Category Climate Change

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.

May 29 2022

Bougainville News May 2022 : Simon Pentanu “ The lessons out of Panguna provide an almanac of social, political, economic and environmental concerns we will do well to heed. “

“ For now ABG and the people have been all too aware matters surrounding mining and landowner concerns must be handled much better.

The lessons out of Panguna provide an almanac of social, political, economic and environmental concerns we will do well to heed. ” 

Simon Pentanu

The benches around the Panguna mine that were so conspicuous and became almost a landmark of this humongous pit are still visible but mostly either in a state of collapse through slow seeping water erosion or giving way, tired of lying around with no purpose to fulfil.

The pit is a massive ‘dingkung’ (hole) on Bougainville’s landscape; it is also a massive statement that man is capable of gutting the resources and riches of the Earth from its belly and leave the land wasted and torn asunder after its riches have been extracted and shipped away.

The creepers and dwarf alpine tree roots that have held the land around the rim of the open-cut mine intact have been eroded through crevices allowing rain water to seep into the pit. Some of this water turns into a turquoise-green pond after it has come into contact with copper traces in the rocks.

The Euclid trucks and electric shovels in the pit that were torched at the height of crisis and sat in neat rows as lifeless sitting ducks, looking down from the top of the pit, are no longer there. Anything that was worth salvaging to sell as scrap has gone.

There is nothing much to find, cut or sell from Panguna anymore. It would be a completely desolate place if not for the resilience of women, who – despite the land, the creeks and the jungle and fauna and flora they have lost – still go about their traditional chores attached to the land.

Any activity that maintains a semblance of normal life here involves women. They have gone back to gardening, growing vegetables on whatever arable land was spared of mining.

There are no commercial tree crops like cocoa and coconut grown in Panguna. The people’s limited source of income comes from the vegetables from the land that find their way from the Crown Prince Range to the fruit and vegetable markets at Morgan Junction and Arawa.

The more you look at Panguna and the few remnants from its mining days, the more it looks as if some gigantic monster landed here and trampled on everything with its huge feet.

It is unimaginable how a whole area of rainforest could disappear from this once-beautiful place. Yes, humans – at our very best and our very worst – are capable of many unimaginable things!

Panguna is a paradox, a Pandora’s box. Once opened, its contents cannot be easily contained. This is still a huge mineral deposit under the ground. There is no doubt it still holds the potential to largely, perhaps singly, drive Bougainville’s economy in the same as it did pre and post independent PNG, if it is reopened.

For now ABG and the people have been all too aware matters surrounding mining and landowner concerns must be handled much better. The lessons out of Panguna provide an almanac of social, political, economic and environmental concerns we will do well to heed.

Much of the problem is that we tend to start by thinking about how much money mining promises to provide and imagine how that will transform everything for the better without also thinking through otherwise. We tend not to turn our minds to the human feelings, the societal issues, the injustices and the environmental harms that arise when huge projects of this magnitude are given the green light.

Yet the views, human feelings and sensitivities are much more powerful than what money may achieve in trying to reopen Panguna. Just consider how many millions, a figure close to K20m if you include hidden costs, of our good money has been thrown over the years at discussing re-opening Panguna.

A lot of this isn’t necessarily any government’s fault, the landowners’ fault or anybody’s fault.

What some of it is, is this. When a mammoth project like Panguna, particularly an extractive project like mining, is shut down while there are still underlying conflicts and competing interests in a complex land tenure system, it is very difficult to get traction with anybody unless you satisfy everybody.

In a society where land is not owned individually, but its use and tenure is shared, it is impossible to satisfy everybody regardless of how many MOUs, MOAs or similar pledges are signed. Or for that matter, how many reconciliations are done.

There are tried and tested ways to resolve land claims, land feuds and land grabs in traditional societies. These involve methods where the settlement of a dispute doesn’t benefit one group, one party, one clan or family, while disadvantaging others. Any resolution reached cannot have adverse impacts for some and benefits to others if it is to be widely accepted and shared.

Traditional Melanesian society is highly egalitarian.

It does not necessarily fit with a system where land is regarded as a valuable commodity – a resource that can be bought and sold, used and disposed of.

Paying heed to heartfelt feelings is critical when dealing with resource issues, as the following words from a New Zealand journalist’s interview with the late President Joseph Kabui remind us:

“The Panguna mine did a massive damage to the environment of Bougainville. Damage that affected the river system in the immediate vicinityi of the mine and of course all the way down to the sea.

The river that I once swam in as a young boy spearing prawns and fish, eels, whatever, the normal life of the river disappeared right in front of my eyes. It is still dead, it will never come back to what it was before.”

Land is not only the stuff we walk on, are buried under, sow gardens into, go walkabout on and hunt in.

Land is also the rivers and creeks, the shrubs, trees and forests, the insects, birds, lizards and marsupials the same land supports. When people sense a threat or get the notion they might be dispossessed, they will fight and protect their land with their lives if they have to.

No wonder Panguna continues to be a difficult problem to resolve, where good money has been thrown after dubious decisions. It is always better to start well at the front end of a complex equation than to go in, boots and all, make a mess then try to fix up issues from the back end.

Let us hope the Tunuru Agreement, which was openly representative and inclusive of the main custodial clans of traditional land in Paguna and its upper and lower tailings, has done things differently and is given a chance to succeed in ways other agreements did not.

Because if we continue to do the same things over and over again, but expect a different result, our hopes may collapse like the benches around the mine pit.

PHOTO: “Any activity that maintains a semblance of normal life here involves women. I am thankful we have women elected into our Parliament.”

 

Mar 31 2022

Bougainville News alert : Hon. Ishmael Toroama President statement commemorating the first year of the #Bougainville Independence Ready Mission

It has been one year since my government launched the Bougainville Independence Ready Mission on April 1, 2021.

My Government’s Independence Ready Mission takes on a three-pronged strategic approach that requires preparations for independence to be implemented internally, domestically and internationally.

