that the election dates were in accordance with the election schedule provided by the Bougainville Electoral Commissioner, Desmond Tsianai.
The dates for the 2025 5th ABG General Elections are;
Issue of writs -Monday 7th July 2025
Nomination Open -Tuesday 8th July 2025
Nomination Close -Thursday 10th July 2025
Polling Period Starts -Tuesday 2nd September 2025
Polling Day -Thursday 4th September 2025
Polling Period Ends -Monday 8th September 2025
Counting Starts -Tuesday 9th September 2025
Counting Ends -Sunday 21st September 2025
Return of Writs -Monday 22nd September 2025
Pentanu highlighted that the 2025 elections would include the new five single member constituency seats bringing the total number of seats in the fifth House to 46. This would include the seats for the new president and speaker.
Mr Pentanu emphasized that it was important that the election was conducted in a lawful manner and applauded the Office of the Bougainville Electoral Commission for their continuous dedication in ensuring that the election was free and fair throughout Bougainville despite the challenging circumstances faced during elections on Bougainville.
Meanwhile, Bougainville Electoral Commissioner Tsianai acknowledged all the stakeholders, the departments, Bougainville Police Service and other agencies for their continuous support thus far.
“On behalf of my office and the organisation, I thank all electoral stakeholders, key ABG Departments, the Office of Speaker for the Bougainville House of Representatives, the Bougainville Police Service, the Australian Government through DFAT and the New Zealand Government through MFAT for their continuous support in every election in Bougainville and IFES for the technical advice.”
“I look forward to your continuous support in conducting the 2025 5th ABG General Elections successfully.”
ENDS

 

Nov 24 2024

Bougainville News Alerts : Land Access Compensation Agreement signed with Panguna Landowners

Over 300 traditional landowners from Panguna today signed a Land Access and Compensation Agreement (LACA) with Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL), marking a significant milestone in the project’s exploration phase.
 This signing follows the ABG’s decision to grant BCL with an exploration licence, EL01, in January of this year.
 His Excellency President Ishmael Toroama, who also serves as Minister for Mining and Energy Resources, acknowledged that another step in the Panguna project’s mining life cycle has now begun. He commended both the landowners and BCL for their efforts in reaching this stage.
 “I commend the Panguna landowners for reaching agreement with BCL and BCL for complying with the law towards undertaking its activities within the EL01 area. Once this LACA is signed, I trust that it will be registered by the Bougainville Chief Warden within the required legal timeframe to enable BCL to progress this project,” he said.
 President Toroama urged BCL to maintain cooperative relations with landowners, emphasizing the importance of these relations in ensuring the smooth progress of the Panguna project. He further encouraged all stakeholders to continue working together in unity and in compliance with the law to progress the project for the benefit of Bougainville.
 Secretary for the ABG Department of Mining and Petroleum, Peter Kolotein, outlined the importance of the Agreement, noting the significance of today’s signing ceremony.
 “This signing ceremony today is significant because it is a process per Bougainville mining law; which states that before entering the land the subject of an Exploration Licence to implement its work program, the licence holder must first enter into a land access and compensation agreement with the landowners. This means that the government may issue an exploration licence at the government level, but the licence holder cannot enter the land unless it gets the land access permission from the landowners”.
 Secretary Kolotein also highlighted that after 35 years since closure of the former Panguna mine, there is now tangible redevelopment progress being made through an all-inclusive, consultative process under the leadership of Hon. Ismael Toroama as Minister responsible.
 “It has also taken 9 to 10 months since grant of EL01 in January to get to this stage where the landowners and the company are now in agreement; culminating with signing of the LACA today. Various stakeholders have been involved in the process including BCL, Landowners, Ex-Combatants, the ABG, and others. In spite of the challenges along the way, the outcome we’re witnessing today is the result of that inclusive and consultative approach”.
Sep 2 2024

Bougainville News Alerts : Bougainville Peace Agreement – August 30th 2001 a brief history

The establishment of peace on Bougainville: After many attempts of unsuccessful peaceful settlements both within Papua New Guinea and overseas including Solomon Islands, New Zealand and Australia, an irrevocable ceasefire was signed in 1997 between the PNG Security Forces and the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA).

