Post Courier, Editorial

Parliament will resume next Tuesday. The Members of Parliament will have resumed after a six months holiday except for the one day sitting in February to elect the Governor General.

The Special Agricultural and Business Leases (SABLs) over customary land has been the subject of much debate in recent months. On our part, we [Post Courier] have been investigating these land deals, and have done our part by exposing some of those fraudulent activities with the help of the affected landowners, non-government organisations and green groups, who have also been taking up the fight, on behalf of the village people who have lost their rights to their land in these dealings at the government and international levels.


ACT NOW! has congratulated the Acting Prime Minister, Sam Abal, on his announcement of a Commission of Inquiry into Special Purpose Agriculture and Business Leases and an immediate moratorium on any further deals. 

“We applaud the Acting Prime Minister for recognizing these leases have been abused and the potentially devastating impacts they have on the lives of so many people,” said ACT NOW! Program Manager, Effrey Dademo.

Acting Prime Minister, the Hon. Sam Abal MP, has announced the government’s intention to set up a Commission of Inquiry into the issue of Special Purpose Agriculture and Business Leases.

The Commission will investigate the grant of Special Purpose Agriculture and Business Leases covering some 5.2 million hectares of customary land to ensure all legal requirements have been followed and that the leases are being used for the purposes intended in the legislation.

Papua New Guinea's Attorney General, Arnold Amet, has published an unreserved apology for his racial attack on MP Ken Fairweather at last week's Pacific Marine Industrial Zone forum.

Papua New Guinea's Lands Minister has come out in the media to strongly back the controversial Special Purpose Agriculture and Business Leases which have been heavily criticized by landholders, NGOs, scientists and academics in PNG and overseas.

The leases have been described as a huge land grab, but the Minister apparently sees nothing wrong.

By PMIZ Watcher

While government Ministers are pressing ahead with plans for the controversial Pacific Marine Industrial Zone, despite considerable opposition from local communities, official documents show there is complete confusion about how much money the project will cost.

By Paul Barker, Director of the Institute of National Affairs*

The stormy events at the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone forum last Friday have received plenty of media attention, but one question remains unanswered: what has happened to the K25 million of public money allocated in the 2007 national budget for PMIZ preparatory works?

This question was put directly and publicly to government Ministers Gabriel Kapris and Arnold Amet, by Sumkar MP Ken Fairweather on Friday.