The head of the Solomon Islands state-owned broadcaster has defended its role in the face of the government tightening control — a move that critics say is squarely aimed at controlling and censoring the news.

The government said last Friday that the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC) would retain editorial control and that government officials would not censor or restrain the outlet.

Earlier in the week, the government had lashed out at the broadcaster, accusing it of a “lack of ethics and professionalism” and saying the government had a duty to “protect our people from lies and misinformation” it claimed was propagated by the SIBC.

In an interview published by the VOA News, Johnson Honimae, the SIBC chief executive, said he was proud of the broadcaster’s award-winning journalism.

He said it was business as usual for the broadcaster and there were no government censors vetting stories before they were broadcast, contrary to what was reported by some news outlets.

The government’s move came at a politically tumultuous time in the Solomon Islands.

There were riots in the capital of Honiara last November, followed by a no-confidence vote in Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare in December, which he survived.

Security pact with China
Then in April, Sogavare signed a security pact with China that has caused deep alarm in the Pacific and around the world.

The SIBC has reported those developments and has included the views of Sogavare’s opponents.

The broadcaster, which began as the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Service, has been a fixture for 70 years in the Solomon Islands.

Employing about 50 people and operating under the slogan “Voice of the nation,” the broadcaster is the main source of radio and television news for the nation’s 700,000 people and is listened to and watched from the capital to the smallest village.

In late June, the government moved to delist the SIBC as a state-owned enterprise and take more direct control, saying the broadcaster had failed to make a profit, something that had been expected of such state-owned businesses.

Opposition Leader Matthew Wale said the delisting was a scheme orchestrated by Sogavare as “a clear attempt to directly control and censor the news content of SIBC”.

“This will hijack well-entrenched principles of law on defamation and freedom-of-speech, thus depriving the public using SIBC to freely express their views, or accessing information on government activities,” Wale said.

Critical government calls
Honimae said the broadcaster took critical calls from Sogavare’s office in recent months.

“They believe we’ve been running too many stories from the opposition side, causing too much disunity,” Honimae said.

Honimae said the broadcaster and its staff won several journalism awards this year from the Media Association of Solomon Islands, including newsroom of the year and journalist of the year.

He also said the broadcaster plays the national anthem when broadcasts begin each morning at 6 am and again when they finish at 11 pm.

“We believe we are a great force for unity and peace in this country,” Honimae said.

Honimae added that the broadcaster needed to “balance our stories more” and leave no opportunity for criticism.

He said Sogavare — who is also the government’s Broadcasting Minister– had said in Parliament that the government would not tamper with the broadcaster’s editorial independence.

“There is no censorship at the moment,” Honimae said. “We operate as professional journalists.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guineans, your future is in your hands, vote wisely.

As the campaign trail wound up its last hours at the weekend, voters were being urged to keep their future in mind when choosing and voting this election starting tomorrow.

Alvin Gia Huk, an independent candidate, and runner up in the 2017 National General Elections for the Mendi-Munihu Open seat in Southern Highlands Province is encouraging voters to not repeat the mistakes made in the past when electing people who didn’t have their interest at heart.

He said voters needed to make wiser decisions for long term benefits for their children, the district and the province as a whole.

“Don’t follow money and materials today and spend the next five years being neglected of your basic right to services. You have the power to change your course in the next week, to receive what is rightfully yours and have a better quality of life,” he said.

Among other policies, he said a change in voters’ attitudes was what he had been promoting and encouraging throughout the campaign period.

“I have been educating voters since last elections to not vote with a cargo cult mentality or based on family lines, tribal ties and vote for quality”.

He admits it has been a challenge breaking the cargo cult mentality but he sees some progress from the previous elections.

Voters have become more educated and aware of what they deserve and what qualities they want in their leaders.

The PNG elections run from July 4 to 22.

Asia Pacific Report’s coverage of the PNG general election is being boosted by partnerships with media groups such as the independent Inside PNG, The National, PNG Post-Courier and RNZ Pacific. 

