Links
International Training Institute
The PNG International Training Institute has a web site located at -- http://www.iti.ac.pg
-- I found this web site difficult because I do not run my Internet browser
as a full screen. This web site does not really allow you to resize your screen
without losing information.
ITI provide local courses in Business and Computing at Certificate and Diploma
level. They also provide international courses for such organisations such
as University of Southern Queensland and British Computer Society.
Education Web Sites
Real Estate Agents Association
The PNG Real Estate Agents Association, a non-profit making organisation
operation under the laws of Papua New Guinea has a site located at -- http://www.reaa.org.pg/news.htm
Real Estate Agents
Arthur Strachan (Lae) -- http://www.arthurstrachan.com.pg
Century 21 -- http://www.century21.com.pg/
and http://www.siule.com.pg/
Kohoy Real Estate -- http://kohoyrealestates.tripod.com/
L.J Hooker -- http://www.ljhooker.com
Ray White Real Estate -- monian@online.net.pg
Strickland RE -- http://www.sre.com.pg/
The Professionals -- http://www.theprofessionals.com.pg
The Free Dictionary
The Free Dictionary has a link about PNG located at -- http://www.thefreedictionary.com/
News Items
New Governor General
The new Governor General elect for PNG is ex-Wabag MP (Enga Province), Sir
Albert Kipalan. He was elected Governor General elect by 46 of 91 members
of parliament in an exhaustive elimination secret ballot lasting three and
a half hours on the 18th of September. Eight people contested the election.
The National Newspaper
The National newspaper is in
trouble for its report on the election of the Governor General and has been
referred to the parliamentary privileges committee. Bill Skate, the Speaker
of Parliament announced the action recently. Mr Skate said the National had
misled the nation and failed in its duty to report fairly and professionally
the proceedings of Parliament.
Governor General's Election
The Ombudsman Commission has announced that it will conduct a "short
and sharp" inquiry into the recent election of Sir Albert Kipalan as
the next Governor-General. The Commission has requested that the Government
does not convey the nomination of Sir Albert Kipalan to the Queen until all
issues have been resolved. Chief Ombudsman Ila Geno also indicated that the
Commission has reserved the possibility of referring the election to the Supreme
Court for a ruling based on Section 19 of the Constitution on legal interpretation
on the election.
The Governor General elect has responded by saying that he welcomes any investigation
and that it is a well-known fact that he has three wives. He also says that
the Ombudsman Commission has already dealt with the findings of his dealing
with the Cairns Conservatory.
Buimo Jail
The Buimo jail near Lae has been the subject of a great deal of controversy
in recent months. It is has now been ordered to be partially closed from March
2004 to allow for major renovations. The order came from the National Court
in Waigani. Existing prisoners numbering about 500 will have to be transferred
to other jails before the order can be carried out.
Counterfeit Goods
People residing in PNG have been warned against buying pirated or counterfeit
goods entering the country from Asia. People are warned to be careful when
buying goods such as Adidas or Puma shoes, Rolex or Seiko watches and Levis
jeans sold in shops throughout the country.
Prostitution
The Christian Democratic Party (CDP) has come out against reported comments
by one of its members calling for the legalising of prostitution. CDP has
said that it does not believe that legalising of prostitution will solve the
AIDS/HIV problem.
The doctor concerned has said prostitution was an immoral activity but at
the same time he had highlighted the reality that there were people who have
been forced into sale of sex to bring much needed income for their families,
for their basic needs like bread and butter, school fees, public utility bill
such as water rates, electricity and telephone in these hard economic times.
Children's Plight
The plight of children in PNG and the world will take centre stage this coming
week when a major conference for people working with children gets underway
in Alotau. The Third National Children's Workers conference starts on Monday
and will address issues including the rights of children; child abuse; the
value of teaching children; understanding the characteristics of children
in different age groups; early childhood; children counselling and parental
responsibilities. It is hoped that more than 400 people working with children
throughout the country will attend the conference.
Highlands Highway
Following a fight at the Fatima Secondary School parts of the Highlands Highway
in the Western Highlands Province have been blocked. Classes at the school
have also been suspended following a fight among students. The fight broke
out during a rugby grand final match on a recent Sunday afternoon. The fight
started at Fatima but later developed into a major problem in which outsiders
were involved. The rugby touch game was organised by the Students Representative
Council (SRC).
