By Dylan Welch*

Australia may be sheltering hundreds of millions of black dollars funnelled out of South Pacific countries by corrupt politicians and public officials, with the money laundering being tolerated by a disinterested federal government.

Papua New Guinea, in particular, is believed to suffer from the avarice of some of its officials and politicians, with a senior police officer recently claiming the country loses as much as 50 per cent of its budget - about $1.9 billion - through fraud and corruption every year.

By Roderick Kanama

Rod will be providing daily updates from the Commission of Inquiry on this blog from October 10, in this article he provides an overview of SABLs and the issues confronting the CoI.

Land acquisition for developmental purposes has been a Government policy since 1979 when the instrument for Special Agriculture and Business Leases (SABL) was established, later incorporated into the Land Act in 1996. Its application had honourable intentions and was designed to achieve two main objectives;

ABC News Correspondents Report

EMILY BOURKE: Domestic violence is a tragic reality for many women in Papua New Guinea, a reality that is largely left unquestioned by the broader community.

 But the shocking case of a woman who's been repeatedly abused by her policeman husband has caused uproar. 

People have turned to social media, a recent phenomenon in PNG, to express their outrage and to demand police action.



PNG correspondent Liam Fox reports.

Commander of police in the National Capital District Metropolitan Superintendent Joseph Tondop has called upon suspect Simon Bernard to surrender to police, according to the Post Courier. 

Bernard is wanted by police in relation to the assault, torture, kidnapping, rape and unlawful wounding of Ms Joy Guere Wartovo on at least three different occassions.
 The kidnapping, rape and unlawful wounding were alleged to have been committed by Bernard after he was on the run from police.


By Elizabeth Tongne 

Lots of things are happening around the country in Papua New Guinea at the moment and it seems different names are being use for the same thing.

Foreign policies promoted by global corporations and aided by the World Bank and overseas governments are killing us fast and we need to hold hands together so that we are not pulled apart.

Reports from Rovang village in the Pomio area of East New Britain say that young men protesting against logging have been beaten by police with fan belts and tree branches, according to the PNG Exposed blog.

It is alleged that an aircraft from Tropic Air, operated by notorious Malaysian logging company Rimbunan Hijau, flew the police into Palmalmal from Kokopo. Kokopo police said they were not aware of this.

Papua New Guinea's only female Member of Parliament, who was until recently Minister for Community Development, has joined ACT NOW!'s campaign on violence against women and children.

Dame Carol Kidu has thanked and congratulated ACT NOW! members for taking action and urged civil society not to give up the fight against domestic violence.

Please help Joy live a normal life

I READ with disgust about the sufferings and anguish endured by Joy Wartovo at the hands of her her husband last December. Then came the satisfying story that he was terminated from employment and behind bars and I thought these sufferings had come to an end. But for poor Joy, this was far from over. It was yet another disgusting story of abduction and abuse. She has been stabbed and hospitalised.

By Luana Paniu

Inconsistencies and flaws found during the preliminary stages of the Commission of Inquiry into the Special Agriculture and Business Leases (SABL’s) found that almost all Departments lacked basic logistics, management and coordination to effectively carry out what was required of them. Findings also included lack of proper monitoring of officers and file movement, funding and manpower.

By Tim Anderson

Aid worldwide runs at more than $120 billion per year (World Bank 2011a), yet there is very little correlation between this expenditure and the often stated goal of poverty reduction. The failures of aid are legion. Yet this ‘development assistance’ has become a massive and semi- permanent global industry which in western countries is often erroneously equated with ‘development’. Nothing could be further from the truth. Aid programs, despite the stated good intentions, certainly deserve some critical scrutiny.