P.N.G. Gossip Newsletter - 22 Aug 2002

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PNG Gossip Newsletter Meri Milne Bay
Welcome to the Papua New Guinea Gossip - 22 Aug 2002

A very special welcome is extended to any new readers. If you have comments or suggestions to make then please click here

- CONTENTS -
Tok Pisin Links
Milne Bay Show - Alotau Priestly Politics
Air Niugini Post Courier
Privatisation Sacred Heart School
Porgera Mine Electoral Commissioner
PNG Weather Weather Sites
Opposition Leader U-Vistract
Aussie Rules Football Aussie Prime Minister
George Brown Day Refugees
PNG Independence Ball Melanesian Cup
Government Challenges Bougainville Diving
Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games Bid
The New Cabinet Nursing School
Missing Guns Greenpeace
Rabaul Rabaul Duty Free
Lae PNG/Australia Gas Pipeline
PNG Media Related Sites The End / Em Tasol

 

Articles for this newsletter

To send a message for submission to the PNG Gossip Newsletter -- then please click here

Remember that this mailing list is mainly meant for people who have an interest and already know a little bit about the people and geography of Papua New Guinea. The PNG Kina, which is mentioned from time to time in this newsletter, is currently worth around 23-24 United States cents but varies on a daily basis.

If you are really keen on finding out what the Kina is worth a currency converter for most world currencies can be located at http://www.michie.net/pnginfo/moni.html

 

 

Neo Melanesian

"Pidgin English"
Tok Pisin English
diwai tree / wood (timber)
diwai kros cross
han bilong diwai branch of tree
het bilong diwai crown of tree
lip / lip bilong diwai leaf
pikinini bilong diwai / prut fruit
rop / rop bilong diwai vine
katim diwai i pundaun fell a tree
katim gras cut grass
katim i pundaun / pundaunim cut down
katim long akis/tamiok chop
katim marit annul a marriage
katim tok interrupt

Want to find out more about Papua New Guinea? Try searching at -- http://www.michie.net/pnginfo -- and -- http://www.michie.net/png_faqs. -- The PNG Business Directory at -- http://www.pngbd.com -- is also an excellent place to look for PNG information.

For those who are not so familiar with the geography of Papua New Guinea I suggest taking a look -- http://maps.google.com -- and then click on the find a map option. Go to this link for a quick start to a link to a map of Port Moresby. http://www.michie.net/pnginfo/pom-map.html

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



Links

International Australian Rules Football Cup website -- http://www.iafc.org.au/intlcup.html


Internet Service Providers
Daltron -- http://www.daltron.com.pg
Data Nets -- http://www.online.net.pg
Datec -- http://www.datec.net.pg
Global Technologies -- http://www.global.net.pg


Computer Companies in PNG
Able Computing -- http://www.able.com.pg
Daltron -- http://www.daltron.com.pg
Data Nets -- http://www.datanets.com.pg
Datec -- http://www.datec.com.pg
HT PNG (formerly High Tech Industries) -- http://www.hightech.com.pg/
Global Technologies -- http://www.global.net.pg


Stationery Suppliers
Theodist -- http://www.theodist.com.pg


 


 

News Items


Milne Bay Show - Alotau



The following has been supplied by Gretta from Napatan Lodge about activities in Milne Bay especially the Milne Bay Alive Show where a number of activities have been planned. Apart from the normal traditional dance, choirs, peroveta singing and traditional string band (not electrical) there will be drama, traditional beauty competition for kids, a fashion parade, displaying local "haute couture", flower arrangement competition, a novelty raft race (sabotage with style) and war canoe and sailing canoe races. We are expecting six traditional kula craft to sail in from Esa'ala. The theme for the show will be the environment. There will also be agricultural items on display, plus a heap of novelty races and fun games for kids.

Alotau will be a hive of activity before the show. The week before that (7th Sept) is an arts and craft market that should last the week. The Doctors' Symposium, with over 400 doctors expected to be in attendance, will start on Monday 9th and go until the 13th. The Alotau Community have been working consistently to raise the money to fund it.




Priestly Politics



The first of possibly many Catholic priests, who contested the 2002 elections, has been suspended. Father Andrew Bili was suspended by Bishop Henk Kronenberg.




Air Niugini



The much awaited for Boeing B767 arrived with very little fanfare last week. The plane has now taken over all the routes previously flown by the Airbus A310. The Airbus will now be flown to the Mojave Dessert and mothballed. It is hoped that one of the airfreight companies will take over the plane. The Boeing is seen as a make or break effort for Air Niugini. Air Niugini will be releasing a new schedule on the 1st of September to allow for the sharing agreement with Qantas on routes to Australia.




Post Courier



The PNG Post Courier -- http://www.postcourier.com.pg has won the inaugural President's Award of the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers Association (PANPA) that has a membership of over 300 newspapers in 14 countries. The paper was also given a high commendation in the category of community promotions for its war on corruption campaign.




