P.N.G. Gossip Newsletter - 22 Aug 2000

PNG Gossip Newsletter Meri Milne Bay
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Welcome to the Papua New Guinea Gossip. If you have comments or suggestions to make then please e-mail them to giaman@png-gossip.com

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To send a message for submission to the PNG Gossip Newsletter queue -- please e-mail your contribution to pngnews.queue@png-gossip.com

Remember that this mailing list is mainly meant for people who have an interest and already know a little bit about the people and geography of Papua New Guinea. The PNG Kina, which is mentioned from time to time, is currently worth about 36 - 38 United States cents but varies on a daily basis.

For those who are not so familiar with the geography of Papua New Guinea I suggest taking a look http://maps.google.com

Also remember that the accuracy of the information in this newsletter should not be relied upon - it is, after all, a gossip newsletter.

If a longer URL in this newsletter appears to be broken, please manually cut and then paste the link into your browser.



PNG Tasmania Association

The Papua New Guinea ~ Tasmania Association will be officially launched on the 23rd of September.

It is a volunteer organization and will run on membership fees, fund raising, and hopefully, assistance from government and non-government bodies. Funds raised will meet running expenses, which have been initially covered by individual members.

The first active committee of this association is its "Pacific Islands Women's Support Group", which has been formed to assist Pacific Islands Women living in Tasmania, especially those who have recently arrived in this country. Membership of the Pacific Islands Women's Support Group is open to women of all nationalities, especially (but not exclusively) the wives of Pacific Islands Students in Tasmania who need support coping with life in a strange setting and culture. Many, but by no means all, of the women involved are from PNG, or have a PNG background.

Other groups and committees will hopefully follow as the Association grows - with the overall objectives of assisting members of the PNG and Pacific Islander communities in Tasmania, and fostering friendship and understanding between those communities and the wider Tasmanian society of which they form a part.

Any one who is interested in further details the contact number is Australia 61 3 6344 5563 although one of their flyers lists 61 3 6343 5563 as being the number.


Medical Symposium

The 36th PNG Medical Symposium being hosted by the PNG Medical Society is still planned for the first week of September as far as I can tell. Very little information is available about the event apart from the fact that it has now been announced that it will be part of the PNG Silver Jubilee anniversary celebration events. The symposium will be held in Port Moresby.

Silver Jubilee

Accounting firm, Price Waterhouse and Coopers has presented K10,000 to the National Events Committee for PNG's Silver Jubilee.

Lae Power

For once I can report that not only Port Moresby has trouble with electricity. Business in Lae City ground to a halt last week due to a major breakdown at the Taraka sub-station leaving many companies without power for a full day. The sub station receives power from the Yonki Hydro Electric Scheme and distributes it to the rest of the city. The problem was traced to a faulty circuit breaker, which required a replacement.

Ok Tedi Mine

Mining giant, Broken Hill Proprietary Limited (BHP) wants to abandon the Ok Tedi mining project half way through the estimated 10-year lifespan of the mine due mainly to adverse publicity over environmental issues.

Garamut Supermarket

The Boroko Foodworld Supermarket at Gordon's owned by Garamut Enterprises continues to trade. The dispute over the alleged illegal rezoning of land opposite the old San Miguel (SP) brewery in Gordon's continues to drag on.

Privatisation Commission

The former general manager of Air Niugini, Joe Tauvasa, has been appointed on an acting basis to head the privatisation commission whilst Sir Henry ToRobert is recovering from an operation.

Enga

The governor of Enga, Peter Ipatas, has approved the sealing of the Wapenamanda to Wabag road. AusAid has set aside funding for the project to seal the full length of the road as well as completing the final 10 kilometres of the road at the Wabag end.

East New Britain

The province of East New Britain has taken steps towards developing a tourist industry by the production of two titles. One is called "Adventures in Rabaul and East New Britain" whilst the other is a video. The booklet has also been placed onto a CD ROM and it is planned that it will be able to be seen on computer websites and PNG Mission offices overseas.

Tourism

The tourism Promotion Authority chairman, Peter Barter, has made a special plea to the people of PNG to respect tourists visiting PNG. Mr Barter went on to say that it was only a small minority of people who had taken advantage of innocent visitors. He also warned visitors to take care and not to carry large sums of money and other valuables that might attract attention.

Political Parties Integrity Bill

The government will introduce a Bill called the Political Parties Integrity Bill in a bid to produce political stability and help develop the nation's future. The government hopes to put this in to place to stop politicians and political parties from moving camp to the highest bidder for positions of power and financial rewards.

Cooperative Societies

The government is once again looking at reviving the cooperative society (or credit union) movement as a means of developing small to medium enterprises. This should ensure effective and meaningful participation by the rural people in helping to develop the nation.

Kila Kila Secondary School

The school now has a new library courtesy of K190,000 cash grant from the Japanese Ambassador. The library is named after the one of the first students of the school and first local Chief Justice of PNG, Sir Buri Kidu. The Australian government donated 21 computers whilst the Public Officers Superannuation Fund furnished the library.

