” The Australian governor general John Kerr warned the Queen that a plan for Bougainville independence was not lawful, was opposed by Australia and Rio Tinto copper interests, and would increase regional instability and force Australia to hand more financial support to Papua New Guinea. ”
Picture above : Almost 100% of Bougainville voters backed independence in last year’s referendum but palace letters show Australia’s governor general John Kerr told the Queen that such a move ‘cannot be done legally
The so-called palace letters, a trove of previously secret royal correspondence, shows the Queen’s private secretary Martin Charteris responded by comparing Bougainville to Scotland and its hopes that oil reserves could fund independence.
The documents released by Australia’s national archives shed new light on the royal attitude to the secessionist movement in Bougainville.
Momentum for Bougainville to secede from Papua New Guinea grew as PNG itself declared independence from Australia in 1975, while retaining the Queen as its monarch.
The region is home to the vast Panguna mine, then the world’s biggest open-cut copper mine, owned by Bougainville Copper Limited, which then had Conzinc Rio Tinto as major shareholder.
On 19 August 1975, Kerr briefed Charteris on his “thinking” on the growing secessionist movement in Bougainville and a plan to secede unilaterally from PNG in September, the same month PNG secured its independence from Australia.
“This cannot be done legally,” Kerr wrote.
He said Rio Tinto was in favour of a “united Papua New Guinea”, though he said that may change if it deemed its long-term interests lay elsewhere.
Australia also had good reasons for opposing the secession, he said.
“There are good reasons from Australia’s point of view why a united Papua New Guinea would be desirable though achievement of this is probably not essential to Australia’s national interest,” he wrote.
“If Bougainville successfully secedes, Papua New Guinea would be weaker economically, and hence likely to be more pressing, so far as Australia is concerned, for economic support.”
“Bougainville secession would also increase the possibility of instability in Papua New Guinea in other areas.”
Kerr also lamented Australian aid cuts to PNG at the same time, saying they were “most unfortunate … on the very eve of independence”.
In replying to Kerr on 28 August 1975, Charteris compared Bougainville to Scotland and the way oil resources drove hope for Scottish independence.
He said the possibility of trouble was “disturbing” and that “we must hope that matters can at least be satisfactorily contained”.
“I suppose copper stands to the Provisional Provincial Government of Bougainville as does oil to the Scottish Nationalist Party,” he said.
“It gives them at least the belief that they could stand on their own two feet and the wish to do so, so that they can keep the wealth of their territory to themselves.”
Charteris made it plain that Kerr’s advice on Bougainville had reached the Queen.
“The Queen has of course seen your letter and has read it with much interest,” he wrote.
The 1975 momentum for secession was dealt with by granting the region more autonomy.
The decade-long civil war led to further autonomy for the region, and last year it voted overwhelmingly to become independent from PNG in a non-binding referendum.
Every picture tells a story. Every story a picture tells may not be a perfect story but, as another saying goes, there’s more to the picture than meets the eye.
There is a certain poignancy about this picture – and many other images connected with the multitude of matters surrounding Panguna.
Panguna is not merely a history of mining, minerals, money, maiming and the nastiness of the conflict. It is not only a story of lost lives, lost land and lost opportunities.
Panguna is a story of many individuals and groups; of men, women and children of the forest, the valleys, the ravines, the hills and mountains, the rivers and creeks, the sacred sites – all of which people called home, before mining arrived.
Perpetua Serero and Francis Ona both passed away relatively young. The effervescent Damien Dameng – the one with reading glasses studying his notes in this photo – lost his life under dubious circumstances only in recent times.
Francis Bitanuma with the white cap and overgrown beard in this photo, is still around, raising his voice and picking and choosing his fights but with fewer and fewer local allies in tow.
Perpetua Serero had remarkable poise and presence. Had her voice as Chairlady of a splinter Panguna Landowners Association (PLOA) been heeded when she spoke (either with or without the aid of a hand-held loud hailer), some of the fiasco and hurt amongst the landowners could well have been mitigated, if not largely avoided.
Instead, the very early feuds over Panguna over benefits accruing from the land under various leases to BCL were between landowners themselves. Only a dishonest landowner would deny this was the case.
Disputes and differences over land sharing, land use and land tenure preceded the arrival of mining in Panguna. But these were localized and tended to be confined within households, extended families and clans. Agreements were brokered to resolve issues or at least keep them to manageable levels. There were ways for everyone to move on, living and communally sharing the land, rivers, creeks, the environment and everything that more or less made life worth living and dying for.
Differences and feuds over the benefits accruing from the mine such as RMTL (Road Mining Tailings Lease) payments, invonvenience payments, and other payments added fuel to existing disputes between clans, families and relatives. Some of the disputes became vexatious with the advent of mining.
Mining catapulted Panguna women like Perpetua Serero, Cecilia Gemel and others to the forefront as they took on much more active and pronounced roles as mothers of the land in a society that is largely matrilineal.
This photograph shows a woman, leading her male counterparts in the early days of the dispute involving one group of Panguna landowners voicing, in a very public way, early warnings of what might follow.
The significance of her message was either lost to or not taken seriously by most leaders from central Bougainville, BCL, PLOA and relevant authorities in the national Government at the time.
That men are on the periphery in this photo – in stark contrast to the lead role being played by Serero at the front – wasn’t just symbolic. It was real. Her position at the front, with the support of men such as Francis Bitanuma, Francis Ona, Damien Dameng and others was neither incidental, coincidental nor accidental. Her role at the forefront of this dispute over land was natural and logical, because in most of Bougainville it is through the women that land is inherited and passed down the generations.
That more and more landowners became willing to front up in crowds such as this, emboldened by the willing maternal leadership of someone who stood up to carry the mantle of those that bore grievances against their own PLOA, led by men. Serero, and the landowners who stood with her, made a brave and significant statement.
As the differences grew, the younger Panguna generation – alongside women like Serero and Gemel and the emerging, vociferous Francis Ona – turned their attention to Rio and BCL.
Increasingly they saw BCL and the old PLOA as having all the control and influence over what happened in special mining lease (SML) area. The injustice felt in not having much say weighed heavily and became a rallying point as captured in this photo.
All of us observing, reading and writing about the upheavals over Panguna, the mounting dissatisfaction, the criticism of the Bougainville Copper Agreement (BCA) and the rebellious response that shut down the giant mining operations, may find some satisfaction in the common truism that hindsight is a wonderful thing.
The BCA was a document familiar mostly to lawyers, investors and bankers and, of course, to the mining fraternity. It was not until well after the first power pylons fell, after deployment of the security forces and after the mine was closed that interest increase in reading the fine print of the BCA.
Coming, as they did, from a paperless village life, many landowners and Bougainvilleans in the community at large found little compulsion to read, let alone understand and appreciate legal agreements.
When the going was good everything was hunky dory. The landowners were getting their lease payments, social inconvenience compensations, royalties etc. The provincial government was doing well and was financially better placed than others in the country. Employees couldn’t really complain about the job opportunities, good salaries and wages. Their disposable income was far better than the public servant who also had to cope with overheads.
The majority of the landowners the BCA was purported to serve turned against it, despised and rebelled against it.
It is a story new generation of Panguna landowners is born into. It is not a story restricted to past or the future. Rather, it is a story that evokes timeless lessons and has some relevance for all of us forever throughout our lifetime.
It is true, hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I have heard a lot about Perpetua
Serero. I never met her. I will never meet her in person because she has passed on.
She served her calling with tremendous support from men and women of the land. She had faith in customs and traditions that gave equal opportunities to women. These customs and traditions gave her the mantle and legitimacy to lead protests against the male dominated RMTL executives in the Panguna Landowners Association.
She faced an awful amount of pressure because of intense feuding over control of PLOA and RMTL in Panguna. She took the baton and ran her lap hoping to influence and change some of the male dominated status quo in the old PLOA.
The Australian Liberal and Labor colonial governments clearly saw what was going on and regarded Panguna mine as a future investment to finance a future, independent PNG. It turned out that any mining, unless the traditional land tenure is understood would be the Achilles of mining investment in Panguna, and indeed as it has turned out, in the rest of the country.
Men like Ona, Bitanuma, Dameng and women like Serero, Gemel and others gradually realised that unless they stood up and were counted, taking a stand against the inequities they saw, they would be swamped and inundated by the complacency that was prevalent, accepted, and that supported a Panguna that seemed all normal driven by profits and benefits of mining.
There are lessons Rio and BCL learnt out of the land dispute. Some of these lessons are harsh. Some even the best legal agreements cannot address, avert or fix, for they are based in customs and culture, not common law.
Panguna may be most uncommon dispute or problem of its time that a foreign mining company has had to face and deal with. Its repercussions and reverberations spread through Bougainville and indeed around the world very quickly. It has unearthed lessons that go well beyond issues normally associated with mining.
The Bel Kol approach initiated by the landowners shows traditional societies also have ways, means and mechanisms by which to resolve seemingly intractable disputes. These ways are local, restorative and win-win in their approach, not adversarial, competitive and foreign.
Some of the continuing pain, ill effects and trauma over lost land and lost dignity over Panguna are more destabilizing and debilitating than the crisis and conflict that landowners and many other Bougainvilleans endured.
Everyone that has lived through the crisis on the Island or has been affected one way or another, directly or indirectly, has had to deal with the horrors of crisis, war and conflict. Rebuilding lives, normalcy and returning to a resilient society is a longer journey that will take many generations over many lifetimes.
Little wonder people are prepared to protect their rights and defend the land with their lives. It is true, isn’t it, that one cannot fully understand and appreciate peace and freedom unless you either lose it or you have been suppressed.
I hope looking back we can pass on to the next generation the genuine benefits of hindsight.
55Leonard Fong Roka, Lawrence Daveona and 53 others
The Parliament’s Legislation Committee is conducting public enquiries into the following Government Bills:
BILL NUMBER ONE: Bougainville Mining (Amendment) Bill 2019;
BILL NUMBER TWO: Bougainville Advance Holdings Trust Authorization Bill 2019;
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.
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:
BOUGAINVILLE MINING (AMENDMENT) BILL 2019,
BOUGAINVILLE ADVANCE HOLDINGS TRUST AUTHORIZATION BILL 2019, and
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
” Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) has serious concerns over proposed new mining laws that some members of the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) seem keen to rush through parliament.
The three bills that were introduced to parliament last Wednesday, with insufficient stakeholder consultation, are proving divisive at a time when unity is required in the lead-up to the referendum.
If passed, one of the bills seeks to amend the Bougainville Mining Act 2015 to allow a new company, Bougainville Advance Mining Limited, to be issued with a special mining licence granting “large-scale mining leases over all land in Bougainville available for reconnaissance, exploration and mining that is not subject to an existing exploration licence or mining lease”. Leases of up to 100 years could be granted.”
See Continued Part 2 Below
The government of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea believes establishing its own company to re-open the long shut Panguna mine will solve its funding crisis going into the referendum.
Bougainville is due to hold a referendum on independence from PNG in June this year.
However, it claimed that the national government had not yet provided the money it is constitutionally bound to provide.
The Bougainville government had previously placed a moratorium on re-opening Panguna to ensure the vote was not disrupted, but President John Momis said the region is facing an emergency.
He said this is why it is setting up Bougainville Advance Mining in which the government and people of Bougainville will hold a permanent majority ownership.
“Time is running out on us. The people of Bougainville are determined to have the referendum and they must find the money to fund the referendum. One way of doing it would be if we started our own company and generated the revenue to enable us to conduct the referendum. We cannot sit on our hands.”
Landowners of the closed Panguna Copper and Gold Mine today called on the Autonomous Bougainville Government that they are ready to partner with the ABG and open the mine that created disunity amongst the people of Papua New Guinea and Bougainville.
In an exclusive interview with New Dawn FM, Chairman of the SPECIAL MINING LEASE OSIKAIYANG LANDOWNERS ASSOCIATION (SMLOLA) PHILIP MIRIORI and LAWRENCE DAVEONA said that they are ready to talk with the Government on ways they can work together for Bougainville’s future.
They said that they were not happy with the Government trying to make amendments to the untested Bougainville Mining Act.
MIRIORI said that the Panguna landowners were tasked by the ABG to work on uniting the landowners and they had to do it just to find out that the Government had now changed their mind on the issues at Panguna.
He said when the Panguna people are finally united they want to put issues of the past and work into the future.
MIRIORI said that the Panguna situation is already complex with the landowners, RTG and BCL.
If the ABG backs McGLINN the situation will become more complex.
He said the only way PANGUNA can be resolved, is through negotiation
Part 2 BCL Press Release
These bills mirror proposals put forward by an Australian opportunist Jeffery McGlinn, whose apparent primary business appears to be horse breeding. In presentations to MPs and others he has proposed a 40 per cent stake in Bougainville Advance Mining for his own newly formed company Caballus Mining with other unknown foreign investors and sovereign states.
These developments raise very legitimate legal, constitutional and ethical questions, not only by BCL and its shareholders, but also by landowners in Bougainville and others in the community. More widely these bills could also be interpreted as both anti-competitive and anti-investment which is the last thing Bougainville needs.
Bougainville introduced good laws and regulations in 2015 designed to rebalance Bougainville’s mineral rights after a long period of consultation with all stakeholders. Now those rights are being undermined in haste by these proposed changes. Any genuine investor worth its mettle should be able to work within the existing laws. The Bougainville Mining Act 2015 therefore does not need to be changed.
BCL urges ABG leaders to think very seriously about the unnecessary divisions being created by these proposed amendments to the Mining Act and instead re-focus on the important work of unifying landowners and Bougainvilleans at this critical time for Bougainville, as they prepare for the referendum.
From the company’s own perspective, these legislative moves also ignore current court proceedings and BCL’s rights to natural justice and they are also at odds with the ABG’s decision to place a moratorium over the Panguna project area. The ABG has maintained there should be no discussions regarding mining activities in Panguna until after the referendum.
In early 2018, the ABG advised of a decision not to grant BCL an extension of its exploration licence (EL1) over the Panguna project area.
BCL maintains that the application process was both legally and procedurally flawed and was also undermined by other parties with competing commercial interests in Panguna mineral rights.
To protect the interests of all those with a significant stake in our company, including the people of Bougainville, BCL commenced legal proceedings in the PNG National Court seeking a Judicial Review of the decision. We were subsequently granted leave by the court to seek the review.
Since being invited back to Bougainville in 2012 by the ABG to reengage about the prospect of redeveloping Panguna, BCL has always conducted itself in an ethical and respectful manner and we continue to support worthwhile community projects.
The ABG and PNG National Government remain major shareholders in the company and we retain strong support among customary landowners in the project area and others in the community. BCL also possesses valuable local knowledge, project IP and mining expertise.
We have a highly-regarded local board led by respected Bougainvillean Sir Melchior Togolo as well as strong connections within the global mining and investment communities where there are potential project partners.
For all these reasons BCL remains a viable option for future mineral development in Bougainville and in the best interests of all Bougainvilleans, we would urge all members of the ABG parliament to seriously consider this before the bills are further read on 12 February.
Community leaders, landowners and others who are concerned by these proposals also have an opportunity to ensure their voices are heard by decision-makers before these laws are passed.
” Prime Minister I have no doubt that you are serious in the public assurances that you have been giving about honouring every last word in the Peace Agreement, and ensuring that the referendum will be held. But of the money required does not flow, and if other things I have mentioned do not happen quickly, then not only will we miss the target date for referendum in 2019, but we will be struggling to achieve a referendum by the last possible date-June 2020.
I understand your government has other pressing priorities with APEC, and the complex current situation in the Highlands. I understand too that your budgetary constraints are grave. But we must also remember that the Peace Agreement ended a terrible conflict.
There is a slowly emerging risk of real frustration amongst Bougainvilleans about the lack of progress both with autonomy, and with the referendum. The time for action on the referendum is now. Prime Minister, I look forward to a productive meeting with you and your colleagues.”
President Momis opening speech June 29 Arawa Download HERE
Prime Minister, Ministers accompanying the Prime Minister and members of the ABG, members of the Diplomatic Corps, Officers of the national government and the ABG, and other observers:
I am pleased to be at this meeting of the JSB for 2018. As always, there are important matters for us to discuss at this JSB meeting. At the outset, I ask that we all remind ourselves of the important roles that the peace agreement and the National Constitution give to the JSB.
In fact, we should all do well to recall that it is the National Constitution that established the JSB.
It is a constitutional body, with important roles given to it by explicit words in the Constitution. Those roles include oversight of the Implementation of the whole of the Bougainville Peace Agreement. That means oversight of all three pillars of that agreement – autonomy, the referendum and weapons disposal. The second main role of the JSB involves providing a forum for consultation between the two Governments and their agencies. The third role is in relation to conflict resolution between the two Governments.
It is timely to remind ourselves of these roles of the JSB, because in this meeting of the JSB there are items on the agenda related to implementation of all three pillars of the Peace Agreement. And the ABG is seeking to consult the National Government about many of these matters. But for some of the matters, we are coming to the JSB with the aim of settling disputes.
Here I refer to our concern, once again, about the calculation of the Restoration and Development Grant –the RDG. While we reached a compromise in the December 2017 JSB meeting, we did not resolve issues about calculation of the RDG going forward. On our calculations, according to the formula for the RDG set out in the Organic Law on Peace- building, we should be receiving about K70 million per year in RDG-not the K15 million that has been budgeted, but not fully paid in several recent years.
This year again the National Government proposes to pay K15 million, we have not yet seen a single toea of RDG so far, six months into the year. I hope, Prime Minister, that we will reach agreement here on what the RDG payments should be going forward, and that in 2019 we will see payment at the correct level, of more than K70 million.
While talking about ABG finances, I must raise the issue of the extreme budget crisis now faced by the ABG.I realise that the National Government faces its own budget crisis.But the lack of funds being received by the ABG is leading to a desperate situation for us. We simply do not have the money to do anything. We are not even receiving the amount of recurrent grants needed to meet salary costs, and not enough for our public service to do much at all. We have received no RDG. Most of the Police grant has not been paid. Our share of the National Government taxes collected in Bougainville is in arrears. Prime Minister I ask you and your Ministers for Treasury and Finance to do all you can to ease our terrible financial position.
