Source: The National / PACNEWS

Recent increased developments in the extractive industry have left the agriculture sector to near collapse, says  Papua New Guinea Agriculture Minister Tommy Tomscoll.

Tomscoll said despite that, the agriculture sector has always been the backbone of the economy.

He said as a way forward he would encourage the government to shift their focus from the mineral sector to redevelop the agriculture sector and other sustainable industries such as fisheries and tourism for sustainable economic growth.

By Joey Tau, Freelance Journalist Pacific Media

The Special Agriculture and Business Lease (SABL) concept has been labelled as a miserable failure to Papua New Guinea and its local landowners.

This was according to Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill when recently tabling final reports from the Commission of Inquiry into the SABL.

The Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the SABL was established during the Somare-Abal Government when then Acting Prime Minister, Sam Abal, called for an inquiry back in 2011.

By Joey Tau, Freelance Journalist Pacific Media

The Special Agriculture and Business Lease (SABL) is a failed concept, and must be done away with in Papua New Guinea.

That’s according to the Director of the Papua New Guinea National Research Institute, Dr Thomas Webster in Port Moresby recently.

Dr Webster said the recently Commission of Inquiry into SABL revealed that only four out of the rest were credible, while the rest had illegalities.

Source: Sky News

West Papuans battling for independence have new hope after recent events propelled their deadly but usually hidden struggle into the global spotlight.

Risky activist ventures undertaken by pro-independence organisations have made headlines in Australia and Indonesia in the past months, especially three young West Papuans who jumped the fence of Australia's Bali consulate as world leaders including Prime Minister Tony Abbott arrived for an APEC meeting.

A new radio advert on the SABL land grab has hit the airwaves in PNG.

The advert calls on Prime Minister Peter O'Neill to cancel the fraudulent SABL leases and stop the illegal logging.

Peter O'Neill has released two Commission of Inquiry reports that expose widespread fraud in the issuing of SABL leases over more than 5 million hectares of customary land.

Vanuatu has called on the United Nations to appoint a Special Representative to investigate alleged human rights abuses in the Papuan provinces of Indonesia and their political status, with its Prime minister declaring that the West Papuans have been consistently denied any sort of recognition by the world body.

By Nalau Bingeding

I, just like everyone else who has an interest in Special Purpose Agriculture Business Leases (SABLs), want to see SABLs outlawed in this country.  However, when it comes to the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on SABLs, I do not have any high expectations about the outcome of that inquiry.

This is simply because the SABL concept is well embedded in several legislations and involves some highly technical issues, thus the removal of SABLs may not be that easy as some people would like to think.

Source: ABC Radio Australia

The Director of Papua New Guinea's National Research Institute says controversial land leases that have been proved to be faudulent, should be revoked.

Last week, Prime Minister Peter O'Neill told parliament that of 42 Special Agricultural and business leases examined by a Commission of Enquiry, only four had the consent of landowners.