In commemorating the first year of implementing this program, I wish to remind us all Bougainvilleans that preparing Bougainville for independence is no easy challenge.

It requires government and people to work together and to work harder in this process to actualize our political aspiration for independence.

For us in Bougainville, we have established our Constituency Independence-Ready Committees across all our thirty-three constituencies through the internal prong of the Independence-Ready Mission.

As President, I call on all Bougainvilleans to work collaboratively with these Committees to progress nation-building and state-building activities at the ward levels.

We can only progress through people-participation in development, adopting social responsibility standards, having a change of mindset and cultivating an attitude of self-reliance in our families and communities.

Our political timeline has been set; ‘no earlier than 2025 and no later than 2027’ and it requires a whole-of-government approach to our independence-readiness.

As Bougainvilleans, we must embrace this timeline and see it as a matter of urgency to get our house in order.

In working towards independence-readiness, my government will ensure that we have the proper systems in place that promotes democracy, transparency, accountability, peace and good order in our society.

In the same manner, I call on every Bougainvillean man, woman and child to stand firm with your government in this process. Our 97.7% vote for independence proves that we are united in this process and we must not shy away from the challenges that lie ahead of us.

We stood united as one people when we voted for Bougainville’s independence, and we must stand firm through this journey to deliver independence together for Bougainville.

May God Bless us All.

Hon. Ishmael Toroama
President

Jun 9 2021

Bougainville News Alerts : ” Independence Readiness ” President Ishmael Toroama: Parliamentary Address, June Parliament Session

Mr Speaker, Honorable members of Parliament, much has transpired since the formation of my Government and I am happy to brief this House on some of these achievements in the 10 months that we have been in government.

Mr Speaker, I will start by making a few statements about the important work on “Independence Readiness”.

Mr Speaker, as all members know, we came into this house on the back of the 97.7 percent Referendum Vote for independence.  And as a deliberate intent, one of the key strategies that ABG has embarked on, is the Independence Readiness program which comprises of three Prongs.

We are all currently actively engaged in the “Internal Prong” of getting all our communities ready for independence. Last week, we had the opportunity to engage with the Ramu and Lato constituencies of South Bougainville. Last month we met with the Halia and Nissan Constituencies.  And everywhere we travel, we are met with high enthusiasm and spirit.

Mr Speaker, all members must familiarize yourselves with the program and the key messages, go out and make communities independence ready. The length and breadth of Bougainville must show a united stand to the rest of the world.

Mr Speaker, with regards to the International prong, BEC had recently approved a policy paper on cultivating international support under the leadership of the Minister for the Dept of Bougainville Independence Mission Implementation.

Mr. Speaker, under the National Prong, my Government and the Leaders of Bougainville, continue to consult with the PNG Government on the Referendum Result.  We are on very cordial terms with the PNG Government with much good will and understandings on both sides as we journey towards our destiny.

Mr Speaker, Honorable Members, as you are all aware, at the Kokopo Consultations, I presented the Bougainville position based on the Oasis Resolution. Both parties signed a Joint statement agreeing to work on:

  • Defining the meaning and process of Ratification
  • The constitutional issues relating to the Referendum results and the tabling of the consultation outcomes in the National Parliament
  • Developing a Joint Roadmap on the Post Referendum Consultations
  • And to fully implementing the Sharp Agreement

Mr Speaker, the Bougainville Executive Council has recently approved a paper on the International Prong aimed at cultivating friendly relations in the pursuit of our course but through currently existing arrangements under PNG. There are a number of aspects to international relations such as political, social, cultural, economic and trade. We will have a bit more understanding on how these aspects will be managed within ABG in due course.

Mr Speaker, One final note on independence readiness is that “we, as leaders and as public servants, are the public face of Bougainville” and we must maintain ethical standards of behavior at all times. The kind of behaviors reported recently in the media should not happen again.

As your President, who is directly mandated into this chair by the people, I want all structures and systems of government, including all Committees of this House, to all be aligned and working towards our common goals and not be distracted by agendas outside of this Parliament.

Mr Speaker, at this juncture, let me announce and congratulate the new Minister for Public Service, the Member for Baba, the Honorable Emmanuel Kaetavara. Yours is a key Ministry that provides structural leadership and legislative oversight for the Human resources in the delivery of services and development. The challenge of your Dept is to reinvent itself and align its relevance in an evolving Presidential system of Government.

May I also thank the former Minister and Member for Lato for his services in the 9 months of his appointment. You will continue to serve the people of Bougainville through your Constituency and through this House.

Mr Speaker, I now want to highlight key achievements by my Government since our formation.

Mr Speaker, the Political Control agenda has already been noted above under the Independence Ready Program. I am pleased with its progress and much credit must go to the Minister responsible and to BIMAT. BIMAT is an example of thinking outside the box.

Mr Speaker, another achievement is the signing of the Joint Communique, which basically recognizes the historical journey undertake by the two governments under the Bougainville Peace Agreement and commits the two governments to jointly consult on the Referendum results for independence.

Mr Speaker, the Sharp Agreement, which was signed on the 13th of May, does away with the Constitutional requirements under section 295 (a) and (b) regarding the transfer of powers and functions under the Autonomous arrangements. This paves the way for the consultations to focus on the political agenda while the Administration deals with the implementation of the remaining powers and functions. This is a challenge in itself and I urge the administration to rise up to the task.

The Bougainville Position tabled at the Kokopo Consultation presents a detailed five-year timeline from 2021 to 2025. Each year comprises a number of key Milestones to be achieved with independence fully declared during 2025 (and perhaps set 1st September 2025 as the date for declaration).  The Kokopo Resolutions now provide the strategy for both parties to consult over the Bougainville position through the coming consultations. This will need careful analysis and planning going forward.

Mr Speaker, in this regard, my Government has established two secretariats specifically to attend to the intellectual and strategic needs of our political journey. The Bougainville Independence Mission Advisory Team (BIMAT) under the Dept of Independence Mission Implementation is providing the intellectual grunt in our political engagement with PNG.