Highlands Highway Tension
Community leaders from the Warakar area will meet today with government and
community leaders from the Hagen Central area to sort out ethnic tension at
Fatima Secondary School in the Western Highlands province. Administrators
of Fatima Secondary School have confirmed that seven students were taken to
a hospital for treatment as a result of a fight between two rugby teams. The
Principal and the school's governing council board chairman have said in a
joint statement released recently that the students were treated and released
from the hospital.
Population Planning Workshop
A population-planning workshop for provincial planners has been held in Lae.
The first assistant secretary with the National Planning and Rural Development
Department said PNG has been struggling and is among the lowliest ranked in
the human-development index. He also told the participants that as provincial
planners, they had a vital role to play as they were dealing with the majority
of the people who lived in the provinces. The workshop was staged with the
intention of formulating action plans for the respective provinces based on
a concept adopted for the Central provincial population action plan.
AIDS Victim
It has been alleged by police that a 32-year-old man, a defence force soldier,
injected his five-months-pregnant wife with a syringe filled with HIV infected
blood. Initial tests of the woman returned a negative result, but four months
later she gave birth to a baby boy, who became ill and later died. The woman
has also tested positive for HIV. Family groups representing husband and wife
sought to negotiate a compensation settlement but homicide detectives have
intervened, arresting the man recently and charging him with the manslaughter
of the baby and with wilfully infecting his wife. They are still investigating
how he obtained a syringe filled with the infected blood.
HIV/AIDS Statistics
The latest official HIV-AIDS statistics are causing alarm among health authorities
in PNG. New figures suggest that more than 7,000 people could now carry the
deadly virus. Prostitution in PNG is illegal but there has been an increasing
push for regulation of the industry to control the spread of HIV-AIDS. The
President of the PNG Medical Society, Professor Mathias Sapuri, says the situation
needs to be addressed.
Australian Police In PNG
It looks as if PNG has bowed to pressure from Australia and agreed to accept
at least 200 federal police to help restore law and order. If the plan gets
the final go ahead Australian Federal Police officers, supplemented by state
police, could be on the ground in Port Moresby and other trouble spots as
early as January next year.
Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government has said that it is concerned
the Australian Federal Police (AFP) could be asked to send 200 officers to
PNG. The ACT Police Minister, Bill Wood, has said he is concerned about the
impact on local policing if large numbers of federal police are sent to PNG.
He has said that this seems to be spur of the moment thinking without realising
that the AFP is a limited resource especially since Australian federal police
officers are already assisting in Solomon Islands.
Aitape Oil
An oil exploration program has been announced in the Aitape area of PNG.
The Aitape area was devastated by one of the world's worst tsunami five years
ago. The tidal wave killed about 3,000 people when it struck the town of Aitape
on PNG's northern coast in 1998. PNG Petroleum and Energy Minister, Sir Moi
Avei, has awarded a new oil exploration licence to Canada's Scotia Petroleum
which says it will commit $US35 million to the search.
National Provident Fund
The first person, who was part of the National Provident Fund (NPF) scam,
has been jailed. A former senior officer of the fund has been jailed and fined
for misappropriation of over K4000 belonging to a subsidiary company of NPF.
Illegal Fishing
The PNG Defence Force has captured a fishing vessel found catching fish illegally
in PNG waters. The 50 metre Indonesian vessel was carrying over 60 tonnes
of tuna, mackerel, shark and other fish.
Cisco Courses
James Dugumari, who used to work for the University of Technology (UniTech)
in Lae, has branched out and is now the Managing Director of Technology Bridgeways.
He is offering Cisco Router courses and an introduction to Unix courses at
rates yet to be determined. James has taught at UniTech for the past 14 years
and is highly regarded by the students he has taught. He has been fully trained
on Cisco Systems and was formerly the founding and Principal Instructor at
the UniTech Local Cisco Networking Academy (the only one in PNG).
Copyright
A recent workshop held in Port Moresby aims to educate and create awareness
on the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act 2000. It is hoped that this would
develop a better understanding on the real nature of the law. The Act aims
to protect all literary and artistic works in Papua New Guinea and abroad.
