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Nov 24 2024

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

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

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

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

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

#BougainvillePeaceAgreement #PeaceByPeacefulMeans

 

Jun 26 2024

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jun 16 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click to access Bougainville_Vision_2052_final.pdf

[ Back to News ]

Oct 31 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mar 7 2022

Bougainville Environment News : Jaba River: Do we finally have a sustainable, economic and culturally viable solution to clean up the disastrous environmental legacy of the Panguna mine operations ?

Three years ago, after no national or international action from anyone on a solution to environmental damage for the Jaba River Tailings over 40 plus years, Bana District reached out to some old friends in Australia and asked if there is anything that could be done to stop the deteriorating living conditions for people living along the river.

Often mining activity throughout the world have had a bad name for environmental impact.

This certainly is the case on Bougainville where tailings discharge from the Panguna mine has silted up the Jaba River and overflowed levees, (constructed during mining operations to provide some river adjacent communities tailings and flood protection) covering agricultural land destroying the ability of the local communities to grow their crops, keep farm animals and access clean drinking water.

 

An estimated billion tonnes of mine tailing’s pollution was spread downstream from Panguna, spreading across the Jaba-Kawerong river delta stretching 40 kilometres to the coast.

Fortunately thanks to the 3RE Group, an entrepreneurial Australian collective of environmental, mining and industrial individuals with a long positive history in Papua New Guinea there may be a solution in sight.

3RE Group for free has engaged some of the best consultants in the world to work on the problem After 2 years of sample testing, analysis and modelling of new high tech separation techniques an answer was found.

The removal of some 30 plus kms of river will produce aggregates, minerals and some precious metals that include gold and silver, that will not only clean up the tailings but provide a long-term revenue for the local communities as well as investment in health, education, and training

The Jaba River Tailings can be recycled and exported, it will need K300,000,000 in new infrastructure to achieve this and over 1000 new direct jobs for locals.

“All of this can be funded by offshore investment, zero cost to ABG. It will also provide the framework for integration of many new businesses that will bring much needed prosperity, increased health and education to all sectors of the Bougainville community “said a spokesperson for the 3RE Group

Picture above : Briefing at ABG president residence on 3RE Group Java River Rehabilitation project.

This multi-faceted project needs urgently full support of the communities and the new Autonomous Government of Bougainville (AGB) and following successful investment there will a 20 year project life and economic and culturally viable solution to clean up the disastrous environmental legacy of the Panguna mine operations

For more information go to www.3regroup.com.au

 

Feb 1 2017

Bougainville News : Autonomous Bougainville Government to improve the efficiency, transparency and accountability

 120515242

“Planning is the cornerstone of good governance, by undertaking planning we are able to identify priorities, determine actions and importantly create a benchmark through which we can measure progress,”

This is an opportunity to determine our own fate as Bougainville and I ask that all public servants participate and contribute, it must be a collective approach if we are to succeed,”

Chief Secretary to the ABG Joseph Nobetau

The Autonomous Bougainville Government is currently embarking on measures to improve the efficiency, transparency and accountability of the Bougainville Public Service.

Chief Secretary to the ABG Joseph Nobetau said that 2017 would be a period of consolidation and growth where the BPS will position itself to respond to the ever increasing demands of the Government in a way the is efficient and transparent.

Mr Nobetau noted the need in 2017 to clearly document both corporate and strategic goals and indicated that the process will operate through two complementary and concurrent processes – Corporate and Strategic Planning.

He further emphasised that the corporate planning process must be undertaken at an agency level where each ABG department determines their key priorities for the year ahead.

This calls for ABG department to undertake a comprehensive analysis of key strengths and weaknesses along with opportunities and potential threats and allows for all departmental heads to determine how best to move forward with their corporate initiatives that will deliver on the expectations of the ABG.

Mr Nobetau has already informed all departmental heads to identify the top four priorities of their departments.

“This is the first part of the planning process, once this has occurred I will ask that the departmental heads convene planning workshops to map out a plan for the year ahead,” he said.

The Office of the Chief Secretary to the ABG will in turn coordinate the reporting of the progress that will be given to the Government and key stakeholders.