Prime minister, I turn to the referendum, and in particular to the work needed to ensure that the referendum is held before the end of five year window within which the peace agreement and the national constitution say it must be held. That window ends less two than years away – in mid – June 2020.
Prime Minister, all Bougainvilleans have been heartened by the assurances you have recently given in public statements that you and your government will honour the peace agreement in full. On several occasions now you have stated that the referendum will be held – and held on the target date in June 2019.
But the fact is that a huge amount needs to be done, and done very soon, if there is to be any hope at all that the referendum will be held, either in 2019, or before the end of that five year window in mid-June 2020.
Amongst other things, the following are some of most urgent things that must be done.
First, the proposed chair of the Bougainville Referendum Commission (the BRC), the Honourable Bertie Ahern, must accept the appointment, and his appointment must be notified in the National Gazette and the Bougainville Gazette. Only then can the full BRC convene, and only then can the BRC appoint the chief Referendum officer. Only then can the chief Referendum officer appoint the other staff of the BRC secretariat. Prime Minister, I ask that your officers take urgent action to confirm the appointment of the chair of the BRC by the necessary notice in the National Gazette.
Second, Prime Minister we need the appointment of the two National Government appointees to the BRC. While the BRC can meet once the chair is appointed, I would be worried if were to meet without national government representation. That will happen, I’m afraid, if we do not hear of the National Government appointees.
Third, we must do everything possible to protect the constitutional independence of the BRC, something which is guaranteed by the Organic law on peace-building in Bougainville, and charter establishing the Constitution. The independence of the BRC is essential if the referendum process is to have integrity. The Referendum can only be free and fair if the BRC has full independence from Government.
In relation to protection of independence Iam concerned about a proposal emerging from the JTT for the two chief secretaries to co-chair an intergovernmental committee to provide guidance to the BRC. If the BRC is to be independent it cannot be subject to guidance from the chief secretaries. On the other hand, if such a committee plays a role in ensuring liaison between governments and the BRC, that would be acceptable. I hope that we can reach agreement on arrangements that recognise the independence of the BRC.
Third- Prime Minister, the BRC is in desperate need of the earliest possible flow of funding. If the BRC were to have had much real chance of organising the referendum by the target date of mid-June 2019,the enrolment of voters should have begun in April, But in the absence of the funding expected from the National Government, the BRC has so far been able to do nothing to start the enrolment process. The BRC needs at least K5 OR K6million to undertake the major enrolment process required.
Prime Minister, I am sure that you will agree with me that it is essential that the roll of voters for this referendum should be of much higher standard than we have become used to in PNG National elections. We cannot have thousands of people turned away because their names cannot be found on the rolls. A truly free and fair election will depend on an accurate roll providing all voters with the right to vote. I am pleased to hear that the BRC is proposing to work with the ward recorders that are part of the ABG’s new community government system, with the goal of having a grass roots check on the accuracy of the rolls. All these efforts to get a real accurate roll will be costly- but it is a cost well worth incurring.
Prime Minister, please make the flow of adequate funding to the BRC a top funding priority in the next couple of weeks.
Fourth, Prime Minister, it is essential that at this meeting of the JSB that we BOTH agree the question to be asked in the referendum, and agree to the criteria of enrolment of non-resident Bougainvileans. Both of these issues are essential for immediate agreement if the referendum preparation are to go ahead. Without the question being agreed, we can not have adequate referendum awareness- because awareness must be directed to explaining carefully and in simple language the issue that will be decided in the referendum. As for the criteria for enrolment, the BRC will not be able to undertake enrolment of non-resident Bougainvilleans without agreement on those criteria.
Fifth, Prime Minister, I am concerned about security for the referendum.There are two major issues that I must mention here. One concerns weapons disposal. Much work has been done, jointly between ABG’s Department of Peace Agreement Implementation and your National coordination office of Bougainville Affairs, to develop a four phase program for disposal of remaining weapons.
A joint weapons disposal secretariat has been established. The former BRA and BRF and the Me’ekamui factions have agreed to join this new disposal process. But without funding, this disposal process cannot proceed. I ask that the necessary funding be released.
The second issue about security concerns the role of Police. I am afraid that the Bougainville Police service still has very low levels of capacity. As a result, I am concerned that the Bougainville Police should be the main factor in security arrangements. Experience elsewhere in the world shows that good security can be vital.
Prime Minister, I want us to consider here at this JSB the possibility of an invitation being given to the United Nations to provide an International security force for the referendum, perhaps one that could work closely with the Bougainville Police Service.
Prime Minister I have no doubt that you are serious in the public assurances that you have been giving about honouring every last word in the Peace Agreement, and ensuring that the referendum will be held. But of the money required does not flow, and if other things I have mentioned do not happen quickly, then not only will we miss the target date for referendum in 2019, but we will be struggling to achieve a referendum by the last possible date-June 2020.
I understand your government has other pressing priorities with APEC, and the complex current situation in the Highlands. I understand too that your budgetary constraints are grave. But we must also remember that the Peace Agreement ended a terrible conflict. There is a slowly emerging risk of real frustration amongst Bougainvilleans about the lack of progress both with autonomy, and with the referendum. The time for action on the referendum is now. Prime Minister, I look forward to a productive meeting with you and your colleagues.
“ This is a day that should be celebrated by all Bougainvilleans.
The past 13 years has brought many challenges for Bougainville as we continue our journey towards political self-determination we have faced obstacles, these includes lack of funds, limited capacity and constraints on our ability to deliver effective services to our people.
I am proud with what Bougainville has achieved so far.
Bougainville has demonstrated through the establishments and operation of democratic institutions that we can indeed manage our own affairs
The ABG President Chief DR. JOHN MOMIS when addressing today’s ABG Day celebration at the ABG House, KUBU said that today marks the anniversary of the day when Bougainville’s political aspirations were first recognized with the formal establishment of the Autonomous Bougainville Government.
Not everyone will agree but I believe they are our environment, our cultures and our people.
When we think about how to transform Bougainville into a developing, progressive region in the modern world, it’s important we do so by harnessing and protecting these resources.