The other Secretariat established is the Bougainville Strategic Research Planning & Monitoring Secretariat (BSRPMS) which will take lead on the higher level Long -Term Vision and Development Strategies and the review and restructuring of Government in line with emerging scenarios.

Mr Speaker, it is very pleasing to note the capabilities and institutional memories housed in both Secretariats, which complement the Public Service and I ask the rest of the administration (especially the Finance Dept) to accord timely support to these two bodies.

Let me now make a few statements about the Economic Control Pillar – State Owned Enterprises and Internal Revenue

Mr Speaker, since the formation of the post crisis Bougainville Government, a total of 20 Government owned Business Enterprises have been set up. As of this year, only 4 of these businesses are operating while 16 have closed. Out of the four that are still operating, only two are contributing revenue to ABG. This is a failure rate of 80% and is a serious indictment on the performance of past governments.

There are a lot of lessons to be learnt going forward in how we plan, manage and conduct business. We currently only generate 24% internally of the revenue needed to run government and to deliver services and development.

Mr Speaker, in order to avoid the problem of poor business performance in the future, my Government is working on setting up Business management systems that will uphold good management principles against the pilfering of funds in the past.

My government will also soon announce new business ventures to the value of US$19m (about K68m) and announce investments totaling US$100m (K400m) by early 2021 creating employment of about 2,000 jobs to the economy.

Mr Speaker, with regards to Panguna, the Veterans Association of Panguna, under the Leadership of the Vice President is preparing the ground work for the removal of the remaining bones in and around Panguna. This will clear the way for any talks relating to the possible reopening of the mine.

An overall Economic Development Strategy is being formulated for presentation at the Economic Summit which is now postponed to November this year.

Mr. Speaker, whilst I am on the subject of Government revenue, I am happy to mention to this sitting, that the PNG Government has released K40m to ABG as first instalment of the K100m per year promised by Prime Minister Hon James Marape at the February JSB in Arawa.

Mr Speaker, for the information of members, funds owed to Bougainville by PNG Government include:

  • The K1billion over a ten-year period (K100m per year)
  • The PIP K100m per year under BPA section 50
  • The RDG outstanding grants of K624m up to 2019
  • The K81m currently outstanding since 2018

Our officers need to engage constantly with Waigani to draw this money down.

Mr Speaker, on Taxation matters, the Arawa JSB, also agreed on a new Taxation arrangement for ABG. The Bougainville Peace Agreement stipulates for 70 percent of Taxes collected from business conducted in Bougainville to be held in Trust by the PNG Government and 30 percent to be allocated to Bougainville annually. The February JSB agreed with the Prime Minister Hon James Marape, to reverse this situation in Bougainville’s favour by now allocating 70 percent to Bougainville and keeping 30 percent in Trust by PNG IRC. When effected, this will contribute further to increasing our internal revenue.

Mr Speaker, under Law and Order, the Law and Order sector through the Dept of Law and Justice continues to make headway in “institutional strengthening” to better position itself to deliver on its mandate. We have recently witnessed the ground breaking for its new office building in Kubu. It has also recently held consultations with its PNG counterparts to strategize on legislative matters relating to the powers being transferred under the Sharp agreement.

Mr Speaker, on Corruption or perceptions of corruption continues to be a major stumbling block to the government both at the leadership and administrative level. Some of the practices, like officers hiring their own vehicles for project monitoring visits must stop. At the Leadership level, we must focus on legislation and policy making and leave matters of implementation to the appropriate bodies. A key point to highlight here is the ABG owned enterprises with 80% failure rate because of political influence.

Mr. Speaker, I am happy that BSP has recently paid K500,000 to the ABG revenue but this announcement should not shroud the monies previously diverted by the trustees of this shareholding. ABG through the relevant agencies should recover these monies.

The key approach to combatting corruption is to follow proper systems and processes that exist or to create new systems where none exist. There will be many changes as Bougainville transitions from an Autonomous Government to a future sovereign state and there will be times when we have to think “outside the box” to find solutions because the normal way of doing business will not be adequate.

Mr Speaker, however, in saying this, I am not advocating “a free for all situation”. We must still be strategic, coordinated and systematic!! The ABG Administration will still take lead in implementing normal delivery of “services and development” whilst BIMAT will take lead in any forward thinking and implementation on the political consultation front and the Bougainville Strategic Research Planning & Monitoring Secretariat will take lead on the higher level Long -Term Vision and Development Strategies and the review and restructuring of Government in line with emerging scenarios.

Mr Speaker, on the 2022 Budget, the Administration has just concluded the formulation of the 2022 Budget at its workshop in Arawa. This will be the first budget that will reflect the Six Strategic Priorities under my Government. As noted elsewhere in this speech, my Government has already progressed most of my Governments priorities except for the Long-term Vision and Development Strategy and Mobilizing Civil Society and the Private Sector.

Plans are underway for an extensive Bougainville wide consultation process, beginning in July, at the districts & communities regarding the Bougainville Long term Vision and Development Strategy.  It is my intention to present the final product to Parliament in the first quarter of 2022.

Mr Speaker, the Long-term Vision and Strategic Plan will be the Blue Print providing the Framework for subsequent Medium and Short-Term Development Planning by the Administration under subsequent governments. It will also provide the framework for   mobilizing the Private Sector and Civil Society.

My Government, intends to conduct a comprehensive “resource mapping”, using the latest modern technology, of all our resources (natural or man-made) on which the detailed Long-Term Plan will be based.  A knowledge of the resource inventory and its monetary value will be fundamental to the economic growth of an independent sovereign Bougainville. We will not be fooled by any external interests once we complete this exercise.

Mr Speaker, the concept of Regional Development Authorities (RDA) was also legitimized at the recent Budget Planning meeting in Arawa. It must have the capacity and ability to deliver on its mandate and should not simply be another government office that will chew up scare resources.

