Source: Post Courier

Bougainville President John Momis has attacked a report on the decommissioned Panguna mine, describing it "misleading and irresponsible".

The report by Jubilee Australia will be launched in Sydney tomorrow and tabled in the Australian parliament in Canberra on Friday by the Australian Greens Party leader Christine Milne.

Momis said the report was "factually inaccurate, biased and methodologically unsound".

He said it was "dishonest in claiming that interviews with 65 individuals selected by its authors from the 10,000 or so people in the affected areas allows it to represent the voices of them and the 300,000 people of Bougainville".

The report claims the voices of mine-affected communities "have been distant from recent public discussion" about the possible reopening of the Panguna and was critical of Bougainville government consultations with landowner which Jubilee suggested had largely excluded communities around the mine.

“Far from being excluded, affected landowners have been at the centre of all discussions regarding Panguna since they commenced in 2009,” Momis said