Post Courier, Monday January 19, 2015

PNG POWER RED-FACED OVER ‘OUTDATED’ LIST

APOLOGIES, MR MICAH: PAGE 2

COFFEE FARMERS FIND WAY TO FLY OUT BEANS

SUBSIDY PROGRAM HELPS: PAGE 5

LOCALS SWAP MARIJUANA FOR CASH CROPS

LEADER LEADS CHANGE: PAGE 15

RAIN clouds gather over Tatana island in the nation’s capital yesterday. Police on Saturday shot a suspect from last week’s murder of journalist Harold Farapo, who was killed and dumped in the sea near the village. Police said the suspect was shot on the arm and drowned when trying to escape by swimming away.

Picture: TARAMI LEGEI

Killings rock city island

Prime suspect in journalist’s killing shot, drowns – metres from the journo’s death spot

BY MAUREEN GERAWA

ONE man is dead and six others have been arrested by Port Moresby police in relation to the brutal death of former newspaper journalist Harold Farapo. According to a police report yesterday, the dead man, Sale Naime of Tatana, Baruni and Porebada villages in Central Province, was a prime suspect in Farapo’s death.

It said Naime was drinking alcohol with other suspects when police arrived on Saturday morning and surrounded his house. When they approached Naime, he tried to retaliate, prompting police to shoot him on his left arm. He fled into the sea and swam out where he drowned, the police report said.

CONTINUED PAGE 2

Fix up teachers’ leave fares by June 2015

ITIS UNACCEPTABLE that the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) has come forward to throw light on teachers’ leave fares close to two months after they raised their concerns.

Teaching as a profession in Papua New Guinea can be challenging, especially in rural communities devoid of the basic services that a lot of us in PNG towns and cities often take for granted. A lot of them travel for days, sometimes on foot or by boat, to reach their schools and do not return to a government station or town until the next school break. They are often compelled to make the ultimate sacrifice, at the expense of their families’ convenience and lifestyle, to educate the next generation of Papua New Guineans. The relevant agencies such as the TSC and the Department of Education owe it to them – on our behalf as Papua New Guineans – to ensure their needs are taken care of swiftly.

Consequently, it is unacceptable that the TSC chairman Baran Sori sees fit to respond to the concerns of the teachers just a week away from the start of the 2015 academic year. It is obvious none of those affected by the failure of the authorities to process their leave fares will receive their entitlements – they will return to classes this year without taking a break in their home provinces.

Mr Sori revealed factors that contributed to the nonpayment of leave fares. This included incorrect biodata, incorrect cost estimates, lack of funding at the Department of Finance, the late release of warrants from the Department of Finance, the diversion of leave fare funds by provincial treasuries and a 30 per cent administrative fee that travel agents charge on leave fare tickets.

We appreciate Mr Sori highlighting the issues which have contributed to the non-payment of leave fare entitlements. However, these administrative problems are not new to the commission as well as the Department of Education. The issue of the non-payment or delay in the payment of teachers’ leave fare entitlements has become the norm in recent years and should have been addressed by those responsible. It has in recent years been given wide coverage by different media organisations including the Post-Courier, sadly without having an immediate effect on those responsible.

Sadly, it is always the case that the country’s few hardworking bureaucrats often end up victims of a nonperforming and incompetent system. You can put a lot of our hardworking rural-based teachers and health workers in that category, and to rub salt into the wound they often do not have a voice.

If Mr Sori is to have a New Year’s resolution in 2015 than it has to be on teachers’ leave fare entitlements and a pledge to work with line agencies including the Departments of Education and Finance to address it. He will need to give himself a deadline for a progress report to be furnished to teachers who are entitled to it and put forward June this year as that date for the progress report. Teachers have played a big role in developing this country and getting it to where it is today, it is time we return the favour.

Index

Asia news ........................29-30

Bougainville Today ..............18

Business ..........................19-22

Classifieds .......................34-43

Comics ..................................33

Highlands Post.....................15

Home news................4-9,12-13

Islands Post .........................17

Mamose Post .......................16

Pacfic news .....................27-28

Southern Post ......................14

Sport ................................45-47

Stars ......................................39

Sudoku .................................39

The drum ...............................3

Turf Guide .............................44

World news......................31-32

Yu tok ...............................10-11

How to contact us

EDITOR

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Email:rheeneya@spp.com.pg

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REGIONAL OFFICES

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Buka: David Lornie

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Email: davelornie@ digicelpacific.blackberry.com

Tangit: Debtors list outdated

BY GORETHY KENNETH

PNG Power Limited has apologised to Public Enterprise and State Investment Minister Ben Micah for publishing his name in the outstanding debtors list last Friday.

Chief executive officer John Tangit said after going through their records again, they had established that the property that was listed under Micah’s name was sold and the new owner failed to make changes to the property’s details for the electricity meter as per the PPL policy.

Tangit wrote to Micah on Friday apologising for any embarrassment caused and advised he did not have any outstanding.

Micah also spoke to the PostCourier that ran the report on front page last Friday, expressing his disappointment specifically at the newspaper for not checking with him.

“I am a phone call away, the least you could have done was call me and check before printing this. But then again, I thank PNG Power too because it had uncovered what was there to be corrected,” he said.

Last Friday other alleged defaulters also called the Post-

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Murder suspect killed

FROM PAGE 1

At a glance

PPL APOLOGY: CEO of PNG Power Ltd John Tangit has apologised to Public Enterprise and State Investment Minister for publishing his name in the outstanding debtors list last Friday.

LIST: PNG Power have agreed the list was outdated but have warned there will be a second and/or third list coming.

Courier to advise that they did not owe any bills, like the PNG Ports Limited who said that they only owed the organisation the December bills from their records. Other prominent leaders also advised of the change in homes that resulted in their names published because they did not change the ownership of houses and many others.

But PNG Power Ltd CEO John Tangit, who agreed that the list was outdated, said that was the first list and the second and/or third list may be released after the books are looked at.

“We have set PNG Power into a new direction and we will take PNG Power to the next

platform or new heights,” Mr Tangit said.

“Critics are critics, they can say whatever they want. We are going by the books and exposing them. This exercise is beginning to pull all customers…whether right or wrong this is the time to correct everything.

“This has never been done before and it is the first time we are doing this.

“Bear in mind this is the proclamation of an emergency and we will get PNG Power to a new direction.

“This might border on embarrassment for those in the list but like I said, this exercise will pull all customers, whether right or wrong, to fix the issue,” he said.

NAIME’S drinking companions had been detained at Boroko police cells for questioning and formal charges were pending last night.

The suspects are all from Central and Gulf provinces. Naime’s body was conveyed to the Port Moresby General Hospital where he was confirmed dead.

Police are hunting for more people they believed are involved in Farapo’s killing last weekend and his body dumped in the sea near Tatana on Saturday.

At the time of his death, Farapo was a consultant to Gulf natural gas resources landowners.

The police report said that Farapo’s two mobile phones and phone simcards were missing when his body was discovered near Tatana.

A police hunch that they were stolen by the attackers led to further successful investigations.

The investigation team rang one of the mobile numbers which led to the arrest of a suspect on Saturday.

Police said the suspect gave the names of the other suspects who were involved in Farapo’s attack and the eventual death and the theft of his motor vehicle, a black Nissan Patrol, registration number LBA 386.

In Holland, you don’t just congratulate your friend on their birthday. You also congratulate their relatives.

The bottom line

PPL CEO John Tangit

Govt denies Manus asylum protests

THE Government has denied reports of protests at the Australian run detention centre on Manus Island which had allegedly turned violent last Friday.

The government rebuttals followed reports from refugee advocates that there were clashes between security staff and asylum-seekers at the facility.

A spokesman from the Prime Minister’s office, Christopher Hawkins, who had just returned from Manus, told the Post-Courier last night that there was no confrontation at all as claimed by some media outlets

“There was no physical engagement between asylum seekers and security personnel,” Mr Hawkins said.

“Security... were on standby for safety reasons considering the reported rise in tension.

The bottom line

“This is only natural to ensure the safety of the workers as well as people in the facility following media reports of self-harm.

“Workers have essential tasks to maintain such as cleaning and the delivery of other services.”

The spokesman said no police entered the detention camp.

There were reports by Australian community activist organisation Refugee Action Coalition which stated that security guards, including Papua New Guinea locals, attacked peaceful protests at the detention centre on Friday.

The coalition’s Ian Rintoul said it was the threat of using force to move refugees out of the detention centres and into insecure housing at Lorengau that precipitated the peaceful protests and hunger strike,

Radio New Zealand International reports.

The PNG Government on Friday denied reports of the violent confrontation between asylum seekers and security staff. Mr Rintoul said four hours before the attack, the new Australian immigration minister Peter Dutton, said they were happy to negotiate and discuss the situation.

But he says there were no discussion and no warning before the security guards began attacking and beating protesters at the Oscar and Delta compounds at the centre.

He said he was shocked by the brutality shown against people already weakened from two days of fasting.

Mr Rintoul said the actions by security firm Transfield were likely to inflame the situation even further.

Tensions had been rising last week as most of the asylum seekers approach 18 months of detention on Manus Island and at least one protester has stitched his lips shut.

The camp has also seen riots, which resulted in the killing of Iranian asylum seeker Reza Barati last year.

ABC News Australia reported yesterday that groups of asylum seekers had barricaded the two compounds and were being denied food and water.

They had sent photos of men burrowing beneath a fence to reach crates of bottled water placed just outside the compound.

A spokesman for Australia’s immigration minister said Canberra had been “advised that food and water continue to be available”.

In Bangladesh, never give anyone the thumbs-up. Over there, it is an obscene gesture.

NZ VACANCY

THE recent Drum on the vacancy in the position of PNG High Commissioner to Fiji caught the eye of some observers. It seems Foreign Service staff at our mission in Wellington, New Zealand are also asking the same question.

POSTINGS

MAYBE the folks at the PNG DFAT are busy trying to manage the fallout from the Manus asylum seekers camp protests they don’t have time to appoint new heads of mission. Surely, Fiji and New Zealand are important bilateral partners for PNG.

HOTEL LIFE

AND speaking of the asylum seekers’ protest, some of those in detention are telling the outside world that they live in squalid conditions. Ask a Papua New Guinean who’s been inside and they’ll tell you it’s like living in a hotel.

TERRORISTS

IN A TWIST to the decision to relocate the bus stop, city residents have noticed louts who terrorised the public at the Gordon market moving to the popular

Manu Autoport market at Three Mile. Someone at the NCDC needs to address this immediately.

DEFAULTERS

THERE was a lot of reaction to our coverage on the “name-and-shame” list that PNG Power published last week. Other than having the Minister behind the SOE on the defaulters’ list, there were others who were no longer PNG residents.

NO BILL

ONE organisation the National Institute for Standards owed K8000 for the month of December but they were yet to get a bill. The power was cut regardless. The institute supports moves to tidy things up but disconnecting those who are yet to get a bill is neither good nor fair.

RIEP, JK

THE untimely death of veteran broadcaster Justin Hansu Kili, aka JK, in Kokopo has shocked the media fraternity. Our condolences and sympathy go to the family of the late JK. He was a colleague, a mentor and respected in the industry. Rest in eternal peace, JK.

CITY Hall and NCD Governor Powes Parkop need to revisit their decision to relocate the bus stop temporarily from Gordon market to Unagi oval. Petty thieves and thugs are in control at the new location, making it a nightmare for city residents.

PENGEE: thedrum@spp.com.pg

CRIME SPOT

REAL HERO

AUSTRALIAN rugby league legend Darren Lockyer, who was in the Gulf Province recently, could not resist the temptation to try out the local culture, and grabbed a kundu to try out a few steps, much the the enjoyment of the locals.

Union threat brushed aside

THE office of Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Tribunal is unmoved by threats of industrial action issued by the PNG Trade Union Congress, chairperson Beverly Doiwa said yesterday.

Ms Doiwa said the statement issued by PNG TUC general secretary John Paska last Friday was false, misleading and very damaging to the integrity of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration and Government officers.

She said the Office of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration is not a commission as referred to by Mr Paska and that shows that he is outdated with arbitration business and cannot simply name the office correctly.

“Mr Paska’s outburst is very surprising in light of the fact that though he is the general secretary of the premier workers organisation in the country, he has never shown interest or assisted any aggrieved person with the current cases before the tribunals over the last three years since I took office,” Ms Doiwa said.

She said the claim that there are hundreds of cases not attended to by this office is totally false and misleading.

“We challenge him to identify and publish these hundreds of cases he is referring to for public information. For the record there are only 21 outstanding cases with the office of Arbitration Tribunal. These cases are pending submissions from parties which is due in February 2015.

“We take offence to Mr Paska’s accusations that we are sleeping and getting paid for sleeping.

“Such a statement is far low

The bottom line

One dead in June Valley carnage

A MAN is dead and homes, vehicles and a shop destroyed at the weekend in the nation’s capital following the theft of a motor vehicle, police reported yesterday.

Police said trail of destruction was left at Arere Street, June Valley, in Moresby Northwest in the space of an hour on Saturday.

At a glance

OFFICE OF INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION: For record there are only 21 outstanding cases with the office of Arbitration Tribunal. These cases are pending submissions from parties which is due in February 2015.

to come from the office of the general secretary.

“How can we be sleeping when the office, with only 6 staff members, had successfully administered the National Minimum Wage Hearing throughout the country for seven months and at the same time maintained the normal functions of the office?”

Ms Doiwa said the endorsement of the 2013/14 minimum wage determination by the national executive council is a show of confidence by the government to the Board, the Office of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Tribunal and the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. “The report is baseless with no significance to any magnitude of industrial issues that warrants my sacking or a staging of an industrial protest,” she said.

“Such only raises questions about Mr Paska’s motive. We hope he is not using his position on a smear campaign under the pretence of pursuing genuine industrial issues.

“Such campaign is becoming far too common especially when someone’s contract is up for review and the campaigner has a vested interest.”

FOUR-YEAR-OLD Gari Wari reportedly went missing on Saturday in the nation’s capital.

Four-year-old boy missing

A FOUR-YEAR-OLD boy from Gumine in Chimbu Province has reportedly gone missing at the busy Gordon market on Saturday.

And his worried parents and family members are appealing to the public to report any sighting of the boy, Gare Wari, who was last seen between Gordon police station and Eliseo Wholesale Trading at 1pm on Saturday.

A distraught mother and the boy’s aunt yesterday turned up at our office to report their son’s disappear-

ance. “We had just finished buying some market food and were returning to the bus stop when he let go off my hand and that was the last I saw of him,” said the boy’s mother. She said she and her relatives searched all day from 1pm to 6pm but he could not be located. She has filed a missing person report at the Gordon police station and she is appealing to the public to contact her aunty Angela Apa on 7291 3779.

When cheering and clapping in the Czech Republic, be careful not to whistle, as this is the equivalent to a ‘boo’.

Between 11am and 12 noon, one man, Tony Jackson, from Enga Province had bled to death, four houses, seven vehicles and a canteen were burned to the ground.

Police said Jackson had suffered a wide knife wound on his upper left arm. The suspect from Laiagam, Enga Province, is on the run from police.

The trouble started after a vehicle belonging another Engan was stolen but recovered on Friday, minus the content which the owner insisted should be returned by the alleged offenders who was identified as a fellow Engan and neighbour at Arere Street.

Police said the vehicle owner and relatives had initially burned down three houses.

Police said Jackson was queried about the vehicle theft when he was attacked and his upper left arm chopped. He ran about 100m before dropping dead, they said.

They said Jackson’s relatives retaliated by burning two more houses, the seven vehicles and the canteen.

A suspect from Enga Province is now in police custody.

Police are investigating the killing, the burning and damage of properties.

This is one of two killings reported by police in the city over the weekend.

The other involves police investigators who were probing last week’s killing of former newspaper journalist Harold Farapo.

The suspect was shot when he tried to escape and drowned while swimming away.

We had just finished buying some market food and were returning to the bus stop when he let go off my hand ...

MOTHER

Port Moresby

Ministry on fundraising drive

A GOSPEL ministry from Eastern Highlands has managed to raise K10,000 while in the nation’s capital and will be returning home soon.

The Jungle Flames Singing Ministry from Wonenara was on a mission to raise funds to rebuild a Seventh-Day Adventist Church in its area.

The group members started their journey to Port Moresby on December 7, walking along a bush track to Menyama then to the Gulf Province, finally arriving in Port Moresby on December 12 via PMV.

The total cost of rebuilding the church is about K30,000. They are also appealing to their local MP and Eastern Highlands Governor Julie Soso to assist.

Any business houses willing to help can contact the group on 7225 2743.

City hall to step up buai ban operations

BY MAUREEN GERAWA At

THE buai ban has had some effect on how the city is looking now, but more work needs to be done to ensure everyone abides by the ban which aims to keep the city clean.

A senior city hall official said the ban will be stepped up this year with more police deployed to help.

Director of urban safety in the National Capital District Commission Paul Komboi said the buai ban was still on, but NCDC reserve police officers out in the city enforcing the ban unfortunately cannot arrest and charge people to appear in court because their cases cannot be heard by the district court.

“This issue is now with our legal team to make amend-

Radio legend JK passes on

POPULAR radio personality

Justin Kili famously known as “JK”, has died.

The radio legend, aged 61, passed away at the Saint Mary’s Vunapope Hospital in Kokopo, East New Britain Province on Saturday morning after a short illness. Condolence messages have been pouring in since his death.

According to his wife Selina Kili, Mr Kili was a diabetic patient and had fallen ill on Tuesday and hospitalised the next day. He passed away a few days later.

She said they are expected to finalise his funeral arrangements today and his body will be laid to rest at his home village of Lemanman in Bougainville.

Mr Kili had retired in October 2013 after 40 years in the media and radio industry. Mr Kili and his family decided to settle in his wife’s home province of East New Britain.

For 40 years, Mr Kili served with loyalty and dedication and became a household name in PNG.

One of his many achievements was the “Radio Personality of the Year 1984” Award.

Nugi to present research

NO CASE: NCDC police reserve officers out in the city enforcing the ban unfortunately cannot arrest and charge people to appear in court because their cases cannot be heard by the district court.

AMENDMENTS: The NCDC legal team is making amendments and once passed, will be enforced as soon as possible.

BAD EXAMPLE: Police and army personnel were not helping either when they themselves smuggle betelnut bags in government vehicles through the check point at Laloki, using firearms to threaten and intimidate people manning the gate, says director urban safety of National Capital District Commission Paul Komboi.

ments and once passed, will be enforced as soon as possible. That includes community work by offenders once convicted by court,’’ he said.

“There are challenges that we face when enforcing the buai ban law.

“The vendors retaliate at the rangers with the support from the community,’’ he said. He said police and army personnel were not helping either when they themselves smuggle betelnut bags in government vehicles through the check point at

Laloki, using firearms to threaten and intimidate people manning the gate.

At the same time, he said, there is betelnut being smuggled through the sea into the city and when the police catch these smugglers, they take the betelnut without the knowledge of NCDC and sell them to the vendors.

“This year we will be tightening and stepping our operation; more police officers will be deployed on the streets to assist the rangers.

“(We will be) doing awareness again in the Motu Koita villages for them not to allow buai smugglers to use them or do business in their villages, issuing notices to business houses in the city for them not to permit or allow buai vendors to vend in front of

their premises or they will face the fine of K5000.

“Police or army officers who assist or try to smuggle betelnuts at the check point and threaten and intimidate the police reservists and rangers will be arrested at their station and prosecuted,’’ said Mr Komboi.

Meanwhile, Mr Komboi said the main streets in the city are clean and shiny, which shows that some people are adhering to the new law and cooperating.

“It is a difficult and challenging task but we need committed people to go out there and do it for us for the good of the city, its residents and PNG as a whole.

“We will not stop until we change the image of our city.’’

Milne Bay coffee farmers find way to sell beans

SMALLHOLDER coffee farmers in the Agaun area, the hinterlands of Milne Bay Province, have finally found the answer to their worries to earn money for their produce.

The Milne Bay Provincial Government in partnership with the Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC), have set up a freight subsidy scheme to airlift their coffee produce to Alotau for further shipment to factories in Lae for processing and export.

The initiative to air freight

the coffee from Agaun, currently not connected by road to Alotau or the coast, started last Friday with Governor Titus Philemon on hand to witness the loading of the first 1.6 tonnes to Alotau.

Mr Philemon told the people in Agaun that while road projects are now being progressed by the Provincial Government through the Provincial Services Improvement Program (PSIP), these would take a while before they reach Agaun.

He said because coffee farm-

ers have continued to produce coffee and have struggled to bring their coffee to buyers in Alotau or Lae, the Provincial Government has now partnered with CIC to bring out the coffee.

“The Government is aware that there is a large stock of coffee here in Agaun which needs to be brought to the buyers. We are also aware of the large amounts of money that you pay yourselves to airfreight your coffee produce to Alotau and even to Lae,” he said.

He said under this initiative the Provincial Government through its Agriculture Division have partnered with CIC to help the coffee farmers through subsidising freight.

The agriculture division and CIC also make it easier by buying the coffee from the growers, instead of them paying more money to ship the coffee to factories.

Mr Philemon said he was pleased with the response by the coffee farmers in Agaun and pledged for his Government to continue to subsidise

the freight costs to bring the coffee to Alotau and on to Lae.

The subsidising of the air freighting and shipment of coffee is part of the Provincial Government’s small to medium enterprises focus for this year. Other cash crops such as copra and cocoa produced in the province will also attract subsidies on freighting.

Principal adviser for Agriculture and Livestock James Duks said the subsidised freighting exercise will continue till end of this week.

WINNER of the 2014 Miss PNG quest, Grace Nugi, will be attending the student conference sonservation science (SCCS) meeting in Brisbane this week where she will be presenting her research paper.

Ms Nugi is one of 25 postgraduate students from across the world to have been awarded the scholarship to attend the conference which will begin today and end on the January 29 at the University of Queensland.

What Miss Nugi will be attending was initially designed for post-graduate students pursuing studies within the field of conservation science, including but not limited to ecology, environmental science, resource management, geography, economics and social sciences.

Ms Nugi, a research intern with the Wildlife Conservation Society, will present her paper on “the customary use of vulturine parrots (psittrichas fulgidus) and its implications for conservation in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea”.

“The research is about my heritage and in itself has allowed me an opportunity to travel and attend a prestigious conference where I get to talk about it in an academic perspective to other academics,” she said. “Why should we study something else when we have all the material we need here to begin with?”

MEMBERS of the Jungle Flames Singing Ministry from Eastern Highlands Province.

According to Pope Francis, one in 50 Catholic clerics are allegedly pedophiles.

The bottom line

a glance

Alotau accord plans on track

Plan 70 percent complete

BY GORETHY KENNETH

THE Government has achieved 70 per cent of what was outlined and signed in the Alotau Accord, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said on Friday.

The Alotau Accord, signed in 2012, spells out the main objectives of the Government specifically for better health, education, infrastructure, law and order and improving the economy.