Our environment, cultures and people are the things that have sustained us for countless generations past – and they can continue to do so today and into the future if we are smart.
Keeping our natural environment healthy while transforming Bougainville into a modern, progressive region is something the ABG can achieve only in close consultation with communities – the land owners and culture custodians
Simon Pentanu Speaker AROB House of Representatives see part 2
There is concern in Bougainville that the Papua New Guinea government has put off a key meeting for two weeks.
The Joint Supervisory Board, the JSB, was to meet yesterday {THUR} in Arawa, to resolve a number of key issues concerning next year’s planned vote in Bougainville on possible independence from PNG.
But at the behest of Port Moresby the JSB meeting was put back two weeks.
Don Wiseman spoke to the deputy leader of the PNG opposition and MP for southern Bougainville, Timothy Masiu, about the delay
Part 1 ABG President Chief DR. JOHN MOMIS addresses ABG Day celebration
The ABG President Chief DR. JOHN MOMIS when addressing today’s ABG Day celebration at the ABG House, KUBU said that today marks the anniversary of the day when Bougainville’s political aspirations were first recognized with the formal establishment of the Autonomous Bougainville Government.
The President said that Bougainville has implemented important reforms established enabling laws and developed public service institutions and structures for the future.
And through the finalization of our strategic development plan we have a road map for the future that includes the referendum and beyond.
President MOMIS stressed that Bougainville cannot become complacent as we mark the anniversary of the Autonomous Government we must also continue to recognize the continued issues that we face.
He said we must remain vigilant in our fight against corruption and in our desire to ensure that our affairs are conducted according to the highest standards of good governance.
At the same time we must continue to grow our economy, empower our people and lay the continued foundation for lasting peace and prosperity throughout Bougainville.
Part 2 THIRTEEN YEARS ON THE SAME MESSAGE CAN BE REPEATED ON BOUGAINVILLE DAY 2018.
” THE morning began with a dawn service. The heavens opened with clear blue skies above and cool breeze from the sea unfurling the PNG, Bougainville and NSW flags to show their cacophony of colours flapping high on flagstaff.
The Bougainville Parliament devoted today’s 13th AROB Day celebrations to the Youth of Bougainville with students from St Mary’s Asitavi Secondary, St Joseph’s College Mabiri, Bishop Wade Secondary and Hutjena Secondary, invited to attend.
Our other main guests was a parliamentary delegation from the NSW State Parliament.
Our theme 2018: Children and Youth represent continuity and future of Bougainville.”
Simon Pentanu Speaker
As another Bougainville Day arrived and passed us by we continue to contemplate, celebrate and share the belief, hope and faith that with the right efforts and proper use of resources Bougainville will continue be a resilient society among its Melanesian brothers in the country and in the Pacific Islands.
What are Bougainville’s greatest resources?
Not everyone will agree but I believe they are our environment, our cultures and our people.
When we think about how to transform Bougainville into a developing, progressive region in the modern world, it’s important we do so by harnessing and protecting these resources.
Our environment, cultures and people are the things that have sustained us for countless generations past – and they can continue to do so today and into the future if we are smart.
Keeping our natural environment healthy while transforming Bougainville into a modern, progressive region is something the ABG can achieve only in close consultation with communities – the land owners and culture custodians.
Wherever we look around the world, there are lessons we can learn. Some communities and their environments have become victims of progress, not partners in development.
Think about the Melanesian people of West Papua. In the past 40 years vast quantities of their gold, copper, timber, palm oil and other resources have been mined, chopped down, extracted and exported, but few impartial observers would say this has been to the benefit of West Papua’s environment, cultures and people.
Of course, the vast majority of the resource extraction that has happened in West Papua has been undertaken with little or zero community consultation.
We have the opportunity to do things differently. To this end Bougainville’s mining legislation and policies address this. Let us hope it works in practice so that all parties involved in this industry and any such investment which harnesses resources are equal opportunity benefactors.
When we consider the various options open to us, I believe a CGP (community government partnership) is a more sustainable choice than a PPP (public private partnership). PPP have not really worked to any great success anywhere because there is still a dependence and expectation syndrome on the public purse of governments.
Free enterprise in our community oriented existence must involve initiatives and better participation by women at sustainable levels where they haven proven themselves in local enterprises.
CGP has the community as its starting point. CGP is a partnership that regards and protects the environment as enduring capital for sustainable humanitarian development.
A PPP is fine if it regards resource owners in communities as equal partners. But too often PPPs see resources merely as disposable commodities and consumables in a profit-oriented business model.
That way of thinking ends up depleting our strongest long-term assets for short-term gains that are here one year and gone the next.
Bougainville’s greatest resources – our environment, our cultures and our people – deserve so much better than that.
We can learn from the lessons from the past – some of which have been the most profound insofar as they have affected Bougainville more than any other society in Melanesia, and the whole of the Pacific for that matter.
” The Bougainville Government is holding a crucial mining warden’s hearing at the abandoned copper mine which sparked a decade-long armed insurgency against the Papua New Guinea Government.
Key points:
RTG Mining chairman Michael Carrick says a proposal by the Central Me’ekamui Exploration Limited consortium is more realistic and “for the benefit of the people of Bougainville”
But BCL company secretary Mark Hitchcock says the consortium’s conduct is “less than honourable”
Bougainville’s Mining Secretary Shadrach Himata says all landowners will be asked for their views
Rival companies ramp up battle to reopen controversial Bougainville mine By Papua New Guinea correspondent Eric Tlozek See Part 1 Below
” ABG Vice President and Minister for Mining, RAYMOND MASONO is calling on Panguna leaders, PHILIP MIRIORI and LAWRENCE DAVEONA to know that the Panguna mine is no ordinary mine.
He said that the Panguna mine has a bad history that has crippled the economy of PNG and Bougainville and with many lives lost fighting for it.
The Vice President said that the Panguna mine no longer belongs to the landowners because Bougainvilleans blood were spilt over that particular mine.