Mr Speaker, the challenges are many and obvious as we transit into a future political status. As we have experienced so far, the consultation timeline and process are going to be quite intensive. Both the leaders and public servants will need to balance the domestic responsibilities of providing governance, services delivery and development with that of participating in the political agenda. Ministers and Heads of Departments should pay particular attention to this challenge.

Mr Speaker, another challenge is “funding”. Both Bougainville and PNG are being assisted in the consultations by the donor community through the United Nations. We will need to manage expectations of our various stakeholder groups in how we all participate in the consultation process through fair representation whilst travelling on a crowded journey. It will not be possible to take large delegations to all consultations.

Mr Speaker, there are many other challenges which I am sure all levels of Bougainville society are well aware off and are taking appropriate remedial measures.

Mr Speaker, the journey ahead is not going to be easy on all fronts as we play catch-up on missed opportunities over the last 15 years. All we ask for from all our citizens, through your respective leadership positions, is their patience and support.

Thankyou all

 

Apr 13 2019

Bougainville Mining News : ABG calls for submissions to #Bougainville Mining Bills : Submissions close 19 April

 

The Parliament’s Legislation Committee is conducting public enquiries into the following Government Bills: 

  1. BILL NUMBER ONE: Bougainville Mining (Amendment) Bill 2019;
  2. BILL NUMBER TWO: Bougainville Advance Holdings Trust Authorization Bill 2019;
  3. BILL NUMBER THREE: Bougainville Advance Mining Holdings Limited Authorization Bill 2019.

BILL NUMBER ONE seeks to amend the Bougainville Act 2015 to allow the Bougainville Executive Council, in conjunction with the Minister for Mineral and Energy Resources, to issue a Special Bougainville Exploration Licence or Mining Lease to a Special Bougainville Entity.

BILL NUMBER TWO seeks to establish a Trust (the Bougainville Advance Holdings Trust).

BILL NUMBER THREE seeks to establish Bougainville Advance Holdings (AROB) Ltd as a commercial enterprise and business platform.

See ABG Website

The Committee is calling for written submissions from interested persons and organizations. We ask that Submitters be clear in their submissions which Bill(s) they are offering a submission on.

The Committee invites public participation in the enquiry process. Written submissions addressing the Terms of Reference must be submitted to:

The Legislation Committee

Parliamentary Committee Secretariat Office  

Bougainville House of Representatives,

KUBU, Buka, Autonomous Region of Bougainville

Submitters can indicate whether they want to appear to give evidence orally.

Further information about this enquiry is available and can be obtained directly at the Committee Secretariat Office location at Parliament House.

The Committee will consider requests that a submission remain confidential and not be released to the public.

THE CLOSING DATE FOR WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS IS 19th April 2019

TERMS OF REFERENCE

On Wednesday 13th February 2019 the House referred for the second time to the Legislation Committee, three Government Bills titled:

  1. BOUGAINVILLE MINING (AMENDMENT) BILL 2019,
  2. BOUGAINVILLE ADVANCE HOLDINGS TRUST AUTHORIZATION BILL 2019, and
  3. BOUGAINVILLE ADVANCE HOLDINGS LIMITED AUTHORIZATION BILL 2019.

The Bills which were withdrawn by the sponsoring Ministers were again reintroduced on the floor of Parliament and are now in the hands of the responsible Committee to conduct public consultations, and report to the House.

The Committee adopts the following Terms of Reference governing its examination of the Bills. The Committee will:

Enquire into how the proposal was initiated by whom, within or outside of the Government et cetera;

  • Be mindful of and sensitive to the role that mining has played in the history of this country and what its role could be in the future for all people;
  • Examine the Bills and their drafting in detail;
  • Consult with responsible Ministers, Departments and officials and other key stakeholders;
  • Conduct consultation to gauge the widest range of Bougainvillean’s views on the proposed legislations;
  • Consider whether or not the Bills as drafted are consistent or not with existing objectives, principles, protections and duties in relevant legislation and instruments including (but not limited to) the Constitution of Bougainville and the Bougainville Mining Act 2015;
  • Propose any amendments to the Bills; and
  • Present a final report on its findings to the House in the next Parliament Session.

A Short Guide to writing a submission

While there is no set format for a submission to a select committee, you should aim to present your submission in a way that is ordered and easy to read.

Key Information

Head your submission with the name of the select committee to which it is addressed and the full title of the bill, inquiry, or matter under consideration.

Provide the following information in a covering letter or at the top of your submission: your name or the name of the organisation you are representing; an email address; a contact address; and a daytime telephone number.

If you wish to appear before the committee, include with your name your daytime telephone number and email address. If you wish others to appear in support, include their names and, if representing an organisation, designations. What are your organisation’s aims?

If you are writing for an organisation, give brief details of the organisation’s aims, membership, and structure. Make sure that you have the authority to represent the organisation and note your position within the organisation.

Who has been consulted? Note how much support you have and how widely you have consulted while writing the submission.

Content of the Submission

When writing a submission, you will usually be making comments in relation to a bill or inquiry. While there are differences in the way in which a submission is written for a bill or inquiry, there are five basic principles that apply to both.

Relevant Your submission must be relevant to the matter before the committee. A committee may decide not to receive a submission it considers not relevant.

Clear Arrange your sentences and paragraphs in a logical order. Present a clear and logically developed argument. A submission that jumps from one issue to another and back again or jumbles unrelated issues together may confuse members and reduce its impact.

Concise Be simple and direct. Do not write more than is necessary. An overly long submission may prove too long for members to consider fully. They want to know what you think and the evidence or arguments you have that support your view.

Accurate Be accurate and complete. Include all relevant information. It will only confuse the committee if, in your submission, you refer to evidence or information that is not included. Make sure your facts are correct. An error-ridden submission will greatly reduce its impact and credibility.

Conclusion Restate your recommendations in a conclusion at the end of the submission or an executive summary at the beginning. Consider listing your submission’s recommendations or summing up its main points.