Mr Nobetau also revealed that his office will be leading the strategic planning process that will complement the corporate planning work of the government departments.

Mr Nobetau further stated that this will extend beyond 2017 and will ensure that there is a long term vision for the ABG public service in the years ahead that allows it to develop and grow the capacity needed to deliver on the expectations of the ABG.

 

Jul 11 2016

Bougainville Peace Building News : Autonomous Bougainville Government Parliamentarians return from peace building training in Fiji

ABG

“The training was a major success and an eye opener for Members of the Bougainville. Most of us in Bougainville are not aware of the high level of perception that the international community especially in UN circles has of the Bougainville Peace Process.

It was a major learning experience about how successful our peace process on Bougainville has been despite some setbacks. We came out of the training proud that Bougainville can be a model for peace-building on the world stage and it has encouraged us to work harder with our people to build peace”

David Braun, ABG Member for Tinputz.

Members of the Bougainville House of Representatives including the Regional Member for Bougainville and Minister for Bougainville Affairs Hon. Joe Lera, and the Clerk of the Bougainville House of Representatives Mr. Robert Tapi, recently returned from a five-day training organized by the United Nations Development Programme on Parliament and Peacebuilding. The training was held from 20-24 June 2016.

Training focused on the role of Parliament in the process of national peacebuilding. It covered a range of issues, including the oversight functions of the Parliament, social accountability, inclusion of civil society and citizens as tools for effective peacebuilding approaches to gender mainstreaming and more.
During their stay, the Parliamentary team paid a courtesy call on the Speaker of Fijian Parliament Dr. Jiko Fatafehi Luveni, and also met with parliamentary committees including the Law, Justice, and Human Rights and Natural Resources committees.
A Bougainville Parliamentary spokesman representing the team hailed the training programme as a major success. According the spokesman, besides the training on peace, stability and mediation, the team was able to witness the differences in structure of the Fijian Parliament and that of the Bougainville House of Representatives.
This included transparency of the law-making process in the Fijian Parliament, the linkage between the customary and formal government, the effective management of land tenure systems, the growth and development of the tourism sector as a major revenue earner and many other innovative parliamentary insights.
UNDP supported participation of the parliamentarians as part of its wider efforts on peacebuilding in Bougainville. Funded by the UN Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), which provided more than $8 million USD since 2014, it aims to support the peace process in Bougainville and help to create an enabling environment for a credible and inclusive referendum, together with other UN agencies on the ground.
Jul 8 2016

Bougainville Mining News : President Bougainville, Dr. John Momis, lashes out “greedy irresponsibility” of Rio Tinto

bouganville_2009

“Rio has advised me that it is free to ignore the damage it caused because its subsidiary (BCL) operated Panguna according to the laws of the 1970s and 1980s. It therefore does not regard itself as bound by the much higher corporate responsibility standards of today. Rio also say that BCL was closed by Bougainvilleans opposed to mining.

‘Bougainville rejects those argument. The corporate responsibility standards that Rio accepts today largely result from what it learned from its Bougainville experience.”

President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Dr. John Momis, lashed out today at what he termed the “greedy irresponsibility” of global mining giant, Rio Tinto. He has requested the Speaker of the Bougainville House of Representatives to call a special meeting of the House in Buka next Wednesday, 13th July

He was discussing Rio’s decision of 30 June to end its majority shareholding in its subsidiary, Bougainville Copper Ltd (BCL).

He released his letter of 4 July to the International Council of Mining and Metals (ICMM) Chair.

See Attached

Momis to ICMM – 4 July 2016

It complains of Rio’s failure to meet the ICCM’s Sustainable Development principles.

President Momis said:

‘Rio Tinto’s predecessor, Conzinc RioTinto Australia (CRA), made immense profits from operating the Panguna mine – so much so that BCL was often described as the “jewel” in the CRA crown. But in operating the mine, it was Bougainville that bore severe environmental and social costs.

‘Environmental damage includes the massive pit, kilometres wide and hundreds of metres deep, never remediated in any way.

