Source: Isaac Nicholas (Post Courier)

THE National Executive Council has referred the three commissioners who chaired the Special Agriculture Business Leases Commission of Inquiry to the PNG Law Society for disciplinary action.

They have also been referred to the Royal PNG Constabulary for an investigation into the use of more than K15 million earmarked for the inquiry.

Source: Radio New Zealand

Calls continue to mount for an overhaul of the way land is managed in Papua New Guinea amid claims that foreign companies have been unlawfully granted rights to 12% of the country’s land mass.

The Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has indicated he is about to table the long-awaited report by a Commission of Inquiry into Special Agricultural Business Leases.

Source: Radio New Zealand

Papua New Guinea’s Minister of Lands and Physical Planning Benny Allen says the government is looking at reducing the size of the Special Agricultural Business Leases.

The Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has signalled he is about to table in parliament the long-awaited report by the Commission of Inquiry into the SABL system.

Mr Allen says the leases - some of which covered up to a million hectares - were problematic because their size meant various issues where multiple landowner groups were involved.

Source: Radio New Zealand

Papua New Guinea’s Minister of Lands and Physical Planning Benny Allen says his ministry is investigating a number of questionable transactions within the Lands Department.

The Ministry has invited complaints about land dealings throughout PNG and is commissioning a team to investigate all land deals alleged to have been fraudulent.

Mr Allen says many complaints are filing in and some relate to corrupt dealings within the department.

Source: The National

THE report of the special agriculture and business lease (SABL) will be tabled today, although it is not to the expectation of the cabinet, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill told Parliament yesterday.

O’Neill said that he only received two of the expected three reports from the commissioners.

He said despite that the cabinet had decided to table the final report as the country had been expecting it since last year.

Source: Radio New Zealand

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has indicated he is about to table the long-awaited report by the Commission of Inquiry into the Special Agricultural Business Leases.

The government ordered the Inquiry in 2011 to investigate the SABL system which civil society groups claim has been used for a huge ’land grab’ that has seen over 5 million hectares of land swallowed up in 99 year leases, often for unsustainable logging projects.

Oxford Business Group

In line with an electoral platform that pledged to deliver more local level services and control over spending, the national government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) has introduced a budget for 2013 that transfers nearly PGK1.5bn ($623m) to provincial, district and local authorities.

By JIMMY KALEBE

The delaying of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) report into Special Agriculture Business Lease (SABL) has angered many landowners in Maprik District in East Sepik.

In a landowner forum held last Friday local landowners in Maprik expressed concerns that this delaying of the report may mean the government is trying to overlook this report and do away with it.

Transparency International, PNG Chapter (TIPNG) has joined the chorus of voices of concerned institutions, individuals and civil society organisations urging the PNG Government to table the final report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Special Purpose Agricultural Business Leases ( SABL). 

Two years ago, the PNG Government initaited an official Inquiry into dealings in customary land that allowed foreign entities and private individuals to steal an estimated 2 million hectares of customary land across the country.

Survey shows extent of sexual violence in region where 70% of men report facing no legal consequences

Source: Kate Hodal in The Guardian UK

Nearly a quarter of men in the Asia-Pacific region have admitted to committing rape at least once in their life, according to a new survey, with more than half of those respondents claiming they raped for the first time while in their teens.