Papua New Guinea’s government has defended the use of force to evict residents of an informal settlement in the capital Port Moresby.

Police used tear gas to move people out of the Two-Mile settlement last week, while heavy machinery was used to tear down homes and two people were killed in clashes.

Acting Prime Minister John Rosso said the forced eviction was necessary to protect law-abiding citiizens from long-running criminal activity in the community.

The National reports him saying the settlement was on state land which had been unlawfully occupied for years.

“The settlement has, for far too long, been a major source of law and order problems, resulting in numerous attacks on city residents and police, as well as injuries to innocent people,” Rosso said.

“This eviction is not happening without reason. It is the direct result of repeated criminal activities and serious threats to public safety.

“The state has a responsibility to protect law-abiding citizens and restore order.”

Rosso, also the Minister for Lands, Physical Planning and Urbanisation expressed sympathy for the hardworking people who had been living at Two-Mile, saying that not everyone there had been involved in criminal activities.

The eviction operation prompted unrest and clashes between some settlers and police.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

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Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has told Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo that PNG has no right to criticise Jakarta over what he calls alleged human rights abuses in West Papua.

The two leaders spoke on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Jakarta, reaffirming commitments to maintain dialogue to build stronger and trustful relations that had been made when they met in Port Moresby in July.

Marape told Widodo he had abstained from supporting the West Papuan bid to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group at last month’s meeting in Port Vila because the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) “does not meet the requirements of a fully-fledged sovereign nation”.

“Indonesia’s associate membership status, also as a Melanesian country to the MSG suffices, which cancels out West Papua ULM’s bid,” Marape said, referring to the ULMWP.

He said about the allegations of human rights issues in West Papua, that since PNG had its own challenges, it had no moral grounds to comment on human rights issues outside of its own jurisdiction.

The Indonesian president said PNG deputy Prime Pinister John Rosso would be invited to assess developments taking place in West Papua.

Widodo said Indonesia’s was committed to building trustful and cooperative relations with all Pacific countries and would extend an invitation to their leaders to attend the Archipelagic Island States (AIS) Forum next month in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, on the planned electrification project in PNG’s western provinces, the two leaders pledged to ensure this project would go ahead smoothly and is completed on time.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

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More than 300 companies operating in Papua New Guinea are facing penalties and will be issued infringement notices for not adhering to the country’s labour laws, Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso has announced.

He said on Thursday that pending the official release of the full report of the National Capital District (NCD) Combined Labour Inspection Programme (CLIP), 431 companies were inspected and the findings were:

• about 18 companies were identified as paying 444 workers below the K3.50 minimum wage in the wholesale and retail industry, and
• 228 companies were not remitting Nasfund contributions affecting 2457 employees with about 20 of them non compliant.

Within 51 days, 431 companies or establishments were covered.

Out of the 431 companies, only 425 companies provided information of their total number of employees within their establishment, which comprised of the overall total of 13,410 employees covered.

Out of the 431 companies, only 421 companies provided their minimum wage information.

And out of the 421 responses, 403 responded to have their employees paid on and above K3.50 the national minimum wage, while only 18 companies paid below the national minimum wage of K3.50, which in total affects 444 employees.

Industries varied
“For companies that have been issued infringement notices of non-compliance and charged under OSH and OWC, we are yet to receive the amount charged, and also to confirm which companies have paid and those that are yet to pay or remit respectively,” Rosso said.

The number of industries varied, but a high number of wholesale and retail industries totaling to 249 companies under this industry were covered to confirm that “we have a high number of this industry that operates within the nation’s capital city”.

Others included trade, hotels and restaurants (27), transport, storage and communication (9), manufacturing (15), primary production (3), building and construction (11) and security (6).

Also a total of K878,200,00 was generated in revenue for the DLIR during the inspections in NCD in the last two months in the specific areas of statutory fees collected from occupational, safety and health regulations, and workers compensation insurance policy payments.

Rosso released this during the handover takeover ceremony of the Labour Ministry to Rai Coast MP Kessy Sawang on Thursday.

“All of these offending companies were issued notices to comply with the Department of Labour and Industrial Relations requirements, and other government statutory requirements such as the Bank of Papua New Guinea regulations on Nasfund contributions,” he said.

“This proves a point I have made many a time, that the department has the potential to generate revenue in the non-tax regime, provided sufficient recurrent funding is made available in the DLIR annual allocations,” Rosso said.

Strengthening laws
He said that in his capacity as the Deputy Prime Minister, he would work with Minister Sawang to ensure DLIR was adequately supported to continue this exercise and others.

“Strengthening to the existing legislature and fees and fines are also areas I focused on, and Minister Sawang is tasked with carrying on this activity and similar, like, freeing up 10,000 jobs presently held by foreign workers through up-skilling of local talent.

Other notable achievements during his time with the department include the launching of the National Training Policy 2022 to 2023 and the Labour Market Information Policy 2022-2023, and the ratification of three important International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions which were the Violence and Harassment Convention 2019 (No. 190), the Tripartite Consultation Convention 1976 (No. 144), and the Labour Inspection Convention 1974 (No. 81).

Rosso congratulated Sawang on her appointment as minister, and said he looked forward to her leadership of the Department of Labour and Industrial Relations for a smart, secure, fair and decent work environment for PNG.