Salt Project

An agreement has been signed making way for the construction work on the US$10 million salt project at Papa and Lealea village in the central province just outside Port Moresby.

Miss PNG Quest

The following girls have entered the Miss PNG Quest being run by the Red Cross Society.

Boroko / 4 Mile Bus Stop

The new bus stop at Boroko and 4-mile intersection reconstruction is causing a few headaches for motorists who have to pass through what used to be the old 4-mile traffic lights. Traffic is now banking up to the Lahara service station. It is hoped that the new roundabout and bus stop will help to relieve the congestion once completed.

Airport Overhaul

A push has been made to overhaul three airports in the country. They are the three busiest regional airports - Nadzab serving Lae; Tokua serving Rabaul and Kokopo; and Kagamuga serving Mount Hagen. Upgrading to international standard is expected to start as early as next year.

Mount Hagen Cultural Show

Lae Bisket Company was one of the major sponsors of the millennium Mount Hagen Show that was held last weekend. The company made a donation of 100 cartons of biscuits valued at more than K3,000. The biscuits were given out to competitors in the traditional dancing competition, which saw more than 50 cultural groups taking part.

The show attracted more than 500 overseas visitors from countries such as Australia, Japan, USA, and England.

The Culture and Tourism Minister, Andrew Baing said to show goers that PNG is the only country in the Pacific with so many styles of culture. He went on to say that the young people must not forget their traditional cultural ways of living.

The success of the show was spoiled by a clash of people following the attempted rape of a woman at the amphitheatre during part of the show. One man was left dead whilst another was seriously wounded.

Community Work

It is possible that a review of the current legislation might see the introduction of non-custodial sentences for minor offenders especially since the jails in the country were overcrowded with people = who should not have been there in the first place.

Gazelle

MP Sinai Brown has announced that he wants to allocate K1.25 million of his Rural Development Fund to various projects in his electorate. He has cut back on education spending and beefed up spending on infrastructure as well as rewarding the people of Toma / Vunadidir local level government for their support in the recent by-election by allocating them the biggest slice of the proposed budget.

Two Mile Hill woes

This was sent out by Australian High Commission Port Moresby, and appears to be correct. There have been several incidents on the hill in recent months.

SECURITY ALERT

In recent weeks, several of our officers and staff members have been involved in security incidents on the Hubert Murray Highway in the vicinity of 2 Mile Hill. These have all been vehicular incidents with the main offence being rock throwing with the intention of disabling the car or driver thereby stealing the vehicle and/or robbery of the occupants. There have also been incidents of vehicle occupants being confronted with guns and bush knives/machetes.

We are also aware of many similar incidents being perpetrated against other road users in this area and the majority of these offences have been committed in the late afternoon, evening and late at night. Advice from Mr John Marru, Metropolitan Superintendent of Police, is that this is a high crime risk area and police are focusing extra resources in the area in an effort to curb the criminal activity.

All officers, families and staff are advised to exercise extreme caution if they find it necessary to use the Hubert Murray Highway in the vicinity of 2 Mile Hill, particularly in the late afternoon, evening or night time.

Rebuilt Tractors

For a long time residents of PNG have been able to purchase second hand cars from Singapore and Japan now Boroko Motors have advertised re-built New Holland tractors. Not sure if these are imports or simply reconditioned local tractors. The cheapest, a 18 HP 4WD was advertised for K14,500 with the most expensive being K44,000 for a 80HP 4WD.

Momase Soccer

Sir Michael Somare has donated K8,000 towards the staging of the Momase Soccer Cup to be held in Madang in October.

Weight Lifting

New comer Meteng Wak, a woman from Mt Hagen, recently won the gold medal in the 75 Kg division of the 24th National Trukai Powerlifting Championships held in Port Moresby.

Rugby League

The Port Moresby Rugby League has giving a life long ban to three players after finding them guilty of wilfully assaulting a match official. Two others were banned for a period of three years after the attack on the official who was left partially blind after the incident. The PNG Rugby League has been notified so that the ban will be effective throughout the whole country.

Gossip

A reader has made the following comment - I have it on good authority that Bill Skate has paid $38,000 Australian dollars up front, for a stay and tests at the Wesley Hospital in Brisbane. Can any one enlighten the readers?


Links

Links to visit...

To find out about the Huli people of PNG visit http://www.accsoft.com.au/~drgcjlom/huli1.htm

Flight Schedules within PNG - http://www.aacl.net/cgi-bin/airschedule.asp

PNG Shelf Companies - http://www.acfox.com.au/ContactDetails/acfoxpng.htm

PNG Coffee - http://www.coffeecorp.org.pg/

Public Officers Superannuation Fund - http://www.posf.com.pg

PNG Tourism Site - http://www.pngtourism.org.pg

The New Guinea Singing Dog (NGSD) - http://www.canineworld.com/ngsdcs/index.htm



PNG newspaper sites

Post Courier
http://www.postcourier.com.pg

The National


http://www.thenational.com.pg


 

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Created - 22 Aug 2000
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