DO NOT MEDDLE WITH PANGUNA SAYS MASONO By Aloysius Laukai see Report Part 2 Below
The Bougainville Government now owns part of Bougainville Copper Limited and wants it to redevelop the mine, but a rival consortium is challenging their bid, and said it has the support of key landowners from Panguna. RTG’s chairman Michael Carrick said the group’s proposal was more realistic and better-supported by the people of Panguna.
RTG Mining has told the Bougainville Government that BCL’s exploration licence for Panguna has expired and legally cannot be renewed.”For the first time in 30 years a mining company has been endorsed and supported by the SMLOLA,” Mr Carrick said.
He said the landowners would present a 2000-signature petition in opposition to BCL.RTG Mining said the dispute had been settled with their preferred candidate, Philip Miriori, in charge; the Bougainville Government said the mediation had failed and that the matter is still before the courts.
The Bougainville Government has also criticised the consortium for paying landowners who support them and implied it is not respecting the approval process.”… The ABG rejects companies that think they can bribe their way into people’s resources by giving certain individuals money to gain landowner consent.”
Michael Carrick from RTG Mining says the consortium has been dealing openly with the Bougainville Government and that landowner payments are wages for its employees.”The joint venture is a commercial operation and landowners, like anyone else, are able to work and to get paid for their services.
Mr Carrick said the intent of the travel ban against Mr Duncan appeared to be to help Bougainville Copper Limited.Bougainville Copper Limited is deeply unhappy with RTG Mining and its partners.
He said BCL’s licence application was legal, and wasn’t processed on time because the Bougainville Government wasn’t ready to implement the processes of its new Mining Act.”It now has all those facilities in place.”
Mr Hitchcock said many landowners do support BCL, but are not being properly represented.
Bougainville’s Mining Secretary Shadrach Himata said all landowners will be asked for their views as part of the approval process, not just the leaders of the association.”It won’t be affected by the leadership tussle of the SMLOLA landowners.””Right now, the only legal applicant on the exploration tenement is BCL,” he said.
The eventual decision on the exploration licence will be made by the Bougainville Executive Council, the regional government’s Cabinet, probably sometime in 2018.
“Until that process is completed, there are no other applicants or applications over the same tenement. That’s the position of Government.”
Crucially, Mr Himata, said BCL is the only company currently being considered by the Bougainville Government.
“The warden’s hearing is a process that will engage the views of all the landowners in the resource areas,” he said.
“From what we’ve seen, there is widespread support for mining in Panguna and mining with Bougainville Copper,” he said.
Landowners set to weigh in on hearing
“The department didn’t have the resources to manage the application at the time it was taking place,” he said.
“We think they’re less than honourable in how they’re carrying on their conduct and their activities in the area,” BCL company secretary Mark Hitchcock said.
“It is clear the ABG, on the appointment of the new mining minister, supported BCL and the temporary banning of Renzie, I assume, is designed to limit the support that could be afforded to the landowners of Panguna,” he said.
“Our dealings with landowners have been completely transparent and professional.”
“The wages paid are in respect of services rendered to the joint venture,” he said.
The ABG has had the PNG Government ban the key executive from Central Exploration, Sydney lawyer Renzie Duncan, from coming to Papua New Guinea.
“The Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) will not entertain companies who use the back door or break and enter through the window using self-centred individuals who think they have a monopoly over the people’s resources or represent their interests,” Mining Minister Raymond Masono said in a statement.
There is a legal dispute over who rightfully chairs the landowner association.
RTG Mining said longstanding resentment against BCL over the conflict and the ongoing environmental problems caused by their sudden withdrawal would prevent the company from being able to operate the mine again.
It wants the Bougainville Government to consider its application instead, saying the landowner association for the mine pit, the Special Mining Lease Osikaiyang Landowners Association (SMLOLA), backs its bid and would present a 2,000-signature petition in opposition to BCL.
“[It’s] a sensible and well-supported and economically deliverable proposal to develop the mine for the benefit of all the people of Bougainville,” he said.
That consortium, Central Me’ekamui Exploration Limited, includes ASX-listed RTG Mining.
The hearing will help determine if the company Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL), which was forced to abandon the Panguna mine in 1989, should retain an exploration licence for the site.
Part 2 DO NOT MEDDLE WITH PANGUNA SAYS MASONO
By Aloysius Laukai | New Dawn | 6 December 2017
ABG Vice President and Minister for Mining, RAYMOND MASONO is calling on Panguna leaders, PHILIP MIRIORI and LAWRENCE DAVEONA to know that the Panguna mine is no ordinary mine.
He said that the Panguna mine has a bad history that has crippled the economy of PNG and Bougainville and with many lives lost fighting for it.
The Vice President said that the Panguna mine no longer belongs to the landowners because Bougainvilleans blood were spilt over that particular mine.
He said that whilst the resources in Panguna and other parts of Bougainville might belong to the people, the ABG has a responsibility to protect its people from unscrupulous companies whose sole interest is to exploit our people for their own economic interests.
The Vice President said that we have seen how Bougainvilleans were exploited by foreigners since colonial days and the ABG does not want a repeat of the past.
He said that he was surprised that certain individuals can so easily sell their birth right for as little as FOURTY THOUSAND KINA a month to a foreign company when foreign exploitation was one of the issues against which our people fought and died.
Also the ABG rejects companies that think they can bribe their way into the people’s resources by giving certain individuals money to gain landowner consent.
PANGUNA WILL BE DEVELOPED SAYS VICE PRESIDENT
The ABG Vice President and Mining Minister, RAYMOND MASONO says that the PANGUNA MINE in Central Bougainville will be re-developed under the Bougainville Mining Act 2015 and by a developer or developers who respect the Autonomous Bougainville Government and its laws.
In a press statement, MR. MASONO said that the developer must also come through the main door.
MR. MASONO made these remarks when commenting on a statement by RTG of a deal supposedly made between MR. PHILIP MIRIORI and LAWRENCE DAVEONA to support RTG to develop the PANGUNA mine.
He said that it seems ironic that two people who were fighting over the leadership of the Osikayang Landowners Association in court, a mediation case which is still the subject of a court decision can suddenly reconcile to support a company that does not respect the legitimate government and its mining laws.
