By Luana Paniu

At least two locals in New Hanover were seriously wounded when police discharged their firearms and shot them in the ankle, resulting in their hospitalisation. In what can be described as a vicious attack on human rights, the Commission of Inquiry into SABL were given insight into atrocities occurring on the picturesque island.

An insider within Tutumang Development Limited today spilled the beans on how he was used and manipulated by the company to ‘sweet-talk’ landowners into signing the fraudulent land deals involving the SABL on New Hanover, reports Nolene Likas for NBC news.

Councilor of Ward 17 in the Lavongai Local Level Government where the SABL are located, Mr. Kamsal Maraleu told the Commission of Inquiry that he was a major player in what transpired amongst the directors of Tutumang.

PNG forest campaigner appeals to the O’Neil-Namah Government to address land grabbing in the country and help put a stop to it . . .

By Sam Moko

More than 2,000 emails have been sent to the government over the last five days calling for a suspension of logging within disputed Special Agriculture lease areas.

“This response to is the biggest we have ever seen to an on-line petition”, says Effrey Dademo, Program Manager for ACT NOW! “People from all over the world have been getting involved”.

By Eoin Blackwell, AAP 

Greenpeace has blockaded a Chinese ship carrying what the environmental group says are illegally-acquired logs from the Papua New Guinean island of New Britain.

The Chinese vessel, the Fu Tian, is docked in a lagoon near the village of West Pomio, where as many as 200 landowners have gathered to protest the logging activities of Malaysian owned company Rimbunan Hijau (RH) and its subsidiary, Gilford Limited.

Post Courier Editorial

Greenpeace yesterday sailed into remote Pomio in East New Britain to mediate allegations of land grab in the area.


By Dr Craig Thorburn*

This full-page advertisement appeared in the daily newspapers in Papua New Guinea today, 21 October 2011, in support of the campaign for the suspension of logging inside Special-purpose Agriculture and Business lease areas. You can send an email in support of the campaign here - ACT NOW!

By Luana Paniu



The Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Special Purpose Agriculture and Business Leases (SPABL) will be carrying out site visitations commencing next week for substantive hearings into SABL cases [pictured is the Commission Chamber in Port Moresby].

By Roderick Kanama

The Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the Special-purpose Agriculture and Business Leases (SABL) concluded its preliminary hearings today in Port Moresby [pictured Commissioner Jerawai and his Associate].