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.

The article below by Nick Dearden argues that African prosperity relies on a wholesale rejection of the western free trade model, which is still being promoted by the USA, Europe and their economic allies like Australia.

Papua New Guinea has recently approved a new Interim Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union and is being pressured by Australia and New Zealand to sign the  Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER).

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 Ganjiki D Wayne

It is becoming much clearer now. Our social reforms and legislative reforms, together with the learned opinions of “enlightened” Papua New Guineans, indicate an increasing line of thinking that PNG must no longer remain God-conscious if it is to be a modern State. Sentiments are creeping in that we no longer need God to prosper; that man is the Superior Being and must save himself without subscribing to a “make- belief, invisible being” to bail him out.

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:

By Luana Paniu (Post Courier)

THE Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Special Purpose Agriculture and Business Leases (SPABL) was recently announced and is scheduled to be completed by September but it has come under fire by a civil and legal rights organisation and a former academic.


The former academic, who was a lecturer at the University of PNG and is also a naturalised citizen, said that references within the CoI were ambitious for the government to achieve.