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Stefan Armbruster of SBS News

Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner has called for the “urgent” and “immediate” release of immigration detainees in line with recommendations of peak medical bodies advising the federal government on their response to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Commissioner Edward Santow in an exclusive interview with SBS News said they should be put into community detention where it was safe to do so.

About 1400 people are currently in detention centres on mainland Australia, including in “alternative places of detention” (APODs), where there have been daily protests in Brisbane and Melbourne.

READ MORE: Refugees, asylum seekers flag fears over possible Brisbane hotspot

Australian medical specialist groups, lawyers and human rights organisations have for weeks warned about the threat immigration detention poses as coronavirus infection hotspots.

“We need to heed experts who have been guiding all the government’s activities here,” said Commissioner Santow.

This article has been republished in brief with SBS and the author’s permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Stefan Armbruster of SBS News in Brisbane

Papua New Guinea’s prime minister has dismissed as “fake news” a report that claims a partially-Australian funded liquefied natural gas project is failing to deliver a promised economic boom to his people.

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, in Brisbane for the Australian-PNG business forum, hit out at a damning report by social justice non-government organisation Jubilee Australia which questioned whether projected economic benefits were flowing from the ExxonMobil-led project.

“It’s quite disappointing to note that some of our experts who align themselves with political opponents are continuing to talk down our economy and continuing to release fake news,” O’Neill said in his address to the forum.

READ MORE: Failed predictions and the PNG resource curse

The project supplies eight million tonnes of gas a year to Japan, South Korea and China, with the flow starting in 2014.

Australia’s export credit agency Efic made its largest-ever loan of $500 million to ExxonMobil, OilSearch, Santos and the PNG government in 2009.

-Partners-

Questions are now being asked why the project was backed by the Australian government.

“The people of PNG would have been better off had the project not happened at all,” report co-author Paul Flanagan, a former Australian Treasury official, said.

Report defended
Flanagan also defended the report: “I feel at this stage very, very confident in the numbers we had in that report. The report indicated that welfare in PNG has decreased because of the PNG LNG project.”

But O’Neill characterised the report as “utter nonsense” in his keynote address.

“It’s quite disappointing to note that some experts, who align themselves with political groupings, continue to talk down the (PNG) economy and continue to release fake news,” O’Neill said.

“It’s quite unrealistic to suggest the LNG project is not contributing to the economy of the country.”

ExxonMobil has defended the project saying it had contributed $5.69 billion to local businesses and the government through employment tax and royalties.

“Good governance, accountability and revenue transparency are critical to ensuring that the value unlocked from gas resources in PNG results in economic growth, increased opportunities and a better standard of living for Papua New Guineans,” a spokeswoman said.

A failure to identify landowners who would get hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties has triggered violence in PNG’S Highlands, raising fears of a resources civil war like the 1990s Bougainville crisis.

Australian backing questioned
Australian Australia’s backing of the project before the landowners’ issue was resolved is now being questioned. The report’s co-author, Paul Flanagan, says stakeholders need to be careful.

“It would seem sensible to ensure that local laws are followed before those funds are released,” he said.

Australia’s overseas-finance agency Efic backed the project with a $500 million loan. Australia’s Assistant Trade Minister, Mark Coulston, says there will be an investigation, but he says he cannot comment further at this stage.

“Obviously, there will be an investigation into the mechanism of how that works,” he said.

Coulton focused on the “game changer” upcoming Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders summit in Port Moresby.

“It is an opportunity to showcase the business potential of PNG to the world – a stable, reliable democracy and an attractive commercial environment,” Coulton said.

“It is incumbent on us, during tough times, to keep making the case about the growth and competitiveness that comes from opening markets to trade and investment.”

Free trade stand
He praised PNG’s decision to reconsider joining up to the Pacific Pacer Plus free trade agreement.

Australian companies have $18 billion invested in PNG and more than 4600 Australian businesses are exporting goods into PNG.

A Exxon natural gas project site in Papua New Guinea.

Santos says liquefied natural gas production in PNG will return to full capacity next month.

Stefan Armbruster is Pacific correspondent of SBS News. Additional reporting by AAP, Amanda Copp. This article is republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz