Media Releases

New Forest Minister must address legality and sustainability issues

Submitted by ACTNOW on Wed, 07/09/2022 - 08:52

Community advocacy organisation ACT NOW! says there are a lot of important issues for the new Forest Minister, Salio Waipo, to address, especially rampant illegal and unsustainable logging.

Campaign Manager Eddie Tanago says that it is shameful that more than 30 years after the Forest Act 1991 introduced a raft of reforms aimed at stopping the unsustainable logging and corruption exposed by the Barnett Commission of Inquiry, the situation today is no better.

Effective Action to Stop Corruption Essential for Economic Growth

Submitted by ACTNOW on Wed, 31/08/2022 - 13:31

Effective action against corruption is essential for economic growth and it should be the number one priority for the new Marape government says community advocacy organization ACT NOW! 

Recent findings published by the National Research Institute has reaffirmed the importance of good governance and the rule of law in attracting new investment, increasing employment opportunities and boosting government revenues.[i]

Govt claims on reducing export logging don’t stack up

Submitted by ACTNOW on Wed, 16/02/2022 - 05:55

Updated 18 March 2022 with the details of four further new log export operations that started in December 2021

Government claims that it has stopped issuing new log export licences to foreign owned logging companies are not borne out by the evidence, says community advocacy organisation ACT NOW!

“There are sixteen twenty new foreign operated log export operations that have started up since 2020, according to the government’s own log export data”, says ACT NOW! Campaign Manager Eddie Tanago.

Govt Has Failed Over Cancellation Of Illegal SABL Leases 

Submitted by ACTNOW on Wed, 26/01/2022 - 05:07

Nine years after a Commission of Inquiry exposed the huge illegal SABL land grab, government efforts to cancel the leases have completely failed, says ACT NOW.

Last week Lands Minister, John Rosso, told Parliament that of seventy SABL leases recommended to be be cancelled only twenty have so far been rescinded. 

“Just twenty leases cancelled over a nine year period is frankly pathetic”, says ACT NOW Campaign Manager, Eddie Tanago.

New research reveals how commercial banks have supported PNG’s destructive logging boom

Submitted by ACTNOW on Wed, 01/12/2021 - 09:56

Commercial banks operating in Papua New Guinea have given at least K300 million (AU$144 million) in available credit, since 2000, to the country’s five largest exporters of tropical logs, a new report by Act Now! and Jubilee Australia Research Centre has revealed. 

Prime Minister must extend ban on new logging permits

Submitted by ACTNOW on Tue, 21/09/2021 - 05:08

The Prime Minister must extend the government's ban on new logging permits to cover all types of logging consent in order for it to be effective, says community advocacy group ACT NOW.

The PM last week directed the PNG Forest Authority to stop issuing new permits and permit extensions so the government can meet its deadline of 2025 for an end to the export of unprocessed raw logs.

Government must immediately publish the APEC Audit Report

Submitted by ACTNOW on Tue, 10/08/2021 - 07:06

Community advocacy group ACT NOW is calling on the government to immediately publish the Auditor General’s report on spending for the 2018 APEC Summit.

“The government has repeatedly promised that the APEC Audit report will be made public but it is now almost three-years since the Summit and we are still waiting”, says Campaign Manager, Eddie Tanago.

According to the Auditor General, his report was given to the Speaker of Parliament in April, but has yet to be presented to MPs.

Call for Forest Authority to Ban Tax Evading Logging Companies

Submitted by ACTNOW on Wed, 19/05/2021 - 05:17

The Forest Authority must stop aiding and abetting logging companies identified by the IRC as defrauding the State and landowners by evading taxes, says community advocacy group ACT NOW!

“If logging companies are unlawfully evading taxes then the Forest Authority and the Minister must act to stop these companies accessing even more areas of forest to feed their criminal activities” says Campaign Manager, Eddie Tanago.