The Bougainville Peace Agreement was signed on 30 August 2001 following about 10 years of a fragile peace negotiations process between the Bougainville leaders and the PNG National Government.
The Bougainville Peace Agreement’s three pillars are:
1. Autonomy: Bougainville to assume an Autonomous Bougainville Government to be operated under a home-grown Bougainville Constitution and a Parliament with a right to assume increasing control over a wide range of powers, functions, personnel and resources on the basis of guarantees contained in the National Constitution.
2. Weapons Disposal: whereby the agreed weapons disposal plan will proceed in stages, area by area, around Bougainville as soon as practicable.
3. Referendum: guaranteed by the National Constitution, among Bougainvilleans on their political future. The choices available include a separate independence option and to be held not prior to ten years, and not later than fifteen years, after the election of the first autonomous Bougainville Government.
The Bougainville peace Agreement is guided by the principle of Peace by Peaceful Means.
Key Points about the Bougainville Peace Agreement:
1. A divided Bougainville entered into the peace negotiations and shaped the spirit and intentions of the Peace Agreement through specific interpretations:
· Peace by peaceful means; weapons disposal; good governance
· Melanesian consensus and relations building
· Autonomy as a conduit for independence
2. In 2002, amendments were made to the PNG National Constitution that guaranteed Bougainville a constitutional means of restoring governance and peace by peaceful means. Section 276 of the PNG National Constitution explicitly states that Part XIV of the National Constitution is unique to Bougainville alone.
3. Autonomy was intended to be a transitional peace and restoration arrangement for ten to fifteen years until a referendum would determine Bougainville’s political future.
4. The Bougainville Peace Agreement is a joint creation therefore both parties have a joint responsibility to implement it jointly.
5. Key milestones under the Bougainville Peace Agreement have all been achieved: Weapons disposal, Autonomy with an independent parliament and a referendum conducted to international standards.
6. Papua New Guinea as a joint implementer of the Peace Agreement, is obligated to implementing the Peace Agreement by endorsing the 97.7% vote for Independence.

#BougainvillePeaceAgreement #PeaceByPeacefulMeans

 

Aug 24 2024

Bougainville News Alerts : BCPC expands consultations to Brisbane, Australia

Bougainville Constitutional Planning Commission (BCPC) will be extending its consultations to Brisbane, Australia this  week.

This will be the second international consultation to gather views from Bougainvilleans living in Australia; the first international consultation was done in June this year with Bougainvilleans living in the Solomon Islands.

Please note our Australian based Bougainville News Alerts editor Colin Cowell with be in attendance

The three chairs to the BCPC – President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville and BCPC Chairman, Hon. Ishmael Toroama, Alternate Chairman of BCPC and Vice President of AROB Hon. Patrick Nisira and Deputy Chairman of BCPC, Attorney General and Minister for Justice and Independence Hon. Ezekiel Masatt will be traveling with selected Commissioners and secretariat to attend this consultation.

Since the BCPC was established in April 2022, the first round of consultations to gather views from Bougainvilleans to draft a new autochthonous constitution were only conducted within Bougainville and various other provinces on mainland Papua New Guinea.

These views collected were used to provide a report that assisted constitutional lawyers Professor Anthony Regan and Dr Katy Le Roy, to engage with the commissioners in six consecutive meetings to receive drafting instructions to produce a draft constitution.

Following the six consecutive meetings, a first draft constitution was completed in March this year, which resulted in the second phase of consultations in May to present the first draft and collect more views to create the final draft.

