Acting Prime Minister Hon. Sam Abal has announced the commencement of the Commission of Inquiry into the Special Purpose Agricultural & Business Leases (SPABL).

What a sad day for Papua New Guinea, July 26, 2011!

For money we have been forced to bow so low to allow for mining companies to breach our laws and degrade our very beautiful environments that make up this country.

For money we boast world class mines that take and take and take and leave nothing behind. For money, we bow to promises that leave us stricken with economic poverty. For money, we beg for others to come and develop our country for us.

In a major court room battle that started in September 2010, Madang National Court Judge, David Cannings has handed down a decision allowing Ramu Nickel to dump toxic mine tailings into the sea.

On behalf of 1040 plaintiffs, Louis Medaing and 10 others sought to prevent Ramu Nickel from causing public or private nuisance through their deep sea tailings placements (DSTP) system. They also sought to highlight that the Environment Act of the Papua New Guinea and the Constitution will be breached.

On June 29, 2011, acting Prime Minister Sam Abal announced the Commission of Inquiry into the Special Agriculture Business Leases (SABLs) and Urban Development Leases.


Mr Abal appointed John Numapo as Chairman, Nicholas Mirou and Alois Jerewai as Commissioners and several other people were appointed to provide technical advice to the Commission. Abal expressed confidence in the team he had appointed that they will do a good job. The Commission was given three months to complete the task and present its report to the Government, which will then present it to Parliament.

By Patrick Kaiku


While the Constitutional Planning Committee (CPC) had performed a monumental task in the lead-up to the drafting of PNG’s Constitution, a new round of consultation should be ini­tiated to address critical issues that were not apparent during the time of the CPC.

By David Fedele

For nearly 50 years the people of West Papua have suffered under brutal Indonesian colonial rule and up to 400,000 civilians have lost their lives in Indonesian military operations.

Thousands have fled across the border to seek sanctuary in Papua New Guinea.

The footage below was taken on Wednesday 16th February 2011, in the jungle near Vanimo, Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea - less than 50km from the West Papua border.

Bikpela Bagarap is a new documentary film revealing the human face of logging in Papau New Guinea.

PNG is home to one of the richest rainforests in the world but today remains one of the few countries that still allows the export of raw logs, and this is greatly exploited by Asian logging companies. The World Bank estimates that 70% of all logging in Papua New Guinea is illegal, although most unofficial sources put the rate even higher than that.

By Luana Paniu

The Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Special Purpose Agriculture and Business Leases (SPABL) will use relevant court documents and information from research institutes and various organisations including landowners to begin investigations. 


Director for CoI and Investigation branch of the Prime Minister’s Department, Mathew Yuangu said this will be a foundation for the CoI, which will include visitation to specific SPABL sites in the country.


PMIZ Watcher

The latest meeting of the Madang Chamber of Commerce has thrown up more questions than answers about the government's controversial Pacific Marine Industrial Zone, as this report by Nancy Sullivan reveals: