Mining Minster, John Pundari, has announced in a Ministerial Statement (see below) he wants a government body set up to control NGOs and ensure they "work within a set policy framework" and "partner and complement the government".

This sinister declaration comes on the back of other government moves to limit free speech and close down democratic rights and freedoms, including

By SAM BASIL

The Governor of the Bank of PNG Mr Loi Bakani’s comment yesterday through the media regarding the reckless investments made by the Somare government by placing K5 billion of the people’s money into trust accounts held by the commercial banks is uncalled for.

Professor John Nonggorr explains how the Prime Minister and Speaker have broken the law and shown their contempt for the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea

Sir Michael Somare’s Government has again broken PNG’s Constitution for temporary gain - to retain political power. The events that unfolded on the floor of the Parliament on July 21 were not only contrary to the Constitution but also a disgrace to parliamentary democracy.

By Countryside

My dear grandmother died of thyroid cancer and it was ghastly.  Her tender body rapidly deteriorated and because the cancer had closed her mouth, the only way to feed her was to drill a hole through her stomach and for to breathe, another through her throat.  She had it bad and her odor was very strong, almost similar to putrification.  It was advanced and after 6 months, she went home to be with the lord. 

From The Washington Post 

The jumpy video shows a prisoner lying in a jungle clearing in eastern Indonesia moments after troops allegedly sliced open his abdomen with a bayonet, sending intestines tumbling from his stomach.

Using the little life he has left in him, Yawen Wayeni lifts his arm into the air, and says weakly, "Freedom! Papua ... Freedom!"

By Sam Basil MP

The Leadership Tribunal decision in the Hagoria case upheld the legal position that all electoral funds (in that case, the District Support Grant) should be paid into the District Treasuries and NOT to any individual MPs. DSG and the District Support Improvement Program (DSIP) funds are required under Section 95A of the Organic Law on Provincial and Local-Level Governments to be paid directly to the District Treasuries.

The Department of Conservation in Papua New Guinea has received legal advice that any carbon trading schemes, including the government's own model carbon projects, are unlawful.

The legal advice states there is no legal basis for the governments model carbon trading projects in Kamula Doso and April Salume and both projects are "legally untenable".

Papua New Guinea--one of the few countries in the world where women's life expectancy is lower than men's--ratified a major United Nations women's rights treaty in 1995, but then proceeded to miss four deadlines for reporting on its compliance with key provisions.

By Sam Basil MP

The National Parliament Speaker Hon. Jeffery Nape has eroded the spirit of democracy for three consecutive years as the Speaker of this eighth Parliament and continues to do.

When I became a Member of Parliament I was given a copy of the Constitution (the edited version July, 2007). When I started browsing through the Speakers role and responsibilities I started to realise his unprofessional and undemocratic conduct.

By Nuahiva

ON JANUARY 21 this year the Minimum Wages Board declared that the minimum wage rate was to be increased from K1.72  to K2.29 per hour. 

Weeks later RD Tuna tried to seek an exemption from that wage rate. The fishing and canning company wrote to the government  seeking recognition as an agriculture company just so it would avoid paying Papua New Guineans the minimum wage determined by Papua New Guinea government regulations.