Maserati – Evening Report

PNG’s ‘useless Maseratis’ – now a used car twist to the luxury car saga

Asia Pacific Report — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 06:18:08 +0000

PNG Post-Courier

There is a new twist in Papua New Guinea’s four-year drama surrounding the Maseratis bought for the 2018 APEC Summit.

It has emerged that the Department of Foreign Affairs, which wants to send the luxury vehicles to foreign missions abroad, cannot do so, because the vehicles — which have been collecting dust in a Port Moresby warehouse — will now be classified as “used vehicles”.

And some countries in which PNG’s foreign missions are based cannot accept them under that category.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Elias Wohengu said that Papua New Guinea was also a non-vehicle producing country which did not have a licence or permit to export vehicles, let alone used ones.

Many developed countries could accept anything classified as “used vehicles” from PNG.

Other countries, such as Solomon Islands and Indonesia, also have other obstacles to overcome, if the cars were going to be sent eventually — Solomon Islands does not have good paved roads for such low-lying luxury vehicles, and Indonesian roads are just too crowded. Fast cars such as the Maseratis will be of no use there.

Early last year a notice was sent for PNG Foreign Affairs Department and its missions abroad to be given the priority to purchase Maseratis and Bentleys for their operations.

Challenges facing missions
There were challenges facing the missions and their heads on the latter.

Yesterday Wohengu spelled out the challenges preventing the cars from being sent across to the PNG Missions.

“As soon as the vehicles leave the sales spot, it is portrayed as a used car already,” he said.

“Some of these host countries do not accept used cars so we have the used car issue.

“Second issue that we have is the cost of shipment . . . But the biggest challenge is that many countries do not accept used cars, especially for diplomatic use and not from PNG,” he said.

“We would have got vehicles for all the missions, but you see, I can’t send a Bentley or a Maserati to Solomon Islands. Similarly I cannot send these vehicles to Jayapura or Fiji.

“But most of all, the used cars are not accepted in many host countries. Also we don’t have a permit for exporting used cars out of PNG. We can buy new vehicles from elsewhere but we can’t export them from PNG.

“Australia will not accept these cars from here, Singapore totally no. These are some examples.”

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Scott Waide reinstated – ‘thank you’ message from EMTV journalist

Pacific Media Centre — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 14:01:28 +0000

Scott Waide reporting in a Papua New Guinea village … image from his blog My Land, My Country.

COMMENT: By Scott Waide, in an open letter posted on his blog after he was reinstated by EMTV today following suspension for broadcasting an APEC news item on November 17 criticising wasteful government spending.

Dear all,

Over the last 48 hours, I have been very humbled by the incredible support my family and I have received from people both here in Papua New Guinea and abroad. Support also came from friends in the media, academia, law enforcement, the military and many other circles, too many to name.

I have since been reinstated to my job as deputy regional head of news at EMTV.

I wish to thank our media friends here and overseas, especially. Thank you for your support and your words of encouragement. Thank you to my immediate and extended family and to the strangers who offered support and words of encouragement in Port Moresby, Lae and remote parts of PNG.

Today’s EMTV reinstatement media release. Source: EMTV

My news teams both in Port Moresby, Lae, Kokopo, Madang and Mt Hagen demonstrated the highest level of professionalism and maturity by remaining away from everything that has happened.

-Partners-

I am proud to lead this team of young journalists, camera operators and support staff.

A great many thanks also to management of EMTV and CEO for working through this very trying time, despite the challenges and pressures. A very special thank you to head of news, Neville Choi, and the powerful Sincha Dimara. (I apologise if I missed out anyone.)

I was suspended on Sunday, 18 November, on the last day of the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) meetings. The reasons for the suspensions are now public knowledge and I do not wish to dwell too much on them.

Essential part of democracy
However, I do wish to make the following points:

Papua New Guinea is a democracy and the media is free to hold those in authority to account. This means highlighting flaws in policy and making sure mistakes are pointed out and corrected. It is an essential part of our democracy.
There should NEVER be any interference at the operational level by board members. The media is an institution of democracy and must remain free and independent. It is our constitutional right to report AND be critical.
Journalists of “state owned” media are NOT government public relations officers, nor are media organisations PR machines.
EMTV is “state-owned” which means the PEOPLE own this company through their elected government.
Journalism is an art… and art and creativity cannot operate in an environment of suppression and fear.

Papua New Guinea is at a critical moment of its history with the growth and influence of China, US-China trade tensions and challenges within our own country.

We are a largely rural nation. Many of our people still have no access to basic services.

We will continue to promote critical, proactive and transparent journalism. The people’s voice has to be heard and the media must remain as the conduit and platform for opinions and debate and those who cannot accept it MUST step aside and let progress happen.

– Scott Waide

The Pacific Media Centre’s Asia Pacific Report frequently republishes articles from Scott Waide’s blog My Land, My Country with permission to provide a PNG “voice” on developments.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

PNG Media Council says bring back Waide – stop attacking free media

Pacific Media Centre — Sun, 25 Nov 2018 08:01:52 +0000

NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as she appeared on the “negative” EMTV News during APEC – she refused to ride in a Maserati luxury sedan and criticised the funding. Image: PMC screenshot from EMTV News

Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk

The Media Council of PNG has called on the board and management of Media Niugini
Limited to allow senior EMTV journalist Scott Waide to return to active duty.

This follows Waide’s suspension for reportedly broadcasting a “negative” news story on national EMTV News relayed by the New Zealand Newshub television from Port Moresby that criticised PNG’s purchase of 40 Maserati luxury sedans for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

In the story, visiting NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is featured saying that none of the NZ$15 million in aid money went towards buying the Maseratis and she would not travel in one in one of the cars.

“I will not and I have been advised that I will be travelling in a Toyota Highlander, I believe,” she added at the time.

“Reinstate Scott Waide” … currently a popular meme on PNG social media. Image: PMC

The news item on November 17 was considered “negative” by the EMTV state ownership – MNL board, the Kumul Telikom Holdings board and the Kumul Consolidated Holdings board.

-Partners-

“The Media Council (MCPNG) sees this as a clear case of ignorance on the part of the chairmen and members of these boards, about the business of reporting the news,” the council said in a statement.

“The media in PNG is in the business of reporting the truth. Regardless of whatever form
it may take.

“It is clear that the owners of EMTV, do not appreciate the strength and commitment of
its news team, to tell the truth.

“EMTV News has been at the forefront of setting new ways of covering and reporting
the news, that is now international standard.

“Mr Waide and the EMTV News team has been leading this change. It is a step backward for democracy, and development in the The MCPNG maintains that the job of portraying a positive image of the country rests solely with the government of the day.

“The media is not responsible for this aspect of a country’s well-being. Its sole responsibility is to the people, and not to government, regardless of whether it owns some, or all of any media company’s shareholding.

“The media must not bend to the whims of insecure politicians, and spineless ‘yes-men’ who flaunt their authority, with impunity, and against all moral and ethical judgement.

“We in the media are in the business of reporting the truth. Journalists should not be looking over their shoulders, every time they work on a sensitive story, just because it may not paint the government of the day, in a good light.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

40 luxury Maseratis for PNG, but little effort put into climate change

Pacific Media Centre — Wed, 17 Oct 2018 02:01:29 +0000

Papua New Guinea has shown unwavering commitment to next month’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit with its controversial purchase of 40 Maserati luxury sedans. While preparations for APEC take priority, climate change plans are in crisis, reports Pauline Mago-King of Asia-Pacific Journalism.

Early in March, Papua New Guinea began its chairmanship of next month’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit by receiving many senior officials for the opening set of planning meetings.

The lead-up to the APEC summit, expected to become a key opportunity for PNG to unlock its economic potential, has been inundated with talks on trade and investment.

As the smallest and poorest member of APEC, Papua New Guinea has framed its chairmanship as an opportunity to cash in on the digital revolution and its benefits in connectivity and employment.

The chair of APEC Senior Officials, Ambassador Ivan Pomaleu, underlined PNG’s participation in APEC as “leverage” to maintain its domestic policies according to the group.

