When we take action together we can have a massive impact - so never doubt the importance of making your voice heard. As proof of this ACT NOW! supporters have played a vital role in a number of very significant campaign victories.
The human rights situation in Papua New Guinea has recently been reviewed by the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva. This provided ACT NOW! with an excellent opportunity to raise a number of key campaign issues with the international community and put pressure on the PNG government to act.
According to media reports (below) Parliament has passed the law establishing an Independent Commission Against Corruption. This is the second piece of legislation needed in the process of establsihing an ICAC. The first legal change, amending the Constitution, was passed in November 2013.
ACT NOW! has been campaigning for an ICAC since AN! was established in 2010 and the fight against stealing from the public purse is one of ACT NOW!'s key campaigns.
ICAC Bill passed in Parliament
BY JEFFREY ELAPA, Post Courier
Following an intensive campaign by civil society organisations and community groups the National Exceutive Council has passed a resolution ordering more than 4 million hectares of land be returned to its customary owners.
A Commission of Inquiry had found that Special Agriculture and Business Leases had been used by foreign companies and unscrupulous Lands Department officials to illegally gain access to more than 5 million hectares of customary land, mainly for logging, but for more than a year the government stalled on acting on the Commission recommendations.
Former government Minister Paul Tiensten has been sentenced to 9-years imprisonment for misuse of public funds.
ACT NOW! has focused on the lack of government action to tackle massive corruption since it was first formed and ACT NOW! played an active role in publicizing the crimes of Mr Tiensten
The conviction and sentencing are very significant as this is the first time in the modern era a senior politician has been sentenced to jail for misappropriation committed while in office.
After three-years of campaigning, the damning Commission of Inquiry report into corruption in the Department of Finance (the so-called "Paraka Scams'), has finally been released to the public.
The Commission spent several years investigating allegations of widespread corruption but in 2010, the day after its report was tabled in parliament, lawyer Paul Paraka and former Solicitor General Zachary Gelu obtained a court injunction preventing its publication.
After more than three years, that injunction has finally been lifted.
Parliament has passed the law amending the Constitution to allow for the establishment of an Independent Commission Against Corruption. This is the first piece of legislation needed in the process of establsihing an ICAC. The government now needs to pass an 'organic law' which will govern how the ICAC is to operate.
ACT NOW! has been campaigning for an ICAC since AN! was established in 2010 and the fight against stealing from the public purse is one of ACT NOW!'s key campaigns.
Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has finally responded to demands by groups including ACT NOW! that he publish the SABL land grab Commission of Inquiry report by tabling the report in Parliament.
The reports reveal that 38 of 42 leases were fraudulently obtained without the consent of local people.
The PM's office had received over 5,000 emails from ACT NOW! supporters calling on him to table the report.
The Prime Minister's Department has provided ACT NOW! with a copy of its draft law establishing an Independent Commission Against Corruption and has invited public submissions - read more here.
ACT NOW! has been pressing for an ICAC since AN! was established in 2010 and the fight against stealing from the public purse is one of ACT NOW!'s key campaigns.
Prospective experimental seabed mining company, Nautilus Minerals, has announced it is canceling the construction of its mining vessel after failing to raise enough money to continue with its controversial mining plans for Solwara 1 in PNG.
This is a major victory in the campaign against this new and untested form of mining and follows twelve months of determined campaigning in PNG and the region.
Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has admitted the SABL land grab in which control of more than 5 million hectares of land has been seized from customary people was a fundamental mistake by the government.