The Rotary Club of Port Moresby has made a generous donation of K20,000 to St John to support its ambulance wash-bay.
President of the Rotary Club Mr Rio Fiocco and the club members, official handover of the cheque to St John Ambulance on Wednesday, March 15, 2023 at the St John headquarter.
The funds will be used to purchase a High Pressure Washer and a Wet Dry Vacuum for the ambulance wash-bay.
The ambulance wash-bay is a critical part of St John’s operations, as it ensures that all ambulances are clean and ready to respond to emergencies at all times.
With the new equipment, St John will be able to clean its ambulances more efficiently and effectively, ensuring that patients continue to receive the highest level of care possible.
“Keeping the environment where our patients are cared for as clean and clinically sterile as we can, is the most fundamental thing in our operations,” St John Ambulance CEO Matt Cannon said.
“We have a well-established standardised cleaning system and it takes 30-60 minutes for us to wash each vehicle.”
The CEO said there is a needed for heavy duty industrial grade cleaning equipment, and they are grateful for this donation, which have now enable them to purchase these equipment.
The Rotary Club of Port Moresby has a long history of supporting charitable causes in the country, and this donation is part of their commitment to making a positive difference in the community.
Rotary Club of Port Moresby president Mr Fiocco said, they are pleased to support the work of St John Ambulance.
“We know that they are doing a wonderful work in our community and our club is very pleased to continue our ongoing support,” Mr Fiocco said.
Papua New Guinea is expected to review the land boundary it shares with Indonesia’s West Papua Province.
Foreign Affairs Minister Justin Tkatchenko before travelling to Jakarta yesterday, said PNG is now able to discuss this with Indonesia after Parliament passed the Basic Border Agreement.
“The Basic Boarder Agreement which opens the way now for all parties to come on board and review the Basic Border Agreement and talk about our boundaries, talk about our trade, talk about our traditions, our culture, and our people”, said Tkatchenko.
This is the second visit to Jakarta where Tkatchenko is expected to discuss issues like the PNG Defence Force and Indonesian Defence Force Cooperation Agreement and have open discussion on the West Papua issue.
“The Foreign Minister and I will also be discussing about West Papua. And as I have stated already, Indonesia is a sovereign country, and we respect Indonesia. If there are any issues Indonesia wants us to get involved in with West Papua, we are more than happy to support,” Tkatchenko said.
Since the first visit by Minister Tkatchenko in December 2022, both Governments have been working on improving economic, security, social and traditional ties between the two countries.
In the recent Parliament Sitting, the National Executive Council also approved the Reciprocal of Rectification for Visa Exceptions for Indonesian diplomats and government officials entering both countries.
“So the green and red passports for all the secretaries, government officials that we have in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia and all the diplomats we have in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, we can travel to each country freely with visa on arrival, ” said Tkatchenko.
287 cartons of counterfeit Waswas brand soap imported to Lae was seized by the Lae Police and Panamax Pacific Limited management on the weekend.
The counterfeit Waswas soap was loaded onto a 20-foot container, ready to be delivered to Mt. Hagen, Western Highlands Province by a trucking company when it got intercepted by the Police.
The operation was headed by Lae Metropolitan CID Officer In Charge, Leo Kaikas who produced a search warrant to open and search the container. This was done at the Panamax yard in Lae on Friday, 17th March 2023.
Lae Police and Panamex Management inspecting boxes of counterfeit soap.
Panamax Pacific Limited has been manufacturing Waswas soap for more than 20-years in Papua New Guinea. Waswas soap is a well-known and trusted brand to be found in most homes throughout the country.
According to Panamax Pacific Limited General Manager-Erich Illemann, it was brought to their attention that a significant counterfeit operation importing product impersonating the company’s Waswas brand was in progress.
“When I contacted PNG Customs in the morning, disappointingly, Customs have informed us it is beyond Customs control and beyond Customs jurisdiction. This is both ridiculous and an unacceptable response,” said Mr. Illemann.
Inside each of the 287 confiscated cartons contains 16 packs of 6-pack counterfeit Waswas soap worth K34,440 when sold in shops. This money is untaxed and directly impacts local manufacture and threatens local jobs.
Over the past few weeks, manufacturers in PNG are under extreme pressure from high costs and poor service delivery by the government. According to Panamax Pacific General Manager, Mr. Illeman, this additional threat compounds the situation threatening investment, manufacture and job creation in the country.
“Our industry (Soap Manufature) as well as many others is currently under pressure from Customs who have reclassified raw materials under different coding, changing previous duty-free status to one attracting duty, the same as for finished products,” said Mr. Illemann. “This undermines the case for local manufacture, which will reduce investment and subsequent employment with more reliance on imports compounding the Country’s Forex predicament,” added Illeman.