Writing a submission on an Inquiry

Writing a submission for an inquiry is different from writing a submission on a bill. As there are no specific clauses to comment on, use the terms of reference of the inquiry as a guide to presenting your views. You may then like to list any specific recommendations that you wish the committee to consider. It is essential to have a copy of the inquiry’s terms of reference to assist in preparing your submission.

Writing a submission on a Bill

When writing a submission on a bill you should have a copy of that bill so you know what is being proposed. You will then be able to focus your submission on what the bill actually contains.

First, state your general position on the bill, whether you support or oppose the measure being proposed, and give your reasons.

Having stated your general position, make more detailed comments on the clauses that are of concern to you. If you feel that certain clauses need to be changed, say so, and give your reasons. You might also like to suggest new wording for the clauses that you feel ought to be changed. Using clauses as numbered in the bill is a good way to organise your submission.

This notice is authorised by the Committee Chair Hon. Rodney Osioco

Feb 28 2019

Bougainville Environment and Tourism Stories : Taming and harnessing the sea – Simon Pentanu

 

The sea offers precious gifts but it can also be fearsome.

How do you manage to keep your balance against the awesome power of the sea. Is it friend or foe? Is it benevolent – as we often know it to be – or is it malevolent, wishing us ill?

The sea. Surfers and sailors love riding and sailing it, near and far out at sea. But they know the sea is not merely a plaything. They respect its capacity to change moods quickly. When it changes, it is indiscriminate, doing no favours for anyone. But by gosh, it has paid dividends to everyone, including explorers who have conquered and harnessed it to venture far out beyond their shores.

The ocean is bigger than any supermarket, hypermart or grocery chain in the amount and variety of food and other resources it holds. Its bounty supports whole populations.

Almost everyone has some connection with the sea. It occupies more than seventy per cent of the earth’s surface. It is everywhere. The liquid cartwheels around the globe, carried by cloud storms, cyclonic winds and rains. We know it from our own experience, as well as through the stories of sailors, fishermen and explorers, whose (sometimes tall) tales are re-read, re-told and re-imagined through the generations.

Stories of the sea are interwoven with the history of human endeavours down the millennia, from Christopher Columbus to Capt James Cook, from Carteret to Bougainville. And Mendana too.

Louise-Antoine Comte de Bougainville’s sighting of this Island is being recognised as a public holiday in the Region every year on 2 July, starting 2018. Let us not read too much or too narrowly into this or politicise it. It happened. We cannot rewrite history and say Bougainville didn’t or shouldn’t have come to these shores. He braved the seas and oceans to get here.

There were many other explorers who took courage and unfurled their desire to catch the wind and find out what lay over the horizon.

I can’t help but admire the feat of anyone who is prepared to wet their feet and whet their appetite to satisfy their curiosity on a quest like that. Most of those explorers set out with little more than rudimentary navigational aids and the stars – and with them they circumnavigated continents and mapped archipelagos. They had nothing like the science and technology at our disposal today.

Humans are not cats with nine lives. Those that have gone before us made their one life – between success and failure, between survival and death – count for something.

Let us acknowledge and recognise them, not ridicule them.

The indiscriminate sea, vibrating with menace and fury is real. Participants in surf competitions, yacht races and canoe journeys may feel genuine fear when faced with swells and canyons of giant waves out at sea.

And sometimes each of us feels fear and trepidation when we face choppy seas in our personal lives. More adventurers and explorers have gone up into space than into the deepest trenches of our oceans. It can be like that with our personal travels. Sometimes the hardest journeys are the ones to our inner selves.

Being honest about ourselves, our weaknesses, our worth is not easy. But it is not impossible. The sweetest and most satisfying endeavours are often those that are hardest, most complex and which take longer to achieve.

I believe the place to begin is to feel worthy of ourselves. Because when we say ‘in God we trust’ we are saying we are worthy of His creation.

If we don’t have a sense of self-worth, we are like rudderless vessels without keels floating listlessly at the mercy of the elements. We can easily be broken into pieces and scattered to oblivion, leaving no sign that a human being with a soul once walked upon this land and ventured out by sea.

Let us take courage – like the explorers of the past – and be prepared to face the swells and troughs of the journey to our inner selves.

When we know and appreciate our own worth we can take on the challenges of the world around us with more certainty and a lot of positive sense, and benefits to reap.

 

 

 

Jan 20 2019

Bougainville News and the Referendum : Respect #Bougainville and care for her says Simon Pentanu : What kind of Bougainville do we want to leave for our future generations ?

 

“ In Bougainville we should learn to start listening to each other, especially to the voices in the wilderness. The echo to a sound doesn’t always come from where you think it will. Everyone’s voice is important and must be heard. We should heed our backbench voices – not only when they raise their voices, thump the bench and walk out. Autonomy and unity must be about the caring spirit of individuals having a collective cause to promote a better humanity.

We must see the Referendum as not just an inevitable political contest. You are not going to choose between two individual competing candidates. What you will be deciding on is what kind of a society you want – what kind of community we all want.

And what kind of Bougainville do we want to leave for our future generations.” 

Simon Pentanu 

The sea is a huge food bowl – a supermarket for all varieties of seafood. Its waters serve as highways for transportation. It provides therapeutic bathing and gives us salt for seasoning and preserving food. It is the hugest swimming pool!

It provides a facility and venue for all manner of leisurely and competitive sports. The beauty and serenity of its white sand beaches – where millions of tourists and locals flock to walk, laze, tan and burn themselves – give joy to people across the world.

The sea drives the fashion industry, which keeps churning out new designs to gird the loins of bathers, swimmers, surfers, sailors and beachcombers.

The list of things associated with the use of the ocean goes on and on – in fact it goes miles out to sea. This isn’t surprising when we consider about 71 per cent of the Earth’s surface is water covered and the oceans hold about 96 per cent of Earth’s water.

Water sports are among humanity’s most popular pastimes and activities. We seem to be unable to get enough of game fishing, snorkelling, diving, water skiing, kiteboarding, sailing and more.

