Source: The National

THE Department of Lands and Physical Planning has started the process of cancelling 25 Special Agriculture Business Leases identified by the Commission of Inquiry reports.

Department secretary Romilly Kila-Pat has directed the Registrar of Titles to immediately start work on revoking the leases.

Kila-Pat told reporters that a special SABL taskforce would be appointed by the ministerial committee on SABL.

By KONOPA KANA, POST COURIER

AN INDEPENDENT task force set up by the government will carry out investigations into the commission of inquiry (COI) on the special agriculture business leases (SABLs) uncompleted reports.

This was revealed by the Secretary for the Department of Lands and Physical Planning Romilly Kila Pat in a press conference yesterday.

The details of which government agencies and appointees to head the taskforce will soon be announced by the government through the National Executive Council.

Source: PNGexposed blog

The headlines and reporting over the SABL announcement by the Prime Minister have been very misleading. Despite what you might have read or heard:

Source: The Loggers Time

Comment: The Government is using the SABL scandal to push land registration, but land registration is a dangerous exercise as it can quickly lead to land alienation, and with corruption rife in the Department of Lands nobody should trust the government with their most precious resource...

Source: The National

OWNERS of customary land affected by the Government’s decision to revoke Special Agriculture and Business Leases have been urged to register their land and become title-holders.

Source: Simon Hartly

The focus on proposed seabed mining now shifts from Taranaki to the Chatham Rise, as the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) considers its second ocean mining application.

This week, the EPA's maiden decision declined a proposal by Trans-Tasman Resources to mine iron-sand off Taranaki's coast - throwing the focus on to a separate proposal by Chatham Rock Phosphate to take phosphate from the sea floor of the Chatham Rise.

Source: Simon Hartly

The focus on proposed seabed mining now shifts from Taranaki to the Chatham Rise, as the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) considers its second ocean mining application.

This week, the EPA's maiden decision declined a proposal by Trans-Tasman Resources to mine iron-sand off Taranaki's coast - throwing the focus on to a separate proposal by Chatham Rock Phosphate to take phosphate from the sea floor of the Chatham Rise.

Source: The National

CUSTOMARY land ownership in the country has been reduced from 97% to 86% because of the number of Special Agriculture and Business Leases issued since the 1990s, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says.

He said the 77 SABLs referred to the Commission of Inquiry for investigation involved around 5.2 million hectares of land.