The popular soap product seen here is actually counterfeited which can make it hard for consumers to differentiate between the real product and its counterfeit equivalent.
The dangers of buying counterfeit products aren’t always obvious. There are economic impacts, legal implications, and health and safety risks to individuals who buy and use the fake products.
Each time you buy a counterfeit good, a legitimate company like Panamax loses revenue. This translates to loss profits, loss of jobs over time and contributes to the bad state of economy.
Meanwhile, Lae Metropolitan Commander, Chief Superintendent Chris Kunyanban said investigations are currently underway by Lae CID Police.
Kunyanban said, “If people starts doing counterfeit, the Government should have a very strict instreangent Law protecting the interests of the business houses in the country. Because that’s a national security issue on the economic aspect of things.”Lae Metsup added that, Forrex is the primary issue affecting local manufactures such as Lae Biscuit and Panamax. Kunyanban said the secondary issue affecting the manufacturers are counterfeit products.
“Their products are not moving because the Chinese are actually circulating counterfeit goods. They cannot buy it from the local manufacturers. The government has to be very serious in protecting the economy of this country. If those people are involved in counterfeit and they are found, they have to be immediately fined, deported and blacklisted and they should not enter the country anymore.” More needs to be done by the government in order to allow legitimate businesses to thrive.
A local team of youths from Bundi and Simbu cleared up piles of dirt and debris blocking off the road from Simbu to Upper Bundi.
The blockage resulted from six landslides caused by continuous rainfall along the area two months ago.
Piles of logs and huge rocks completely covered the road making it impassable, blocking off all services into Bundi.
One local SME Owner, Nelson Gandai, led a team of 22 boys in the clearing exercise two weeks ago.
Using a chainsaw and bush knives, they hacked away at the logs and sticks and dug through dirt piles with sticks, crowbars and spades.
Founder of a local Community Based Organization, Kumura Foundation, Vincent Kumura in a statement, said it was a very daunting task.
Mr Kumura said the Kumura Foundation has gathered 16 youths from Pomie in the upper Bundi area and partnered with Mr Gandai and his team, along with a second team of nine (9) boys led by David Monguma from Simbu to continue the work of clearing debris just to create a pathway for four-wheeled-drive vehicles to pass through.
The youths camped out at Mondia Pass for two weeks at a height of 2,900m under freezing conditions at night to fix the road.
While it is somewhat accessible now, persisting damp conditions still beg for proper work to be done on the road.
Last Friday, 12 youths assisted an ambulance vehicle with wheels stuck in the mud.
The whole exercise of digging, pushing and pulling through piles of debris took them three hours before the vehicle arrived in Simbu.
Mr Kumura says fortunately, there weren’t any emergency passengers onboard the ambulance.
He stated that the 32km stretch from Simbu to Snow Pass and Yandera in Upper Bundi is badly deteriorated and needs urgent government assistance.
“We have three Primary Schools (Bundi, Yandera and Snow Pass), the Snow Pass Eco-lodge, the Snow Pass Medical Dispensary, Kumura Foundation, proposed Yandera Mining, SMEs, coffee farmers and the 20,000 people of Bundi including sick patients affected from these bad road conditions.”
Therefore, the foundation is calling for respective government authorities to respond quickly in clearing up the landslides and maintain the road link to Bundi,” stated Kumura.
Mr Kumura said the Kumura Foundation is prepared to work with local and provincial government authorities to serve the people of Bundi.
Community Advocacy group ACT NOW has welcomed the Moratorium on new Forest Clearance Authorities, recently announced by the PNG Forest Authority, but they say the measure does not go far enough.
“We are pleased the National Forest Board has recognized that the FCA system is being widely abused and has ordered a halt on the issuing of new Authorities and an audit of all existing FCA projects”, Campaign Manager Eddie Tanago said in a statement.
FCA is a permit issued by the PNGFA allowing a logging company to clear small area of forest for commercial agriculture or road construction, however the PNG Forest Authority has been issuing FCA permits that cover tens of thousands of hectares of forest, which are used by logging companies for large-scale export logging operations.
According to ACT NOW, evidence shows that 25% of total log exports in 2021 were sourced from FCA permit areas.
ACT NOW further pointed out that there are also widespread abuses associated with other logging permit types, particularly the Timber Right Purchase (TRP), that also warrants a moratorium and review.