It includes the vast areas filled by billions of tons of mine tailings tipped into the Kawerong and Jaba rivers, now lifeless as a result of acid rock leaching. Fish life in the many rivers and creeks running into the two main dead rivers has also been destroyed.

The tailings filled river valleys. The levy ban built to contain the tailings was breached more than ten years ago. Huge swamps have swallowed forest and farm land. Large dumps of chemicals are yet to be cleaned up.

‘Social impacts include the appalling living conditions of the thousands of people involuntarily resettled by the mine.

‘Rio refuses to accept any responsibility for these and the many other negative impacts that were the costs of its vast profits. In their greedy irresponsibility they now propose to walk away from Panguna without further thought about the damage that they caused.

‘ICMM’s website http://www.icmm.com/our-work/sustainable-development-framework claims that by ICMM membership companies such as Tio Tinto commit to “implement and measure their performance against 10 sustainable development principles”. The ICMM says that it conducts “an annual assessment of member performance against their principles”.

‘ICMM Principle 3 commits Rio to “Uphold fundamental human rights and respect cultures, customs and values in dealing with employees and others who are affected by our activities”.

This committs companies to “minimize involuntary resettlement and compensate fairly for adverse effects on the community where they cannot be avoided.”

BCL paid the derisory compensation levels to relocated villages required in the 1970s and 1980s. But not only is it clear that these levels were far too low then, in addition, the relocated villagers suffering has continued and increased dramatically since the 1980s, with no compensation.

And Rio plans to walk away with no thought as to their future suffering, all caused by a mine these people never wanted.

‘ICMM Principle 6 requires Rio to “rehabilitate land disturbed or occupied by operations in accordance with appropriate post-mining land uses’. No rehabilitation has occurred.

‘ICMM principle 10 requires Rio to ‘provide information [to stakeholders] that is timely, accurate and relevant, and to engage with and respond to stakeholders through open consultation processes. Rio has completely failed in these responsibilities. It has not provided any information to Bougainvillean stakeholders about its review or its plans.

‘Rio has advised me that it is free to ignore the damage it caused because its subsidiary (BCL) operated Panguna according to the laws of the 1970s and 1980s. It therefore does not regard itself as bound by the much higher corporate responsibility standards of today. Rio also say that BCL was closed by Bougainvilleans opposed to mining.

‘Bougainville rejects those argument. The corporate responsibility standards that Rio accepts today largely result from what it learned from its Bougainville experience. The war in Bougainville was not about ending mining – it was a cry for mining on just terms, similar to those that are delivered by good standards of corporate responsibility. To ignore today’s standards is hypocrisy.

‘In a situation of low copper prices and the likely high sovereign risk of Bougainville, it’s unlikely that Panguna will reopen for a long time. In those circumstances, Rio must have responsibilities for rehabilitation and other activities similar to those arising in a mine closure situation.’

The President said he had asked the ICMM Chair, Mr. Andrew Michelmore, to investigate Rio’s failure to meet the mining industry standards set as conditions of ICMM membership. ‘I have asked the ICMM to required Rio Tinto to meet those standards. I have called on the ICMM to expel Rio if it fails to adhere to ICMM principles. Rio Tinto’s behaviour towards Bougainville exhibits greed and irresponsibility which the mining industry must reject.’

John L. Momis

President, ARoB

7 July 2016

Jan 11 2016

Breaking Bougainville News: PM Peter O’Neill takes on ministerial responsibilities of Minister for Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

Outcomes

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has today announced a minor cabinet reshuffle that will better position the National Government to take advantage of current and emerging development opportunities.

Ministerial changes announced by the Prime Minister are:
PM Peter O’Neill takes on responsibilities of Minister for Autonomous Region of Bougainville.
Ben Micah-Minister for Petroleum and Energy;
William Duma-Minister for Public Enterprise and State Investments;
Nixon Duban, Minister for Transport and Infrastructure;
Justin Tkatchenko, Minister for Sports and Tourism;
Steven Kama, Minister Assisting Prime Minister on Constitutional Matters.
The Prime Minister said minor changes to Cabinet positions are important in order to maintain administrative flexibility as the global and national economy evolves, and ensure ministerial skills and capabilities are well targeted.