And then there is surfing. Surfing has developed its own international culture, which connects a huge population of world surfers through a common language of love, fun, serious competition and an obsession for surfing and its variations across continents. Surfers flock to places like Fiji, Tahiti and Bali, to catch the famous waves in these destinations.

Humans’ connection with the sea obviously has a huge impact on many small state economies. Some of the most popular resorts around the world are dotted along the coastlines of small nations – in the Pacific, the Caribbean and south-east Asia.

Eco-tourism has emerged in many places as a conscious option for travellers who want to experience the beauty of the planet without damaging our fragile environment in the process.

Sadly, the advances being made by eco-tourism in Pacific countries are probably being cancelled out by the continuation of practices from last century that are damaging our Earth. I’m talking about multinational logging companies clear felling huge tracts of rainforest (including virgin rainforest) in places like PNG and the Solomon Islands. Rainforests, sometimes called the lungs of the Earth, are also being short-sightedly destroyed to make way for oil palm plantations, which, although they appear green, are actually lifeless monocultures that are sprayed with chemicals and leave the soil depleted.

Right on the edge of the growing township of Buka, Bougainville’s current HQ, the senseless uprooting of tracts of healthy mangrove trees has not been stopped by authorities, even though it goes on in broad daylight.

Mangroves are an amazing gift to humanity. They are nurseries for numerous fish and sea creatures – a place for marine life to breed, feed and raise their young away from the threats of sharks and bigger ocean fish. And we are finding out how effective mangroves can be in protecting human populations from tsunamis and tidal surges. To rip them out is madness and an action we will regret.

We must preserve the things that give our communities life – the oceans, the forests, the rivers, the mangroves and the mountains. Interestingly, these things, which sustain our lives, are also attractive to eco-tourists.

In many respects PNG is fortunate to have avoided the ravages of mass tourism. Whether unwittingly or otherwise, tourism in the country has developed into a niche market of mostly adventure-seeking travellers, more interested in reefs, rainforests and unique cultures than in nightclubs and international hotels. For this we should be eternally grateful.

When it comes to tourism in general and in eco-tourism in particular, the Autonomous Region of Bougainville can, very clearly, learn a lot from the rest of PNG, from our cousins across the border in the Solomon Islands, from the rest of the Pacific and from countries and peoples in the rest of the world.

Before the advent of industrial logging, the Solomons was a country of hundreds of forested islands which provided for the needs of its people.

I can recall conversations that the startling Marovo Lagoon, which surrounds Vangunu Island in the Solomon Islands’ Western Province, was being considered for UNESCO world heritage status. The lagoon had the largest double barrier reef in the world and it was being considered for listed as one of the world’s natural heritage wonders.

Sadly, 15 years of open slather logging – along with the inevitable run-off and reef damage – put an end to that dream. The little money that was earned by the indigenous land owners will be long gone. The trees will be gone. The lagoon, once a place of precious local and national pride, will never be the same.

The country and the many generation of Solomon Islanders to come will be the poorer for the lack of foresight and policies of their successive governments and the wanton greed of their elders who gave this land to the loggers.

Similar examples of this abound in PNG, where huge tracts of forests are being clear felled under the guise of controversial Special Agricultural Business Leases (SABL).

Logging Tonolei in South Bougainville, under a SABL type agreement with landowners, to introduce oil palm that will destroy good fertile land is very short-sighted.

It is the sort of plan grasped by political leaders who want quick fixes and quick returns. We must resist this sort of thinking. In the long term the landowners will be worse off after depleting what is their capital, their resource. This forest has sustained their populations over hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. The damage to the land, the pride and integrity of a self-sustaining people and the loss of their ecosystem is irreversible. Can we please learn from the example of the Marovo Lagoon?

It is not dissimilar to a person losing their soul.

The knee jerk reaction to this has always been that this is development and progress. The truth is we have a growing population of people who have become victims of this so-called development and progress. Yes, we want development and progress, but let’s have it on our own terms and not destroy the things that give our communities life.

Let us back ourselves that we will not go under if we do not knock over the trees, dig up and maul the earth and scavenge the seabed to supposedly ‘catch up’ with the rest of the world.
The truth is those who take from the Earth are never satisfied, while we are quite content to live by what nature provides and will keep providing, so long as we respect her and take care of her.
This may sound overly simplistic, but if we are prepared to learn from each other, we can make the world a safer, more peaceful and contented place without greed, wars and prejudice.
In Bougainville we should learn to start listening to each other, especially to the voices in the wilderness. The echo to a sound doesn’t always come from where you think it will. Everyone’s voice is important and must be heard. We should heed our backbench voices – not only when they raise their voices, thump the bench and walk out. Autonomy and unity must be about the caring spirit of individuals having a collective cause to promote a better humanity.
We must see the Referendum as not just an inevitable political contest. You are not going to choose between two individual competing candidates. What you will be deciding on is what kind of a society you want – what kind of community we all want.
And what kind of Bougainville do we want to leave for our future generations.
Sep 12 2018

Bougainville News : Download report and watch video @Jubilee_AU Long Han Blong Yumi (It’s in our hands) and report, Growing #Bougainville’s Future.

Jubilee Australia has just launched a major report, Growing Bougainville’s Future, which examines the economic development paths for Bougainville.

Download the report

 GrowingBougainvillesFuture_120918

Bougainville fought a brutal Civil War from 1989-1997 which claimed the lives of up to 20 000 people, and tens of thousands more were displaced. At the core of the conflict was the Panguna mine, a massive copper and gold mine that had serious socio-economic, environmental and cultural impacts.

20 years later, Bougainville is planning for a referendum for independence from Papua New Guinea. Simultaneously, there is a heated debate about re-opening the Panguna mine, based on the argument that independence requires economic self-sufficiency, and mining is the only way to achieve that.