Speaking during the launch of the Department of Works 2015 work plan at Laguna Hotel in Port Moresby, Mr O’Neill said the economy was progressing well and that improved levels were being maintained.

He said there were many critics who had said the economy would slow down when the LNG construction phase was concluded, however, time was proving them wrong.

“I’m sure you and I know now that it has not slowed down largely because of our investments as a gov ernment. “We have made deliberate decision to invest in infrastructure developments to make sure that all technical people in the LNG project are engaged,” he said.

He further stated that for a nation to prosper they must have the necessary infrastructure in place and that is why he reaffirmed the government’s support to the Department of Works to continue delivering road

At a glance

ALOTAU ACCORD: THE Government has achieved 70 per cent of what was outlined and signed in the Alotau Accord, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said on Friday.

PROVEN WRONG: Many critics who had said the economy would slow down when the LNG construction phase was concluded, however time was proving them wrong.

BETTER NATION: For the nation to prosper they must have the right infrastructure in place and that is why he reaffirmed the government’s support to the Department of Works to continue delivering road infrastructure projects.

infrastructure projects in the country.

He appealed to all Government leaders, specifically the Members of Parliament, to address road maintenance right after construction.

And he has assured that leaders will be encouraged to put money into the Works Department so that they can help maintain all roads that have been built for better service delivery. “Today let me tell you that we have virtually achieved 70 per cent of what we promised in the Alotau Accord in two and a half years,” said Mr O’Neill.

Works Department launches road plan

WORKS Secretary David Wereh launched the Department’s 2015 road plan, a first of its kind in years, where he outlined the benefits, difficulties, and way forward to deliver major infrastructures.

Mr Wereh revelaed in his presentation at Laguna Hotel on Friday that PNG’s road networks were made up of 8740km of national roads and 21,000km of provincial and district roads.

PNG also has 2000 cross drainage structures, both bridges and culverts, adding that 2015 would see maintenance and upgrading of national roads worth K1.2 billion.

Mr Wereh said in the medium term plan (2013-17) the department would ensure that certain priorities of the road map were put in place by 2017 with an additional 2000km to 5000km of national roads.

He spoke about the difficulties, citing the gap of deferred maintenance and a huge backlog which was now being addressed and the benefits and gains the department had accomplished in the past two and half years.

“The gap of deferred maintenance has been going up over the last 15

years to 20 years and the maintenance budget requests have been quite high, as a result of the shortfalls we had been receiving under the maintenance and rehabilitation programs.

The deferment backlog had been growing and as of 2012 we had been sitting on a backlog of K4 billion,” Mr Wereh said.

“The 2015 expenditure from donor partners and the national government will see just over a billion kina being expended in the year. In 2013 there was increase in funding of national roads where K994 million was used, in 2014 K1.6 billion and in 2015 another K1.5 billion. Also included in the maintenance is the replacement of national bridges worth K81.3 million, maintenance of provincial roads, K69.7 million, town roads, K263.5 million, Lae City roads, Kookaburra Flyover, the commencement of the Mt Hagen City roads rehabilitation, the K20 million to open up East to West New Britain roads, the construction of Erave to Sembiringi link under the tax credit scheme and the Kaintiba roads with Gulf to Morobe links.

Inspection for small boats

THE Civil Protection (CP) office of Bougainville will set up a small craft board to inspect small boats for seaworthiness.

all boat owners must start registering their boats for seaworthiness and must ensure that the boats have life jackets, compass, a global positioning system and signal beacons.

He said that as soon as the board is set up next month, it will inspect boats, which are not more than 20m in length and must meet all the requirements of seaworthiness.

This is to also ensure that the small vessels are registered and equipped with safety gear for sea travel.

The office will be made up of inspectors and the board members. Coordinator Franklyn Lacey said

PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill addressing participants at the Department of Works launching at Laguna Hotel in Port Moresby last Friday. Picture: KENNEDY BANI

EDUCATION UNDER SIEGE

TEACHERS and local contractors who gathered outside at the Fin corp haus at Waigani in Port Moresby recently, following the non-payment of the services they provided to schools. They fronted up at the office to express their frustrations to be payed their debts.

More challenges face Kiunga hospital

KIUNGA district hospital has new equipment that has contributed to the delivery of quality health care to the people of North Fly and Western Province as a whole.

This was revealed by hospital administrator Graeme Hill last week in Kiunga when meeting with Minister for Culture, Arts and Tourism and MP for North Fly Boka Kondra.

Mr Hill said with the help from Australia Rotary Club they have secured new hospital beds, sterilise machine in the theatre room and new radiology machine.

He said with the help of the Fly River Provincial Government and Ok Tedi mine, they have also secured three doctors who are now based in the district to help conduct surgery and other medical needs.

He said one of the achievements is the graduation of five radiology students in Kiunga and the sending of medical students to study overseas with the help of partners such as Rotary Australia and others.

Dr Julius Plandou said the geographic location of Western Province is the biggest challenge

Commission clarifies leave fares dispute

TEACHERS’ employer, Teaching Service Commission (TSC), says teachers’ leave fares could not be paid directly into their bank accounts last year because of the fear they could be taxed at a rate of 30 per cent.

“As income, the Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) would have taxed leave fares, any income is taxable,” TSC chairman Baran Sori said. Instead, they resorted to paying leave fares into respective provincial treasuries.

“So, provinces are responsible for teachers’ leave fares, how they’ve used the money, it’s up to them,” he said.

Mr Sori said following last year’s recommendations of the Parliamentary Referral Committee on Education (PRCE) headed by chairman and Wabag MP Robert Ganim, the TSC and the Education Department were

At a glance

CAUSES OF DELAY:

Conflicting tax advice; incorrect teacher bi-data; incorrect cost estimates; unavailability and late release of funding; and diversion of funds

obliged to pay leave fares directly into teachers’ bank accounts but this stalled after the Internal Revenue Commission advised against it.

He highlighted several factors that also contribute to the untimely payment of teachers’ leave fares, which included incorrect teacher bio-data; incorrect cost estimates; unavailability of funds at Finance; late release of warrants from Finance; and diversion of leave fares funds by provincial treasuries.

Another problem was that travel agents who deduct 30

per cent from teachers’ leave fare cheques as “administrative costs”.

“In fact, travel agents get double pay; firstly, from admin cost deducted from teachers’ leave fares, and secondly, from major airline companies after the usual reconciliation of ticket sales,” Mr Sori said.

He said the findings from the Ganim Report that was presented to Parliament on August 26 last year, identified 12 major problem areas in the overall process of disbursement of teachers’ salaries and other entitlements at elementary, primary and secondary schools.

Among others, recommendation No.7 recommends that the national Government directs the Department of Education to conduct and audit into teachers leave fares with the view to pay the leave fares in cash directly into teachers’ bank accounts.

to doctors and health workers performing their duties.

Dr Plandou said the improvement was done through the help of partners and acknowledged their kind support to the improvement of health in North Fly.

He said the hospital needs to be further upgraded and improved to cater for the growing population and health problems in the district.

“Currently we have the best mortuary, that can store deceased long time and when removed it can last for more than three days before burial without decay,” Dr Plandou said.

He said there is also a greater need for a new ambulance in the district since the old one is wearing out and there is a much greater need to build new houses for staff.

“Health workers need better houses to perform their duties without fear or favour,” he said.

He said in the statistic shows 80 babies are born every month in North Fly, which he said shows clearly that there is an urgent need to improve infrastructure at the hospital.

Education to discuss problems

THE Dducation Department’s hierarchy will meet this week.

The aim of the meeting is to explain to public and teachers on a list of pressing issues that have been constantly raised by the media over the past weeks.

Education Minister Nick Kuman and the department’s Secretary Michael Tapo will meet and brief the media on various pressing issues.

These issues include the audit on the National Capital District school contractors, teachers leave entitlements, the new education system and the standards-based education curriculum..

Mr Kuman told the Post-Courier on Friday that this issues need to be explained well to the public and teachers so they are understood and discussed in perspective.

Govt seals K88m deals for roads

First contracts for 2015

BY TONY SII

UPNG journalism student

THE Government has sealed its first infrastructure contracts for 2015 totalling about K88 million.

Governor-General Sir Michael Ogio and representatives of the contractors for three road projects and a health project signed the contracts on Friday at Government House, witnessed by Works Secretary David Wereh.

The road projects are the upgrade, design and construction of Gadigu town to Mape

Ring road in the Finschhafen district of Morobe Province for K22 million, upgrade and sealing of a 16km road from Puya Bridge to Baiyer Bridge in Western Highlands Province for K32 million and the ongoing rehabilitation of the 12.38km Pangu to Laigam Road in Enga Province for K21.9 million.

These projects were awarded to Hata-Bem Construction Limited, Lorma Constructions Limited and EJ Sisters Construction Limited respectively.

The health project is the construction of a new operating theatre at Popondeta General Hospital, Northern Province, by Jurudaya Construction Limited for K12 million.

“As per our program it is our desire in line with the government policy to see that major

parts of our roads are upgraded and sealed for service delivery,” Mr Wereh stated in the contract documents.

“And in line with that key government policy we as a department and implementation agency have a target of delivering 1000km in the medium term from 2013 to 2017.

“In the last two years we have delivered more than 400km and as part of the ongoing program towards that important target we are happy to sign these three road contracts as well as the one on the health project.

“We are willing to work with the contractors to ensure that we deliver to quality and time and try to achieve the expected results and add value to the communities’ affected by the projects.”

The four projects are to start with 28 days from the time of the contract signing and are to be completed within one to two years.

Locals turn off water supply, health centre shuts doors

BY MICHAEL KOMA SINASINA’S main health facility,

Koge Rural

Health

Centre, is closed for three weeks after locals who provide water turned off the supply due to non-payment of outstanding bills.

The closure has prompted patients to travel to Kundiawa General Hospital, 30km away, for medical treatment. Officer in charge Michael Tine said unless the group turns on the tap and lets water flow into the facility the institution will remain closed.

Attempts by Sinasina-Yongomugl’s district health officer Ba Mauro and Suai local level government president Peter Aure to convince the group to restore water to the facility were in vain.

Koge Community Care Group, which received initial funding from the Australian government’s community development services (CDS) seven years ago to establish

the water resource project, said the health centre has “failed to pay its water bills.” Group leader and former Suai LLG president Shem Korul said the health centre’s accumulative water bills stands at K26,000. Mr Korul said they would not turn on the tap unless the arrears were paid in full.

“We need the funds to acquire plumbing materials for maintenance as well as paying the labours who worked on the project during the construction stage,” he said.

Government sources in Kamtai, the district headquarters, said K80,000 was appropriated in the 2014 district budget for the health centre’s water bills but the delay by the Finance Department to release the quarterly funding had jeopardised the payment.

District administrator Bal Numapo and provincial health adviser Margaret Kaile were not available for comment.

Bougainville gets maternity gear

THE Australian Government has donated health equipments to the Bougainville Health Department to equip staff, especially of the maternity ward.

Australia High Commission

Consular to Bougainville Jane Gresham said the equipment was very important because it would help the health workers to save lives.

The maternal health kit has all necessary machines needed in a

maternal ward to assist women and their babies during child birth, with a solar suitcase that has solar panels to assist with lighting in the rural areas.

“This equipment will make pregnancy and child birth safer and help to improve post natal care which is provided by Bougainville’s very committed and skilled health force,” Ms Gresham said, adding that Bougainville is a priorit area for Australian assistance.

GOVERNOR-General Sir Michael Ogio (centre) with Fischhhafen MP and Parliament Speaker Theo Zurenuoc (fourth left) and Works Secretary David Wereh (second right)with representative of the contractors. Picture: PETER PIA

The government wants to see parts of major roads upgraded and sealed for service delivery ...

DAVID WEREH Port Moresby

Polye’s election in court

THE election petition challenging the election of Opposition Leader Don Polye during the 2012 general election will go on trial at the Waigani National Court before Justice Joseph Yagi today.

Lawyer Alfred Manase is the petitioner disputing the election results of the Kandep Open seat.

Witnesses are expected to give evidence starting with Mr Manase when the trial begins. There are more than 20 witnesses who will give evidence for all the parties.

Last year the National Court ordered that the petition go for trial after it refused an objection to competency application by the respondent and ordered that all the grounds except for one will proceed to trial.

Among the grounds that Mr Manase and his lawyers will be arguing are that Mr Polye was declared before he reached the absolute majority, five ballot boxes from other candidates were wrongly rejected from the counting area,

At a glance

TRIAL: The election petition challenging the election of Opposition Leader Don Polye during the 2012 general election will go on trial at the Waigani National Court before Justice Joseph Yagi today.

there were more ballot papers distributed and cast by voters than on the common roll and that the electoral commission failed to appoint a replacement returning officer when the original returning officer had resigned.

Govt told: Stop pussyfooting around

OPPOSITION Leader Don Polye (pictured right) says the Government should not blame rats for its financial predicament.

Finance Minister James Marape said yesterday that rodents had damaged cables to Finance Department computers, delaying the opening of government books for this year. Mr Polye said cables were made to withstand rat attacks and this was a smoke-screen to cover up the Government’s “inefficiency in managing the economy”. He said the Government must admit that the State coffers were empty.

Manufacturers were mindful of materials they used in producing cables were resistant to rat-bites or any other rodents, Mr Polye said.

“The most modern material used in computer cables is optic fibre with heavy insulation. These types of cable are very reliable and of high quality in all working conditions,” he said.

“Our people are fed up with the government’s chronic cover-up tactics to make its incompetency in managing the economy looking good. “The government’s new year resolution should be telling the truth to our people in all its business dealings because our people are intelligent and wise to distinguish between the truth and the lie,” Mr Polye said.

THE Sir John Guise stadium indoor complex in Port Moresby is still undergoing renovation and is scheduled to be completed before July for the Pacific Games. See here is work going on at the stadium.

SIR JOHN GUISE STADIUM

DON Polye

DISCIPLINE POLICE

THE image of the police force is no longer respected these days because people have greater fear of the “boys in blue”. The people are really scared of the acts police commit that they are now known by most people as scoundrels. The involvement of police in the cold-blooded murder of a young and promising mother in Lae on New Years Eve and other undisciplined acts of the members of the police force clearly shows that they are run by gangsters and rascals, who have no regard for dignity of humanity. Police officers are the real criminals and murderers. When the situation is like this, the civilian citizens are really afraid of their own law enforcers. You will hardly see in any democratic country except PNG that it's own citizens live in fear just because of rogue police officers. That's really sad and annoying and damaging for the discipline force. I therefore call on the Police Commissioner to deal with police officers involved in such cases to deter others from doing such unlawful acts, which give them a bad name.

WHERE DO FUNDS GO?

WHEN Members of Parliament have been taken to court and found guilty of mismanagement of funds or through election petitions and are dismissed as members, who takes over their DSIP and all other funds that belong to the electorate? For example, Havila Kavo of Gulf, Paul Tiensten and now Samarai-Murua’s Gordon Wesley. Does the family take over the goods purchased by, for example DSIP funds? Or is it the court who should order a stay? We are seeing family members and staffers taking over in some situations. Can the court clarify this area please?

Voter

Your opinions

Looking for someone?

FOUR-year-old Wari Gare from Chimbu Province went missing at Gordon Market on Friday January 16 at about 2pm. Wari lives at Makana - Nine-Mile with here mother Angela Apa. If anyone has any information of the missing child please call mother Angela on 729139.

PNG Acts not in compliance

YOUR Business Section (PC 16/01) carried a story about Simon Ekanda talking about flaws in the Oil and Gas Act.

It is time the people of this resource rich nation rallied and forced some changes to the stupidity that has been perpetrated by greed and avarice.

The two acts are the Mining Act 1992 and the Oil and Gas Act 1998. Our leaders have constantly proclaimed our PNG National Constitution as one of the best. I agree.

But why do our elected leaders turn a blind-eye to these two Acts?

As Mr Ekanda rightly points out

“Why should resource owners and the state pay for what we already own?”

Both Acts contain sections that are not compliant with the Constitution.

The Mining Act does not comply with the PNG Constitution Section 53(5)(a), (c) and (d). The Petroleum Law contained in the Oil and Gas Act 1998 is also not compliant with the Constitution by virtue of Section 53(5)(a), (c) a (d).

Papua New Guineans must petition every MP to change the current Acts to ensure constitutional compliance. Until then the big conglometates will continue to

suck the country dry. Our unique situation is that every MP is a landowner and must act responsibly now and stop the nonsense and utter stupidity that exist. These are non-renewable resource.

One day the gold on Lihir will be mined out. One day Simon Ekanda’s gas field will dry up. We will become a nation of “headscratchers” with all our MPs and their constituents wondering What the hell happened?”

Right now “landowner” is a dirty word.

Penni Via email - Kavieng.

Henry

The views expressed on these pages are the opinions of our readers. They do not necessarily represent the views of the Post-Courier – Editor

Yalo Hexton Kapili Lagaip -Porgera

Education Secretary Michael Tapo on standards-based education. He says SBE is about improving students’ learning.

WRITE TO US Text us on 208

Be cautious with taxis

DEAR all, what I am about to tell you is not a preview of Taken 3. It’s real because it happened to me around 3pm on Saturday.

I was at Gordon 5 and got on a cab. The cab was at the junction next to Limana Vocational Centre.

I instructed the driver to take me to downtown. He turned onto the freeway lane towards the Australian High Commission and asked me if we could go to Waigani to refuel.

As we approached the Waigani Office roundabout, I suggested we go to Vision City as I didn’t have time to be running around. He insisted that we go to Waigani because he claims that the fuel there lasts longer. I didn’t want to argue and wasn’t really in a rush.

He asked for the cab fare so that he may be able to buy fuel and I gave him the fare. When we arrived at the traffic lights between VC and the Waigani office roundabout, he turned right and we headed for the Waigani backroad (road to NDB). As we passed the Telikom office complex he said he needed to change his taxi plate to normal plate and turned left, driving into a bushy

field area (somewhere behind or next to Laguna Hotel/PomCC. I didn’t realise what was happening but quickly thought that it would be safer to get off before he took me further in. So seeing a cigarette vendor I quickly told the driver to stop so I could go out for a smoke while waiting for him ( I don’t smoke). Anyway he asked if he could have one too. I waited a while and then followed him in to see what was happening. He was with another guy talking when I saw him. I didn’t give it much thought so I just waited some distance from him.

He finished changing the back plate, picked me up and proceeded down the back road past NDB. As we approached Waigani Telikom Village, he asked if we could go down to Morata to get his steering wheel fluid. That was when I knew he was up to no good.

I firmly said no but didn’t want him to know I was on to him. I knew that if he knew, he would not allow me to get off by speeding. So I asked him if he could stop at the canteen next to the Morata-Waigani junction. Instead he said he had flex at his house at Morata and turned right down Morata way.

I got mad knowing what he was try-

Text us on 208

A SMART TAXI DRIVER

ing to do so I grabbed his shirt collar with my right hand and squeezed it with all my might, choking him in the process. With my left hand I unlocked the door and opened it while the taxi was moving. I aggressively demanded him to stop while I choked and shoved his head against his window repeatedly.

He finally slowed down and I jumped out, still clinging onto his shirt. The car was still moving very slowly. I demanded my money back but he shrugged me off and sped towards Morata. I found myself at Boreboa Primary School when the adrenaline subsided. The cab was a grey one.

Things happened so fast that I didn’t get the plate number. I’m glad this happened to me and not to my sisters or mother.... or even my younger brother who would not be able to fight his way out of this sort of situation. Please everyone take precautions when getting on cabs/taxis. Also check if they are registered to a taxi company like Comfort Taxi. The one I jumped on was not registered to any taxi company.

Joshua Wanji Port Moresby

Underperforming CEOs must be sacked

DO you have a heart for your country? It is a big question.

Yes, nowadays few serve the country as true public servants, but many don’t.

This paper ran an article last week on Chief Secretary Manasupe Zurenuoc chastising heads of government departments and state enterprises for failing the simplest of tasks, and that is the preparation and submission of their annual reports.

A secretary or chief executive officer is as good as his or her direct reports who are the functional / di-

visional managers. When the functional or divisional manager get to work at 9.30am, have extended lunch breaks, leave office early and care less about the daily output of staff, that is the kind of attitude that culminates in poor performance. When you don’t perform your duties honestly and engage in taking bribes and commissions or demand underthe-table deals, you department or organisation suffers and your secretary or CEO, is held accountable.

Of course it’s been a busy 12 months of 2014 for everyone con-

cerned, but the question has to be asked and personalised.

“Do I have a heart for my country?” If you the functional head know that you don’t measure up, then as the Chief Secretary said, quit the job, or do the honourable thing that your conscience begs you to do. Stop the rot in 2015, do the right things right and fully serve your Secretary and CEO.

TAXI services provided in our towns and cities are important. Most of the taxies are privately owned and are the only means of employment for many taxi drivers. There are many of them in Port Moresby. Some are clean, decent and look well serviced. Most don’t look that appealing. Competition for clients, especially at airports, night clubs, markets, supermarkets and public places is high. Most times customers are left dumbfounded as to which taxi to get on.

I came out of Vision City recently and there was this queue of taxies waiting for passengers. One particular driver, which was fourth in the queue, caught my attention so I walked straight to him. The others were very angry with the driver of the taxi that I got on. They accused him in Hagen language of dressing up neat and tidy like a pastor, which attracted customers. When I got on, I asked him what the commotion was about. He told me I chose him hence his colleagues were angry. they were angry that his dressing attracts customers because clients see him like a pastor. He told me, I has been driving for five years. Taxi service is his fulltime job. He had to dress well and come to work just like every other Papua New Guinean working to earn an income, to put food on the table. I told him that was the very thing that got me to get on his cab. I told him, such positive mind and the attitude to appreciate his job would bring greatness to our country’s development, where human values and attitudes are deteriorating fast. The cabbie taught me a lesson to appreciate who you are and be the best in what you do with contentment. In appreciation I paid him K20 for a K10 distance.

Javanese

ONE SIDE SELECTION

I AM one of the candidates for the

2015 Foreign Services Training Program (FSTP) organised by the Department of Trade and Foreign Affairs (DTFA). However, my application got over looked for reasons unknown. I am 101% sure that I met all the requirements as per their requirements.

Therefore, there is something fishy about the selection process. I really wonder whether the selection committee made selections based on the criteria published in the dailies or based on corrupt PNG practices like nepotism.

I know family members of those who are already working in the department are selected generally. No wonder, after all there is so much corruption in the department.

REPLACE HEADS

THE current chaos and crises being experienced at PNG Power and the Education Department is all about incompetency at the top level. I think we have had enough talking, it’s time departmental heads roll for better service delivery while restoring some sense back to these two important state departments. We cannot continue to pass the buck everytime something goes wrong somewhere while the culprits get away.

As long as such incompetent and incapable people are occupying these top positions these two state entities will keep on making headlines for wrong reasons or should I say inhouse administrative matters like the current PNG Power debt crises and the teachers leave fares woes faced by the Education Department. If this government is serious about long term service delivery to this nation then better start replacing incompetent departmental heads.

What the department is doing now is improving its standards and this means improving in areas of teacher training, school age children and school resources.

Waipip Junction, Tari

Wanbel em stap

Patriot Port Moresby

Papua New Guinea earns whopping K227.8m from its seafood exports during the period of January-October 2014. – Jan 11, 2005 10 years ago

Church plans set up of health school

BY GRACE SALMANG

THE United Church in Papua New Guinea (UCPNG) has decided to establish a school of rural health science at Tigibi, Hela Province, under the United Church College of Higher Education (UCCOHE).

According to UCPNG Moderator Rev Bernard Siai, the plan was given a financial boost of K3 million by Komo-Margarima

MP Francis Potape and Finance Minister and TariPori MP James Marape last year during the project launch.

Rev Siai said UCPNG plans to establish a university as soon as legislative and statutory requirements are met.

He said the church was keen to establish learn-

ing institutions such as the school of rural health science in Hela under Hela Bishop Reverend Wai Tege’s able leadership.

Mr Potape, who is a mining engineer by profession, urged everyone to carefully and thoroughly plan for the project, before actual implementation.

He and Marape said they would support UCPNG as much as they could, thanking the Church for investing in their province, in terms of human development.

Both MPs pledged K500,000 each for the project, with Potape also promising to provide a project vehicle.

Marape said K2 million would be allocated to the project in next year’s national budget.

TREES ON SALE

EVERY citizen from the city to the rural areas must plant trees where there is grassland to help lessen the impacts of climate change. Pictured are customers inspecting these trees sold for 50t each and K15 in bundles. A profit of K300 is made in one day and K800-K900 in a week. Kusa Seba from upper Mendi in SHP has been selling these trees for more than 20 years in Banz Jiwaka Province. Picture: SIBA MESA

CALL CENTRE NUMBERS:

Youngsters need proper grooming

A YOUNG leader of a well-known organisation believes that planting the right seeds in young people will make a difference in the long term in this country.

“We may have so many social issues today, but we hope that in 20 years time, this will change,’’ said general secretary of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) Dianne Kambanei. “It will take one step at a time.’’

Ms Kambanei is a young Papua New Guinean woman who was working in Australia, earning a good salary when she felt the call to return to Papua New Guinea and help run YWCA PNG .

On Friday, 15 young people graduated from YWCA rise up program which is a leadership program for young women, which Ms Kambane says is aimed at training young people to be of positive change agents in the country.

The 15 are the first lot of young people to be trained under this program as trainers of trainers (TOT) and will be engaged in conducting training in various parts of the country, including villages to empower young people to make right choices for themselves.

First developed by YWCA of Solomon Islands, there are five components in the training that

is now embraced as a YWCA global program, but YWCA PNG has included two more topics to make it more relevant.

One of which is embracing tradition and culture which intends to instill in young women the pride in their traditions some of which have empowered women in society so that young Papua New Guineans know that not all of their traditions are bad as opposed to what they had been made to think by outside influences. The other components are leadership, human rights, women’s rights, gender and sex, public speaking, sexual reproductive health and gender base and sorcery related violence.

The training was run by YWCA’s young women’s coordinator Naomi Woyengu.

Ms Woyengu said the training had gone very well. Four of Friday’s graduands became facilitators at the first training at a village level in Hula at the weekend.

The rise up program in PNG is a joint initiative between the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Young Adolescents Health Club and the University of Papua New Guinea peer educators.

It is being funded by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

PNG urged to consider coal

BY FRANKLIN KOLMA

PAPUA New Guinea should consider coal as an alternate source of energy, says international mineral exploration company Mayur Resources.

Mayur Resources exploration manager Thomas Charlton told the PostCourier that coal power was cheapest, eco-friendly and an efficient way of producing electricity.

Mr Charlton said that

Poultry disease at PNG border eradicated

NEWCASTLE disease, one of the most serious viral diseases of poultry and birds worldwide, has been successfully exterminated from our local livestock and poultry farms, says Agriculture and Livestock Minister Tommy Tomscoll.

The virulent Newcastle disease of poultry was detected in April 2013 in village chickens in Wutung village near the Wutung border post in the West Sepik Province.

Mr Tomscoll said last week that the eradication was led by the National Agriculture Quarantine and Inspection Authority in close collaboration and support of the Sandaun provincial administration, the PNG Poultry Industry Association and the people of West Sepik Province.

“This is the second time in the last decade that NAQIA and its partners have successfully eradicated this disease from different regions of PNG,” the Agriculture minister said.

The disease was previously confirmed in Rabaul in the East New Britain Province in 2006 and was subsequently declared eradicated in 2010 following implementation of appropriate disease response measures by NAQIA and the East New Britain provincial administration with support from the Department of Agriculture and Livestock.

Following this incursion in 2013, mandatory disease response activities and programs were implemented according to the Animal Disease and Control Act-Chapter 206 and the PNG emergency animal disease contingency and technical (ERADICATE) plan

Further DNA analysis indicated that the virus is related to the Indonesian strain of Newcastle Disease virus.

The Local Disease Control Centre (LDCC) was established in Vanimo under the Sandaun provincial administration to manage the response, with technical guidance from NAQIA.

In addition to the initial infection in Wutung village, delimiting surveys conducted along the west coast from Wutung to Vanimo detected another site (Daunda) with evidence (antibodies) of ND exposure.

Further delimiting surveys identified two more infected premises in the hinterlands at Bewani and Skochiou.

Quarantine, containment and control measures were immediately established and implemented in and around the four identified infected premises to restrict movement of live birds and associated contaminated goods into and out of these areas.

Genetic typing of the ND virus strain introduced to East New Britain Province in 2006 indicated it was of Chinese and East Asian origin, whereas typing of the ND virus involved in the 2013 Wutung incursion most likely originated from Indonesia.

“I sincerely thank the Sandaun provincial administration, the Vanimo-Green River district administration, the people and community leaders of West Sepik Province, the PNG Poultry Industry Association and NAQIA for their commitment to this important cause in eradicating a disease which, if uncontrolled and established in PNG, could severely impact on the local and national economy as well as food security, endanger our unique fauna and affect our livelihoods,” Mr Tomscoll said.

the idea of coal-fired power plants had been put to Prime Minister Peter O’Neill late last year and that the PM was optimistic of the notion.

He said his company had discovered low grade coal seams at depths of one to two metres, along the Purari River in Gulf Province.

Mr Charlton said that the coal deposits found, although not as extensive as coal deposits in coun-

tries like New Zealand, were substantive enough to be mined and used to fuel a coal infused power plant. Charlton, an experienced geologist, said that coal was still a major source of electricity and the most efficient.

“PNG’s steep climb in economical growth since the introduction of the LNG is something that has improved lives, however, an economically

booming country such as PNG cannot run on a power supply that cuts off two to three times a day,” said Mr Charlton.

Mr Charlton said Mayur Resources will be presenting its report on the first ever coal resource found in PNG early next month. It aims to continue prospecting to verify the full extent of PNG’s coal deposits, and later coal electricity supplying possibilities.

MR Charlton and his team meeting locals at Gulf Province

If you have a story to tell, call us on 309 1042, or email cgware@spp.com.pg

PNG faces greater food safety responsibilities

BY GRACE AUKA SALMANG

AS Papua New Guinea becomes an important member of the international community this year, ever greater responsibility is being faced on its food safety system, says National Capital District Commission’s (NCDC) chief gealth surveyor Isowa More.

Mr More said as the country prepares for important events such as the APEC meeting and the Pacific Games, stakeholders, including caterers, must meet applicable food safety requirements according to domestic and international requirements including ingredients and food additives.

“Food concerns, food handling, preparation and storage to avoid potentially severe health hazards,” he said.

He said trade partners have an expectation that exported food will be safe, tourists and visitors expect the same; this becomes particularly critical when PNG

is host to large international mass gatherings.

“Risks posed to food can come from both domestic production and preparation and international through the importation of food products,” he said.

He said food safety issue should also be seen as a national security issue.

“Rapid urbanisation has also greatly increased the distance between food producers and consumers that increase the risk of contamination, degradation and fraud.

“Urban consumers are also at risk of inappropriate food choices example; foods high in salt, fat and added sugar,” he said.

He said new food products, new production methods, new consumer practices; even new bacterial and chemical hazards have made food security one of the most challenging issues in public health. “All of these changes are already occurring in PNG and are likely to accelerate in the 21st century,” he said.

Food safety and preparation processes are under increased pressure to improve

Former councillors still waiting

A TOTAL of 36 former NCD councillors who have served city hall from 1993-2007 are still waiting for their entitlements.

Former councillor and spokesman Robert Tu’u said they were appointed by the former Prime Minister and Governor for NCD, late Bill Skate, and were sacked in 2007 by current Governor, Powes Parkop.

“Mr Pakop assured us that he was going to make payments to us serving the provincial government but he did not,” he said.

Mr Tu’u said they have given in their submissions as requested by Mr Parkop but nothing has been done.

He said they tried to see Mr Parkop about their concerns without success.

“While working as councillors, we took risks from all three electorates as leaders during those days and we need to be appreciated for that.

“We are calling on Powes Pakop to come down on us and meet our request,” Mr Tu’u said.

Central teachers geared up

BY DONALD WILLIE

AS the school year nears its kickoff in two weeks’ time, the Central provincial education board has completed its appointment of more than 3000 teachers to serve in the rural areas of the province this year.

With the free tuition policy implemented three years ago, student enrollment in the rural Central has increased, bringing the teacher-student ratio from 1:40 to now 1:45 five, says appointment officer Tony Upa.

He said with 1069 elementary teaching positions, 1300 primary schools, 645 high schools and 249 TVET teaching positions available for Central Province schools, almost all the positions have been filled and ready for the school year to begin this month.

Once posting for teachers are done, the teachers will then fall into the responsibility of the schools where their welfare and accommodation is concerned, Mr Upa said.

“Many teachers are fronting up searching for vacancies to teach here as accommodation is a main issue in many other areas,” Mr Upa said.

Emilyn Bera is one such hopeful teacher hoping to teach in the Central Province as she said they

are well looked after, especially by the community.

She had taught in the province for eight years but moved to another province with her partner due to his work, but has now returned and would like to teach in Central Province again.

Another reason why many teachers prefer to teach in the Central Province, as revealed by Mr David John of Iobuna Kouba Primary School along the Sogeri Road, is that the relationship with the community members in many rural Central is very good.

“The community and parents are very supportive of the teachers during the school year, especially in the remote areas,” Mr John said.

Meanwhile, acting education adviser for Central Province, Phillip Alu, said the teaching quality in the province has improved very much with exam statistics showing good results.

However, one of the main problems faced by the provincial education board was the cost the transportation for teachers to very remote areas where road access is not available. “We would like politicians to assist in this regard, as chartered air transport is expensive,” Mr Alu said.

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Locals swap drugs for crops

THE people of Mendi-Munhiu electorate are being given the chance to genture into agricultural activities by local MP De Kewanu.

Last week the MP called on all marijuana growers in his electorate to uproot the plants and replace them with potato, vegetables and poultry farming with his assistance.

Road development projects have been Mr Kewanu’s major achievement with nearly all networks in his electorate developed.

He has also embarked on foot and bailey bridges with several already completed while others are still under construction.

“Those who come forward voluntarily to uproot marijuana will receive potato and other seeds as well as poultry from me to give you the opportunity to live meaningful lives, contribute in the development of your communities and importantly, improve the living standards of your families,” Mr Kewanu said in Mendi last week.

To make things even easier for the farmers, those who venture into larger scale farming would be assisted by a tractor provided by the district. “I am giving you the golden plate to move away from laziness, illegal activities and venture

Pastor calls for action on ‘attitude problem’

BY MICHAEL KOMA

UNLESS the government serious-

ly addresses the so-called attitude problem in the contemporary society, Papua New Guinea will be in a chaotic state in the near future.

SDA pastor Benjamin Kola told some 2000 people in Sinesine’s Koge village last week that a subject on character development should be included in the education curriculum as one of the core subjects.

He said school teachers should be disciplined to teach discipline to the pupils.

“Discipline including good characters and qualities of life should be taught to young children at home, school, church and in public places,” pastor Kola said.

“It would also be appropriate if the house-man system in PNG cultures can be revived to enable elderly and wise people to teach the children on discipline and good characteristics.”

During the week-long evangelistic meeting, pastor Kola’s spouse Agnes Kola took morning and evening seasons on family life while renowned preacher Albert Robert made pres-

entations on the theme, “Jesus our only hope”.

The crusade reached its climax on Saturday, in which 40 candidates within the Eastern Highlands Simbu mission’s Kumul district will be baptised at the nearby Arounile creek. Kumul district director Robert Kangi said it was a district program which was shifted to Koge for presentation since Koge is the centre of Chimbu as well as PNG.

He called on the Koge community, especially those from other Christian church denominations to participate since the subjects presented by the facilitators were important and has potential to spiritually change a person.

Some of the subjects presented at the gathering are: hope for humanity, global warming and greenhouse effect, financial control and mini income generating projects, Law and order, health and hygine and the history of Christianity.

The meet is sponsored by the SDA’s Kumul district.

The Eastern Highlands Simbu mission’s Kumul district geographically covers both the Chuave and Sinesine-Yongomugl districts.

into agriculture. Access to the markets would be easy now because the roads are being fixed after so many years,” he said.

The MP said the economic corridors of the electorates are gradually being opened with the construction of important roads.

“This is our time now. Let us seriously look at micro-economic activities and start upgrading our live style. We can’t be the same old people of Mendi with our entire road links fixed and more importantly, three national highways crisscrossing through our electorate.”

He called on his people to do away with marijuana and tribal fighting because this did not help.

“We’ve been destroying ourselves for decades in tribal fighting and have been living in the dark and suffered long enough while the rest of PNG has moved forward. Let us grab this opportunity and start looking seriously at how to move forward,” Mr Kewanu said.

The MP said Southern Highlands and Hela Provinces hosted nearly all the resources projects in the country and urged the people to tap into spin-off benefits by making use of the land to produce vegetables with his assistance.

KUMUL district director Robert Kangi mentoring young men and women on marriage life.

MR Kewanu (centre) with Mendi mayor Vincent Manda (left) in front of a new bridge as people cross the bridge with uprooted marijuana plants.

Angau redevelopment work impresses governor

MOROBE Governor Kelly

Naru has given overwhelming thumbs up to the ongoing redevelopment at the second largest hospital in the country, the Angau Angau Memorial Hospital.

Led by Angau CEO Dr Jim Abrahams on a tour of the facilities last week, Mr Naru admitted that Angau has is changing and will give the people of Morobe and PNG something to be proud of.

Dr Abrahams said ongoing works have been a successs utilising only K5.5 million from the K15 million allocated by the Government last year.

He said the K15 million is for phase one (1) development of Angau hospital.

Dr Abrahams said work to complete the three new wards of 50 beds each is nearing completion and the hospital is eyeing another five wards to be built within the year. He said the five news wards will bring the bed numbers up to 700 beds.

He said the five wards and more work are being planned soon.

PUBLIC NOTICE

Water committees of all settlements and villages within the National Capital District are kindly advised to please pay up your outstanding bills to avoid inconvenience of disconnections from the water mains.

Please visit our head office at Aopi Centre, First Floor, Waigani or call into our Billings office for an update of your records as at December 31st, 2014.

This is part of the company’s efforts towards debt recovery and thank you for the understanding and support.

For further information you can contact our hotline 312 2133.

Youths urged to lead change

YOUTHS have been encouraged to forget their past and move into new grounds, doing things for God that they have never done before.

Reverend Jacob Harry delivered the message at the recent 7th United Church in PNG (UCPNG) national youth convention held in Lae, Morobe Province.

“The change and shift in your life must begin from inside and eventually influence your external being, in order to break new ground.

“New ground is unexplored, virgin territory. It may be new to you, but is known to God. So break new ground with confidence, because He will be with you,” said pastor Harry. UCPNG assembly secretary Uvenama Rova, who launched the program said receiving information during the convention was one thing but implementing what is being digested is another thing.

He said it is important for positive and effective implementation of the convention material in the youths’ communities and families. Ex-prisoners George Aria and Laio Poka shared their extraordinary experiences, inspiring the young people at the Convention.

Council says no to land bid

BY ABRAHAM AVEDIBA

LAE city council (LCC) executives have revoked former Lord Mayor James Khay’s application of interested for a piece of land at section 22 and allotment 25 on Huon Road.

Lae city lord mayor Koim Trilu Leahy revealed this and the other plans for the city’s expansion.

He explained that the decision that was previously passed under the leadership of the former lord mayor was biased and illegal.

“Normal procedures and the law state that a person bidding for land has to be unattached to the board making the decision, and they must to apply as individual parties,” Mr Leahy said.

“This was not in the case previously, because Mr Khay was holding onto the position as the lord mayor and the council chairman, when he passed his own submission of interest for that particular piece of land.”

Mr Leahy said the current executives of the city council came to an agreement recently to have the land section 22 allotment 25, given to the Lae Christian Academy School instead.

Authorized by Management

EDA RANU

“The space on which the school currently operates on is so small that that it needs additional land space to build a few more class-rooms to cater for the huge number of intakes they have,” he said.

“Considering the fact that they’ve applied as ordinary individuals unattached to us, and also because piece of land is adjacent to the school, the city council has decided to approve their request.

“The approval comes at the school’s

own risk because the land is situated near the Bumbu River, so the school has agreed that the city council will not be held responsible whatever casualties they face in the future, in terms of soil erosion or flooding and so forth.

He also claimed the land was initially planned to have a night club erected on it, however, the council saw that the idea would pose a threat on the neighboring school and private residences in the area.

“Once the night club is established in that land space, we will experience thieves breaking into the class rooms sand stealing school materials.

“Drunkards would also walk around in the neighborhood and cause problems in the area,” he said.

“The council would prefer to have such a piece of land developed to invest in human development activities, rather than establish a set-up, that would contribute to more unlawful behaviour and have a negative impact on human lives.”

Attempts to have Mr Khay to comment on the issue were unsuccessful.

Mr Leahy also revealed the city council’s plans to have the a three storey city hall built on the current site where it stands, and an eight storey Lae Vision City mall to be erected in down town Lae.

He said the cost of the two buildings would be over K70 million.

“These infrastructures would provide employment for the local people and most importantly, it will increase the internal revenue, to cater for other administrational issues that the council is currently dealing with,” Mr Leahy said.

MR Naru, himself in a wheel chair, greeting patients during the tour of the hospital facilities last week

Gazelle promotes small industry

A DOWNSTREAM processing project funded by the Gazelle district administration will begin full production, soon.

The project, which involves the milling of copra and production of bio-fuel and other bio products, has been established at Bitakapuk ward two in the Toma Vunadidir local level government area.

The project is being undertaken by the Vunakokor Farmers Cooperative Society Limited, which is made up of copra growers from Bitakapuk and surrounding wards. It was established in 2013 with a funding of K500,000.

A copra milling facility has been constructed at Rapui to mill copra purchased from local copra growers. The mill is expected to produce biofuel, coconut oil for export as well as other by-products such as soap and stock feed.

Project manager Steven Murure, said the project was 90 percent complete and would start full production as soon as the final instalment of equipment has been carried out.

Mr Murure said the first stage of production has been achieved, which included the crushing of fermented copra to extract what he

Mother, unborn child finally laid to rest

THE body of the a woman and her unborn baby who both died at Nonga General Hospital last month was finally laid to rest at her home village in West New Britain on the weekend.

Caroline Namur’s body was returned to relatives following a decision of a Kokopo District Court three weeks ago was buried at Porapora village on Saturday.

Mrs Namur, aged 44, was ferried from East New Britain to Navo in West New Britain in the early hours of Friday by a boat accompanied by Tomaringa-based mobile squad policemen from East New Britain and transported on a 250km road to Hoskins for burial after much inconvenience caused by her husband and his relatives.

Her body was scheduled to be flown on an Air Niugini flight to Hoskins last Thursday but that was unsuccessful because when her rel-

atives went to the Nonga morgue to fetch her body for the flight the coffin which was left there to put her body in had gone missing.

And a faxed National Court injunction on the relatives to have “the body of the late Caroline Namur remain at the Nonga Base Hospital morgue until a substantive matter is dealt” with was unsuccessful.

The court injunction filed by husband Tony Namur through Frazer Pitpit Lawyers at Kokopo National Court on Friday January 16 was served on the relatives at the weekend by Kimbe police too late as the body is no longer in the Nonga morgue and apparently in the hands of her people well before the documents were served.

Meanwhile, the relatives are still quiet in taking up the case on the issue of alleged hospital negligence.

Students seek assistance

TWO students from East Sepik Province selected for further studies in East New Britain want their local MP to assist with their college fees.

Edward Jiriwahu and Henry Wafi both completed their grade 12 education in East Sepik and want assistance from their local YangoruSaussia MP Richard Maru.

Jiriwahu said they were selected to attend Kokopo Business College this academic year but after coming over, they discovered that they were not be able to meet their college fees which was required before they can be enrolled. He said if they are not able to pay their fees and enroll at the col-

lege this year, they plan to enroll at a private electronic school in Kokopo. He said resumption of the new school year was a few weeks away and want Mr Maru to help them as well as other students in the electorate similar to what other MPs were doing.

termed as crude coconut oil. He said project technical officer Peter Nguna will soon set up the final stage of the production mill which will refine the extracted oil to finish product call virgin oil. The mill will also produce bio-fuel which will be used to run its generator.

He said currently the mill was purchasing an average of two tonnes of copra a week to trial the project but added this will increase once the mill goes into full production.

The project is the brain child of Mr Murure and Mr Nguna, who approached the office of Gazelle MP Malakai Tabar in 2013 with their proposal after failing to get funding support through the PIP concept.

Mr Murure said apart from the virgin oil which will be exported, bio-fuel will be produced to run machines and the waste copra would be mixed with other food sources to produce stock feed.

Of the K500,000 funding, the cooperative society spent K188,000 to purchase the machines including the generator from Brisbane, Australia, K50,000 for the building which houses the mill, K144,000 to purchase a truck to load copra to the mill and K13,000 for electrical work.

FROM left: Gazelle acting district administrator Panuel Luana, first secretary to Gazelle MP Michael Kuki, project manager Steven Murure and deputy district administrator Peter Lapim showing samples of the extracted oil yet to be refined.

We were selected to attend Kokopo Business College but do not have fees

EDWARD JIRIWAHU Kokopo

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SWAYING WITH THE RHYTHM

THE Amiong Cultural Groups is one of the

They are seen here swaying with the rhythm

Education important for Bougainville children

By ROMULUS MASIU

FOUNDATION education for the children of Bougainville is a very important tool that will bring out the best educated population to run the region in years to come.

Cletus Namaara who along with his wife Mary are founders and initiators of child literacy schools in Central Bougainville, said this while visiting one such school recently.

The child literacy school is commonly known as viles tok ples skul (VTPS). The couple paid a visit to three child literacy schools in the North Nasioi constituency namely Kivirai, Tovorai and Paamu.

During their visit the couple encouraged the teachers, students and parents that the proposed curriculum of VTPS is in line with the New Zealand syllabus whereby teachers used in lessons in their bridging

classes, year two and three.

“The learning standard of this is very satisfying whereby the foundation is based on our own vernacular sounds. These sounds are taught before a child moves into a bridging class,” Mr Namaara said.

To date there are two child literacy schools in Kongara, 10 in Kokoda constituency and three in North Nasioi constituency.

Mrs Namaara supported her husband, saying that all

these child literacy schools come under the supervision of St Mary’s Child Literacy School based at Dantanai. She said apart from the established schools, requests are coming in for them to run awareness and to set up more literacy schools because of the successful outcome of the students.

“But the problem is that we’ve got no financial support from government and non-government organisation or others. Our strug-

Police team updates pensions

BY SEBASTIAN HAKALITS

gle to run literacy school for 13 years now is mainly based on educating a child his own language and if he moves into next stage, that is English, he uses his vernacular as a tool to across the bridge into English,” Mrs Namaara said. She said through the VTPS, a child must be educated spiritually in the vernacular, so that he will understand who God is and what his laws are and also who created humans.

Concerned local urges govt to screen visitors

THE influx of people from other provinces and countries into Bougainville has dramatically increased over the years.

One Bougainvillean, John Sania, says many of these people come here to do businesses, get married here or for travel purposes.

Mr Sania said many of

these people may have criminal or undesirable backgrounds from their places of origin and use Bougainville as a safe haven or to get away from the law because the region lacks a proper monitoring system at the airports and ports.

He said Bougainville has entered a very crucial peri-

Post-Courier, Monday, January 19, 2015

od of its existence this year as the window for vote on referendum begins and people with ulterior motives from other areas must not use the region as a hiding place.

“We want good citizens and good investment and I call on the Autonomous Bougainville Government

and the head of Bougainville Police Service to liaise with the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary with updates of criminals by way of pictures of escapees and their criminal history so that we can identify any person coming into the region,” said Mr Sania. He said people from out-

side may see Bougainville’s law enforcement as underresourced so they may try to take advantage of that.

He said proper liaison must be set up and developed between the national police force and the Bougavainville Police Service to prevent this and other bad things from happening.

A PENSIONS audit team from the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary was in Bougainville to collect details from ex-servicemen, widows or next of kin of pensioners.

The Police Department team arrived on Wednesday in Buka and has asked all those people that received pensions from the police to come forward with details of whether they are receiving a low or high income so that the details can be looked upon.

North Bougainville regional police commander, Inspector Spencer Aili said all pensioners from South, Central and North Bougainville must come to Buka police station to hand in their details to the team from Port Moresby.

Insp Aili said the left Bougainville yesterday and he hoped that had updated their pensions database for Bougainville pensioners.

popular cultural groups in Central Bougainville who are always available to provide entertainment and give a cultural touch at big ocassions.

of flute from their kaur (pan pipe) backup at the back at a recent gathering.

Picture: ISHMAEL PALIPAL

If you have business story to tell, text or call us on 3091028, or email ptwundai@spp.com.pg Market

K415m to State

THE chairman of the board of directors of the National Petroleum Company of Papua New Guinea, (NPCP), Frank Kramer has announced that the company had declared and paid a dividend of K415 million to the Government.

The dividend was declared in favour of IPBC as the shareholder of NPCP Holdings – which entity passed on the dividend in full to the State.

The dividend was declared in respect of the financial year ending on December 31, 2014 and paid in full before to year end.

The NPCP Group holds the State’s interest in the PNG LNG Project. Managing director of NPCP Wapu Sonk said the early delivery of

LNG by the project resulted in NPCP receiving distributions from the PNG LNG Project earlier than originally forecast.

The first delivery of gas and condensate was in April 2014 which was seven months earlier than originally estimated providing the additional revenue that has allowed the Company to make the special dividend.

Mr Kramer said the board was pleased to be able to provide to the State some early benefits from their interest in the PNG LNG Project but cautioned that the favourable spot LNG market conditions that had allowed for the payment of the early dividend had changed significantly with Global

Energy markets faced reduced prices and considerable volatility.

The NPCP would be closely monitoring the market conditions and the distributions from PNGLNG in determining the timing and amount of future dividends, he said.

The State’s interest in the PNG LNG Project is currently 16.574881 percent and is held through National Petroleum Company Papua New Guinea, which is owned by the State through IPBC.

NPCP Holdings has been established as the holding company for the State’s oil and gas interests and in addition to the PNG LNG Project.

It has a number of other interests

including the recently purchased Cue Energy assets, the Oil Search shares of 9.81 percent of the company along with its other existing interests.

The NPCP operates on an independent commercial basis as the National Petroleum Company of Papua New Guinea.

Most of the major petroleum producing countries have established National Oil Corporations to commercialise the States participation in its hydrocarbon resources, to preserve and create value for the benefit of the State and future generations so that value in a major business remains as resources diminish over time as they are exploited.

Miners told to innovate and resist pressure

MELBOURNE: Miners don't need to be told times are tough but they must adapt quickly or perish, says a new report by consultants Deloitte.

The plunge in commodities prices has led to 21 projects being removed from the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics major project list at last count.

Ailing small-cap mining shells are surviving by dumping mining.

In Australia at least a dozen are buying technology companies, in Canada they are shifting into medical marijuana.

The value of resources companies has fallen in two years from about 40 to 20 per cent of the ASX. However, mining companies

need to resist short-term investor/analyst expectations for longterm business imperatives, says Deloitte in its annual Tracking the Trends 2015 report. They should innovate and learn from the mistakes of the boom to avoid the cost overruns hurting them now.

Increasingly sophisticated big data should be used for real-time decisions, to anticipate and pinpoint commodity and cost movements that can affect profitability, the report said.

Companies should rethink dumping contractors and bringing services in-house to cut costs, because it could end up having the opposite effect. “It could also create a vacu-

um that mining companies will scramble to fill once the market picks up, and could potentially put companies at the mercy of the few larger contractors that will remain after the shake-out,” said the report.

The report’s top 10 mining trends for 2015 were:

1: Re-think cultural and traditional approaches to costs.

2: Innovation is the new key to survival so embed it in your corporate DNA.

3: Find new ways to source energy including renewables because shortages and costs are rising.

4: Better balance short-term investor/analyst expectations with the need to maintain future project pipelines.

Worst week for shares

5: Funding has dried up so juniors should pool resources with others and woo foreign investors.

6: Juniors should prepare for M and A activity and get their assets in order.

7: Commit to diversifying the workforce and get better at talent management, training and recruitment.

8: Geopolitical uncertainty is rising although the flight to safer countries might help Australia.

9: The importance of working with local stakeholders is greater and win/win platforms must be built.

10 To counter regulatory uncertainty, work to build better government relationships.

MELBOURNE: The sharemarket has fallen for a fifth straight day on Friday, capping its worst week in 18 months. The Swiss central bank's shock overnight move to stop capping its currency's value against the euro added to already low investor confidence amid falling commodity prices and a so-far lacklustre US corporate earnings season. The market picked up in late trade but still dropped 0.6 per cent, and fell three per cent for the week, its biggest weekly loss since June 2013.

“There is risk aversion with the Swiss national bank throwing a curl out, and all up a lot of caution in the markets,” IG market strategist Stan Shamu said.

However the Swiss move may be a positive, if it indicates an upcoming economic stimulus program from the European Central Bank, he said.

Oil prices continued to fall, and so did the share prices of most energy stocks.

Woodside Petroleum dropped 90 cents, or 2.6 per cent, to $34.16, Oil Search gave up seven cents to $7.14 and Caltex Australia lost 89 cents, or 2.6 per cent, to $33.88.

FROM left: Secretaru for Finance Ken Ngangan, NPCP director Larry Andagali, IPBC chairman Paul Nerau, NPCP managing director Wapu Sonkand NPCP board chairman Frank Kramer.

STRENGTHENING TIES

TENDER SALE

Firm secures deal to survey Gulf projects

FULLY integrated global geoscience company CGG has been awarded both a land seismic and an airborne gravity survey by InterOil Corporation (InterOil) to assess the hydrocarbon potential of their acreage in the Gulf province or referred as “the Eastern Basin.

Anyone interested in purchasing the vehicles is advised to inspect the same prior to writing to the address below stating their purchase price with evidence of finance to complete and advise their contact telephone and or fax numbers. (Offers by email or fax will not be considered)

The successful bidder must provide evidence of finance available and will be required to:

1. Pay the 10% deposit within twenty four (24) hours notification of the acceptance of the tender.

2. Pay the balance of the purchase price in cash or by Bank Cheque within seven (7) working days notification of the acceptance of the tender.

Tenders Close 31 January 2015

The Regional Manager Northern Kina Finance Limited P O Box 682 LAE Morobe Province

Tender Ref: KFL # 26508

Tenders can also be hand delivered to the office of Kina Finance Limited, Ground Floor, Nambawan Haus, Lae. For enquiries contact Terry Hall on telephone 472 8175 or 71978526

The company is not obliged to accept the highest or the lowest offer nor respond to all offers received.

InterOil is currently focusing on the Elk-Antelope gas discovery and in the process of forming a consortium to develop PNG’s second largest LNG Project, preferably led by France based Total SA as the operator.

According to a media release, CGG’s airborne group is to conduct a large Falcon Airborne Gravity Gradiometer (AGG)

survey to acquire 11,000 line km of high-resolution data with fixed-wing aircraft and 25,700 line km using rotary-wing aircraft, better suited to acquiring high-resolution measurements in the rugged terrain.

The 2D conventional land seismic award comprises a 465 km survey in InterOil’s southern (petroleum prospecting licence (PPL) 474 and 476 permits (the Murua survey) and may include additional coverage totalling in excess of 200km to the north over their Triceratops and Raptor discoveries.

The statement said to ensure robust operations in challenging operating conditions, CGG will deploy 2,100 Sercel Unite

cable-free channels and autonomous seismic source technology during the two-part survey which is due to start in January and end in August 2015.

CGG’s Bangkok imaging center will process the land seismic data as part of the integrated service CGG is offering InterOil.

Jean-Georges Malcor, chief executive officer of CGG, said:

“CGG was a natural choice for these surveys given the longterm partnership we have developed with InterOil in the Asia-Pacific region over the last seven years. The awards also recognise both our ability to supply a fully integrated exploration solution and our

capability to tightly integrate the interpretation using both the airborne geophysics and the land seismic data into a “Basin in a Box” multi-physics solution which will be highly beneficial to InterOil. They are an excellent example of how CGG’s unique range of fully integrated products and services can successfully come into play and bring significant added value to our clients’ exploration challenges.”

CGG is a fully integrated Geoscience company providing leading geological, geophysical and reservoir capabilities to its broad base of customers primarily from the global oil and gas industry.

Coca-Cola Amatil loses senior managers

COCA-COLA Amatil (CCA) has announced the departure of two senior executives, chief financial officer Nessa O’Sullivan and SPC managing director Peter Kelly.

O’Sullivan will leave her role following completion of year end processes and the February EGM but will remain available to assist as required until end of May. She has been with CCA for 10 years and was appointed Group CFO of CCA in 2010, fol-

lowing six years in various senior finance roles in CCA’s Australian beverages business.

Kelly, managing director of SPC, will leave his role at the end of March 2015.

He has been with the CocaCola system for over 25 years, having worked with Coca-Cola South Pacific before joining CCA in 1993. During this time he has held various operational roles in many of our markets, including Australia, Indonesia

and Papua New Guinea.

CCA chairman Mr David Gonski paid tribute to O’Sullivan and Kelly.

“The CCA Board has highly valued both Ms O’Sullivan and Mr Kelly for their professionalism, integrity and commitment to the success of the Company,” he said in a statement.

“On behalf of the Board, I thank them and wish them well for the future.”

According to the AFR, the

changes are part of a larger reshuffle within the company.

CCA recorded a bottom-line profit of $79.9 million in 2013, which was an 82.5 per cent decrease from the previous year. It is expected to cut 260 jobs this year as it attempts to reduce costs by $100 million over three years.

The company reported a net profit of $182.6 million in the first half of the 2014 calendar year.

AROPA Airport landowners had a traditional obligation ceremony with Air Niugini in the process to further their relationship for the benefit of the smooth operations of the once defunct Aropa Airport. The airport was officially opened last year in December after 25 years not in use due to the Bougainville Crisis. Pictured here is Air Niugini Executive Dominic Kaumu with the landowners.

Firms ink deal for village planning

BY ABRAHAM AVEDIBA

ALL baseline geographical data collected from villagers in LLG’s in the Finschaffen area last year will now be properly filtered and analysed, says Omega Cybertronics Technologies (OCT).

OCT managing director Theophilus Osembo revealed this during the signing of the memorandum of understanding between them and Social Impact Consultants last week.

“And we are pleased to use the Geographic Information Systems (G.I.S) to assist Social Impact Consultancy in identifying key areas of impact where government spending hasn’t reached them yet.

“The G.I.S system will properly generate geographical data and compile geo thematic modules into one database that would influence proper implementation planning in the villages that Social Impact Consultancy has conducted surveys in,” Mr Osembo said.

Mr Osembo explained that it is through such computer systems that people can be able to see whether provincial government spending has impacted targeted villages that financial assistance has been diverted to.

Social Impact Consultants managing director Meredith Tutumang thanked OCT for cooperating with her team.

“The technical assistance that OCT provides will enable us to produce thorough reports and suggestions on the exact needs of villages in rural areas to the government.

“If the government is able to fund then they can do so.

“Otherwise, as long as we have the results we will try to come up with innovative ways to design immediate interventions that can be

At a glance

OCT: A locally owned company that specialises computer accessories and technology, security, merchandising, transport srevices also design softwares.

G.I.S SYSTEM: The Geographical Information System will properly generate geographical data and compile geo thematic modules into one database that would influence proper implementation planning in the villages that surveys have been conducted in.

SIC RESULTS: We can already know the targeted interventions for each of the villages, for every sector that’s under the development plan.

implemented at village level, because our data is villagebased.

“So with the results that OCT can provide through the G.I.S analysis, we can already know the targeted interventions for each of the villages, for every sector that’s under the development plan,” Mrs Tutumang explained.

She further stated that over the last two years they’ve gathered raw data using the multi-stakeholder and social learning process from individual households in the village.

“We have household data on areas such as education, health, economics, etc.

“So that’s why we’ve partnered with OCT to ensure that the right kind of information is collected.

“There’s a lot of community participation that is involved in collecting data so we’ve used other tools as well to indicate that the information that villagers give is neither biased nor unreliable,” Mrs Tutumang said.

Kutubu locals receive ambulance

KUTUBU LLG president John Pipi Kila in hearing the cries and woes of his people of Kutubu handed over the keys to a new Ambulance for Pimaga Rural Hospital to Sister in Charge Wendy Hare.

The Pimaga Rurul Hospital is the referral and only Hospital for the entire Kutu-

bu LLG area and serves the 12,000 Foi and Fasu people of Kutubu who have been without an ambulance.

In a handover ceremony witnessed by Southern Highlands Provincial Health Advisor, Staff of Pimaga Rural Hospital and the local community at Pimaga Government Station, President

Kila whilst handing over the keys of the new ambulance urged the sister Wendy to take good care and use of the vehicle ensuring it serves his people. In particular alleviating the difficulties with patient referrals to Mendi which was not possible till now.

The Ambulance is the

third of three vehicles delivered by President Kila in as many days.

It is in addition to a Highway 19 Police Vehicle and a Trooper he delivered to his administration to assist his ward councillors and Moro Police in their respective duties and obligations to the community.

World Bank assures Sogavare of continuous assistance

THE World Bank Group has assured Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare of its commitment to continue its support programme to various national projects in Solomon Islands.

WB Country Representative Anne Tully made the assurance when a joint team from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) paid a courtesy call on the Prime Minister last week following his recent election to the top political post.

Tully congratulated Sogavare saying the Bank welcomes the direction taken by the new Solomon Islands Government leadership.

She said the WBG aims to add value to government programs through supporting

WBG aims to add value to government programs ...

projects such as the Tina Hydro Project and Rural Development Programme as well as providing independent advice on sectors such as mining and the economy.

WB Solomon Islands senior operations officer Erik Johnson said the Tina Hydro Project is in its critical stage and a strong political will by the Solomon Islands Government is important to seeing

the project off the ground.

Resident Representative of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in Solomon Islands, Seva Payevskiy briefed the Prime Minister of ongoing projects supported by IFC. He told the Prime Minister that the IFC will support private sector led projects in agriculture and other sustainable development areas.

ADB’s development coordinator in Solomon Islands, Suliana Tai’atu Ata’ata also congratulated Prime Minister Sogavare for his recent election victory on behalf of ADB. ADB aims to continue its good working relationship with the Sogavare Government. She mentioned that a high level delegation from ADB comprising of the di-

ANZ, Aust adviser joins forces to support Fiji SME

ANZ has announced a partnership with the Australian Government’s Market Development Facility (MDF) to help Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) strengthen their business cases to access finance for growth.

ANZ CEO Pacific & CEO Fiji, Vishnu Mohan, and Market Development Facility Deputy Team Leader and Fiji Country Representative, Mohammad Shahroz Jalil, signed a Memo-

randum of Understanding in Suva last week to seal the partnership.

The initiative aims to connect business advisory services to SME loan applications.

“We are very pleased to enter this partnership with the Market Development Facility in support of private sector growth in Fiji, where we remain committed to supporting our customers and initiatives such as this to help boost the

economy,” said Mohan.

“From our perspective, the focus on SME growth is extremely important,” Mohan added.

“This is where long-term success begins for a business, and if you get the foundations right, today’s SMEs are tomorrow’s large corporate and global businesses, and we want to play a role in their growth journey.”

Under the initiative, should SME loan applications look promising but don’t fully meet

the bank’s serviceability criteria, the SME will have access to further business advisory support to develop successful applications. The advisory support will work with SMEs to strengthen their business plans and cash flow projections for better loan serviceability.

Jalil added: “SMEs are an important driver of economic growth and contribute significantly to employment in Fiji. -

rector general of the Pacific Division, Xianbin Yoa and the regional director of the Pacific Liaison Cooperation Office will come to Solomon Islands to meet the Prime Minister and the new government.

ADB will provide USD$5m budget support to the Government this year. ADB also provides technical assistance to improve the enabling environment for business through its Private Sector Development Initiative (PSDI). Recent assistance includes reforms to business registration laws, upgrades to business registries customs and excise law reform and continuing reform of finance-related legislation. - SOLOMON STAR/ PACNEWS

KUTUBU LLG president John Pipi Kila handing over the Ambulance key to SHP Health Advisor and Witnessed by Sister in Charge and staff of Pimaga Rural Hospital.

ANNE TULLY Solomon Islands

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of

Scholar puts God first in studies

PASTOR NELSON Gah from Bialla in West New Britain Province can only give thanks to God for his recent achievement when he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theology from the Pacific Adventist University on Sunday December 7.

His pathway to this achievement in this chapter of his life came about after doing some SDA Mission fieldwork (he is a committed member of the Seventh Day Adventist Christian denomination) with the mission, he tells the PostCourier, after he could not make it to further studies and shortly after completing Grade 10 in 1998 at Bialla High School.

He was and is a determined young man with a lot of faith in God. In fact, this is what has kept him aiming high to achieve more in life and for God.

He was invited to come to Port Moresby to be with his older siblings (brother and Sister) and while he was here coming straight from Bialla, he did some upgrading studies through the matriculation at the University of PNG Open Campus - Another stepping stone

for his most recent achievement from PAU. This enabled him to successfully complete the preliminary year of

study after Grade 10 and then move on to do pre- university matriculation courses at the Open Campus. After having successfully com-

peted Matriculation, he got a place to enrol at the Pacific Adventist University with the support of his siblings, the Mission and of course, putting God fi rst and foremost in his studies.

As he was into his years in the four-year degree in Theology Program, began to develop as someone with an ambition to succeed. He was determined to fulfi l his dream of becoming someone that will have a great career. He tells the Post-Courier he was inspired by his big brother who had made it to university.

Another person that he had been inspired by all this time was the late Pastor Matupit Darius, whose last posting was at the PAU before his passing last year.

He had to discipline himself by putting equal time to his studies and the time he took for leisure.

During the interview with the Post-Courier a few weeks ago he said he had developed the faith in the four Ds which were that someone must have a Dream to achieve, Dedication to achieve that dream, Discipline to make sure one is focused to achieve their dream and

with that Determination to achieve that dream.

After attaining his degree on December 7, Nelson Gah was confi rmed to be posted to serve the SDA Mission as the Provincial Area Supervisor New Ireland Province.

Aside that, while he was waiting to be posted to New Ireland towards the end of last year, he was also waiting on the answer to an application he submitted through PAU to go on to do a Master in Philosophy program. His advice to young people who have dropped out of schools is that they must not feel they it is the end of the road.

“God has a purpose for everyone and young people must have hope that life is one long journey. Do not give up hope,” Gah says.

And to parents whose children have dropped out of school or the formal education system that they should not neglect their children. They must continue to encourage their children and nurture them as loving, responsible parents.

Mr Gah received the acceptance confi rmation to do his masters which he is taking up this year.

THE proud theologian surrounded by his family during his graduation from the PAU last December.

SOLDIERS

Start the year with New Horizons

IN CONJUNCTION with the Datec Learning Centers, New Horizons brings to you another great year of professional information technology training.

Since the joint venture started last year, there have been a lot of success stories for those who have graduated from the programs run through the partnership.

This have been for both school leavers from Grade 10 and 12 and the working professionals who come in for after business hours studies.

Our career and corporate training solutions turn ambitions into marketable skills and business goals into tangible results—with learning methods for virtually every schedule and style, plus the most powerful vendor-authorized learning tools and expert instruction. We’ve trained more than 30 million people to make the most of technology, and we’re just getting started.

About New Horizons

We pioneered technology training 30 years ago. And we

MP AT ITI 2014 GRADUATION

VICE Minister for Education and Nawaeb MP

Gisuwat Siniwin presents a certificate to an ITI diploma graduand at the end of 2014.

Mr Siniwin said, when addressing the graduands, skills training was an investment and beginning of a new era in their lives.

“The pathway that you are about to take is another chapter in your life and has its own set of challenges. You are now at the crossroad and the road you will travel on from here is not an easy road” He said.

He commended the ITI for the provision of quality education iterating that the government was committed to ensuring that training providers gave the best quality training to meet industry demands.

Flying institute signs deal with China

THE Allied Aviation Academy has signed a memorandum with a Chinese national airline for the development of PNG’s fi rst ever pilot training airstrip in the Northcoast Road of Madang Province.

Allied Aviation Academy Acting Chief Operator Jurgen Dale has signed a K1.3 million development cost memorandum which will bring PNG into the next level in the aviation history of PNG. The school was invited to present the national aviation education and training development plan for PNG at the China 5 Aviation Education and Training Summit which will be held in April 2015. Mr Dale is calling on leaders within the aviation and transport industry to support in putting the plan together for presentation at the summit.

never stopped.

As changes in technology have accelerated, it’s become even more essential for people to master technology to be productive, invaluable employees who optimize, program and invent solutions—and even grow companies of their own. For 30 years, New Horizons has provided more than 30 million students with industry-leading technical training that delivers the most relevant and intuitive computer courses and certifications. We’re now the world’s largest independ-

ent IT training company, and we continue to lead: 300 computer training centers in 70 countries (and counting)

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Ranked in the top 5% of the industry for training quality and customer satisfaction

Official training partner for technology leaders such as Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA and VMware

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40 percent of all authorized Microsoft training worldwide

World’s largest Cisco-authorized training partner New Horizons is an authorized partner to the top technology providers. For students that means training with the highest quality source materials and the latest products and technologies. For businesses it means getting the highest return on their training investment.

www,newhorizons.com

Pilot school pushes career in aviation

CHOOSING a career is a huge challenge for school leavers and for those seeking a change to fi nd their career path. Deciding what job interests them, fi nding out what training is available and selecting the right training institute is a big responsibility.

One career choice that offers excellent job prospects is aviation. Many students from around the Pacific have chosen to do their Pilot Training with Advance Aviation Training (Fiji) Ltd.

Advance Aviation Training (Fiji)

Ltd is located at Nadi International Airport and operates single engine and twin engine aircraft exclusively for flight training. A fleet consisting of Cessna 150s, 172s and a Partenavia P68, their aircraft are based the AAT hangar in close proximity to their other training facilities within the Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji (CAAF) compound.

Accountable Manager Deborah Hinton reflects with pride for the students of AAT:

“Last year had been particularly exciting for us and culminated in a record number of successful flight tests for AAT pilots. We are always proud of our pilots’ achievements and last year, with the support of the CAAF, we are pleased to announce over 60 commercial licence and multi-engine flight test bookings for the year alone”.

“Since our pilot school started, we have trained students from around the Pacific region and beyond including Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, New Caledonia, South Africa and Mongolia.

Our courses include Private Pilot

Licences (PPL), Commercial Pilot Licences (CPL), Airline Transport Pilot Licence theory (ATPL) as well as twin engine endorsements, Instrument Ratings and Instructor Ratings,” Chief Flying Instructor for Advance Aviation Training Captain Wayne Hinton said.

“It takes dedication and a lot of hard work to be a pilot,” said Niko Droto, who is the Deputy Chief Flight Instructor at Advance Aviation Training. “Anyone wishing to be a pilot would need to be selfmotivated and have excellent time management skills. They need to be committed to their studies and put the maximum effort into both their theoretical and practical work,” he said.

Advance Aviation has fully airconditioned classrooms and lectures are conducted by our dedicated professional ground instructors who offer personalised tuition for small class groups. Computer based training can also be used for many of the subjects taught.

The school introduced the new DCX Pro-Motion Flight Simulator for Instrument Training which is a fi rst of its kind in Fiji. The motion flight simulator brings to a new level the flight training experience. The simulator is open to both pilots and the public. A quick call to the friendly team at AAT will secure a booking.

Advance Aviation Training (Fiji) Ltd helps ensure students achieve their goal to be a professional pilot. There are airlines seeking pilots throughout the Pacific and around the world so there has never been a better time to learn to fly.

A PILOT trainee (left) gets pilot training instructions on a simulator.

Kiwi in Bali ‘trafficked, not trafficker’

JAKARTA: Lawyers for a New Zealander who could face the death penalty in Indonesia will use a novel defence - arguing he is a trafficked person rather than a drug trafficker - to try to save his life.

Antony de Malmanche, 52, was arrested at Bali’s international airport on December 1 with 1.7kg of methamphetamine in his bag.

Six death row inmates were put to death on Sunday as part of Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s determination to stop drug crime.

Barrister Craig Tuck, representing de Malmanche, is set to use a groundbreaking defence when the trial begins, likely next month.

He has formed a specialist team of human rights and legal experts from Indonesia and elsewhere to demonstrate that de Malmanche is a victim of human trafficking.

ONE of two vents of a volcano off the Tongan island of Hunga Ha’apai has created a substantial new island since it began erupting in December.

Newly-awakened volcano creates Tongan island

A NEWLY awakened volcano off an uninhabited Tongan island has finally been viewed up close, with volcanologists saying it has created a substantial new island since it began erupting last month.

Tonga’s lands and natural resources ministry said experts took a boat trip to view the eruption on Thursday and confirmed it had transformed

the local landscape. “The new island is more than one kilometre wide, two kilometres long and about 100 metres high,” it said in a statement.

The volcano, about 65 kilometres south-west of the main island of Tongatapu and the nation’s capital, Nuku’alofa, rumbled to life on December 20 for the first time in five years.

The ministry said the volcano was erupting from two vents, one on the uninhabited island of Hunga Ha’apai and the other underwater about 100 metres offshore.

“During our observations the volcano was erupting about every five minutes to a height of about 400 metres, accompanied by some large rocks,” the ministry said.

“The ash is very wet, most is being deposited close to the vent, building up the new island.” The ministry said ash and acidic rain was deluging an area 10 kilometres around the volcano.

“Leaves on trees on Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha’apai have died, probably caused by volcanic ash and gases.”

A number of international

flights were cancelled earlier this week amid concerns about the volcano’s ash plume, which had reached 30,000 feet, but they resumed on Wednesday as the explosive eruptions of ash died down.

Tonga lies on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, where continental plates collide, causing frequent volcanic and seismic activity. -ABC

At present, international criminal law recognises human trafficking for the purposes of slavery, forced labour, sex, and organ donation.

Mr Tuck’s team will argue the business model of international drug rings, whereby vulnerable people like de Malmanche are duped into carrying drugs, is human trafficking for the purpose of drug trafficking.

An invalid pensioner, de Malmanche says he took his first overseas trip to Hong Kong to meet “Jessie”, a woman he met online.

After three days there, an African man de Malmanche knew as Jessie’s personal assistant “Larry” instructed him to catch a bus to Guangzhou, China, where he’d finally meet Jessie. But in Guangzhou, he met only Larry, who told him Jessie had visa problems and would see him in Bali instead.

-AAp news

Answer to Waltzing Matilda found in Broome

A MYSTERY in Australia’s musical history has been solved with the first recorded singer of Waltzing Matilda tracked to the Kimberley town of Broome.

The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia has more than 300 different versions of the song on file, but it was the origins of the earliest recording that sparked a search from Canberra to Western Australia’s north-west coast.

The two-minute audio track is scratchy and faint, and recorded by a little known tenor called John Collinson.

Archivist Graham McDonald said the 1926 recording intrigued him from the outset.

“It’s not a particularly wonderful recording - it’s done quickly, and the melody has been changed a bit from any of the other versions we know of,” he said.

“Apparently it didn’t sell many copies.

“But it’s significant in that Mr Collinson was the first person to record Waltzing Matilda that we know of, over

in London, before there was a recording industry in Australia.” Nothing was known of the enigmatic performer, so Mr McDonald began trawling through newspaper archives and historical records to piece his story together.

What emerged was a portrait of a quiet and polite man with an adventurous streak, who carved out a small place in Australian history but died an unknown in the remote pearling town of Broome.

Mr McDonald hit the jackpot early in his search, finding the only known image of the mystery singer Collinson online.

The video clip was taken from a British newsreel from around 1930, and shows a rather stiff but handsome young man performing a romantic song on stage, accompanied by a piano player and wearing a smart tuxedo.

It emerged that Collinson was a working-class lad from Newcastle-on-Tyne, who sailed to Australia in 1914 and promptly signed up for the Australian Army.

“He got sent off to Gallipoli later that year, and then to the western front, where he was wounded quite severely,” said Mr McDonald.

“He was shot through both forearms and was being operated on to repair that damage, and as he was coming out of the anaesthetic he started singing in quite a melodious voice.”

As luck would have it, one of the medical staff who overheard him sing was friends with the conductor of London’s annual Prom Concerts.

Collinson was soon having singing lessons, and headed back to London for a moderately successful career as a stage performer.

It was there that he married, had two children, and at some point recorded Waltzing Matilda.

The search for Collinson’s past dried up until the late 1930s when he set sail for Western Australia.

“In 1938 he appeared on a boat to Perth - with a woman who was not his wife,” explains Mr McDonald.

“We have no idea what he did between then and the early 1960’s, when he appeared in Broome.” As many did before him - and as many still do - Collinson appears to have merged into the Broome community with few questions asked of his past.

Gwen Knox grew up opposite his house, which sat perched among the mangroves on the edge of Roebuck Bay.

“He used to ride past the house on his bike, and I always thought he was quite interesting because he had callipers on his hands, and I don’t know what had happened,” she said.

“Sometimes I’d hang on the fence and wave hello, and he’d always wave hello back.

“He seemed a quiet man, and at the occasional times we’d go to church, the Anglican church next door, he used to take the collection money and distribute the prayer books.”

Looking back, Ms Knox wonders at the earlier life her neighbour led, treading the boards of theatre-halls in London. -ABC news

Picture: ABC/AFP

JOHN Collinson singing Waltzing Matilda around 1930.

Picture: ABC/National FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Man dies after breakdown

A SECOND man has died in as many weeks from walking in extreme heat after his vehicle broke down in remote Western Australia.

The 39-year-old man was delivering farm equipment to a homestead in the East Murchison, about 150 kilometres north-west of Cue, when his truck broke down.

Police say when he failed to arrive, the homestead manager began a search for the man and discovered his body under a tree on Friday night.

Temperatures in the region reached 43 degrees Celsius on Friday, January 16.

A 60-year-old man died near Wiluna earlier this month after his car broke down and he left the vehicle in search of help.

He had tried to walk 48 kilometres to a station but was found dead two kilometres short of his destination.

The maximum temperature in the area had exceeded 40C at the time.

Police have described the deaths as tragic and said they reinforced the need for people to stay with their vehicles if they break down in hot and remote locations.

Execution news dreadful

Bali Nine pair to face death penalty together

TWO Australian men convicted in Indonesia over the “Bali Nine” drugs case will be executed at the same time, an Indonesian official said.

Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan would be executed together because they had committed their crime at the same time, Attorney General MS Prasetyo said.

Sukumaran’s appeal for clemency was rejected last week. Chan is still waiting for a response to his appeal.

Indonesia’s use of the death

penalty in drugs cases has been widely criticised.

Australia opposes the death penalty and its government has said it will continue to campaign for its citizens who are facing execution abroad.

Rights group Amnesty International has urged the Indonesian government to halt executions immediately, and eventually abolish the death penalty.

Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws. The country resumed execu-

tions in 2013 after an unofficial four-year moratorium. No executions were carried out in 2014. However, President Joko Widodo has said he will not grant clemency to anyone on death row who was convicted of drugs offences.

Six people are due to be executed this Sunday, Mr Prasetyo said. Five of the six have foreign citizenship. The executions will mark the first use of the death penalty since Mr Widodo took office in October. No date has been set for

the execution of Sukumaran and Chan, and Chan has yet to receive a response from the Indonesian president to his appeal for a pardon.

Mr Prasetyo told reporters that the men would have their sentences carried out simultaneously.

“When a crime is committed by more than one person, the execution must be conducted at the same time,” he said.

“So Myuran will wait for his turn.” Sukumaran, from Sydney, was one of nine Austral-

ians arrested in Bali in April 2005 with more than 8.3kg (18lb) of heroin.

He and Chan were named as ring leaders of the group and sentenced to death in 2006.

The eight men and one woman of the Bali Nine were aged between 18 and 28 at the time of their arrests.

Following various appeals, the other seven are now serving either life or 20 years in prison. Executions are carried out by firing squad in Indonesia. -BBC news

MELBOURNE: Indonesia’s execution of six death row inmates overnight is “dreadful news”, the federal opposition says as two of the Bali Nine face the same fate.

Labor leader Bill Shorten has repeated his call for clemency for Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, Australian citizens who orchestrated a heroin smuggling operation in Indonesia in 2005.

“It is dreadful news - I and Labor do not support the death penalty,” Mr Shorten told reporters in Melbourne on Sunday.

“It is greatly concerning with the news overnight of the execution of six people, some of whom were foreign citizens. “We will work with the (Abbott) government to make sure that clemency is extended to Australians who are facing this most dreadful prospect in the coming days and weeks.” -AAP news

Australia scraps controversial Medicare fee hike

THE Australian government has scrapped its controversial changes to fees charged for brief visits to the doctor.

Doctors had warned their practices could close and patients could flood hospitals because of Medicare changes that were due to take effect on Monday.

Under the proposed changes, GP patients would have paid an extra A$20.10 ($16; £11) for short consultations.

Doctors campaigned against the moves while opposition parties said they would fight the measures in parliament.

Health Minister Sussan

The bottom line

Ley said on Thursday that the fee increases had been scrapped.

“These changes are no longer going to happen,” she told reporters. “My message today is to pause, to consult, to listen and to then take the next steps.”

Ms Ley warned, however, that the government was still intent on introducing tougher “price signals” to the public healthcare system, the cost of which she said was growing at “a rapid and unsustainable rate”.

“Doing nothing is not an option,” she said.

Medicare has been paying A$37.05 towards short GP visits, lasting under 10 minutes, made by millions of patients every year. Under the proposed changes, it would have paid A$16.95, with patients making up the rest.

Opposition parties and independent senators had united against the measures and would likely have had them overturned when parliament resumed in February.

A few hours before Ms Ley’s announcement, Australia’s leading medical association had warned it would continue to pressure the government to

scrap the changes. The president of the Australian Medical Association, Prof Brian Owler, said no issue in recent memory “has provoked outrage among doctors like this rebate cut”.

After Ms Ley’s announcement, Prof Owler said he was glad the government had backed down.

“I am pleased on behalf of grassroots GPs and their patients because they would have borne the brunt of the changes,” he said.

“There was no consultation with any health group,” he said. -BBC news

Drug law in Indonesia is very tough but this does not seem to have any deterrent effect. Why?

MYURAN Sukumaran and Andrew Chan are being held at Bali’s Kerobokan jail. Picture: BBC

THE government had argued that its measures would better reflect the time a doctor spends with a patient. Picture: BBC

Mourners grieve purged leader

MOURNERS have gathered to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of China’s purged former leader, Zhao Ziyang. More than 100 people braved police surveillance to go to what was once his courtyard home in Beijing.

Mr Zhao was detained after opposing the use of force to end the protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989. The former Communist Party leader was under constant

house arrest until his death in 2005, and his name is still rarely mentioned in official circles.

The mourners took flowers and bowed low before photographs of Mr Zhao, in what appeared to be an impromptu ceremony.

Police officers were stationed outside the compound. They allowed mourners to enter the house to pay their respects, but stopped journal-

ists from going in. Mr Zhao’s former adviser, Bao Tong, said that China’s current leaders did not know how to deal with Mr Zhao’s legacy.

“I think that the government is very conflicted about its opinion of Zhao Ziyang,”

Mr Bao told Reuters news agency.

“They’re afraid that if they do not allow the public to remember him then they will make a mistake, and will be

criticised by the public.”

But he added that China’s leaders were also afraid to allow the public to remember Mr Zhao, as they were worried people would ask them why they decided to force him to step down.

In an editorial published on Saturday, the party-backed Global Times newspaper sought to explain the official silence surrounding Mr Zhao and his downfall.

Japan vows $2.5bn for Middle East

It said the silence should itself be taken as a comment on how the party felt.

“In the past 25 years, China has pursued a path that [Mr] Zhao and his think tanks opposed at that time, becoming the world’s second-largest economy. China is using its actions and achievements to answer questions over the sensitive issues,” read the article.

-BBC news

22 die in boat capsise on Yangtze river

TWENTY-TWO people have been confirmed dead after a tugboat capsized on the Yangtze river in eastern China, state media report.

The boat, with 25 people on board, overturned on Thursday while it was conducting tests near Zhangjiagang, in Jiangsu province.

Eight foreigners were among those on board, including Singaporean, Indian, Malaysian and Japanese nationals.

Three people have been rescued, and the boat has been hauled out of the water.

The foreigners on board were four Singaporeans, one Malaysian, one Indonesian, one Indian and one Japa-

nese, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

The three people rescued were all Chinese, Xinhua added.

The tugboat, the 30-metre (98-foot) long Wanshenzhou 67, was undergoing tests, with the ship’s owner and a team of engineers on board.

The Wanshenzhou 67 was registered in Singapore.

One survivor who was rescued early on Friday, Wang Chenhua, said they had been taking the vessel for a trial voyage.

Mr Wang, who was in the cockpit with a 60-year-old Japanese engineer acting as his translator, said that soon after they had conducted a

load test for the boat’s main engine, the boat “suddenly turned over” to the left.

He said water rushed into the cockpit which was fully flooded “within 20 seconds”. He survived by holding onto a hydraulic pump that was not submerged.

Mr Wang added that he had tried to hold on to the Japanese engineer, but they were separated as the boat sank further.

The boat was constructed in China’s Anhui province last October. Local officials told Xinhua the boat had not properly reported its route and work plans to the port authorities.

PUBLIC NOTICE WITHDRAWAL OF PAPER BANKNOTES

JAPANESE Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged $2.5bn (£1.7bn) in non-military assistance to the Middle East.

Mr Abe was speaking in Egypt at the start of his sixday tour of the region, which includes Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

He pledged $200m (£130m) in non-military aid for countries fighting Islamic State, saying the world would suffer if terrorism spread.

Japan relies on the Middle East for much of its crude oil imports.

“It goes without saying that the stability of the Middle East is the foundation for peace and prosperity for the world, and of course for Japan,” Mr Abe said at a meeting of the Japan-Egypt Business Committee in Cairo.

“Should we leave terrorism or weapons of mass destruction to spread in this region, the loss imparted upon the international community would be immeasurable,” he added.

He said that Japan would provide infrastructure and humanitarian assistance to the region, including support for countries hosting refugees from Iraq and Syria.

-BBC news

The public is hereby advised that all PAPER BANKNOTES (K2.00, K5.00, K10.00, K20.00, K50.00 and K100.00), which have been in circulation previously are been withdrawn by the Bank of Papua New Guinea in accordance with Section 62 of the Central Banking Act of 2000. These PAPER BANKNOTES ceased to be legal tender in Papua New Guinea since 2012.

The PAPER BANKNOTES have been phased out and replaced by the POLYMER (plastic) substrate. The Polymer Banknotes remain as legal tender and are not affected by this notice.

Despite of the withdrawal of the PAPER BANKNOTES in 2012, the Bank of PNG has allowed the public who are holding onto PAPER BANKNOTES to return them only to the Bank of PNG and not commercial banks during 2013/2014. The Bank is aware that there are some unused PAPER BANKNOTES in the hands of the public. These unused PAPER BANKNOTES will NOT be accepted in exchange for Polymer Banknotes.

The public is therefore advised that effective from 31st December 2014 the Bank of PNG will NOT accept any more PAPER BANKNOTES in exchange for Polymer Banknotes .

All queries regarding this notice should be addressed to Mr. David Lakatani on telephone number 3227343 or email dlakatani@bankpng.gov.pg

Authorised by:

Loi M. Bakani Governor

-BBC news

THE Wanshenzhou 67 capsized during a test voyage.

Picture: BBC

BANK OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Pope comforts Hayan survivors

POPE Francis has held an emotional open-air mass with a sea of weeping survivors of Typhoon Haiyan, which killed almost 6,300 people in the Philippines just over a year ago.

But his visit was marred by the death of a woman working as a volunteer for the mass, who was hit by steel scaffolding as fierce storms hit the area and forced the Pope to cut his visit short.

Early on Saturday, Francis flew in from the national capital of Manila to Tacloban, one of the cities devastated 14 months ago, to be greeted by hundreds of thousands of people but also another severe tropical storm.

“Long live the pope,” the crowd chanted as he walked off the plane to be immediately buffeted by strong winds and intense rain, which later in the day forced him to cut short his trip to other typhoon-hit areas.

“I would like to tell you something close to my heart,” he told the crowd as strong wind whipped the area, putting aside his prepared homily to deliver a moving, impromptu address.

“When I saw from Rome that catastrophe, I felt that I had to be here. On those very days I decided to come here. I am here to be with you. Perhaps

a little late, I have to say, but I am here.”

Worshippers, many with tears in their eyes, stood amid puddles in a mud-soaked field as the Pope comforted them.

The Pope, wearing a plastic poncho over his vestments to protect him from the rain and wind, said he “respected the feelings” of those who felt they had been let down by God because of the disaster but implored them to move forward in their faith.

“Many of you have asked the Lord, ‘Why?’ And to each of you the Lord is responding to your hearts from his heart ... so many of you have lost everything. I don’t know what to say to you but the Lord does know what to say to you,” he said. Nearly 3,000 victims are buried in the city’s almost half-hectare mass grave site. Hundreds are still unaccounted for.

He asked the crowd to hold a moment of silence for the victims and thanked all those who helped the survivors of the worst recorded storm ever to make landfall.

“This is what comes from my heart and forgive me if I have no other words to express,” Pope Francis said.

A woman working as a volunteer for Pope Francis’s mass was killed as stormy weather sent steel scaffolding

crashing on to her, a church spokesman said.

The scaffolding hit the 21year-old woman in the chest and pinned her to the ground, killing her, Father Amadeo Alvero, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Palo, told reporters.

He said she was one of many volunteers helping at the mass the pope had given earlier in the day at Tacloban airport, which police said attracted a crowd of about 200,000 people.

The pope was forced to fly back to the capital Manila four hours earlier than scheduled to avoid the worst of Tropical Storm Mekkhala.

Only minutes after his plane took off from Tacloban, a plane carrying three of Philippines president Benigno Aquino’s top aides overshot the runway on take-off and nosedived into mud. No-one was badly injured.

An average of 20 tropical storms or typhoons hit the Philippines each year and Mekkhala is the first of 2015.

Saturday’s storm was an eerie reminder of Haiyan, which hit the same area with 250 kph winds and created a seven-metre high storm surge, wiping out almost everything in its path when it swept ashore on November 8, 2013. -ABC news

PUBLIC NOTICE

The Police & State Services Savings & Loan Society Ltd wish to notify its valued Members that:

1. The Office is now open for business as at 12th January, 2015.

2. We are now open for School Fee Loans and Withdrawals only.

3. School Fee Loans will only be for a period of 3 months, January to March.

4. All School Fee Loans must be submitted with all necessary School fee documents.

5. Should there be no supporting School fee documents, the loan application will not be considered.

6. All School fee payment will be paid directly to the school(s) only.

For further information, contact your nearest Police & State Services Savings & Loan Office on the following telephone numbers & email addresses:

HEAD OFFICE - 3123600 / 3259844

EMAIL - lending@polsav.com.pg

LAE BRANCH - 4721738 / 4727763

EMAIL - lae_branch@polsav.com.pg

ALOTAU BRANCH - 6410972 / 6411690

EMAIL - alotau_branch@polsav.com.pg

KOKOPO BRANCH - 9829736 / 9829554

EMAIL - kokopo_branch@polsav.com.pg

KIMBE BRANCH - 9835066

EMAIL - kimbe_branch@polsav.com.pg

MT. HAGEN - 70318931 GOROKA AGENCY - 70318937

WEWAK AGENCY - 70318933 MANUS AGENCY - 70318935

AUTHORISED BY: THE GENERAL MANAGER

Indonesia executes six drug convicts

JAKARTA: Indonesia has put to death five foreigners and one local woman convicted of drugs offences, unleashing a diplomatic storm as Brazil and the Netherlands condemned the execution of their citizens.