Gorethy Kenneth is a senior PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

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Prime Minister James Marape has urged armed captors to free the remaining four hostages which includes an Australian-based New Zealand professor, following the release of a local woman and three local guides.

“These are citizens of our country and a friend of our country. Let’s settle this the Melanesian way,” Marape said.

“We know who you are.”

Marape, who is in Fiji for the Pacific Islands Forum “unity” summit this week, said the full names and pictures of the 13 people involved in the kidnapping were with police.

“[You have] been identified. So release the [remaining] four hostages,” he said.

The armed men, reported to be from Hela, kidnapped the seven researchers and guides on Sunday for a cash ransom at Fogomaiyu village near Mt Bosavi on the border of Southern Highlands and Hela.

The PNG woman was released with the four local guides.

One guide stays with professor
But one guide chose to remain with the professor, who is a permanent resident of Australia and teaches at the University of Southern Queensland.

The seven included a female staff of the National Museum, a Woman Leader Network member, an anthropology graduate of the University of Papua New Guinea, who is doing field work with the professor, and four local guides.

Marape called on the kidnappers, who were known to authorities, to release the four remaining hostages.

Marape said that the hostages were well.

“We are working with locals in the area as intermediaries to negotiate the safe release of the four,” he said.

Second such incident
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso said this was the second such incident to happen in the area.

“It is not an organised crime, but a group of opportunists, who are heavily involved in the guns and drugs trade in the region who are doing this. It was a chance encounter,” he said.

“The safety of the remaining four people still held as hostages remain paramount.

“We are negotiating for their safe release.”

Deputy Police Commissioner Dr Philip Mitna said police were talking to the armed men through intermediaries.

“We are treating the matter as serious,” he said.

Rebecca Kuku is a reporter for The National. Republished with permission.

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The Conflict group of islands in Papua New Guinea’s Milne Bay province cannot be sold to foreign interests, Parliament has been told.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Lands John Rosso said yesterday the privately-owned controversial islands would instead be turned into an environmental marine conservation area.

Irked by the potential sale of the islands for a substantial amount of money, Rosso has issued a ministerial directive for an immediate investigation into the acquisition of titles and the alleged sale.

The 21 islands have been owned by retired Australian businessman Ian Gowrie-Smith who placed the atolls on the open market.

They include among the named islands Panasesa Island, Madiboiboi, Gabugabutau, Tubinagurm Island, Lutmatavi Island, Panaboal, Ginara Island, Panarakuum Island, Panarakiim Motina, Muniara Island, Auriria Island, Panamaiia, Parapaniian, Panaiiaii, Kisa, Itamarina and Ilai Islands.

The Conflict islands are in PNG which put them closer to the Australian mainland and the potential sale has raised alarm bells in that country, which has been wary of the controversial security pact between Solomon Islands and China — and also China’s rise in the Pacific.

In Parliament yesterday, Kiriwina-Goodenough MP Douglas Tomuriesa took Rosso to task, demanding action from the government to stop the sale of these atolls because of the cultural significance and traditional values they had on the local people.

Traditional hunting grounds
“This group of islands is the traditional hunting grounds for our people and our people cannot be allowed into these islands due to the owner being strict,” Tomuriesa said.

“These are traditionally resting and hunting grounds. Today, our people cannot do that.”

It is understood the islands were being sold for substantial amounts, a sale that has not only angered the locals but caused heartbeat to Australia as it poses a national and regional security risk to its sovereignty, given the Chinese conglomerates that have allegedly put up their hands to buy the islands.

Rosso told Parliament that these islands would never be sold under his watch and that the government would make sure they would be kept as conservative and protected areas.

He warned that the investigations could also lead to the revocation of the lease but was subject to the completion once initiated.

“The Conflict islands cannot be sold to non-citizens and that is my stand, and the PNG government stand, there will be an investigation to establish the status and the way the title was awarded in the first instance,” Rosso said.

“The islands will be declared as a conservative and protected area to be administered by special purpose vehicle to protect it for our children to benefit from in the future.

Status of titles probe
“I have already asked the Department of Lands to institute an investigation to establish the status of these titles which are freehold and ascertain the way these titles were created and granted to, we believe, a non-citizen.

“I would like to encourage the current titleholder to come forward voluntarily and discuss these issues with me.

“The position of the government of PNG through the Minister for Lands and Physical Planning is that these islands and the sea belong to the broader community because it is part of their marine and sea life to sustain the marine and pristine ecosystem.

“Therefore, PNG as a custodian of these parts of marine eco-system intends to declare the Conflict Islands as a conservation protected area to be administered by a special purpose vehicle that has the same status as Australia Great Barrier Reef, that is my view and I will be pursuing.

“I will be working closely with the Milne Bay provincial government to ensure that this is carried out.

“For the temporary timing, I will not allow the Conflict islands to be sold under my watch.

“I will be pursuing properly talks with the current owner to see a way forward for this but with a very firm view that we will not allow these islands to be sold, likewise other protected areas in PNG.

“The Conflict islands, the sales and transfer can be made only to a PNG citizen.

“How did the titleholder, believed to be [not] a PNG citizen come to own these freehold titles for 20 years.”

Gorethy Kenneth is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

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