As shown by our report Voices of Bougainville, many local communities do not want to re-open the Panguna mine, and our research shows that this is not the only development option for Bougainville. Bougainville can pursue a development path that is more sustainable and broad-based, and this film explores that option.

Bougainville: Long Han Blong Yumi (It’s in our hands) is being published along with a report, Growing Bougainville’s Future.

The report explores many of the same issues as the movie, and together we hope they contribute to facilitating an informed debate on Bougainville’s development options.

The report challenges the argument that Bougainville needs other large-scale mining for the sake of development, and explores alternative and sustainable development options.🌍

This report is being published along with a short film, Bougainville: Long Han Blong Yumi (Bougainville: It’s In Our Hands), which covers many of the same topics as the report.

Watch it below👇🎥

#GrowingBougainvillesFuture

Oct 28 2017

#Bougainville #Tourism #Environment News : We must protect our paradise islands for future generations

“If there is one memory that still reoccurs and revisits my mind more than any other, it is this. This is a nice place to grow up in. I have never stopped going back and re-living that childhood to this day.”

– Simon Pentanu

Pokpok Village. Pokpok Island.
photo credit: Stephen Hurd

Uruna Bay Retreat – Pok Pok Island Bougainville PNG

For information and bookings

“Dense forest, with tall trees creating huge canopies as they competed for sunlight, used to come down right to the village backyard. As kids we were cautioned not to wander alone into the hills. There were too many unknowns in the untamed forest.

However, one thing was certain. The trees, vines and shrubs had to give way to gardens. And people always chose the best land areas for garden plots.

The forest was cleared and the produce harvested by mothers and daughters was always plentiful and colourful. Nature never failed to provide sustenance to our community on Pokpok Island.

Slash-and-burn gardening continues today, although there is some reprieve with the coming of consumer goods and processed edibles now readily available in village tucker shops and trade stores. It’s a small island, so human impact on it is quite obvious. The land and surrounding waters bear the burden of an increase in population. Much of the island is rocky and rugged. Arable land is very limited.

Where today there is secondary forest, starting from the beaches and village backyards, there was once primary forest. During storms, especially when it was windy, you could hear the whole forest howling, sounding like a thundering underground train preparing to come to a stop at the platform. After continuous heavy tropical downpours the sound of the flowing creeks in the forest and bushes was more like a jet aircraft pulling up to park at the bay to disembark its passengers – a hissing noise throttling in between.

A little away from the main village, the possums used to come down along the tree tops to the trees by the beach. Birds’ nests were everywhere, some from birds we don’t see anymore. Among the trees and shrubs were wild berries and fruits for the picking, although most were not picked, but left to provide natural decor to the bushes because garden food and fish from the sea was always plentiful. The forest provided more than enough for possums, flying foxes, fruit bats and other nimbling creatures.

The reef you see in this photograph used to be fully laden with colourful coral all the way along its edge. Starfish, schools of different fish, weed and sea grass meadows and varieties of edible sea urchins shared their natural habitat with the children of the village.

What is now largely white sand under water was mostly covered with long sea grass where squid laid their eggs. Parents would tell us to look out for the squid eggs and avoid them. Much of the tall grass is gone and squids don’t spawn around here anymore. In fact, the whole reef area, which makes the whole village seafront beautiful, was larger, richer and prettier than it is today.

Around the reef perimeter was coral of every kind, fully alive and breeding. The sea anemone with its clown fish tenants were plentiful. Other colourful small marine creatures contributed to an underwater aquarium of teeming small colourful fish complementing the living beauty of coral.

As kids we grew up swimming and canoeing around here. Today it is no different. It still is a playground for every child who lives here. It is always hard to get children out of the waters, even after sunset.

The noticeable difference to our generation is the whole reef area has shrunk. The best parts of the live coral all around the village, which naturally extended the reef out under water, are almost gone. Washed away. Bleached. Dead. Disappeared. Even the crown of thorns and a whole array of star fish that were part of the reef aren’t here anymore. Fish are still around, but not in the numbers, colours and varieties we used to see and enjoy.

At its best this area acted much like mum’s garden in the hills. It provided fish, shells, clams, seaweed and varieties of sea urchins. The unique smell of the sea flavoured the village. It was a constant reminder that you lived by the sea.

The ground level photos and the pictures from the air are stunning. There is no doubt about that. They are some of the best sea scenery photos you can get. But much of the real, live natural beauty underwater is gone. We often recognise our own reckless and perilous ways when it is too late to save what we have lost.

The village is still a beautiful and serene habitat. But it was even better, as people of my generation remember.

Some things can be restored and nature is, as we know, capable of replenishing itself. Given space and left alone to regenerate, forests and even reefs can revive. But they will only get the opportunity to do so if we humans acknowledge and change the things we do that are hurting our own Mother – the source of our life – the Earth.

Simon Pentanu

Aug 19 2017

Bougainville News : Carteret Islands : The world’s first relocations due to #climatechange

 ” With an indigenous population of 2700 on seven small islands with a maximum elevation of just 1.5 metres above sea level, there are few other places on Earth where the injustice of global warming is more apparent than on the Carteret Islands.

The Carterets have been on the front line of climate change for decades: one of the islands, Huene, was cut in half by shoreline erosion about 1984. While seawalls and mangroves had been holding the ocean back until this period, further seawater inundation and storm surges over the past few decades had salinated crops and water supplies, intermittently shut down the island’s five schools due to childhood malnutrition, and destroyed homes.”

This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on Aug 19, 2017 as “Topical islands”. Subscribe here

Last month,” Ursula Rakova says, “when I returned home just to visit family and talk to the islanders about the situation, it was really, really hard to see a lot of the land being lost to the sea.”

Rakova is from the Carteret Islands, commonly known as Tulun, the horseshoe-shaped scattering of low-lying coral atolls 86 kilometres north-east of Bougainville. “More and more, palm trees are falling, the scarcity of food is becoming a real issue, and the schools close, and close for long periods,” she says.

