Congratulations Mr O'Neill, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea!

We are aware that this is a vital stage in structuring how, when and whether or not policies are implemented in the next five years.

While you are in the process of appointing the best people who would best serve the interest of all Papua New Guineans we would like to remind you and our new government the following:

By GORETHY KENNETH



By MALUM NALU

GENEROUS tax concessions given to mining and gas companies are contributing to low government revenue per capita, according to Asian Development Bank country economist Aaron Batten.

He said the average effective tax on PNG’s mining, oil and gas companies was now on the low side of fiscal regimes across the world

by Mark Straton

by Jemima Garrett

Millions of hectares of customary land in Papua New Guinea has been stolen as a result of agricultural and business leases approved by the government, a report by Greenpeace has found.

In life we go through many battles. That is a given. Epic battles, short battles, long battles, little insignificant battles and the most painful battles are those that you fight internally.

Those battles are usually the ones where we don’t realize we’re fighting until we get injured or injure someone. It’s harder to see where the battle lines are and who or where the enemy is. In these battles the black and white is indistinguishable and you end up seeing more grey areas. Though it is vital to make the distinction and there is no space for error.

Samap village in PNG's East Sepik province is like many other places in the country - isolated and without road access. But despite their isolation, a transformation driven by a small group of businessmen is putting Samap's community on a path to becoming self-made millionaires. The people have taken control of their land and are becoming leaders in the Buai (betelnut, areca) trade. They're making almost a million kina every year by trading with buai buyers from Papua New Guinea's highlands.

Papua New Guinea. Thirty seven years on and we are still being treated and treating fellow Papua New Guineans like second-class citizens in our own country. Do you agree? Maybe, maybe not.