ACT NOW! has welcomed the suspension of Lands Secretary Romily Kila Pat but says his replacement, Luther Sipison, must act immediately to cancel the unlawful SABL leases.

Bulolo was a major centre for Australian gold mining companies for 50 years from the 1930s. But the profits were all exported leaving Bulolo today in the same state it was when the first foreign miners arrived.

The gold in Bololo was so enticing, eight giant dredges were made in Australia and then broken down into small parts and flown to Bulolo. It took two-years for all the parts to be imported and reconstructed on site. 

Another major player in the Indonesian palm oil industry has adopted a zero deforestation policy; now it's time for the government of Indonesia [and Papua New Guinea] to catch up.

Dr Kristian Lasslett | International State Crime Initiative 

With characteristic insight, last week Oro Governor Gary Juffa MP took aim at Papua New Guinea’s media.

Juffa asked:

Source: Radio New Zealand

The governor of Papua New Guinea's Oro province, Gary Juffa, says illegal logging and deforestation continue under the Special Agriculture and Business Lease system.

The leases, commonly known as SABLs, have been consistently criticised as being a front for land grabbing.

Source: PNG Exposed

Secretary for Lands Romily Kila-Pat has finally been suspended – you can read some of the newspaper coverage from last week below – but the corruption in the Lands Department has yet to be properly addressed.

Kila-Pat, like his predecessor Pepi Kimas, has overseen numerous illegal lands deals and was infamously involved in many of the unlawful SABL leases – but the corruption in the Lands Department runs far deeper and two important questions need answering:

Vilages in the Aitape Lumi District of West Sepik are sending a message to the Prime Minister they want the SABL land grab reversed and the leases cancelled.

"the Australian government, through its aid programme, could invest a lot more in NGOs in PNG"

Source: Radio New Zealand

Mercury and arsenic to be dumped into the sea at Lae, Madang and Port Moresby

Sulphur and fine particles to fill the air and lungs of nearby populations

Carbon emissions to increase climate change impacts

Photo: Port Moresby CBD.  RNZI / Koro Vaka'uta

Source: Radio New Zealand

Australia's aid programme in Papua New Guinea has been described as having enabled rather than remedied state fraud and market distortions in PNG

The damning indictment came in a submission by the International State Crime Initiative at an Australian senate inquiry into the aid programme in PNG.