Papua New Guinea has a new government and this creates an excellent opportunity for us to again press for the reversal of controversial amendments to the Environment Act that breach the Constitution and which were bulldozed through Parliament in May last year.

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The Amendments remove the rights of citizens to challenge large resource projects and prevent them seeking damages for environmental problems caused by foreign corporations.

In June last year more than 18,000 ACT NOW! supporters signed our on-line and paper petitions calling on the previous Somare government to reverse those amendments. The Somare government may not have listened to us, but several prominent Opposition MPs did, and they are now Ministers in the new government.

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New Deputy Prime Minister, Belden Namah, described the changes as "against the national interest", "undemocratic" and "scuttling the rights of Papua New Guineans". He even launched his own legal action against the amendments challenging their constitutional legality.

New Minister for National Planning, Sam Basil, said the changes "have done injustice to my people... I call on MPs... to come together and... repeal this law for the good of our resource owners".

New Minister for State Enterprises and former Prime Minister, Sir Mekere Marauta, said a new government “will correct the amendments to the Environment Act that was shoved through Parliament and took away landowners' common law and Constitutional rights". 

New Minister for Housing, Ken Fairweather, resigned from the previous government over the amendments, saying "“It is a controversial law. Procedures were not followed. I do not want men and women 70 years down the line to state that their forefathers did not do the right thing by them,”

The amendments are oppressive and dangerous. They remove landowners legal and customary rights; remove democratic rights; give immunity to foreign companies and undermine PNGs National Goals and Constitution.

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We need to remind the new Ministers of their promises made when in opposition and urge them to immediately introduce legislation to reverse the Environment Act amendments

Please send an email now - www.actnowpng.org/action