Part of the reason the area is so vulnerable is that, while the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has reported a global sea level rise of about three millimetres per year from 1993 to 2012, the fact that water expands exponentially as heat is applied means that bodies of water that are already hot rise more swiftly. For the western Pacific Ocean, this has meant an increase of about eight to 10 millimetres a year.

“The western Pacific is a lot hotter than the water is in the eastern Pacific – hotter by about five or six degrees – and where the islands are is amongst the hottest ocean water in the world,” says Ian Simmonds, professor of earth sciences at the University of Melbourne. “Hence a warming of one degree there gives you just so much more of a sea level rise.”

Simmonds notes that the same is true for the severity of storms in the region: a warmer planet means more moisture, and, therefore, stronger and more frequent storms.

In response to increasingly severe events, Carteret elders initiated a voluntary relocation program in 2006, named Tulele Peisa, or “Sailing the Waves on Our Own” – outwardly a response to failed talks with neighbouring governments dating back to 2001. The group contacted Ursula Rakova, a Huene expatriate who had gone on to direct a Bougainville-based non-government organisation, to lead the initiative. After unsuccessfully applying for land through official channels, she was given four different locations by the Catholic Church in 2007, and relocation to the first of the abandoned plantation sites started that year.

Now, after more than a decade of leading the first recorded example of forced displacement due to global warming, Rakova has almost completed housing for the first group of 10 families. She has successfully established food gardens and a mini food forest, rehabilitated plantations and begun selling crops of cocoa. New education and management facilities have been set up, and both funding and food relief arranged to be sent back to the Carterets.

But the plight of the Carterets is not unique. Three other atolls within the Bougainville area are facing similar challenges with rising sea levels, and extreme weather events have caused internal displacement everywhere from Bangladesh to Syria to Australia.

The Australian government does not, broadly speaking, have the greatest track record on the issue. Not only did then prime minister Tony Abbott refuse to meet a call from Pacific Island leaders in 2015 to reduce emissions – indirectly resulting in Immigration Minister Peter Dutton’s infamous “water lapping at their doors” quip – but the current budget offers the lowest foreign aid in eight years, at $3.82 billion over 2016-17.

Yet Australia has offered a range of targeted, if less publicised, initiatives in the region, largely funnelled through the Autonomous Bougainville Government, in consultation with Papua New Guinea. These have included arranging two experts to provide advice during the resettlement process in 2009-10; funding consultations for separate, reportedly fruitless, relocation efforts between the Bougainville government and landowners on Buka Island; a mission to the atolls in April 2017 to assist communities in developing economic opportunities around marine resources; unspecified support for Tulele Peisa’s education, youth and cocoa development projects; and other aid programs to the Carterets themselves, including water and sanitation projects.

“Australia believes that the best response to the impacts of climate change is preparedness through effective adaptation and mitigation in the first instance, followed by well-supported and planned internal relocation,” a spokesperson for the department of foreign affairs tells The Saturday Paper.

“We are also assisting partners to build disaster response capacities and strengthen resilience. The Australian government will spend $300 million (between 2016 and 20), on climate change resilience activities in the Pacific, including $75 million for disaster preparedness, under the Australia–Pacific Climate Change Action initiative. We have pledged $200 million over four years to the Green Climate Fund, supporting developing countries manage climate change and its effects.”

Australia was also a member of the Nansen Initiative, a program launched in 2012 by Switzerland and Norway intended to strengthen the protection of people displaced across borders by disasters and the effects of climate change. Along with 108 other countries, Australia endorsed its Protection Agenda in 2015, leading to a range of partnerships between policymakers, practitioners and researchers as part of the follow-up Platform on Disaster Displacement.

The director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, Jane McAdam, has worked with Nansen and similar initiatives for more than a decade, and advocates Nansen’s “toolbox approach”. Solutions range from better supporting disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, to developing humanitarian visas in the immediate aftermath of disasters and offering new migration opportunities such as “labour visas, educational visas, bilateral free movements agreements”.

While forced climate migrants are often incorrectly referred to as “climate refugees” – a term that would require persecution – the issues are distinct in a legal sense. The first person to seek asylum on the grounds of climate change, Ioane Teitiota, of Kiribati, lost his New Zealand application in 2015.

McAdam says there is no political appetite to change the United Nations’ refugee convention definition. While there is scope to expand the definition of refoulement, governments are better suited to developing new migration opportunities.

“It’s interesting that both the Lowy Institute and the Menzies Research Centre – two think tanks, one more conservative, the other less conservative – along with the World Bank, all in the last six months or so, have each recommended that Australia enhance migration opportunities from the Pacific,” she says.

“They say this would really make a huge difference to development and assistance generally, livelihoods generally, than would humanitarian assistance – it would cost us a lot less, and it would yield a lot more.”

While Labor offered more overt leadership on the issue while in opposition in 2006, specifically in terms of training islanders for skilled migration programs, neither Coalition nor Labor governments have since restructured our migration system to the extent McAdam recommends.

“Both Labor and the Coalition [are saying,] ‘Let’s look at this as more of a development foreign assistance issue, rather than something that’s got to do with migration per se.’

“But it’s not an either/or; it’s a whole combination of different strategies that are required, and that requires a whole of government approach.”

Despite Rakova’s work, which led to a Pride of PNG award in 2008, the Carteret group is struggling to fund homes for the final two families, who are sharing houses, let alone start resettling the remaining 1700 volunteers meant to migrate over the next five years. She says the delay, exacerbated by intercultural challenges and the emotional toll of abandoning ancestral homes, is causing anxiety.

“Basically people are beginning to really think about moving back because relocation is very slow.”

Rakova points to US President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord as a frustrating example of high-polluting nations declining their responsibility.

“I would really like to urge President Trump to think twice about the destruction that climate change is causing the lives of the most vulnerable people.

“Communities who have not contributed to the impacts of climate change are being destroyed by climate change. Why should we suffer?”

This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on Aug 19, 2017 as “Topical islands”. Subscribe here.