Privatisation



The sale of government assets has been put on hold whilst the new government assesses the situation. The sale of Telikom has also "frozen". The Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare, has directed the caretaker Privatisation Minister, Bart Philemon, to halt the privatisation process for the time being. In the new cabinet it would appear that there is no minister looking after privatisation so you can only assume that the roll will be taken by the PM. Sir Michael said that the concept used in the sale of government assets was for quick money, which was the wrong concept. He said he was also concerned that the negotiations for the sale of the country's flag carrier Air Niugini must go through the right procedures.




Sacred Heart School



The Sacred Heart Community School in Hohola has lost eight classrooms in four blocks valued at K600,000 due to a fire that occurred over the weekend. The cause of the fire is not yet known. The National Capital District Commission (NCDC) has said that it will build two double storey classrooms for the school. It is estimated that the new classrooms will take three months to replace and the funding for the building of the new classrooms will come from the NCDC's five-year infrastructure program.




Porgera Mine



The mine has experienced a K80 million production revenue loss due to election related problems. The mining and petroleum sectors earn 80 percent of the total export earnings for PNG annually. This equals about K3 billion in total annually from the two industries. During the election period, about 14 power pylons supplying electricity from the Hides Gas Project in Southern Highlands to the Porgera mine were damaged. Emergency generators have not been able to provide the full power capacity. The destruction of the electricity pylons had meant that the mine's gold processing operations have had to be shutdown.




Electoral Commissioner



The Ombudsman Commission has referred the Electoral Commissioner to the courts for possible charges over the sale of waste paper that benefited his own company rather than the government.




PNG Weather



People in Bougainville, East and West New Britain, New Ireland and Manus have been warned to expect a very dry period by the National Weather Service worse than the drought experienced in 1997. People have been warned to conserve water and store as much as possible. Some people in the small atolls, such as Pororan Island, are now running low on food because of the dry season.





Weather


If any reader is interested in the weather at various locations around PNG then visit http://www.wunderground.com/global/NG.html and http://weather.yahoo.com. Both sites give a summary of the weather for such locations as --

Agaun http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/92068.html
Alotau http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/Alotau_NG_c.html
Bougainville http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/Bougainville_NG_c.html
Daru
http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/Daru_NG_c.html
Erave http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/92051.html
Goroka http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/92010.html
Gurney http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/92077.html
Hoskins http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/92072.html
Jinjo http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/92090.html
Kainantu http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/Kainantu_NG_c.html
Kavieng http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/Kavieng_NG_c.html
Kimbe http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/Kimbe_NG_c.html
Kiunga http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/92001.html
Kurada http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/92069.html
Lae http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/Lae_NG_c.html
Lombrum http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/92036.html
Madang http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/Madang_NG_c.html
Mendi http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/Mendi_NG_c.html
Misima http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/92087.html
Momote http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/92044.html
Mount Hagen http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/Mount_Hagen_NG_c.html
Nadzab http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/92047.html
Nimowa http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/92092.html
Oksapmin http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/Oksapmin_NG_c.html
Popondetta http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/Popondetta_NG_c.html
Port Moresby http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/Port_Moresby_NG_c.html
Port Moresby Weather Office http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/92035.html
Rabaul http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/Rabaul_NG_c.html
Sideia http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/92070.html
Tokua Weather Office http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/92100.html
Vanimo http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/92022.html
Vanimo http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/Vanimo_NG_c.html
Wau http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/Wau_NG_c.html
Wedau http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/Wedau_NG_c.html
Wewak http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/Wewak_NG_c.html




Opposition Leader



In a twist, not unusual in PNG politics, Sir Mekere Morauta is the new Opposition leader and although he resigned as leader of PDNM he has also been re-elected as leader of the former PDM MPs under the umbrella of a provisionally named National Development Party (NDP).

His first aim will be to ensure that they form an effective Opposition and an alternative to the Government.




U-Vistract



The dishonest activities of the organisers of the U-Vistract pyramid scheme are now back in the headlines. Officials of the PNG Central Bank have swooped on the "unlicenced" premises of the so-called Royal Reserve Bank of Papala and confiscated documents and equipment. Despite having the word "bank" in its name the organisation, made up of investors in the now defunct pyramid scheme U-Vistract, is not a registered bank. Central Bank officials have described the operations of the unlicenced and so-called Royal Reserve Bank of Papala as "deceitful". The "bank" refuses to close and has thrown court orders into the gutter.




Aussie Rules Football



The PNG Mosquitoes have so far been very successful in the AFL International Cup despite being transported from warm PNG to cold Melbourne, Australia. The next game, PNG v Nauru, could be a tough one because Nauru won at the Arafura Games last year.

The PNG players, however, were able to beat Nauru yesterday (22 August) by 24 points so now they are into the Grand Final against Ireland. The game will be played tomorrow night (24 August) at the Melbourne Cricket Ground as a curtain raiser to the Richmond / Collingwood clash.




Aussie Prime Minister



The Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, said that the new PNG government must continue to pursue economic reforms. Australia is by far PNG's biggest aid donor, giving assistance of some A$350 million (K700 million) per year.




George Brown Day



The 15th of August is the day in 1875 that the Methodist Missionary, Dr George Brown first arrived on the Duke of York Islands in East New Britain. Over a 1000 people gathered at the George Brown Memorial Church in the Port Moresby suburb of Gerehu to celebrate the event.




Refugees



The Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare, has ruled-out taking more asylum seekers than what was originally agreed to by the Morauta government into the Australian processing facility on Manus Island. The Australian conservative government led by John Howard considers the Manus camp, along with a similar processing centre on Nauru, as key elements of its policy of preventing asylum seekers from reaching Australian shores until properly investigated for entry to Australia.




PNG Independence Ball



The Australian (Victorian) version of the PNG Independence Ball will be held at the Prahran Town hall, in Melbourne, on the 14th September from 7pm till 1am. Tickets are now available; please contact Weka Tarr after hours on +61 3 9803 4066 with the number of ticket you want.
The cost of the tickets are
- members & students - $40.00
- non members - $50.00
- under 16 - $20.00




Melanesian Cup



The Melanesian Cup soccer tournament set to be played in the Solomon Islands next month has been cancelled due to the worsening civil disorder in the Solomon Islands.




Government Challenges



The Governor-General Sir Silas Atopare has said during the official opening of the seventh Parliament, that PNG faces hard times ahead. Some of the challenges will include economic hardship, corruption, unemployment, huge tax burdens and increasing law and order problems.




Bougainville Diving



Over a dozen divers from Australia, New Zealand, France, United States of America and Germany have been in Bougainville diving on war sites and other interesting spots. The divers are on a Thai vessel, the first tourist vessel with world-experienced divers that have been to the province since the Bougainville crisis 12 years ago.




Commonwealth Games



It may be old news now but the PNG Swim team needs to be mentioned here as during the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, they smashed eight PNG age and open records. The team of Ryan Pini, Ben Wells and Anna-Lisa Mopio set new marks in two senior, four open, and two age-group events.




Commonwealth Games Bid



The founding chairman of the Air Niugini seven-a-side World Barbarians Rugby Football Union, Soiat Williams, has called for PNG to make a bid for the Commonwealth Games. Taking such drastic action would mean that PNG would have to plan on a bigger scale its sporting component in realising its economic goals. Mr Williams said sport is now viewed as a major economic activity worldwide.




The New Cabinet



The Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare, has announced a new-look Cabinet of 19 newcomers who will work with nine other experienced members of Parliament.




Nursing School



The Nursing School in Lae has received the major share of a recent K2.1 million financial donation by the New Zealand Government. The assistance was originally given to the Papua New Guinea Department of Health and the Lae School of Nursing has been allocated K1 million, approved by the department for improving nursing services in areas of education and training. The school funds will be used to improve the competency level of nurses through training and to help with the upgrading of training materials and facilities.




Missing Guns



The police in the Southern Highlands are investigating the loss of firearms by soldiers and police apparently under the influence of liquor. The men caused a disturbance at a village and threatened to shoot some of the villagers so they retaliated by attacking the armed soldiers and policeman and disarming them. The peaceful villagers have returned the firearms.




Greenpeace



Greenpeace is concerned that the new Forestry Minister has committed to pushing through ten new logging operation projects by the end of the year.




Rabaul



The East New Britain Provincial Government has committed to helping various national government bodies such as the Fire Service, National Works, Police Department, Magisterial Services and the Rabaul Volcanic Observatory in the province. The provincial government has provided the financial assistance in a bid to strengthen their operations in the province.




Rabaul Duty Free



The Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Allan Marat, who is also the Minister for Trade and Industry believes that declaring the port of Rabaul a duty-free free will be the first move to re-develop Rabaul and it would also pave the way for more businesses to return to the area. Declaring the Rabaul port duty-free would mean all goods and materials arriving at the port for local consumption would be exempted from import duty but goods transported out to Kokopo or other areas would still be subject to import duty except for goods destined for the Ulaveo Industrial Centre.




Lae



Boyamo Sali, a former Member of Parliament for Lae, has been elected as mayor of Lae city, replacing Toffamo Mionzing.




PNG/Australia Gas Pipeline



United States energy giant ExxonMobil has recently said it was in advanced talks with potential customers in the long-delayed $US3.5 billion PNG to Australia (Queensland) gas pipeline. It is hoped that the PNG gas is the most competitively priced gas supply available in Queensland. If successful the PNG gas project is expected to be able to make the first deliveries of gas in 2006.

 





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-- THE END --

Some of the above are courtesy of Liz and her friends at the University of Technology in Lae. http://www.unitech.ac.pg

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Created 22 Aug 2002
Updated 212 Aug 2002

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