The executions - the first under Indonesia’s new President Joko Widodo - were carried out by firing squad on foreigners hailing from Brazil, the Netherlands, Vietnam, Malawi and Nigeria.

Indonesia has tough anti-drugs laws and Widodo, who took office in October, has disappointed rights activists by voicing strong support for capital punishment despite his image as a reformist.

A spokesman for Brazilian President Dilma Roussef said she was “distressed and outraged” after Indonesia defied her repeated pleas and put to death Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, who was convicted of smuggling cocaine into Indonesia in 2004.

“Using the death penalty, which is increasingly rejected by the international community, seriously affects relations between our countries,” the spokesman said in a statement.

Meanwhile Dutch Foreign Minister

Bert Koenders said the Netherlands had temporarily recalled its ambassador to Indonesia over the execution of Dutchman Ang Kiem Soei, and described all six deaths as “terribly sad” in a statement.

“My heart goes out to their families, for whom this is marks a dramatic end to years of uncertainty,” Koenders said. “The Netherlands remains opposed to the death penalty.”

Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Prime Minister Mark Rutte had been in contact with the Indonesian president on the matter, he said, and the government had done “all in its power” to attempt to halt the execution.

All the prisoners, who had been sentenced to death between 2000 and 2011, were executed around the same time shortly after midnight, Tony Spontana, a spokesman for the attorneygeneral’s office, told AFP.

Vietnamese woman Tran Thi Bich Hanh was executed in Boyolali district in central Java, while five others were put to death on Nusakambangan Island, home to a high-security prison, off the south coast of the archipelago’s main island of Java.

-AAP news

Afghan nominee on wanted list

THE Afghan president’s office has launched an investigation after it emerged that President Ashraf Ghani’s nominee for agriculture minister is on Interpol’s most-wanted list.

Interpol’s website says Mohammad Yaqub Haidari is wanted in Estonia for large-scale tax evasion dating back to 2003.

The president’s office was unaware Mr Haidari had legal problems but

was investigating, a spokesman said. Mr Haidari said he was on the list but was victim of a political conspiracy.

“When you enter the world of business and politics, this is what happens,” he was quoted by Reuters as saying.

He told the news agency that the taxes were owed not by him but by a person who bought a company from him that did business in Estonia.

-BBC news

POPE Francis, wearing a yellow raincoat, waves to pilgrims after holding a mass at Tacloban’s airport. Picture: ABC/REUTERS

Five killed in Charlie Hebdo riots

NIAMEY: Five people have been killed in violent riots in Niger’s capital over the depiction of the Prophet Mohammed on the cover of France’s Charlie Hebdo weekly, with angry crowds setting fire to churches.

The protesters torched at least eight houses of worship in Niamey on Saturday. Bars, hotels and various businesses under non-Muslim ownership or bearing signs of French companies were also targeted. It was the second day of violence in the west African country over the Mohammed cartoon, after five people were killed and 45 injured in protests in Niger’s second city of Zinder on Friday.

Hollande defends free speech

FRENCH president Francois Hollande says anti-Charlie Hebdo protesters in other countries do not understand France’s attachment to freedom of speech.

He was speaking a day after the satirical weekly’s publication of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed sparked violent clashes, including deaths, in some Muslim countries. “There are tensions

abroad where people don’t understand our attachment to the freedom of speech,” Mr Hollande said during a visit to the southern city of Tulle.

“We’ve seen the protests, and I would say that in France all beliefs are respected.”

Demand has surged for Charlie Hebdo’s first issue since two militant gunmen burst into its weekly editorial conference and shot dead 12

people at the start of three days of violence that shocked France.

A cartoon image of Mohammed on this issue’s front page - showing the Prophet shedding a tear and holding a sign saying “all is forgiven” - has outraged many in the Muslim world, triggering violent demonstrations in Algeria, Niger and Pakistan.

The magazine’s distribu-

IS frees 200 Yazidis

ALTUN KOPRI, Iraq: The Islamic State (IS) group has released more than 200 mostly elderly members of northern Iraq’s Yazidi minority who had been held for months.

The Yazidis were freed on the frontline southwest of the city of Kirkuk and met by Kurdish peshmerga forces who brought them to a health centre in Altun Kopri, on the road to the Kurdish regional capital of Arbil.

According to officials from Kirkuk and Arbil, the group was moved from Mosul via Hawija and freed at the Khaled entrance to Kirkuk on Saturday.

Dozens of Kurdish doctors and nurses provided emergency care at the Altun Kopri health centre, where Yazidis who had heard the news started to mass at the gates, hoping to be reunited with missing relatives.

IS spearheaded a June offensive that began in Mosul and overran much of

Iraq’s Sunni Arab heartland north and west of Baghdad, sweeping security forces aside. After driving south toward Baghdad, IS again turned its attention to the north, pushing Kurdish forces back, killing and capturing thousands of Yazidis and twice besieging others on Mount Sinjar.

Officials told AFP the mass release, the largest of its kind, took them by surprise and said there had been no co-ordination with IS.

“IS must have decided that they could no longer feed them, look after them. They were a burden,” said Khodr Domli, a leading Yazidi rights activist.

“IS saw that there was no benefit for them in keeping these old people,” said Vian Dakhil, a Yazidi member of the Iraqi parliament who made a poignant appeal to the international community for assistance in August.

-AAP news

Belgium deploys troops

BELGIUM has begun deploying hundreds of troops to patrol the streets after security forces smashed a suspected Islamist “terrorist” cell planning to kill police officers.

Up to 300 soldiers will be gradually deployed in the capital Brussels and the northern city of Antwerp, which has a large Jewish population, prime minister Charles Michel’s office said in a statement.

“The mobilised troops will be armed and their primary responsibility will be to survey certain sites” and to reinforce police, the statement said.

Military unions have expressed concern about whether the soldiers would legally be allowed to use their weapons to kill.

Defence minister Steven Vandeput confirmed they could meet fire with

fire. Military personnel will be stationed at locations such as the US and Israeli embassies in Brussels and NATO and EU institutions.

“It’s very important to say that this wasn’t a simple decision, but it was necessary, at a time when police are overly engaged, for the army to enter in a supporting role,” Mr Vandeput said.

Troops will reinforce police at least until Thursday, when authorities will review the national threat level, set at three on a scale of four this week.

The soldiers could also eventually be deployed to the industrial eastern city of Verviers, where early on Friday security forces killed two suspected Islamists in a huge raid on an alleged jihadist cell planning to attack police in the country. -ABC news

tors said its print run had been lifted to 7 million copies, dwarfing its usual circulation of only 60,000. The shootings in Paris were prompted by Charlie Hebdo’s previous publication of Mohammed cartoons, a depiction many Muslims consider blasphemous. “We’ve supported these countries in the fight against terrorism,” Mr Hollande said.

Selfie

“I still want to express my solidarity [towards them], but at the same time France has principles and values, in particular freedom of expression,” he added. A violent mob torched at least seven churches in Niger’s capital Niamey on Saturday as protests raged on against the publication, French news agency AFP reported. -ABC news

By Saturday evening calm had returned to Niamey, where police were stationed outside the city’s cathedral and other religious buildings, the AFP correspondent said.

“In Niamey, the tally is five dead, all civilians,” Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou said in a speech broadcast on state television, appealing for calm.

He added the death toll in Zinder had climbed from four to five after a body was found “burned inside a church”.

“Those who loot these places of worship, who desecrate them and kill their Christian compatriots ... have understood nothing of Islam,” he said. -AAP news

MORE than 1,000 people threw rocks at police and burned tyres in Niger’s capital. Picture: ABC/AFP

UK, US in joint anti-terror push

BRITAIN and the US are to share expertise on preventing radicalism and tackling domestic “violent extremism”.

Prime Minister David Cameron announced the move following talks with President Barack Obama at the White House, warning that they both faced a “poisonous and fanatical ideology”.

The taskforce will report back to the two leaders within six months.

Mr Cameron also said Britain would deploy more unarmed drones to help ground forces tackle Islamic State.

The prime minister is on a two-day visit to Washington for talks with President Obama, likely to be his final Washington visit before the UK general election in May.

At a press conference in the White House, Mr Obama hailed Mr Cameron as a “great friend” while the British prime minister said the US was a “kindred spirit”.

The talks between the two leaders came a week after the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris which killed 17 people.

Concerns over additional

attacks by Islamic extremists intensified on Thursday, after an anti-terror raid by police in Belgium, to pre-empt what officials called a major impending attack.

UK police have said there is “heightened concern” about the risk to the UK’s Jewish communities and are considering stepping up patrols in certain areas.

Mr Cameron said it was a “sensible, precautionary” measure to take to “reassure those communities”.

Mr Cameron said: “We face a poisonous and fanatical ideology that wants to pervert one of the world’s major religions, Islam, and create conflict, terror and death.

“With our allies we will confront it wherever it appears.”

Assistant Commissioner

Mark Rowley, the UK’s police lead for counter-terrorism, has said police have been reviewing their own security since the Paris attacks.

“We are also considering what further measures we might put in place to enhance the security of police officers, given some of the deliberate

targeting of the police we have seen in a number of countries across Europe and the world,” he said.

“Chief constables across the country are reviewing how to strengthen the protection of their officers from such attacks.” President Obama said the US, UK and its allies were “working seamlessly to prevent attacks and defeat these terrorist networks”. Asked whether an attack was “imminent” in Britain, Mr Cameron said the terror threat level, set independently by the Joint Terrorism Assessment Centre, was currently at “severe” - meaning an attack is “highly likely”. He warned that the fight against terrorism “is going to be a long, patient and hard struggle” but added that he was “quite convinced we will overcome it”.

The prime minister also announced that the UK would send an additional 1,000 troops to take part in Nato military exercises in the Baltic states and eastern Europe amid heightened tensions in the region following Russia’s conflict with Ukraine. -BBC

New rules ease US-Cuba travel restrictions

NEW travel and trade rules between the US and Cuba have come into effect in the biggest policy shift between the two countries in more than 50 years.

Measures include allowing US citizens to use credit cards in Cuba and for US businesses to export some technologies.

Americans will be able to take home up to $100 (£66) in alcohol and tobacco from Cuba.

The move implements last month’s agreement to re-establish ties severed since 1961.

Although the latest moves put a large dent in the US trade embargo against Cuba’s communist government, only Congress can lift it completely.

Earlier this week, US officials said Cuba had completed the release of 53 political prisoners agreed as part of the historic deal.

White House press secretary Josh

Earnest said the changes would “immediately enable the American people to provide more resources to empower the Cuban population to become less dependent upon the statedriven economy”.

While ordinary tourism is still banned, the new regulations will allow US citizens to travel to Cuba for

any of a dozen specific reasons without first obtaining a special licence from the government.

United Airlines announced on Thursday plans to begin flying to Cuba from its terminals in Houston and Newark.

US credit and debit cards can be used there and there will be no more limits on how much money US citizens can spend in Cuba each day.

About 170,000 authorised US travellers went to Cuba last year, according to the US Department of Commerce. US firms will also find it easier to export mobile phones and software to Cuba, as well as provide internet services there.

Cuba currently has one of the lowest internet penetration rates in the world - estimated at about 5% by the White House.

A change in the regulations will also allow US investments in some small businesses and agricultural operations.

The thaw in relations between the two countries was announced last month in simultaneous televised speeches by President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro. -BBC news

US troops to train Syrian rebels

THE US Department of Defense is to send 400 troops and hundreds of support staff to train moderate rebels against Islamic State (IS) in Syria.

It is not yet clear where the troops will be drawn from or where they will be based, though Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have offered to host them.

The US aims to train more than 5,000 rebels annually for three years. It marks an expansion in the US training of Syrian rebels which be-

gan in March 2013 in Jordan. This covert programme was led by the CIA. In October 2014 it was announced that the project would be escalated and a parallel Pentagon programme established.

The latest announcement comes days after senior US officials met Syrian opposition leaders in Istanbul, Turkey. The US hopes that by training the rebels, they will be more effective in the fight against IS militants. -BBC

IN Lima protesters clash with the police during a demonstration against the Peruvian government’s youth labour laws. Picture: BBC

CLASH!

Solution to puzzle SL0832

stars

ARIES

March 20 - April 19

Last week your ruler Mars moved into the most strategic and reflective potion of your chart. This began a cycle of complex but rewarding exploration and inner reflection. While often the purpose will be frustratingly unclear, within a short time you’ll recognise benefits as worthwhile as they are unanticipated.

TAURUS

April 20 - May 19

Often good fortune comes in odd or even unexpected forms. Still, judging by the link between your ruler Venus and Jupiter, certain events, offers or ideas are well worth exploring. At minimum, you’ll learn something. But the odds are good you’ll end up better off as a result of doing so.

GEMINI

May 21 - June 20

Having been born as an inquisitive Gemini, you wouldn’t think you’d need encouragement to explore new ideas. Yet long ago you decided certain matters were predictable and dull, when they’d not only be of interest, you’d benefit from exploring them. This week’s stars are encouraging you to do just that.

CANCER

June 21 - July 21

Since the pivotal Cancer Full Moon, as the week of January 4th began, you’ve been weighing up the value of existing arrangements versus new ideas. In some cases it’s worth taking time over these. But in others, you’ll learn more from experience. Commit to and undertake plans and you’ll soon know what’s best.

LEO

July 22 - August 22

Being a Leo and a fire sign, you measure the importance of relationships by your passion for them. If that’s lacking, as is the case in several arrangements at the moment, you’ve little reason to fight to keep them going. However, thereÕs an exception, and that involves one dull but essential practical alliance.

VIRGO

August 23 - September 22

As much as you’d like certain individuals to take a greater responsibility in joint ventures, your instincts say it would be unwise. Their standards aren’t as high as yours. This wouldn’t just result in disagreements, it could lead to problems. Still, there are things the individuals in question can and should do.

LIBRA

September 23 - October 22

In early January, both your ruler Venus and Mercury moved to accent who and what bring you joy in life. You wouldn’t think this would be confusing, but it’s raised questions about your priorities. In fact, what you’ve learned and will this week could lead to worthwhile discussions and crucial changes.

October 23 - November 22

The questions raised by the Sun’s encounter with your ruler Pluto, in early January, haven’t been fully resolved. Actually, that’s good, because many deserve both time and thought. Allow yourself exactly that now and instead of struggling with these matters, youÕll find an answer that is both natural and lasting.

November 23 - December 22

Of course, being offered an intriguing introduction or told about an exciting invitation is thrilling. Yet you’re uneasy. You almost feel this is a trap. In a way it is, but one that will broaden your horizons and introduce you to people, ideas and experiences that previously have made you anxious.

December 21 - January 19

A month ago, your ruler Saturn moved into a new position in your chart. While this marks a real change of pace, it especially accents the variety of quiet reflection you’ve been longing for. Enjoy it. This will be an important part of your life for the coming two years.

January 20 - February 17

Although the current Aquarius New Moon is about a fresh perspective, on both practicalities and your life, you’re more conscious of what’s going than what’s next. This process of decluttering is a vital first step. Once those distractions are gone, you’ll find it easier to focus on future ideas and plans.

February 18 - March 19

With Mercury, Venus and now the Sun in the most strategic angle of your chart, life’s not about action, it’s about insights. As a Piscean, you long ago learned to acknowledge the value of such wisdom. This is particularly the case now. Even more important, give yourself time to appreciate them.

Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary Selected Applicants for Constable Training 2015

Selected names of candidates from 2014 Nationwide Recruitment Drive considered successful for Basic Constable Training at Bomana Police College

The Training will commence on Monday 2nd February, 2015

Highlands Region

10 Pricilla Songopa F 11 Winterford Koke M

SIMBU PROVINCE

1 Philemon Nawia M

2 Peter Tolpare M

3 Jr David Koila M

4 Kennan Rim M

5 David Ulka

Momase Region

Islands Region

Southern Region

IN MEMORIAM

DEATH NOTICE

DEATH NOTICE

Late Mr Jack Wartovo Salatiel, MBE

Born:1st July 1947

Died: 16th January 2015

In loving memory of

Late Paul Komala Warto, 19th January 2015 marks 2 yrs without you. Greatly missed by your loving wife, Jenny Warto, children Jenainah, Felix and Kemwan Warto.

We would like to inform relatives, family, friends and former colleagues in and around the country of the passing of our beloved Husband, Father, Grandfather & In-law Mr Jack Wartovo Salatiel, MBE of East New Britain Province on the 16th of January 2015 at the Port Moresby General Hospital.

Haus Krai: Salatiel’s Residence- Gerehu Stage 3B, Gahuna Gaudi Drive, Red Hills

Funeral Service Venue: Reverend Sioni Kami Memorial Church

Time/Date: Wednesday, 21st January, 2015 at 10.00am

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power & of love & of a sound mind” 2Timothy 1.7

For more information contact:

Ms Louisah Salatiel-Lavutul - 730 04 079

Ms Janet Lavutul - 737 62 097

POSITION VACANTS

Outstanding Career Opportunity

An opportunity has come available with PNG Motors Port Moresby.

We are seeking the services of a top flight experienced

The person we are seeking must have the following attributes / experience:

Qualifications:

Minimum 5years experience in a similar position

Ability to work in a team environment

Be a qualified Marine Technician

Ability to work with minimum supervision

Of sober habits and well presented

Experienced in re-powering and fitting up boats

Experienced in Marine engine, inboard / outboard /repairs & servicing

Must have a current Drivers Licence

IF YOU FIT THE ABOVE CRITERIA THEN “WE WANT YOU”.

PNG Motors offers an outstanding salary package with accommodation allowance and other benefits for the right candidate.

Send your resume to the: PNG Motors POM Branch Manager P.O. Box 1394 Boroko, NCD.

Applications close 23/01/15

All applications treated with strict confidence.

a member of the Kenmore group

“Marine Technician / Boat Refitter”.

POSITION VACANTS

COMMUNITY MOBILISERS FOR NCD, CENTRAL AND EAST NEW BRITIAN PROVINCES

The Leprosy Mission PNG (TLMPNG) is an International Christian NGO working in partnership with the National Health Department addressing Leprosy. TLMPNG is looking for suitable candidates to fill in the Position of Community Mobiliser in the above mentioned Provinces. The post is set to support the Leprosy Control Program in the 3 Provinces.

REQUIREMENTS

Tertiary Qualification in development, social science, primary health or other relevant disciplines.

Understanding of the project cycle and implementation of projects is an advantage.

Experience in community participatory development work is an advantage.

Demonstrated leadership experience at community level with view of enabling others for leadership will be necessary.

Experience in co-facilitating meetings, trainings and workshops and transferring knowledge and skills through training will be an advantage.

Experience in working with people affected by leprosy or people with disability, their families and communities - including coordination of activities is necessary for the job.

Good written and oral communication skills in English and Pigin/Motu.

Work independently with less or no supervision.

Travelling : Travel within the Province and up to 3 trips to Madang per year. Up to 60% of your time will be away from base office to districts.

For further information about the Job and/or Interested applicants are invited to submit a current resume/CV and a cover letter to; Ms. Jacqueline Pil; Email: jacquep@leprosymission.org ;

Phone/Fax: 422 2565 by 6th of February 2015.

Grant Accountant, Papua New Guinea

Location: Madang, Papua New Guinea

Contract type: Permanent National Contract

Salary & Benefits: Attractive salary and benefits package for a successful candidate

About VSO

VSO is the world’s leading independent international development organisation that works through skilled volunteers to fight poverty. Specialising in long-term capacity development, we place skilled and experienced volunteers with partner organisations to transfer technical expertise, share learning and build networks. Through our volunteers, we harness the talents, enthusiasm and skills of ordinary people to bring about lasting change.

It is an exciting time to join VSO in Papua New Guinea (PNG), our largest programme in Asia and the Pacific. We are successfully managing programmes focused on health, education and gender. We see huge potential for growth and we have an increasingly diverse and stable funding base. For the right individual this could be a transformational career opportunity.

The post holder will provide financial support and expert advice on grant financial management. You will manage and maintain the grant financial activities to ensure an efficient, secure and confidential financial environment in compliance with VSO policies and procedures, donor requirements and local regulations. There will be considerable work in designing budgets for funding proposals as well as managing existing funding and donor reporting.

Role overview

You work as a member of the finance team reporting to the finance manager. You will be working with the other programme managers to effectively manage our existing grants:

trained in contractual requirements

available to programme managers and the Country Director on grant expenditure. Maintain a picture of matched funding liabilities. accessible both online and hard copy

corrective action is applied, followed through and followed up.

In addition, you will be a role model in resource and risk management in managing the programme team’s human resources and financial resources.

Skills, qualifications and experience required

You will be a qualified accountant with a background in donor compliance and reporting. You will have experience in the financial management of donor restricted funding reporting, procurement procedure, grant management, grant equipment and donor rules and regulations for non-profit organisations.

Strong knowledge of internal financial controls and year-end procedure. strong communication skills, attention to detail and analytical thinking.

How to

apply

To find out more details and apply, please visit our website http://www.vsointernational.org/vso-today/careers-at-vso/ using the vacancy search function to find for the employee position “Grant Accountant, Papua New Guinea” and download the job description to read more details about the position and the skills and experience we’re looking for and complete the online application form.

Application closing date

30 January 2015

Interview date / Assessment date (s)

Week commencing 09 February 2015

Start date

As soon as possible

VSO is committed to a policy of equal opportunities, values inclusion and seeks to have a diverse workforce. Applications are welcome from people of all origins, ethnicities, against the above requirement with the position only.

Due to a high volume of applications, only short listed candidates will be contacted.

POSITION VACANTS

Avenell Engineering Systems Ltd

Applicants are invited from suitable qualified and experience persons to fill in the following;

Successful applicants for the position below will be assign to AES Project Location Ravuvu Industrial Park, Port Moresby NCD.

1x Licence Electrician

- Must have 5 years work experience

- Must have experience in Industrial Low Voltage Electricity

Successful applicants for the position below will be assign to AES Project Location Port Moresby, NCD.

2 x Construction Foreman

2 x 40 tonne Forklift Operator

4 x Tractor Operator

3 x Port Security Guards

Successful applicants for the position below will be assign to AES Project Location Bomana, Port Moresby NCD.

1x Road Works Construction Supervisor

10x Carpenters

10x Licence Plumbers

5 x Kerb Machine Operator

- Experience in laying Kerb with an arrow 770 Kerb Machine

Successful applicants for the position below will be assign to AES Project Location Tabubil, Western Province.