In September 2022, ACT NOW! issued a public call to the new Forest Minister to urgently address rampant illegal and unsustainable logging by issuing a moratorium on both new FCA projects and on the extension or renewal of any permits issued under the Timber Rights Purchase Agreements.
They also called for an independent review of all existing logging projects to assess their legality and impacts as well as calling for an extension of the moratorium to cover all new timber permits and licences.
They say it is important that any audit of existing FCAs is conducted independently and transparently and with full community participation.
“It is the PNGFA that has developed and approved the existing FCA permits that are characterized by widespread procedural abuse and lack of community consent. It will clearly be nonsense for the same forestry officers to now audit the permits they issued to assess their legality” Tanago said.
ACT NOW! is also concerned that a National Court Order issued in June 2021 calling for a halt to all logging in TRP areas has been ignored by the Forest Authority and logging is continuing unabated in those areas.
According to research conducted by ACT NOW! the TRP areas covered by the court order are still producing over 40% of PNG’s total log exports.
ACT NOW! says while the moratorium on new FCAs is an important step, the Forest Authority and Board must go further and stop issuing any new logging permits or permit extensions, until all logging projects have been independently reviewed.
ACT NOW! is also calling on the PNG Forest Authority to publicly explain how it is intending to meet the government commitment to end all round log exports by 2025.
The Pacific Freedom Forum (PFF), an advocacy network of Journalists and Media Practitioners have expressed grave concerns about the new media policy proposed by the office of the Minister for Communication and Information Technology, Timothy Masiu.
In a statement, PFF said this policy will put limitations on PNG journalists’ ability to report freely and impact the quality of public information.
A concern raised by current Chairperson, Robert Iroga of the Solomon Islands stated that the public right to information will be affected by restrictions and regulations of the PNG Media Industry.
All eyes of the outside media fraternity are now on PNG as recent news of the policy has sparked the interest of journalists regionally and globally.
“We join the many voices in opposing the policy as it is a red flag in democracies like PNG where the role of the independent media is important for keeping island communities informed,” said Iroga.
PFF is extending their support toward journalists in PNG and the Media Council of Papua New Guinea by calling on the PNG Government to heed the voices of PNG’s journalists’ and seek understanding of the outpouring support against the Government’s proposal.
“Media and elected leaders serve the same people, our communities of the Pacific”
PFF encouraged Prime Minister, James Marape and his cabinet to seek dialogue with members of the PNG Media fraternity and bring forth a solution that upholds the public’s best interest.
“We oppose any efforts to undermine democracies by using the law to curtail the freedom of journalists to report freely in any democracy.
“Efforts such as those aiming to regulate or license journalists must never replace our professional ethics and the freedom to report without fear or favor”
An estimated 106 million Kina (around USD 46 million), and counting, is the cost of damages, from what is being called the evil twin cyclones that hit Vanuatu in less than a week, beginning with tropical cyclone Judy on the 2nd of March, followed by cyclone Kevin on the 4th, coupled with a magnitude 6.5 and 5.4 earthquakes, the following day.
Sources on the ground say, the figure is sure to rise as communications are restored and a more detailed assessment becomes possible.
The extent of devastation by these historical back-to-back category 4 cyclones have extremely affected the peri-urban poor, living in squatter communities in informal housing.
According to sources, several of these communities experienced widespread damage.
Port Vila, Vanuatu’s capital is slowly reconnecting its electricity, and sources say it will take at least another week for a total power restoration.
Prime Minister of Vanuatu, in an interview on Vanuatu Broadcasting Television Corporation this morning, said despite the extent of the damages, food security and supply, sufficient drinking water supply and accessibility of necessary medicine is the government’s priority at this time.
The PM anticipates Vanuatu has a couple of weeks before the problem of food security becomes critical.
The International community under the FRANZ agreement including France, Australia and New Zealand are already on the ground in Vanuatu through quick deployment of military assets.
A French coast guard ship is already in Tanna; several planes from the three countries are delivering supplies and conducting aerial assessment operations.
The HMAS Canberra from Australia is due to arrive in Port Vila tomorrow with helicopters, relief supplies and 600 ADF personnel.
Local utility companies have imported teams from overseas to help speed the return of water, power and telecommunications.
While restoration is underway, it is becoming more apparent that Vanuatu’s traditional cultural social safety net is fraying as a result of the disaster.
Many locals who are dependent on the cash economy can no longer rely on family or the land to help them in this current time of need.
Sources say, Vanuatu has always taken pride in being a place without the scarcity of food and shelter.
However, after this double disaster, that is no longer true for some.
The Secretary for the Department of National Planning and Monitoring, Koney Samuel, said the European Union is one of Papua New Guinea’s traditional development partners.