“The work that has come out of APEC has allowed investors to come on shore and be part of our business community. You really need to think in terms of what sort of structural reform and ease of business activities we’ve been doing and that have made it possible for new investments in PNG. Those are pegged on important APEC principles.” Pomaleu told APEC Bulletin.

-Partners-

He added that conversations surrounding connectivity, particularly in sustainable development and climate change, were important to PNG.

A month before the summit, however, this agenda has seemingly been neglected with the import of 40 Maserati Quattroporte luxury sedans to be used by APEC leaders.

One of the controversial Maserati cars that have arrived in Papua New Guinea for APEC 2018. The market value is about re[orted;y about K229,000 (NZ$110,000) each. Image: EMTV NewsCondemned purchase
The revelation of the PNG government’s purchase of these vehicles, which range in cost between $209,000 and $345,000 in Australia, has been widely condemned as an example of poor governance at a time when the country faces pressing health, education, law and order, and environmental issues.

While PNG’s APEC Minister Justin Tkatchenko has told media that the costs of the Maseratis will be recovered via prospective buyers, this remains to be seen.

A common sight of Papua New Guinean villagers travelling by canoe. Image: Sally Wilson/Pixabay Creative Commons (CC)

While the minister has not disclosed the initial costs of both the fleet and cars, PNG has unveiled plans underway to build a 400 million kina (NZ$180 million) coal-powered plant – a far cry from its attentiveness to sustainable development.

According to the Post-Courier, a memorandum of agreement has been reached “to build a coal-fired power plant in Lae”, Morobe province.

Although this agreement is a step towards meeting the energy needs of Lae consumers, it takes PNG two steps back in its commitment to mitigating climate change.

PNG’s gravitation towards cheap, non-renewable energy such as coal signals a complete disregard of its pledge to the Paris Climate Agreement.

PNG is already experiencing the effects of climate change which can be seen in the need to relocate Carteret Islanders and the dwindling access to clean drinking water, to name a few issues.

Defiant action
Despite these effects and coal being a key driver of climate change, Energy Minister Sam Basil is defiantly going ahead with building the electricity plant.

According to The National, Basil said that PNG had “been denied that right (to burn coal) for a very long time”.

He added that “big nations are not reducing [coal emission]”, thus PNG needs a quota for burning coal to provide cheaper electricity which would subsequently lead to more jobs.

Chris Lahberger from the anti-coal group, Nogat Coal PNG, told Radio NZ that this move was uneconomical despite the developer Mayur Resources’ claims of increased employment and investment in a sustainable research institute.

Although PNG is not the only developing country to have resorted to coal as a source of low-cost electricity, it does have a responsibility to its people considering the Climate Investment Fund’s investment of $25 million.

As reported by Devex, this funding is the largest with a focus on delivering “transformational change in addressing the current and future threats from climate change and related hazards in” PNG.

A snapshot of the Climate Investment Fund’s assistance to PNG indicates a key focus on building resilience in the agriculture sector along with the mitigation of climate extremes.

Climate accountability
Consequently, this begs the question of accountability in climate change aid as plans like the Mayur Resources’ coal-fired power plant are counteractive.

There is a pattern of financial aid being confined to large institutions and governments while communities suffer, as noted by Caritas New Zealand director Julianne Hickey.

“We’ve heard time and time again from the Solomon Islands through to Tonga, to Papua New Guinea, that it is not reaching those who need it most and those who’ve done the least to cause the issues of climate change,” Hickey told Radio NZ.

Apart from PNG’s plan to burn coal for electricity, it has an alarming rate of illegal logging which has adverse effects for its indigenous communities.

According to Global Witness, “tens of thousands of Papua New Guinean people are having their land stolen by their own government”.

PNG’s Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato, however, refuted this claim in an interview with Radio NZ.

He emphasised that the PNG government has taken appropriate measures with regard to the illegal logging and that a policy is underway via the Minister for Forests.

Summit talking point
Looking at climate change efforts as a whole, the minister added that it is a talking point for the APEC summit.

“It’s one of the key issues there, and what we’re doing and how the world can connect. That’s why we’ve asked the rest of the Pacific Island countries, their leaders to come so that each of them can tell their story in their own way to the leaders of the world… because the impacts of climate change are unique to each country. It’s not the one and the same.”

Talking point or not, PNG’s implementation efforts are lacking and greater accountability is required of the government.

If PNG’s absence from the High Ambition Coalition is anything to go by, it indicates poor governance to the Papua New Guineans feeling the impact of climate change.

With Fiji and the Marshall Islands leading the way in climate change efforts, PNG’s status as “big brother” not only wanes but projects corruption at its very core.

Pauline Mago-King is a masters student based at Auckland University of Technology and is researching gender-based violence in Papua New Guinea. She compiled this report for the Pacific Media Centre’s Asia-Pacific Journalism Studies course.

Twitter: @iamatalau04

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

]]>

PNG government faces mounting pressure over Maseratis splurge

Pacific Media Centre — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 08:01:27 +0000

One of the 40 Maseratis imported by Papua New Guinea for APEC 2018 … threatened two-day strike looms. Image: EMTV News

By Johnny Blades of RNZ Pacific

Papua New Guinea’s government is under mounting pressure to account for a purchase of 40 luxury vehicles for next month’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the capital of Port Moresby.

Shipments of the Maserati sedans from Italy arrived in Port Moresby last week, to be used for ferrying around APEC leaders and other dignitaries at the summit on November 17-18.

APEC Minister Justin Tkatchenko said the Maseratis were “being committed to be paid for by the private sector” where demand was so keen they would sell “like hot cakes”.

Putting the value of each car at a little over US$100,000 (NZ$150,000), Tkatchenko initially said the Maseratis were being paid for with “no overall cost to the state”.

Amid a public outcry about the Maseratis, the opposition Madang MP Bryan Kramer said the deal could be illegal if the vehicles have been bought by the private sector without any cost to the government.

-Partners-

With PNG’s Public Finance Management Act requiring any state assets to be acquired or disposed of by calling for public tender, Kramer said the government must reveal when the public tender was called.

He has linked the purchase to an invoice for US$6,357,684 to PNG’s government from a Sri Lanka-based auto spare parts and sales company, Ideal Choices.

Since his earlier statement, the minister admitted to Australian media that the government paid a deposit for the purchase. But he has not explained how it would recover its costs after on-selling cars at what is expected to be a depreciated price tag.

Meanwhile, as the jigsaw around the costs of this opaque deal falls into place, the company which transported the cars, Air Bridge Cargo, confirmed its freight planes were chartered by PNG’s government.

Strike looms
Opposition MPs have called for a nationwide strike later this week in protest against the government’s Maserati deal, which has been criticised as being excessively extravagant for a government struggling to fund basic health services.

“While the country faces a polio outbreak, failing health and education systems, systemic corruption, and escalating law and order issues, prime minister (Peter) O’Neill appears to be more concerned about impressing world leaders,” Kramer said in a statement.

“The bottom line is, we cannot afford to be this extravagant. Our country is broke and the O’Neill government continues to be irresponsible and reckless.”

Papua New Guinea APEC Minister Justin Tkatchenko … facing calls to be sacked. Image: Koroi Hawkins/RNZ

Facing calls to sack Tkatchenko and step down himself, O’Neill said yesterday that the vehicles would be sold to the private sector in a public tender.

This would happen in a transparent process, he explained, as soon as the APEC summit concluded in mid-November.

“Like many other international events that we have hosted in the past in the past 40 years, there has always been an arrangement where the private sector will buy those vehicles, so that it saves government money,” the prime minister explained.

Disastrous ‘optics’
But the Maserati deal has made for disastrous “optics”, triggering global media attention and outrage among Papua New Guineans.

“The Italian automobile manufacturer must now come out publicly to explain why they agreed to sell 40 Maseratis destined for PNG APEC to a small dealership based in Colombo, Sir Lanka,” said Kramer.

The outspoken MP said he could not envisage world leaders agreeing to be ferried in luxury vehicles that appear to be procured through a small backyard dealership.

However, Tkatchenko continues to defend the import, saying the kind of service provided through Maserati was standard for APEC summits.

This article is republished under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

]]>