1x Crane Operator

1x Rigger/Hatch man

1x Refrigeration/Air Conditioning Mechanic

Interested Applicants should address your applications to: The Human Resource Department PO BOX 76, Konedobu National Capital District Or Email Applications to: hr@aespng.com

Applications close on the 26th January 2015.

Note that; Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted as successful applicants are required for urgent start.

Public Notice

This is to advise the public that Ms Francisca Aiden is no longer employed by Airlines PNG after she had abandoned her employment. Therefore any persons dealing with her will do so at their own risk and Airlines PNG will not be liable in any way as a result thereof.

POSITION VACANTS

LICENCED ELECTRICIAN – PROPERTY MAINTENANCE

THE COMPANY

Ela Motors is the leading Automotive Company in PNG with over 1000 staff in 16 dealerships. We are committed to developing a quality-focused organization and team culture that provides our employees the opportunity to learn & develop to the highest standards whilst enjoying a professional and enthusiastic work environment.

Based at our Property Department Badili this role is responsible for electrical maintenance work within ead f ce Badili and Waigani dealerships. eporting directly to the Property Manager this role requires a technically skilled enthusiastic disciplined and motivated individual who has the ability to work in a team.

Qualities and Attributes:

Minimum ve years e perience in one or a combination of either Commercial Industrial or Domestic electrical installation and repairs

E perience in attending to maintenance requirements of generators small pumps and air conditioning for commercial buildings

E perience in minor repairs to electrical appliances and tures

A solid understanding of OHS requirements and practices

Class 6 Drivers Licence would be an advantage

Possess a positive attitude honest nature and sober habits

Competitive remuneration will be discussed with the successful applicants only

APPLY NOW

POSITION VACANTS

Ok Tedi is a world class mine located at the head waters of the Fly River system in the Western Province of PNG with more than 30 years operational history and over 2000 employees. We offer excellent conditions and career development opportunities.

We are now seeking suitably qualified and experienced persons for the following roles:

PROCESSING DOCUMENT CONTROLLER

Reference: 103615

Reporting to the Superintendent Training, you will be responsible for facilitating all aspects of document control and technical writing for all training and assessment documents within the Processing OHSE & Training Department.

You will plan, organise and coordinate VOC assessment processes for both OTML and contractor employees. You will liaise with various Department sections including contractors on the development and review of their training skills matrices and ensure standard Records Management practise is adhered to.

To be considered, you must possess a minimum of Grade 10 level education with 2 - 3 years’ work experience in a similar role. A high level of computer literacy and software programs such as Alesco systems is essential. Proven ability to take initiative, exercise mature judgement, and demonstrated ability to communicate at all levels would be highly regarded.

SUPPORT SUPERINTENDENT CRUSHING

Reference: 20150116

Reporting to the Superintendent Process Operations, you will be responsible for the production performance of the concentrator operations from the crusher dump pockets through to the SAG Mill stockpile.

You will provide leadership and management to improve plant performance right through to shutdowns. You will maintain the required standards of environmental management and optimise the performance of the concentrator to achieve production and cost targets.

To be considered for this position you must possess an Electrical or Mechanical Certificate from a recognised institution with at least 5 years’ experience in a similar role in either the mining or heavy industrial industry. You should have previous supervisory work in crusher/concentrator, and experience in grinding circuits and distributed control systems (DCS). Proven ability to take initiative, exercise mature judgement, and demonstrated ability to communicate at all levels would be highly regarded. Current valid Class 6 driver’s licence is compulsory.

SUPPORT SUPERINTENDENT AUXILIARY SERVICES

Reference: 103603

Reporting to the Superintendent Process Operations, you will be responsible for all essential auxiliary services to support the operations of the processing plant.

You will provide leadership and management in the team to ensure there is constant supply of raw materials available for the daily operations of the concentrator, maintaining plant cleanliness from industrial steel to general waste, maintaining standard work permitting and isolation system of equipment’s right through to isolation of equipment’s handover for maintenance works.

To be considered for this position you must possess a Bachelor’s Degree in Mineral Processing from a recognised institution with at least 3 years’ experience in a similar role in the mining or heavy industry. You should have previous supervisory work in concentrator plants, and have sound knowledge of key metallurgical processing. Proven ability to take initiative, exercise mature judgement, and demonstrated ability to communicate at all levels would be highly regarded. Current valid Class 6 driver’s licence is compulsory.

These are challenging roles requiring enthusiasm, a commitment to safety in the workplace and a high degree of self-direction.

If these roles appeal to you, please express your interest by sending your résumé to the Recruitment Advisor, Human Resources, Ok Tedi Mining Limited, P. O. Box 1, Tabubil Western Province, PNG or on e-mail: JoinUs@ oktedi.com or fax it to +675 649 9199 by 2nd February, 2015

uali ed applicants should send in their application with an updated C Particulars and a copy of a current driver s license to the address below ELA

Moresby - NCD or Email careers@elamotors.com.pg

Applications close on Friday 30th January, 2015.

NOTE: ONLY SHORTLISTED APPLICANTS WILL BE CONTACTED

16 Dealerships nationwide

www.elamotors.com.pg

EUROPEAN UNION Delegation to Papua New Guinea Vacancy Notice

RECEPTIONIST

The Delegation of the European Union to Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby is seeking to recruit a local agent to fill the post of Receptionist.

We are looking for a skilled candidate who has completed secondary education, obtained a diploma as well as 3 years of experience in the relevant field. The candidate must have a high degree of competence, be reliable and have excellent organization and communication skills.

Salary will commensurate with qualifications and experience.

Job description can be obtained on the Delegations website: http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/papua_new_guinea/about_us/vacancies/index_en.htm

Applications can be sent to:

The Head of Administration Delegation of the European Union to PNG

6th Floor, BSP Haus, Habour City

PO Box 76, Port Moresby, NCD Ph: 308 2400

Email: delegation-papua-new-guinea@eeas.europa.eu

Deadline for receipt of applications: 28th January 2015.

PNG CHIROPRACTIC

Spinal adjustments by Australian registered Chiropractor Dr O’Brien. Enhancing nervous system func on through spinal adjustments promo ng overall health.

For appointments call 325 8466. Located in Gordons Port Moresby

Manu & Associates Lawyers – LAE

Have vacancies for the following:

2 x Office Assistants / Secretaries

Applications to: PO Box 748 Lae, Morobe province

For queries: call 7148 5921

POSITION VACANCY HEAVY EQUIPMENT FITTER SUPERVISOR POSITION VACANT

New Britain Palm Oil Limited Milne Bay seeks to appoint a trade qualified, self motivated, resourceful and dedicated Heavy Equipment Fitter Supervisor to its Vehicle Workshop Department Team, with the above position based at Hagita, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea. Those outside of the province are encouraged to apply as the future opportunities in the industry are unfathomable.

The successful applicant will report to the Senior Superintendent and liaise with the Head of Department and will have the following responsibilities:

Position Vacant

Looking for a More Rewarding Career Path, then look no further than!!

We are a major multi franchise distributor based in Port Moresby with dealerships throughout Papua New Guinea and a seeking the service of a Group Credit Controller for our Head Office in Port Moresby. We extensively use Pentana Automotive computerized system throughout our operations and this position reports directly to the Group Financial Controller.

The Job:

Responsible for the monthly credit accounts approximately PGK22mil throughout the country, in this role you will be required to: proceedings;

The Candidate:

The ideal applicant for this role must be a Diploma holder in either accounting or business studies and having at least 5 years working experience in similar position. You should have a good knowledge in credit control, debtor collection including court filing procedure for debt recovery and tender processes.

You should also be:

K

in Port Moresby 55

per month plus GST

Remuneration:

We offer excellent and competitive remuneration package which include bonus scheme and good prospect for career advancement.

The terms and conditions of employment will be discussed with the shortlisted candidates during interview.

We provide training and uniforms for all our employees and offer a state-of-the-art, clean and friendly work environment.

Please submit your written applications to: The Group Financial Controller Boroko Motors Limited P O BOX 1259 BOROKO National Capital District Papua New Guinea

Or Fax to: 323 9550/325 5301 or e-mail your application to jobs@borokomotors.com.pg

PLEASE NOTE THAT ONLY SHORTLISTED APPLICANTS WILL BE CONTACTED.

The closing date of application is 28th January 2015

• Efficient and successful preventative maintenance KPI’s conducive to maximum productivity.

• Ability to direct and manage a crew of fitters maintaining a disciplined and flexible demeanor.

• Be able to meet deadlines and achieve targets while watching the bottom line.

• Some experience with Pronto CMS and parts protocol would be an advantage.

• Be proficient in Komatsu VCAD software and other models including CAT.

• Effectively supervise team to ensure efficient use of resources and enhance cost-effectiveness;

• Ensure the safety of all team members and adherence to company safety and sustainability policies;

Requirements:

• Minimum of five (5) years hands-on working experience in Heavy Equipment Fitting.

• Experience in a Supervisor role but all candidates are encouraged to apply if they think they have what it takes.

• Trade certificate in Heavy Equipment Fitting and able to work unsupervised.

• HEF experience with CAT, Komatsu, LiuGong, XCMG in all fields.

• The ability to read and write English with sound communication skills.

• A strong willingness to be part of a succession based company.

• Excellent technical skills, planning and organization.

• An ability to live and work in a challenging, but very rewarding environment.

Benefits include:

• Generous hourly wage.

• Free company provided housing.

• Free electricity.

• Free access to company health clinic and medicines.

• Uniform, boots and employee of the month awards.

• A company that cares about your future and that of your families.

• Sustainable environmentally conscious company.

To apply for this position please forward a detailed resume with supporting documents to:-

The Administration Department Milne Bay Estates PO Box 36 Milne Bay Province Papua New Guinea Fax: 675 641 1324

Email: mberecruitment@nbpol.com.pg

Applications for this position close on ………30/1/2015…………..

Looking for a career in development?

CARE International is one of the world’s largest Emergency Relief and Development organizations.

Health Systems Support Officer

CARE International in PNG is looking for someone to fill the position of Health Systems Support Officer (HSSO) with its Maternal Infant Health (MIH) Project in Goroka. Reporting to the MIH Project Coordinator the HSSO will be responsible for the field-level implementation of health system and government support activities under the MIH Project. This work requires considerable travel to rural, remote project sites.

Reporting to the MIH Project Coordinator, the HSSO will have responsibility for the support and mentoring of health workers and support for local level and district government on health systems issues. The HSSO will also support the Healthy Communities Team in training and integrating Village Health Volunteers (VHVs) and VHV Trainers into their communities’ health systems within project sites

Key Responsibilities

workers at supported facilities, including encouraging health worker collaboration with VHVs

Collaborate with health workers and District Health Officer to supplement and support activities conducted at supported health facilities

Collaborate with other CARE project teams, local level government, and ward councils to incorporate VHV support and health system improvement into government and community plans and budgets

In collaboration with rural health staff and VHVs, plan and conduct awareness campaigns and health education programs in schools and communities with aim of establishing and improving healthy communities and schools

Conduct regular field monitoring and reporting, and ensure timely submission to the MIH Project Coordinator and Monitoring & Evaluation Officer (MIH-MEO)

Liaise with PHA, DHO, and MIH-MEO to ensure that proper government data collection mechanisms are in use at health facilities and promoted by CARE PNG staff

Selection Criteria

Minimum of 3 years field experience in a similar field

Knowledge of FSV best practices or experience with FSV work

Demonstrated experience working in remote and rural settings

Demonstrated understanding of gender equality and women’s empowerment

For more information, request a copy of the full position description including terms and conditions via the below details or phone: 532 2766 or mobile 7196 8447

To apply, address the selection criteria in a letter of application and also include a Resume (CV) with 3 referees and supporting documents via email: recruitmentpng@careint.org , fax: 532 2803, or mail to: P.O Box 1157, Goroka, 441 Eastern Highlands Province. The closing date for this position is Wednesday 28th January 2015.

Only short-listed applicants will be contacted.

CARE PNG is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages women to apply.

CARE PNG is a child-safe organization.

POSITION VACANT

FHI 360 is a non-profit human development organization dedicated to improving lives in lasting ways by advancing their integrated, locally driven solutions. Our staff includes experts in education, health, nutrition, economic development, civil society, environment, gender youth, research and technology – creating a unique mix of capabilities to address today’s interrelated development challenges. FHI 360 serves more than 60 countries and all U.S states and territories. In Papua New Guinea, FHI 360 has been working with local agencies to deliver quality and innovative interventions in the area of HIV/AIDS, Health and gender based violence.

FHI 360 is looking for experienced and skilled professionals to fill the following positions:

Program Officer (USAID MARPS Project)

Responsible for supporting the management and implementation of FHI 360/PNG Program, as well as coordinating and working with implementing partners/agencies in project design, proposal development, contractual agreement, provision and/or arrangement of monitoring and technical visits and inputs and project evaluation and reporting. The individual must have experience in working in HIV/AIDS prevention, particularly with most at risk population and must be able to work independently as well as in a team.

Program Officer (Strogim Hauslain Project)

Provide programmatic and management support for the implementation of Continuation of Prevention to Care and Treatment (CoPCT). These include support in the Strategic Behavioural Communication (SBC), Community Based Care and related interventions. The incumbent will also responsible to coordinate and work with implementing partners/agencies in project design, proposal development, contractual agreement and provision and/or arrangement of monitoring and technical visits and reporting. The individual must have experience in working in HIV/AIDS prevention, particularly with most at risk population and must be able to work independently as well as in a team

Minimum Recruitment for Program Officer:

Degree in Public Health, Social Sciences or related fields; 2-3 years’ experience in managing and/or implementing HIV/AIDS prevention and care projects/program with NGOs or international organizations.

Telephone Counsellors (2 Positions)

Responsible to provide telephone counselling to those who phone in for issues regarding GBV and related matters; find immediate solutions and guide them to deal with their issues appropriately while considering referrals to other service providers; coordinate all telephone counselling activities; record all clients’ particulars correctly, provide up-dates and monthly reports and other information required by the Management and Donors. Individual must have good phone manners and poses a phone friendly voice.

Minimum Requirement:

A Degree or Diploma in Social Work, Social Psychology, and Social Health, graduate of Accredited Nursing College or Advanced General Counselling training or equivalent field desired.

An attractive salary package commensurate with experience and qualifications will be offered to the successful candidate. FHI 360 PNG is an equal opportunity employer. Women, People living with HIV and/or with different sexual orientation and disabled people are especially encouraged to apply. Interested candidates can get the TOR for respective positions from the Human Resource Officer, FHI 360 PNG Country Office.

To apply please forward your resume along with covering letter to: Human Resource Officer, FHI 360 PNG Country Office, PO Box 447, Waigani, NCD. Email:recruitmentpng@fhi360.org

Application Close: Friday 29th January, 2014

Only short listed candidates will be notified for an interview.

4 x MIXER TRUCK DRIVERS

PNG Ready Mixed Concrete Ltd invites applications from suitable qualified and experienced persons for our Port Moresby Operation

Qualifications & Experience

preferably class 4

POSITION

East Sepik Job Opportunities

We are seeking skilled people who live in Wewak, Maprik or along Maprik Highway.

Email: HR@karbine.com.au to apply

TRADESMAN LICENSED

delivered to:

The Operations Manager PNG Ready Mixed Concrete Ltd

P. O Box 1919 BOROKO NCD

Poincianna Street, Hohola. NCD email:

Applications close: Tuesday 27th January, 2015

PREVIOUS APPLICANTS NEED NOT APPLY

Looking for a career in development?

CARE International is one of the world’s largest Emergency Relief and Development organizations.

Clinical Capacity Support Officer

CARE International in PNG is looking for someone to fill the position of Clinical Capacity Support Officer with its Komuniti Tingim AIDS (KTA) project iin Buka. The KTA project aims to improve the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) of young people in Bougainville by addressing key individual and structural barriers.

The Clinical Capacity Support Officer is responsible for implementing work aimed at improving Sexual, Repoductive and Maternal Health services in target health facilities in Central ARB, with an emphasis on building the capacity for youth-friendly services.

Key Responsibilities and Maternal Health (SRMH) to health professionals in target local health facilities. new target health facilities. Monitor progress and quality of SRMH service delivery and reporting at local health facilities to ensure compliance with National Department of Health (NDOH) minimum standards. Support District Health Services, local health facilities and other stakeholders to facilitate improved access to SRMH services.

Project Officers as required. Coordinate and consult with public, private and civil society services and service providers to improve support services for more at risk populations.

Selection Criteria

Sound knowledge of syndromic management of Sexually

Transmitted Infections and family planning and NDoH clinical protocols and practice

Knowledge of standards and best practices for providing Voluntary Counseling and Testing services

own initiative and prioritise effectively

fluency in spoken and written Tok Pisin and English

For more information, request a copy of the full position description including terms and conditions via the below details or phone: 532 2766 or mobile 7196 8447

To apply, address the selection criteria in a letter of application and documents via email: recruitmentpng@careint.org , Eastern Highlands Province.

TE (PNG) Ltd has immediate position vacancies for 1x Trade Certified Electrician.

The successful candidate must have:

Electrical Trade Certificate & License experience

e

RECRUITMENT OFFICER TE (PNG) LTD PO Box 1388 BOROKO, NCD or email your CV to jobs@tepng.com

Applications close Friday, 13th February, 2015

Diesel/Heavy Equipment Fitting (DHEF), Motor Vehicle Mechanic, Auto Electrical, Carpentry/Construction, Electrical Fitting, Electronics Technician, Maintenance Fitting & Machining, Metal Fabrication & Welding. 20 weeks per Level.

Course Fee/person: Level 1 – 3 K2450/Level. TWO-YEAR DIPLOMA COURSES START 2 FEBRUARY 2015 LAE Building/Architecture, Civil, CADD, Electrical, Mechanical, Mining, Petroleum Engineering, Business Management and IT/Computing (4 Stages).

Course Fee/person: K2700/Stage K5400 per year (Stages 1 & 2).

Cross-training, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other necessary training aids supplied to students. Industrial Attachment/OJT arranged for Level 3 Trades and Stage 4 Diploma students.

INDUSTRY TRAINING COURSES ALSO AVAILABLE – LAE/PORT MORESBY

The closing date for this position is Friday 30th January 2015 Only short-listed applicants will be contacted.

CARE PNG is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages women to apply.

CARE PNG is a child-safe organization.

POSITION VACANTS

Looking for a Career, not just a Job!!

POSITION VACANT

Boroko Motors is a major multi franchise distributor, based in Port Moresby, with dealerships across Papua New Guinea and we are looking to recruit career minded professionals for the following role

Group Treasury Accountant

We are seeking the services of a Treasury Accountant, based in Port Moresby.

Key Objective of this position:

Working directly with the Group Financial Controller you will be tasked with promoting the overall effectiveness of the Group’s Treasury Operations.

The Role:

In this role you will be responsible for the following areas:

Senior Recruitment Officer

3 month Recruitment Contract

Concept Recruitment is seeking the services of an experienced Recruitment Professional to manage a part of a large recruitment project The successful candidate will need to have a sound understanding of the recruitment process, be able to work independently, and deliver outcomes within a set timeframe.

Areas of Accountability

Analyse Job descriptions and recommend behavioural based questions and weightings. Review job applications and recommend candidates for interview.

Conduct behavioural based interviews (initial and short listed).

Coordinate the interview results and prepare formal selection recommendations.

Requirements - competencies

A minimum of 3 years experience in front line interviewing is essential.

A Diploma in Human Resource (a Degree would be an advantage)

Must have worked with minimal supervision.

Must have advanced MS Word and Excel knowledge.

Must have worked in a team environment and demonstrate a clear and confident communication style. A competitive consulting fee will be offered to the right person.

Please send your CV and application to Concept Recruitment.

PO Box 190 Waigani, Port Moresby NCD Email: recruit@concept.com.pg

Enquiries may be made to Stephen Sandor on +675 323 1920

The Candidate:

The ideal candidate should have the following attributes:

Applications must be received before close of business Monday 26th February, 2015 Concept will only communicate with short listed candidates. Interviews will commence immediately after the closing date.

POSITION VACANT

POSITION VACANT

Remuneration:

We offer a competitive remuneration package which includes company benefits plus sound prospects for career advancement within a customer oriented friendly, positive & progressive working environment

Please submit your written applications to:

Group Financial Controller

Boroko Motors Limited P O BOX 1259, POM, Ph: 325 5111

Or Fax to: 323 9550/325 5301Or Email to:

jobs@borokomotors.com.pg

PLEASE NOTE THAT ONLY SHORTLISTED APPLICANTS WILL BE CONTACTED. Applications to be submitted by 5:00 pm on 28th January 2015

Advertising Sales Executive- LAE

South Pacific Post Limited is seeking to recruit suitably qualified and highly motivated individual to join our dynamic Advertising Sales Department. This position is based at our Lae Office.

You MUST meet the following requirements:

Benefits

- Very attractive salary package

- Commission incentives

- Medical insurance cover

- Free issue of daily paper

Housing is not condition of employment.

If your experiences, qualifications, skills and attributions fall within the above specification immediately forward your application with updated resume, copies of Certificates, 3 References & Police Clearance to:

Human Resources

Wednesday, January 28, 2015.

humanresource@spp.com.pg

KK Kingston Limited is a leading manufacturer of industrial chemicals, paper, plastics, PET and rotomould products; and supplier of machine tools, safety equipment, engineering, construction and other industrial products to PNG’s Industry sector.

COMMERCIAL ANALYST (X 2) LAE AND PORT MORESBY

Job Summary

To be responsible for supplying and analyzing the Commercial and Sales activity via performance indicators derived from the Company's business activities to senior management. Analysis, review, disposition, and reporting of trends and business drivers. This will include costs, revenue and production.

Key responsibilities will include: Provide costing information for all potential/current service users (customers) when required, following the appropriate authorization of theCommercial/Finance Managers; and competitiveness.

To be successful for this role you must have the following: environment. with management team in the organization; strive for customer satisfaction.

enthusiasm, motivation and want to be appreciated for the

Apply in writing with CV, references and contact details to: Commercial Analyst Vacancy K.K. Kingston Ltd PO Box 1104 Lae, NCD Or Email: hr@kingston.com.pg

listed applicants will be contacted. KK Kingston Ltd reserves the right to select a right candidate before the closing date.

EMBASSY OF

UNITED STATES OF AMERCA

THE

The U.S. Embassy has an immediate vacancy for a suitably qualified

Political Assistant

Performs political research, summarizes and/or translates substantive documents, drafts substantive reports, analyzes press reports, and summarizes trends and interprets as required. Drafts correspondence,diplomatic notes, and informational briefs for the Ambassador, Deputy Chief of Mission, and Political Officer as required. Maintains information files and databases, works with the management section to process vouchers, procure supplies and arrange logistics for visits, travel and appointments. Acts as primary back up to Economic, Public Diplomacy and Protocol Assistant.

