By Peter Kranz*

THERE HAS BEEN A LOT of self-congratulation in the Australian media about the proposed Asia-Pacific free trade agreement.

But has anyone considered the fine print, and the effect this may have on smaller countries like PNG?

One aspect of the proposal - so far overlooked - is the tightening of corporate interests and increasing their power to sue governments over restrictions on their operations.

By John Pangkatana

UP TO 94,000 hectares of land belonging to the indigenous people of New Hanover was sold to a foreign company for $US 1.6 million (K3.47 million).

Incredible isn’t it, but yes the inconceivable idea that the Post-Courier revealed earlier this year on March 4 under the headline ‘Island sold to foreigners’ was true.

Women from villages in West Pomio affected by the SABL project have called on East New Britain Governor Leo Dion to help them get their land back, reports The National.

The women presented a petition to Dion on Saturday, seeking his help to take their land back. Women’s representative Bailo Enakia said their land was their mother, providing for their needs.

By Grace Tiden

Representatives of a foreign logging company in East New Britain Province have been directed to appear before the Commission of Inquiry into the granting of Special Agriculture Business Leases (SABLs) when the inquiry re-convenes in Port Moresby this Wednesday.

KK Connections, developers of the Toriu Integrated Agriculture Development Project in the Lassul/in land Baining area of ENB, initially appeared before the inquiry on Saturday in Kokopo.

Father Kevin Barr is a Catholic priest. This is his take* on the extreme capitalism practicised by multi-national mining, oil and logging corporations operating in PNG and preached to us by the World Bank and the governments of the USA, Europe and Australia. 

The current economic system of neo-liberalism or extreme capitalism has a fanatical fundamentalism about it.

It encourages not just legitimate profit but excessive greed and individualism.

It seeks to produce ever more money for those with the most wealth - with no limit or regulations.

By Grace Tiden 

PRELIMINARY observations have revealed landowner company and developer agreements were largely in favour of Gilford Limited, a subsidiary of logging giant Rimbunan Hijau, with landowners of West Pomio getting less in benefits. Rimbunan Hijau owns The National newspaper

It was also observed that there was no legal representation of the landowners during the signing of the sub lease agreements. 

APEC the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum starts this coming Sunday in Hawaii but another meeting to draw attention to the economies of the Pacific called Moana Nui is also taking place in Honolulu, reports Radio Australia

Convenor of the alternative conference is Professor John Osorio, a professor of history at the Center for Hawaiin Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Presenter:Geraldine Coutts
Speaker:Professor John Osorio, convenor, alternative APEC conference, Hawaii

Women shocked, all agreements defective

By Grace Tiden

POMIO women expressed shock before the SABL inquiry in Kokopo yesterday when told they were signatories to the lease-lease back agreement.

They were in even more shock to learn that some of the signatories were their own children who were so young they would not even hold up an ink pen.

Post Courier editorial

THE evidence now being presented to the Commission of Inquiry into the so-called Special Agriculture Business Leases (SABL) tell the story of a national shame of gigantic proportions.