Copyright Law
Artistic works now have the exclusive right to use or authorise others to
use their works on agreed terms after the passing of the Copyright and Neighbouring
Rights Act by Parliament in 2000. Although the Act was passed three years
ago, many did not understand or were not made aware of such an Act. The Act
also gives the creators the economic right to benefit financially for a reasonable
period of time.
Car Thefts
The theft of cars in Port Moresby is on the increase. Police have warned
people to after their vehicles because stolen cars are being shipped to other
provinces and sold on the black market. More than 10 vehicles are being stolen
every week in Port Moresby.
Budget Cut
The National Government has announced a K150 million cut in the 2003 budget
due to the tough economic times confronting PNG. The government will not introduce
any new revenue measures including increasing personal incomes taxes. The
areas facing cuts are the development budget (K61.3m), national department's
goods and services (K59.3m), provincial department's goods and services (K20.6m),
and commercial and statutory authorities' goods and services (K9.7m).
PNG Kina
The Prime Minister has maintained in Parliament that the Government has tightened
its belt in minimising expenditure to improve the value of the kina.
Chimbu Fumes
The Governor of Chimbu, Alphonse Willie, has challenged the Government to
remove vehicles causing pollution from burning fuel from roads. He said that
many vehicles, especially the Public Motor Vehicles (PMV's), have been allowed
to operate in cities with the black smoke pouring out the exhaust.
Compensation Claims
It has become common practice for people to claim compensation for the actions
of the PNG Police Force. Over the last three years the State had paid more
than K25 million in compensation to the public for police related compensation
cases. It is estimated that the Southern Command has the highest number of
cases totalling 268 that has cost the Government about K4 million, followed
by Highlands with 108 costing K16 million and Momase Command had 15 cases
worth around K5 million in compensation.
Kainantu Hospital
The Kainantu Hospital, in the Eastern Highlands province, is critically short
of medical supplies. A truck sent to pick up drugs from the medical store
in Lae recently returned empty. The Officer-in-Charge of Kainantu Hospital
has sent an SOS message to Save the Children Fund in Goroka recently to try
and fix the problem.
Fast Money Schemes
The Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare, has described the operators of a
fast-money scheme in Morobe province as "conmen and liars". He has
warned investors not to be fooled by the operators of such money schemes who
claim to have billions of kina in overseas banks.
Air Niugini Fleet
The Civil Aviation Minister has said that Air Niugini has a program to replace
its ageing fleet of F28 aircraft. The current fleet of F28s in PNG can really
only be used in PNG and the Solomons. They can only land in Australia because
of a special dispensation obtained at very senior government-to-government
level otherwise they exceed Australian noise levels. It has already been announced
by Air Niugini that the company would be acquiring two Dash 8 aircraft in
the coming months and that it was still looking at a replacement for the sectors
deemed to require something a bit better and faster than the Dash 8 aircraft.
It is believed that Air Niugini has been looking at jet aircraft from Embraer,
Regional Jet and Fokker.
Masters Program
The University of Goroka has launched its first Masters Degree program after
enrolling 40 candidates for a Masters in Education postgraduate course. The
Education Secretary Peter Baki, officially launched the program to be funded
by AusAID. It is a new program that will be managed by New South Wales based
TAFE Global with implementation monitored by Charles Sturt University in NSW.
An AusAID representative said that AusAID provided A$1.5 million (K3.4 million)
to meet the cost of the students.
Wasu Jetty - Morobe Province
The Wasu jetty in Morobe province needs immediate government funding. The
seaport has become dangerous due to lack of maintenance. The port serves the
Finschaffen and Kabwun electorates. The wharf is so poor that timber has fallen
off the bridge and cargo from ships has been lost at the jetty as a result.
Teacher's Degree
The University of PNG has announced recently that it would deliver an education
degree program to some 19,000 teachers throughout the country. Professor Mathias
Sapuri, UPNG Acting Vice Chancellor said the teachers are currently teaching
in provincial centres and rural areas and do not have the time and resources
to travel to universities to undergo studies.
Forged Banknotes
A Bougainvillean and an African man have both been convicted by the National
Court for being in possession of forged American banknotes totalling US$100,000.
The African was sentenced to three years imprisonment with hard labour and
the Bougainvillean was sentenced to two and a half years with hard labour.
The Judge recommended that the African be deported after serving his sentence
and the false American banknotes be destroyed.
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