During a bilateral meeting between the European Commission HQ and officers from the National Planning Department recently (Tuesday, February 2) discussions centered around ongoing cooperation with the European Union to identify areas of intervention and investment in development cooperation.
The meeting also discussed how best Department of National Planning and Monitoring can be integrated under the arrangement of the Multi-annual Indicative Program (MIP) 2021 – 2027.
Secretary Samuel thanked the EU for the good number of key sector interventions through the years and recently the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) in particular the STREIT PNG (K365 million, WASH Part 1 (K123m) and WASH Part 2 (K40m).
He said going forward the DNPM would like to work closely with the European Union on biodiversity and climate change to ensure that the program has targeted interventions and that the impact of the program is felt by the people.
The Secretary emphasized that all development partner interventions must align with the Government’s development priorities. This was reiterated by Myriam Ferran, Deputy Director General, she explained the changes made to the EU development cooperation policy adding that both parties have moved from a more donor recipient relationship to real partnership.
Secretary Samuel said going forward, Vision 2050 remains the country’s road map and the goals cannot be achieved without the valuable support of PNG’s Development partners.
Police Commissioner David Manning has confirmed that one of the four people being held captive in the Highlands has been released.
In a statement released by the Commissioner, Manning confirmed that a female Papua New Guinean has been released.
“The release of one female Papua New Guinean is a positive outcome, and negotiations continue for the safe release of the remaining two female Papua New Guineans and the male New Zealand citizen,” Manning said.
“From the information that we have received, the remaining three captives are in reasonable health, though are being held in difficult terrain,” he said.
Meanwhile, Manning has issued a strong warning to every citizen to stop spreading fake news on Social Media.
“The circulation of fake news can complicate security operations leading to tragic outcomes and I call on people using social media and administrators to not post information that has not been verified by official sources,” Manning said.
The Communications Minister, Timothy Masiu, has proposed a new policy that, if implemented, will affect the constitutional rights of freedom of speech through the media.
The draft policy named The National Media Development Policy 2023 (we perceive as the Media Control Policy) proposes changes which include the licensing of journalists and the re-establishment of the PNG Media Council as a government regulation agency.
In the media utopia proposed through the Masiu Policy, perceived as the Media Control Policy, and also known as The Media Development Policy 2023; the media will be transformed into a propaganda machine that serves a government development agenda.
Section 46 of the National Constitution under Part III stating the freedom of Expression.
The implementation of the proposed policy, will allow for Government to create laws that go against Section 46(1) subsections (a), (b) and (c) and Section 46(2) under Part III of the constitution which relate to the freedom of the press.
We at InsidePNG are not opposed to supporting a positive development agenda PROVIDED the government does its job! That means, making sure students are educated; making sure funding goes to where it is meant to go; making sure theft of public money is stopped; and that there is honesty in the manner in which the country is governed.
The absence of which requires the media to be the watchdog. It requires us to speak out and report on that which is wrong in society and wrong in the decisions that are being made.
In this government proposed utopia, journalists are licensed by the media council and any person not fulfilling the development agenda is penalized by having their licenses removed.
Yes. Maybe, this government won’t do it. But what if, in Sir Mekere’s words, “We have a rogue government? Or a rogue Prime Minister in future?” And he/she chooses to use this policy to impose total suppression?
One question to Minister Masiu pops up: Is the government going to license all the PNG content producers on Facebook, YouTube, Tiktok and other social media platforms? Journalists ARE content producers. Or should we all just call ourselves content producers to avoid paying for a journalist license?
The Media Control Policy, as it should be called, states that it is designed to strengthen media freedom. We at InsidePNG think otherwise.
We, 24 journalists and content producers, previously worked at a GOVERNMENT OWNED television station called EMTV. We were sacked because we protested against political influence in the newsroom.
We do not believe an additional layer of control will guarantee our freedom of speech. We believe licensing will be expensive for a start up like ours; and that government control of the media council will not serve our interests in upholding an essential and crucial pillar of democracy.
There is a reason why our founding fathers insisted on having a free media. It is to hold those in power accountable on behalf of the people of Papua New Guinea.
We ask that Timothy Masiu step back and take a look at the real reasons behind pushing for a policy that promotes media control.
Be the government that promotes media freedom. Be the government that promotes debate in public forums instead of a government that creates an environment that suppresses freedom of expression.
Invest in the education of journalists and media practitioners if you are serious about improving the media. Invest policies that lower internet costs. Provide scholarships for media practitioners.
In short, be the minister who promotes constitutional freedoms.