The second phase consultation was conducted within Bougainville, the New Guinea Islands Region of mainland PNG, three provinces in Southern Region, and Morobe Province in the Momase Region of PNG. Other provinces in these regions and in the Highlands Region of PNG are yet to be conducted.

The BCPC consultations in Brisbane will be from the 31st of August to 1st September 2024. Those Bougainvilleans in neighbouring states can attend if they are able to, however, they can also email their submissions to bcpc.arob@gmail.com.

 

The copy of the first draft is also available on the ABG website.

https://abg.gov.pg/

 

Jun 26 2024

Bougainville News : #StateofOrigin beginnings in Bougainville PNG are to be celebrated at MCG in Melbourne tonight


State of Origin beginnings in Bougainville PNG are to be celebrated at MCG in Melbourne tonight

The pioneers of the State of Origin concept are set to be honoured at the MCG tonight with the trophy from the 1945 interstate matches between NSW and Queensland in Papua New Guinea on display at Origin II.

While it was widely considered that the Origin concept was adopted from AFL, sport’s greatest rivalry began on Medco Oval in Torokina at the end of World War II as Australian troops waited in Bougainville to be taken home.

The two matches, both won by Queensland, are now believed to be the first interstate clashes in which players were selected along State of Origin lines and represented their birthplace rather than where they had enlisted during the war.

The trophy from the series, made from a 120mm Japanese Naval shell casing with handles either side mounted on a three-tiered wooden base, has been rediscovered from a Brisbane Army Museum.

It will be taken from the museum in Caxton Street, near the venue of the first State of Origin in 1980, to Melbourne to be displayed alongside the current State of Origin Shield at the MCG on Wednesday night.

Rugby league historian David Middleton said the trophy, which has the names of the Queensland players and the scores – 10-9 and 20-13 – inscribed, confirmed that the genesis of State of Origin began in PNG on September 16, 1945.

“There’s always been debate about how State of Origin started and who came up with the concept,” Middleton said.

“But we now know through this incredible relic that State of Origin was in the minds of fans and players as long ago as 1945, and that they played after the war ended in Papua New Guinea along Queensland and New South Wales lines.

“There was already this incredible rivalry that existed between the states in rugby league, but we didn’t know about the fierceness of that tribalism at the time.”

Sport played a significant role in military life but was usually played as inter-regimental or inter-battalion competitions and as the battalions largely comprised of NSW and Queensland personnel they played an Interstate Rugby League Series.

You had a bloke like [Rabbitohs great] Jack Rayner, who was born in NSW, but enlisted in Queensland who was playing for Queensland battalion teams, and many Queenslanders were playing for NSW battalions,” Middleton said.

“Someone came up with the idea, and it may well have been warrant officer Ron Connor, who went to his superior officer and said we would like to play an interstate game based on where our players were born.

“Fortunately, his superior officer there was a rugby league man, as well, from Charters Towers, who agreed to the concept and the games went ahead.”

The teams comprised mostly of players from the Brisbane and Sydney competitions and Connor wrote a match report in which he said the standard “of this interstate match was better to watch than the one in Brisbane a few weeks ago”.

Among the players of note in the Queensland team were Brisbane half-back Bobby Williamson, Rockhampton fullback Jack Barnes and Ipswich hooker Kelly Brennan, who went on to play in the Interstate Series in Brisbane the following year.

The NSW team included St George centre Doug McRitchie, who was man-of-the-match in the 1949 grand final and played for Australia in 1950 when the Kangaroos won an Ashes series for the first time in 28 years.

“Doug McRitchie became the inspiration for Ron Coote when he started the Men of League [now Family of League],” Middleton said.

“He was lying in hospital on the South Coast of NSW when Ron went to visit him, and the thought struck him that the rugby league needs to do more to look after its former players
So not only does Doug McRitchie have a connection as an Australian Test player, and a connection to the start of Men of League but he also has this remarkable connection to the genesis of State of Origin.”

With the NRL considering a bid to include a Papua New Guinea team in the competition as part of a wider commitment to the game in the Pacific, Middleton said the connection between PNG and State of Origin was significant.

There had been stories during WWII about how the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels, those famous Papua New Guineans who helped the Australian soldiers march up the Kokoda Track, loved rugby league,” Middleton said.

They loved watching the games played by the soldiers, and so this game – State of Origin played 35 years before Queensland and NSW did battle at Lang Park – has great significance historically and of course, there is the connection now with discussions about a possible team in the NRL.”

Teams
Queensland: J Barnes (Captain), J. Christopher, L. Ashmore, C. King, E. Lade; N. Hoare, R. Williamson; H. Bradshaw, M. Tresdon, T. Kraft, M. Thompson (Vice Captain), K. Brennan, F. McLennan.
NSW: H. Parkinson, W. Peachy, D. McRitchie, T. Briggs, H. Dhu; H. Majoribanks (Captain), R. Miller; H.Taylor, V. Love, C.Smith, J. Hobson (Vice Captain), D. Sinclaire, H. Freeman

Jun 16 2024

Bougainville News : By 2052, Bougainville will be high income, educated, healthy, peaceful and Christian sovereign nation.’

ABG Ministers and their Department Secretaries attended an induction program on the “Bougainville Long Term Vision 2052,” hosted by the Bougainville Strategic Research & Planning Secretariat.

The Vision states; ‘By 2052, Bougainville will be high income, educated, healthy, peaceful and Christian sovereign nation.’

ABG Acting President Hon. Robin Wilson in delivering the keynote address, emphasized the importance of the Long Term Vision for Bougainville as an emerging region.

“The Bougainville Long Term Vision 2052 is an important achievement by the Government in preparing Bougainville beyond political independence. It complements our efforts for nation building as it provides the way forward to glue us together as a nation,” he said.

“As we rebuild ourselves and negotiate towards being an independent nation, we must not simply bring back the same old way of doing things but set a future horizion for the new nation.”

He called on all Ministers and Secretaries for their undivided support in translating the Vision into implementation plans.

He added that the purpose of the induction is to induct and familiarize the leadership with the Bougainville Long Term Vision 2052.

The Induction covered detailed sessions on the key aspects of the Vision goals and objectives, the eight pillars that contribute to the description of the long term vision and the series of medium term plans through which the Vision will be achieved.

“Each of the leaders, ministers and heads of departments are duty bound to take onboard and implement the Bougainville Long Term Vision 2052. Through the Chief Secretary’s office, I will seek to entrench the Long Term Vision in legislation,” Wilson concluded.

The induction program today is the first of a series of induction workshops that will be held at both the headquarter and district level over the coming weeks to ensure that all leaders, public servants and the public fully understand the Bougainville Long Term Vision 2052.

A copy of the Bougainville Long Term Vision 2052 can be downloaded here.

Click to access Bougainville_Vision_2052_final.pdf

[ Back to News ]

May 27 2024

Bougainville News Alert : Lawsuit against Rio Tinto and BCL involving thousands over environmental and social destruction wrought by Panguna Mine

A class action involving thousands of people is being brought against Rio Tinto and Bougainville Copper Ltd over the environmental and social destruction wrought by the Panguna Mine in the autonomous Papua New Guinea region of Bougainville.

The action is headed by Martin Miriori, who is the brother of Bougainville’s first president Joseph Kabui, and was a former secretary of the separatists’ government, the Bougainville Interim Government, during the civil war.

Panguna, which was the spark for the civil war, was forced to close in 1989, but the present autonomous government, which now controls it, is working to have it re-opened.

Rio Tinto has acknowledged that a class action has been filed against it and Bougainville Copper in the National Court in PNG.

The company said in a statement to mining.com that “we are reviewing the details of the claim. As this is an ongoing legal matter, we are unable to comment further at this time.”

Mining.com says the action is being financed by Panguna Mine Action LLC, a company established for the purpose of funding the investigation and prosecution, according to its website.

Miriori said they have reflected back on the unsuccessful US$ten-billion-dollar claim made in 1989 by the man who led the separatists during the civil war, Francis Ona.

“Nobody took it [the Ona suit] to the court. You know, that’s the thing. Nobody took it to court. So this time is a legal process. So we are trying to get something out of BCL and Rio Tinto through the legal process,” he said.

Miriori said they want compensation for “environmental [damage], land, everything that the mining operation affected, basically, for the directly impacted landowner communities.”

This would cover five communities, from the Special Mining Lease area at the site of the mine, through the upper, middle and lower ends of the tailings, right to the coastal corridors.

There is presently work to determine the extent of the environmental damage caused by the mine and this is being funded by Rio Tinto, which no longer has an interest in its former subsidiary, Bougainville Copper Limited.

But Miriori said his legal action is not something that will clash with that work.

“That’s a separate case,” he said.

While Francis Ona had sought US$10 billion dollars Miriori has no figure in mind, “no, I just can’t pre-empt any amount. No the legal process will decide that. The court will determine how much, as we go along”.

He said ideally, they want to settle out of court.

Bougainville government not happy

President Ishmael Toroama said the lawsuit is disappointing and the work of people not acting in the interests of Bougainville as a whole.

He said his government is not backing it in any way, shape or form.

Toroama said he views it as hindering Bougainville’s economic independence agenda.

He said the redevelopment of Panguna is an important priority for this government and for the people of Bougainville.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/517756/lawsuit-involving-thousands-over-bougainville-s-panguna

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Oct 31 2023

Bougainville News alerts ” Congratulations Francesca Semoso: Bougainville’s first woman MP in PNG’s parliament

Francesca Semoso will be the third woman member of parliament in the Papua New Guinea (PNG) national parliament after she won the North Bougainville open seat in a by-election last week.

The MP-elect also becomes the first woman from Bougainville to win a seat in PNG’s national parliament.

The by-election followed the sudden death of William Nakin in July, who had retained the seat but died during the vote count last year.

From https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/501299/francesca-semoso-bougainville-s-first-woman-mp-in-png-s-parliament

Semoso, who has been a member of the Bougainville parliament on two occasions, holding senior posts, formerly worked as a broadcaster.

The new MP has previously told RNZ Pacific that her main focus as a member of the national parliament will be on helping the region achieve its push for independence from PNG.

ABG President IShmael Toroama said “For more than a year our people of North Bougainville were deprived of the right of representation in the National Parliament” following the death Nakin.

He said he was glad that the people of North Bougainville would finally have representation in the national parliament.

“Semoso is not new to the political scene. She is a seasoned politician in Bougainville having been elected the Woman Representative for North Bougainville twice in the Bougainville House of Representatives; first in the inaugural First House and she served her second term in the Third House.

“Semoso is a strong advocate of social issues, and progressive development and an even stauncher advocate of Bougainville’s desire for political independence from Papua New Guinea. She will champion Bougainville’s Independence aspirations on the floor of the National Parliament to the best of her ability,” he said.

Toroama said with the election of Semoso, “the leadership vacuum in Bougainville has now been filled”.

“Bougainville’s leaders in the National Parliament and the Autonomous Bougainville Government must unite under one cause and that is delivering our people’s ultimate desire for an Independent Sovereign State of Bougainville.

Jun 15 2023

Bougainville News : Today we celebrate 18th AROB Day Anniversary June 15 2005 to 2023

Where were you at the beginning of this era on this Day 15 June 2005.
I was at Hahela YC sports oval. This was the outdoors venue where the inauguration of the first ABG took place.
It is where the President of ABG (Joseph C Kabui) took his oaths as the first President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville within PNG.
It is also where the first 40 members of the First Bougainville House of Representatives took their oaths of Office as Members.
The swearing-in was administered by and before His Honour the Deputy Chief Justice, late Sir Mari Kapi.
This Day was graced by a full crowd of women, men, including schoolchildren that filled the whole oval. A colorful loop of young students holding a large Bougainville flag end to bed took up a large space of the oval.
At the head of the ceremonial pavilion were VIPs that included head of UNOMB, heads of missions in PNG, a Fijian Government contingent led by their Foreign Minister at the time, and heads and representatives of churches, chiefs, elders, traditional spiritual leaders and women leaders.
The significance of this occasion was a “rebirth”of Bougainville after a devastating conflict in which many lives were lost on all sides of the conflict but mostly upwards of fifteen thousand lives of Bougainvilleans.
The thoughts and significance that today marked the end of what seemed a debilitating war and the beginning today that would usher in peace in the land was not lost to many Bougainvilleans at home and abroad.
The principal guest who made the keynote response to the inaugural Address by President Kabui was the Rt Hon Prime Minister of PNG, Sir Michael Somare.
At the end of the ceremony the Prime Minister, the President, all MHRs, VIPs and the Clerk of the House were ‘ushered’ into vehicles on a short drive to the Parliament, Bougainville’s first House of Representatives.
The first business of the House was the appointment of Speaker of the House. Hon Nick Peniai was duly elected and took his oath as the first Speaker of the House.
Two main Addresses followed, the first in the Bougainville House of Representatives by the Rt Hon Sir Michael Somare and by Hon Joseph C Kabui.
On this day was born the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, the ABG and Bougainville’s Parliament, the House of Representatives.
So today isn’t just another day. It is the eighteenth anniversary of AROB eighteen years on. Hon Ishmael Toroama MHR is the fifth President of ABG and head of the Executive. The Fourth Bougainville House of Representatives is celebrating its fourth anniversary with four successful, successive peaceful elections since 2005 with its fifth Speaker as head of the Legislature on this eighteenth anniversary.
Thanking all Bougainvilleans across the length and breath of the main Islands and out on the Atolls.
Thank you PNG National Government for honouring the BPA in delivering Autonomy and maintaining a continuing interest in the development and aspirations of Bougainville.
A long and winding, challenging and interesting, road is ahead and beyond. It isn’t awaiting us. We have to make the right efforts guided by faith, honesty, trust and forebearance, led by leaders that must not only be beyond reproach but seen to be so in a world that is still violent, full of greed and aggrandizement.
Happy AROB Day Anniversary ☮️
May 6 2023

Bougainville News : Download /Read : Unsung Land, Aspiring Nation a new book by Gordon Peake

In 2016, Gordon Peake answers a job advertisement for a role with the government of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, a collection of islands on the eastern fringe of Papua New Guinea looking to strike out as a country of its own.

In his day job he sees at first hand the challenges of trying to stand up new government systems.

Away from the office he travels with former rebels, follows an anthropologist’s ghost and visits landmarks from the region’s conflict. In 2019, he witnesses joy and euphoria as the people of Bougainville vote in a referendum on their future.

Out of these encounters emerges an unforgettable portrait of this potential nation-in-waiting.

Blending narrative history, travelogue and personal reminiscences, Unsung Land, Aspiring Nation is an engaging memoir as well as an insightful meditation on the realities of nation-making and international development.

Download the book here

Bougainville book

Publisher ANU

https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/series/pacific/unsung-land-aspiring-nation

‘Heartfelt and honest. This book is an insightful read and a valuable addition to scholarship on Bougainville’s journey to peace.’
— Joseph Nobetau, former Chief Secretary to the Autonomous Bougainville Government

‘An excellent piece of engaged travel writing. With first-hand observation and curiosity, Gordon has produced a deeply informed, compelling and evocative account of war, survival and nation-building in what may become the world’s newest country.’
— Tom Bamforth, author of The Rising Tide: Among the Islands and Atolls of the Pacific Ocean

Unsung Land, Aspiring Nation is also available as an audiobook.