The Vice President said that the ABG, the landowners and the people of Bougainville will not entertain companies who use the back door or break and enter through the window using self-centred individuals who think that they have a monopoly over the people’s resources or represent their interests.
He said that the landowners will decide who the preferred developer would be through a transparent process undertaken by the ABG Department of Minerals and Energy Resources currently underway.
MR. MASONO said that the process has not yet been exhausted and any deals supposedly made between landowner leaders,companies,or the National Government and in particular RTG are premature at this stage.
” There is a very good reason why the Bougainville peace process must succeed. The Bougainville Peace Agreement is a joint product, a joint creation between PNG and like-minded leaders of Bougainville. The PNG Government and the Autonomous Bougainville Government are beholden to the BPA and committed to its success. We owe it to our future generations to make it succeed.
The Bougainville Referendum is as much about sustainable peace as it is about the people’s political choice. Whatever the outcome it is also about a peaceful coexistence and respecting that choice.
Our Parliaments – the PNG National Parliament and the Bougainville House of Representatives – must bear witness and exercise the ultimate call to commit to a lasting peace, by their deeds and actions, in the spirit of the Bougainville Peace Agreement.
We have this opportunity to show the world how difficult issues can be resolved – fully, successfully and locally. This would provide a stark contrast to the numerous international examples where similar opportunities have been squandered “
Simon Pentanu
Anything war can do, peace can do better. There is no triumph in war. No victors. No winners. No joy. No glory.
Big and so called little wars are a menace to life on earth. They scorch the landscape, cause enormous damage to individuals and societies wherever and whenever they occur. They drench and gut humanity in irreparable ways. They leave untold mental and physical wounds that remain open and infected over generations.
Humans never seem to learn history’s lessons about the terrors and untold damage that come from fighting wars. The only lesson we seem to take away is, if another war has to be fought, it has to be fought harder, better, quicker and smarter. This lesson – which is no solution at all – feeds itself in never ending spirals that lead to more feuds, more fights, more wars. Examples of this are stark and real. They are dotted across every corner of the globe.
All wars do more harm than good. War is the most harmful and despicable form of terrorism against humanity. War even twists our language, as war mongers create euphemisms and meanings that suggest there are justifications for going to war and that friendly fire, collateral damage and injuries are par for the course, expected and normal.
The rules of engagement – yes, you must follow the war rules – favour the wealthy and strong, and disadvantage the meek and weak. Guerrilla warfare tactics have emerged to counteract this disparity. The Viet Cong were a guerrilla outfit. The BRA was a guerrilla outfit. Fidel Castro started out in his military fatigues thinking, employing and deploying guerrilla tactics. Comrade Mugabe, who recently reluctantly resigned as President of Zimbabwe, was still baffling the world with bellicose rhetoric as if he was still in a guerrilla resistance against his one-time Rhodesian enemies.
Latter day religious fundamentalists also drill themselves into a similar state of combative and defensive preparedness laced with religious fervour to fight their enemies.
All wars – conventional, non-conventional or guerrilla – leave disastrous effects and consequences. PNG and its one time province – now the Autonomous Region of Bougainville – are still reeling from a civil war in peace time. Let us not call the Bougainville crisis just a conflict. Both sides lost lives. Bougainville lost 20,000 or more people.
SYDNEY, October 6 (Reuters) – Plans to reopen one of the world’s biggest copper mines, shut by a civil war on the Pacific Island of Bougainville in 1989, have run into trouble.
The quarter of a million people of Bougainville are tentatively scheduled to vote on independence from Papua New Guinea in June 2019, and revenue from the reopening of the Panguna mine is essential for the otherwise impoverished island to have any chance of flourishing if it becomes the world’s newest nation.
But there is now a struggle over who will run the mine between Bougainville Copper Ltd – the previous operator now backed by the Autonomous Bougainville Government and the Papua New Guinea government – and a consortium of Australian investors supported by the head of the landowners who own the mineral rights.
The dispute is opening old wounds – and is almost certainly going to delay any reopening. That could help to drive copper prices higher as many forecasters expect that demand for the base metal will exceed supply in the next few years.
The battle lines have been hardening on several fronts, Reuters has learned.
Papua New Guinea has told airlines that Sydney businessman Ian de Renzie Duncan, who set up the consortium, is banned from entering the country until 2024, according to a Papua New Guinea government document reviewed by Reuters.
The request for the ban was made by the Bougainville government, three sources with knowledge of the document said.
The consortium has also acknowledged for the first time that it is paying some landowners a monthly stipend and has pulled in some big backers that have not previously been disclosed.
They include Richard Hains, part of a billionaire Australian race-horse owning family which runs hedge fund Portland House Group.
In a sign of how ugly the row is getting on the ground, local opponents of BCL becoming the operator – and some who are opposed to the mine reopening altogether – blocked Bougainville government officials from entering Panguna in June.
They had hoped to get key landowners to sign a memorandum of agreement that would have endorsed BCL as preferred developer, according to a copy of the document reviewed by Reuters. The proposed agreement also stipulated the mine would be re-opened by June 2019, ahead of BCL’s own timeframe of 2025-26.
The Papua New Guinea government didn’t respond to requests for comment for this story.
Bougainville’s main political leaders say getting the mine reopened is critical. “If the independence of the people is to be sustained then we need Panguna to run,” Bougainville Vice President and Mining Minister Raymond Masono told Reuters in a phone interview.
He said he believes BCL has first right of refusal to operate the mine under laws passed three years ago, and only if BCL declined to take up that right should an open tender take place.
For a graphic on Panguna mine on Bougainville island, click tmsnrt.rs/2yYCkTt
DEEP RESENTMENT
The abandoned copper and gold mine contains one of the world’s largest copper deposits. During its 17-year life until the closure in 1989, Panguna was credited for generating almost one-half of Papua New Guinea’s gross domestic product.
The civil war was largely about how the profits from the mine should be shared, and about the environmental damage it had caused.
There was deep resentment among the indigenous Bougainville people about the amount of the wealth that was going to Papua New Guinea and to the mine’s then operator, Conzinc Riotinto of Australia Ltd, a forerunner of Rio Tinto.
The mine was forced to shut after a campaign of sabotage by the rebel Bougainville Revolutionary Army.
The conflict between Bougainville’s rebel guerrilla army and Papua New Guinea forces left as many as 20,000 dead over the following decade, making it the biggest in the region known as Oceania since the Second World War.
A supplied image shows locals taking shelter from rain under a local administrative building at the former Bougainville Copper Limited’s (BCL) Panguna mining operation located on the Pacific Ocean island of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, March 29, 2017. Picture taken March 29, 2017. BCL/Handout via REUTERS
Rio Tinto divested its stake in BCL in 2016, and the listed company is now just over one-third owned by the Bougainville government and one-third owned by Papua New Guinea.
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O‘Neill said last year his government would gift the shares received from Rio, or 17.4 percent, to the people of Bougainville, although that is yet to take place.
“NEVER AGAIN”
The challenge from the Australian consortium that now includes listed gold and copper explorer RTG Mining was made public in June. Duncan and his fellow investors have joined forces with a group of Panguna landowners, the Special Mining Lease Osikaiyang Landowner Association (SMLOLA) led by Philip Miriori.
Miriori was in the Bougainville Revolutionary Army as the private secretary to the late Francis Ona, the former BCL mine surveyor who became leader of the resistance.
Ona had declared that BCL should “never again” be allowed to run the mine and Miriori, Ona’s brother-in-law, still supports that stance.
“They have caused a lot of damage, they don’t have the money and they are not telling the truth and so I wouldn’t accept them,” Miriori said in a telephone interview from the Bougainville town of Arawa.
PAYOUTS TO LANDOWNERS
Duncan, a former barrister with a background in mining law, heads an entity called Central Exploration that has a half share of the consortium.
Duncan’s consortium has been paying money, described as a stipend, to some of the landowners, but denies this amounts to bribery.
“We are really talking about people receiving a couple of thousand kina ($608) a month,” said Duncan, who added that the money helps the landowners to travel and find accommodation in towns where Panguna negotiations take place. “It’s not bribery, it’s business,” he said.
BCL claims to have the support of eight other landowner groups in Bougainville with an interest in the project. They have land rights covering access roads and the port site, among other areas, though crucially not the mine site itself.
BCL chairman Robert Burns, who formerly worked for Rio Tinto, said Bougainvilleans were the ones being impacted by Duncan’s attempt to gain control of the mine. “Everyone is being frustrated and impeded by this issue,” Burns told Reuters in a phone interview from the PNG capital, Port Moresby.
FINANCING DOUBTS
The uncertainty is going to make it difficult for either group to raise the capital that will be needed to get the mine restarted.
In 2012, BCL estimated the cost of re-opening at $5 billion. With few of its own assets, the company would need to secure the mining rights before tapping capital markets.
The Australian consortium may be in a stronger position, according to Hains, who is a 15 percent owner of RTG. He said the consortium has strong access to the North American capital markets and could re-develop Panguna in a “highly timely fashion”.
As it stands, BCL has no mine without the support of the owners of the minerals, and Duncan’s group has no project without road and port rights as well as government support.
Anthony Regan, a constitutional lawyer at the Australian National University and an adviser to the Bougainville government, said the immediate outlook for the mine is bleak. “The need of Bougainville to have a significant source of revenue if it’s to be really autonomous or independent has become hopelessly enmeshed with the future of Panguna.”
Reporting by Jonathan Barrett in SYDNEY; Editing by Martin Howell
Government research conducted across Bougainville has laid the foundation for more targeted public awareness.
The Autonomous Bougainville Government has released a report on people’s access to media and communication channels to better target awareness activities on the peace agreement and upcoming referendum.
The report is based on a survey of over 1,000 people across Bougainville. It found that the varying, but generally low access to government information required new approaches with greater attention to presentation of information.
The report recommended tapping into new channels people are using such as mobile phone and video, but a general need to focus on the content of information with clear, simple and consistently repeated messages, designed with the target audience in mind – whether they be youth, women or people of different levels of literacy.
The survey was an initiative of the Bureau of Media and Communications and was
conducted by the Centre for Social and Creative Media , University of Goroka.
Chief Secretary Joseph Nobetau thanked Bougainvilleans for their participation in the survey and assured them that the government was listening to their voice.
“This survey has gone down to the grassroots level to find out why awareness of the BPA and government remains low”, Nobetau said.
“It has found the penetration of traditional media: radio, newspapers and television, and newer internet channels is very low, especially outside Buka and Arawa. This creates a major challenge for a government to communicate with its people.”
The research showed there was still confusion about key aspects of the Bougainville Peace Agreement.
People said they wanted the government to come down to their level, invest in radio, but also suggested new ideas, like using mobile phone for information dissemination.
Mr Nobetau said while the survey showed there is a lot of work to do to prepare people for the referendum, it also gave many good ideas about how to do things better.
“The lack of a good understanding of the Peace Agreement is evidence that we cannot rely on using the same old awareness approaches of the past. We must look at presenting information more clearly, more consistently, more often, and use a variety of different ways to get a two-way flow of information happening. This will create greater impact and greater understanding.”
The head of the Bureau of Media and Communications Adriana Schmidt, said they were already responding to the findings.
“We are currently working with the Department of Peace Agreement Implementation to prepare multi-media information kits for our Members of Parliament, producing video and investigating mobile-phone based awareness,” Ms Schmidt said.
“With this report, the government has listened to the views of people and we are now better placed to plan and implement improved awareness.”
The Chief Secretary called upon all government agencies and communication partners to use the report to improve engagement with community.
“The task ahead is to better target our awareness campaigns and we will continue to survey and measure our activities in this regard.”
The Bougainville Audience Study asked people about their access to radio, mobile phone, TV, newspaper and the internet, their most trusted sources of information, and preferred ways of receiving government news. The research also asked people about their level of understanding of the three pillars of the Bougainville Peace Agreement: weapons disposal, autonomy and referendum, and other issues.
The survey was an initiative of the Bureau of Media and Communications,
conducted by Centre for Social and Creative Media , University of Goroka, with funding support from the governments of Papua New Guinea, Bougainville, Australia and New Zealand. Over 1,114 people were surveyed, and 200 in-depth interviews conducted.
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