Minimum Requirements

International Relations or related discipline is preferred

At least 4 years previous experience in political, or commercial position. Experience in working in a multicultural environment is an added advantage nowledge of functions of various host nation Government political, economic, social, commercial, environmental, science, military, public affairs, and health issues of host nations, particularly as affects bilateral relations.

political data. Proficient user of Microsoft Office Level 4 English (fluent) in both written and spoken English is required.

Must be a team player, must be able to work with minimum supervision and must exercise a great extent of judgment.

not a condition of employment.

Please forward a detailed resume with full supporting documentation clearly demonstrating your ability to meet the minimum requirements, and a reliable telephone/email contact

Embassy of the United States of America

P.O. Box 1492. Port Moresby. NCD. PNG.

Attn: Human Resources Assistant.

Email: PersonnelPortMoresby@state.gov

Applications close on January 23, 2015. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. For those not as a potential employer.

THE USG IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER!

The Kimka Ambongam Land Group Association represented six (6) Lease for Mining Purpose (LMP) villages namely

1. Korkit

2. Ankit

3. Kumkit

4. Kawengtikin

5. Ok Tedi Tau

6. Niosikwi

Of the (Katua) Upper Ningerum Tribe in the Star Mountain Local Level Government of the North Fly District, Western Province.

Chief and Chairman of the Association Mr Kilkilok Kamaniman said for the last 33 years since the commencement of the Ok Tedi Mine the issues relating to benefit, social development, land ownership and quality sharing remain unsolved by the landowners, State and Ok Tedi Limited.

Mr Kamaniman said the principle issue to determine now is customary ownership of the land where the mine pit is so that proper villages and people receive what is rightfully theirs.

Mr kamaniman further said that there is a case pending before the National Court at Waigani relating to certain decisions made by the Kiunga Provincial Land Court. Whatever the outcome is the Association would prefer mediation process to commence and identify the true customary landowner of the mine pit land.

Mr Kamaniman further appeal to the National and Provincial Government authorities to put on hold distribution of the current landowner’s shares out of the 33% equity until landownership issue go through the mediation process.

MR KILKILOK KAMANIMAN Chairman

Central Supply and Tenders Board

CSTB Tender No. 3256

The Central Supply and Tenders Board (CSTB) on behalf of the Mineral Resource Authority invites written sealed bids for the Supply of Helicopter Services for Field Work in Goilala District, Central Province.

Tender No. CSTB 3256

Supply of Helicopter Services for Field Work in Goilala District, Central Province

Bid Security Bid Security of K10,000.00 must be in the form of a Bank Cheque and bids submitted without the respective Bid Security will be rejected.

Tender Document Fee A non- refundable fee of K1000.00 for a set of tender documents in the form of a Bank Cheque payable to Central Supply and Tenders Board.

Bid Delivery Place Tender Box located in the reception area at Central Supply & Tenders Board Office, 1st Floor, Westpac Waigani Branch Building, Waigani Drive

Bid Envelopes must indicated Tender No. and be addressed to:

The Chairman, Central Supply & Tenders Board, P.O Box 6451, Boroko, National Capital District

Closing Time & Date 10am Thurs 22nd January 2015

Contact Details Geoffrey Kinibo

Snr Contracts Coordinator

Central Supply & Tenders Board

Phone: (675) 3113777 Facsmille: (675) 3113778

Email: GKinibo@cstb.gov.pg

Instructions to Bidders

1. Interested Bidders must arrange with their Agent (s) or a Courier firm of their choice to pick up tender documents and similar arrangement must be done for the lodgement of their bid (s).

2. Bidders must be clearly address the outer envelope containing their bid with the address as indicated above in the Bid Delivery Place and marked with the tender number, description of the project, closing date and time.

3. The Central Supply & Tender Board will not be held liable for any mishandling.

Authorized by:

Philip Eludeme Chairman

TENDER NOTICE

DESIGN AND BUILD OF RAINBOW HOUSING PROJECT - PORT MORESBY

PNG Ports Corporation Limited invites eligible Contractors/Builders in the Design and Build of Rainbow Housing Project, Port Moresby.

Tender documents will only be provided after paying a non-refundable fee of K1,000.00 in the form of a bank cheque to PNGPCL.

For all enquiries, please contact Mr. William Luke on Telephone No. (675) 3084 386 or email: William.Luke@pngports.com.pg

The closing time and date for submission of Tenders is at 1500hrs on Monday 16th February, 2015. The submissions shall be dropped off at the PNGPCL Head Office Tender Box and clearly labeled:-

Tender for DESIGN AND BUILD OF RAINBOW HOUSING PROJECT - PORT MORESBY

The Chief Infrastructure Officer

PNG Ports Corporation Limited PO Box 671

PORT MORESBY

National Capital District

Authorised by: Mr. Nathaniel Poya, OBE Board Chairman PNG Ports Corporation Limited

CENTRAL SUPPY AND TENDERS BOARD

An invitation is called for the General Public to bid for the following vehicles to be sold through Public Tender on “As is” Where is” Basis.

MORTGAGEE SALE

SECTION 91, ALLOTMENT 23

GORDONS - CITY OF PORT MORESBY

Bidders are invited for the purchase of the above property in the city of Port Moresby. Subject property is situated along Avaka Street, Gordons in an established high cost residential area. The land area is regular shaped with an area of 1,028 square meters & on hill side over looking Boroko/Gordons area.

Established on the block of land is a 2 bed room house. Constructed on reinforced concrete slab floor, steel & timber frame structures, handiplank & masonry block walls, hardboard lined & ceiled, adjustable glass louver windows, screened with flywire & security iron grilles & corrugated galvanized iron roof to gutters & down pipes.

Other Minor Improvements

1. Concrete footpaths at various location of the property.

2. Concrete driveway from gate to car parking area

3. Fence approximately 1.8m high chainmesh wire security fence with 1x double manual leaf gate.

Bidders are advised to inspect the property prior to submitting their bids.

The successful bidder must be able to provide evidence of finance available and will be required to:

1. Pay a deposit of 10% by cash or Bank Cheque within 14 days of notification by ANZ Banking Group Ltd (the bank) of acceptance of the tender.

2. To enter into a contract (the contract) on the Bank’s usual terms and conditions within fourteen (14) days of the contract being delivered to the successful tenderer or its lawyers, failing which the deposit may be forfeited.

3. The Balance of the purchase price will be payable upon completion in accordance with the contract in cash or Bank Cheque

4. Bids should be forwarded in a sealed envelope to the address shown below.

5. Tenders close- close of business 30th January 2015.

This is to inform family, friends and former business associates on the passing of Mr. Ambum Leo Nala.

Mr. Nala was a founding father of the now ruling P.N.C. Party. He peacefully passed away at Port Moresby General Hospital at 3:24 on 14th January, 2015.

Haus cry is at Hohola (Banana Club).

Interested bidders are to send their bids in a sealed envelope marked DSA NO: 1/2015 to the Central Supply & Tenders Boards, P.O. Box 6457 BOROKO, National Capital District.

Inspection can be done on: 15-16th JANUARY 2015.

Closing date: 26th, 2015 at 10: am

Tender Application Forms can be collected from the Department of Works, PNG CUSTOMS AND Central Supply & Tenders Board. For more information, please contact:

1. Mr. Rex Raitano (DoW) 324 1556

2. Lahui Nouairi (CSTB) 311 3777

3. Martin Kekae 312 7579

Authorised by:

PHILIP ELUDEME Chairman

MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK

PRESS RELEASE

ERADICATION OF VIRULENT NEWCASTLE DISEASE FROM VILLAGE CHICKENS IN VANIMO, WUTUNG AND BEWANI AREAS OF WEST SEPIK PROVINCE

In my capacity as Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, I have the privilege to announce the successful eradication of Newcastle Disease (ND) from PNG by the National Agriculture Quarantine and Inspection Authority (NAQIA) in close collaboration and with the support of the Sandaun Provincial Administration, the PNG Poultry Industry Association and the people of West Sepik Province. This is the second time in the last decade that NAQIA and its partners have successfully eradicated this disease from different regions of PNG. Newcastle disease is one of the most serious viral diseases of poultry and birds worldwide.

Virulent Newcastle disease of poultry was detected in April 2013 in village chickens in Wutung Village, near the Wutung Border Post in the West Sepik Province. Further DNA analysis indicated that the virus is related to the Indonesian strain of ND virus. Following this incursion, mandatory disease response activities and programs were implemented according to the Animal Disease and Control Act (Chapter 206) and the PNG Emergency Animal Disease Contingency and Technical (ERADICATE) Plan.

A Local Disease Control Centre (LDCC) was established in Vanimo under the Sandaun Provincial Administration to manage the response, with technical guidance from NAQIA. In addition to the initial infection in Wutung Village, delimiting surveys conducted along the west coast from Wutung to Vanimo detected another site (Daunda) with evidence (antibodies) of ND exposure. Further delimiting surveys identified two more infected premises in the hinterlands at Bewani and Skochiou.

Quarantine, containment and control measures were immediately established and implemented in and around the four identified infected premises (Wutung, Daunda, Bewani, Skochiou) and demarcated control areas (approximately 10km around the 4 infected premises) to restrict movement of live birds and associated contaminated goods into and out of these areas. Extensive culling/depopulation of chickens and other domestic poultry was conducted in the demarcated infected and control areas in JuneJuly 2013 to rid the area of possible avian hosts and interrupt virus transmission and circulation. This host-free status was monitored from July to December 2013

From January to April 2014, surveillance investigations were conducted in the depopulated premises (infected and control areas) and other dangerous contact premises using sentinel testing of birds supplied by the PNG Poultry Industry Association.

All tests were negative for ND virus. In May 2014, tracing and perimeter surveys were also conducted to ensure the virus had not escaped the control areas into other areas of West Sepik and East Sepik Provinces. These surveys also yielded negative results for ND.

Virulent ND was previously confirmed in Rabaul in the East New Britain Province in 2006 and was subsequently declared eradicated in 2010 following implementation of appropriate disease response measures by NAQIA and the East New Britain Provincial Administration with support from the National Department of Agriculture and Livestock. Genetic typing of the ND virus strain introduced to East New Britain Province in 2006 indicated it was of Chinese and East Asian origin, whereas typing of the ND virus involved in the 2013 Wutung incursion most likely originated from Indonesia. Routine surveillance from 2011-2012 in high risk regions, including the West Sepik Province, detected no evidence of ND virus. Therefore, it is conluded that the ND virus detected in Wutung in 2013 is most likely a very recent incursion from Indonesia, with very limited spread to Daunda, Bewani and Skochiou, although potentially, the respective outbreak foci in West Sepik Province could each have been due to recent independent incursions from Indonesia.

Through the implementation of strategic disease response activities and programs, these incursions have been restricted only to the four infected premises with no further spread. The consistent negative test results for ND virus from the various surveys conducted in the infected and control areas as well as the surrounding districts and province (East Sepik) demonstrates that these ND virus incursions have been isolated, contained and eradicated from the West Sepik Province and Papua New Guinea, and the ND status of PNG should now revert to freedom without vaccination in accordance with international standards governed by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

Instruments to this effect under the Animal Disease and Control Act (Chapter 206) declaring West Sepik Province and Papua New Guinea free from Newcastle disease are being prepared for gazettal.

I sincerely thank the Sandaun Provincial Administration, the Vanimo-Green River District Administration, the people and community leaders of West Sepik Province, the PNG Poultry Industry Association and NAQIA for their commitment to this important cause in eradicating a disease which, if uncontrolled and established in PNG, could severely impact on the local and national economy as well as food security, endanger our unique fauna and affect our livelihoods.

Authorised by:

Hon. Assik Tommy Tomscoll, MP Minister for Agriculture and Livestock

Aston

Burnley

SOCCER

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE FINAL

Sundries (1b 3lb 15w 1nb) 20

Eight wickets for 267

Fall: 3 (Dhawan), 33 (Rahane), 59 (Kohli), 185 (Raina), 237 (Dhoni), 237 (Patel), 262 (Sharma), 262 (Kumar).

Bowling: M Starc 10-2-43-6 (4w), P Cummins 10-0-52-0 (2w), G Sandhu 10-0-58-1 (3w/5), J Faulkner 10-0-63-1

TENNIS

SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL Men- Final

Viktor Troicki (SRB) bt Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) 6-2 6-3.

ASIA CUP

CRICKET

(2w 1nb), S Watson 8-0-33-0 (2w), G Maxwell 2-0-14-0.

Batting time: 233 mins. Overs: 50. Umpires: John Ward (AUS), Kumar Dharmasena (SRL).

Match Referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM). Third Umpire: Mick Martell (AUS).

BASKETBALL

NBL-ROUND 15

SYDNEY KINGS 89 (J Childress 23 B Madgen 22

K Perry 14) d TOWNSVILLE CROCODILES 81 (B

Conklin 19 T Blanchfield 17 M Gladness 14) at Townsville RSL Stadium.

ROAD RUNNER

I am fighting for respect, says Sonny Bill

BOXING

FOOTY superstar Sonny Bill Williams says he is fighting for respect in the boxing ring

One is a physically menacing dual international footballer who looks fit enough to give Mike Tyson a run for his money.

The other could be Butterbean’s little brother, a rotund unit whose bulky frame looks more cut out for the latest series of The Biggest Loser than a boxing ring with Sonny Bill Williams.

As always, the boxing career of Williams has never been short on creating a headline.

Whether his opponent has been a brawler off the street or an ex-heavyweight champion like Francois Botha, it’s been far from an easy transition.

Even for an athlete as intimidating and gifted as Williams, it’s impossible to completely ignore criticism from the public.

And when it comes to the art known as the sweet science, Williams has taken his fair share of bolo punches from the masses.

Preparing for his January 31 Footy Show Fight Night at Sydney Olympic Park’s All Phones Arena, the dual international footballer opened up to The Sunday Telegraph about his foray into boxing.

“Anyone that knows boxing, this guy I am fighting has had 70 fights. He’s won 55, drawn five and lost 10,” Williams said.

“With that record in mind

Retort Courteous to deliver

HORSE RACING

I had to try and get something in my favour, which is athletic ability.

“If we’re honest, when you look at it, he’s a big boy. But I’ve only had six fights and my first three, you wouldn’t even consider them fights.

“So for me, because it is such a big card and such a big night, I didn’t want to fight someone who had just had a couple of pub fights.

“This guy at one stage was world-rated. That’s the problem that I’ll always face when I try my hand at boxing. I’ve had no amateur background. Most boxers would have sparred more rounds than I have spent inside the ring.

“I understand people expect me to be fighting top-line fighters all the time but I’m still trying to learn myself,” he said.

“When I think about the big picture, it puts me at ease. I know I’m definitely stepping out of my comfort zone and taking on a massive challenge.

“Even if people from the outside world write it off, I’m OK with it.

“I’d be stupid if I was jumping in there the likes of Lucas Browne at this stage of my boxing experience.

“But one day, God willing, with a lot of hard work and if all goes to plan then who knows?

“Right now, I know where I am in a boxing sense. I know what lane I’m in. I’m a realist, I know I’m not the best fighter in the world.”

Given that synopsis, it’s impossible to call Williams anything but honest.

MALAVIO’S trainer Steve Englebrecht has put his faith in one-time stable apprentice Deanne Panya to steer Zabeel gelding Retort Courteous to an overdue win in Monday’s feature Moruya Cup (2000m).

Panya, and her twin sister Beany, are regulars on the country and provincial circuits with both girls making their mark wherever they appear.

Beany is Englebrecht’s current stable apprentice while Deanne is situated at Kembla where she booted home Lightning Gail to a big win on Saturday.

“Deanne is a much better rider than the opportunities that she is getting. She rides very, very well,’’ Englebrecht.

“Given similar opportunities that a few other apprentices got, she would take it by the scruff of the ears.’’

Panya clearly has a good understanding of Retort Courteous having ridden the horse fives time for a win, two placings, one fourth and a fifth.

The Kiwi bred gelding is almost certain to start favourite in Monday’s Moruya Cup owing to some recent solid performances in town including a second placing at Rosehill and a close-up fourth at home to Plutorius.

The only potential chink in the Retort Courteous armour is that he has raced at 2400m at his past three starts and is back to10 furlongs this time.

“There is a concern about that,’’ Englebrecht noted, “but he is dropping considerably in the class of horses he has been racing and the weigh he is going to carry, I am hoping that sort of balances it out.

“And he’s on an on-pace horse anyway so it should be a large problem.’’

SONNY Bill Williams about to cross for a try against the USA.

Boxing as a sport dates back to ancient Greeks who made it part of Olympic games as early as 688 BC.

The Nick and Bonnie Allan volleyball tournament at Tatana Island in pictures. More action today today

ACTION between Houra and Wantoks.

SOSO players fl ying high.

ALL eyes on the ball.

KAUKA didn’t make the final but went away happy.

GUYS I’m hungry lets get this over with.

WANTOKS Daure Heneve sets the ball.

BRO can you see it.

ANXIOUS supporters get into the spirit of the finals.

HOURA’S Arnold Daera smashes the ball through two Wantoks blockers. BRO i’m telling you its not worth it.

PNG test NZ in 3-0 loss

SOCCER

NEW Zealand’s match with Papua New Guinea in the day’s middle slot wasn’t the one-sided affair many thought it might be with the Kiwi’s keeper keeping his side in the lead on several occasions.

The New Zealanders started strong with several driving runs into the Papua New Guinea area in search of some early comfort. However their opponents weren’t having a bar of it as they too eyed up the three points. Just over 20 minutes in Michael Woud was forced into double-time action making two saves in quick succession to deny the opener.

Fortunately for him his teammates were working equally hard on attack and finally found a way through the Papua New Guinea defence in the 32nd minute.

The relentless hussle from Sean Skeens saw him recover possession and pick out Jack Anderson who fired past a helpless Jerry Seriba between the posts.

Leading just 1-0 at the half, New Zealand upped the ante in the second period and despite some near misses, finally added a comfortable cushion in the 65th minute. Sarpeet Singh delivered another near perfect corner and this time Benjamin Mata was waiting at the far post to head home.

Scorpians aiming high

VOLLEYBALL

BY KILA NAO

THE Scorpians from Hula village are aiming to take the Nick and Bonnie Allan Volleyball Cup under 18 title at Tatana Island today.

The Scorpians are confident of beating Wet from Pari village and then meet local team

Soso in the semi-final to qualify for the grand-final.

The Hula outfit are firsttimers in such big tournament but have shown a lot of maturity and determination so far to come through their pool matches undefeated.

However, Wet are also relatively new comers and anything can happen in the

process of play. In the other match, Kaubebe (Butterfly) will square it against Kazens in the other quarterfinal pathway. The winner will play early favorites Houra for the other grand-final slot. In the girls under 18, it will be a repeat of last year’s grandfinal with reigning champions Kazens looking to defend

OFC officials to visit PNG

OFC Head of Social Responsibility and International Relations

Franck Castillo with his team will be arriving today to run a Just Play staff capacity seminar from January 20 - 25 in Port Moresby.

Accompanying Castillo will be

OFC Just Play Technical Coordinator Emmie Sope and UNICEF consultant Melissa Palombi.

Palombi’s role at UNICEF Pacific is to work closely with OFC to help integrate key messages, from UNICEF Pacific’s main programmatic focal areas, into the Just Play programming format.

Palombi’s work has seen her travel from her home country of Canada, to Zambia, South Africa, Namibia, and now to the Pacific and will be her first time to Papua New Guinea.

The seminar begins tomorrow at the Ela Beach Hotel at 9am.

Castillo will do

their title against Houra. The under 21’s division and open men and women’s competition will get underway on Wednesday.

Organisers say this will allow for teams travelling in from the Central Province ample time to register.

Both divisions will play their pool matched through

of the Just Play program to representatives from UNICEF PNG, AusAid, Health Department, NCD Education, National Capital District Commission, Brown Kapi Foundation and World Vision.

PNGFA Just Play manager Margaret Aka said the aim of the seminar is to market the Just Play program in PNG to potential sponsors.

Aka said to have Castillo and his team will serve to lift the profile of the Just Play program in PNG.

“It is envisaged that it will impact on potential partners and stakeholders to build confidence in them to support and strengthen the program,” she explained.

“While at the same time it brings confidence to the coordinators in each province to work harder to further develop the program,” she said.

to Friday and the finals on Saturday. Sponsor of the tournament Nick Allan was impressed with the skill level of the young people during the matches so far.

“They have a lot of potential and this is what we want to see and hope that they grow up and become better players in the future,” he said.

A penalty in the 80th minute was scored by Ben Kiore for New Zealand’s third, but the win was marred in the dying stages as captain William Jones was given his second caution of the match – and thus his marching orders.

Regardless of that, coach Jose Figueira was pleased to come up trumps in a tough match.

“We knew they would be diffuclt, they’re one of the more organised teams and they’ve got great coaching staff so we knew we were going to be up for a tough game.

“I thought we were a little bit slow to get started and that’s a credit to PNG.”

TATANA Araira Volleyball Tournament chairman George Daera (left) with an official and sponsor Nick Allan display the trophy that the U18 girls will be playing for.

OFC head of social responsibility Franck Castillo speaks while UNICEF sport for development consultant Melissa Palombi looks on.

Pukpuks strive

RUGBY UNION

THE Fereti Verebula-coached Papua New Guinea team bowed out of the PWD Bure 7s tournament after a gallant display at Churchill Park in Lautoka yesterday.

The visitors who are in the country for a short training program proved to be the crowd favourites.

PNG eventually lost to Yamacia 12-0 during the Cup semi-final.

Verebula, the former Lautoka coach who holds a World Rugby Level Three

accreditation said there was abundance of talent back in PNG. He said the training stint in Fiji was part of their preparations for the upcoming HSBC 7s series in New Zealand and Hong Kong.

“The ultimate aim is to get PNG as one of the core teams on the circuit,” Verebula said.

“This was our first outing in a tournament. It is part of the preparations for Wellington and Hong Kong.

“We are in a tough pool in Wellington with New Zealand, England and Canada. Fitness

is one area that we are behind in a long way.

“The boys need to understand each other and combine well because it is all about getting PNG back in the world 7s series. There is massive talent back there but need proper guidance.”

The 16-man squad returns on January 26.

PNG Sevens team manager Billy Rapilla said the training camp in Nadi is to finalise the travelling 12 to the Wellington Sevens slated for February 6-7.

The Pukpuks last com-

peted at the HSBC Sevens World Series tournament in Wellington in 2008.

PNG will also take part in the Hong Kong 7s from March 28-30.

Those in the training camp in Fiji are: Terence Uvau, Karo Kauna Jnr, Wesley Vali, Max Vali, Henry Liliket, Eugene Tokavai, David Susuve, Hensely Peter, Arthur Clement, Leo Tikot Jnr, Butler Morris, Hubert Tsereha, Clint Kut, Dondon Xavier, Henry Kalua, Stanis Susuve. Zanzeer Singh-Fiji Times.

HENRY Kalua on attack for PNG during the PWD Bure 7s at Churchill Park in Lautoka on Saturday. Picture: BALJEET SINGH.