Around 70 community leaders are meeting in Madang this week to discuss the lack of development taking place in the Provinces and to begin organising ahead of the 2017 National Election.

The meeting has been arranged by ACT NOW! and is being hosted by the Tropical Gem community network. The theme for the meeting is "Rise Up! Return to Your Roots".

The National Strategy for Responsible Sustainable Development for Papua New Guinea (StaRS) offers a real opportunity for us to build a smart, wise, fair and happy society that can lead the world.

The PM and his Ministers love to trumpet Vision 2050 and how clever we are to have a long-term development plan but have they actually read and understood what it says?

Source: Papua New Guinea Mine Watch

Community advocates pose outside the door to the PNG Parliament Chamber

Four young community advocates from Vanuatu have been shocked by the conditions they have seen in Port Moresby and have vowed not to allow their own country to suffer a similar fate.

Four young community advocates from Vanuatu have arrived in Papua New Guinea to learn more about the development issues facing the country and how they are being tackled.

They are being hosted by ACT NOW! who says the visit is aimed at raising regional awareness and building solidarity with other Melanesian countries. 

Next week is the third anniversary of the Commission of Inquiry reports that exposed the mismanagement, negligence and corruption behind the huge SABL land grab.

A “floral chandelier” Inverted A-Line flower arrangement hanging from the ceiling. This unique flower arrangement is by Osa Amosa Floriculture business group

Dr Kristian Lasslett, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Ulster University

The recent shooting of university students brings home the incredible contrast that exists between the streets and the suites in Papua New Guinea. Police bullets don’t mince words, nor should we.

Decades of research and inquiry have established time and time again that the elite corridors of power in government and business operate through corruption, violence and theft. Many complicit individuals populate the most senior levels of government. Fact.

Injured student is rushed to emergency room in Port Moresby after police shot into crowd of peaceful protestors (Getty Images)

Source: Amnesty International

The shooting of students peacefully protesting in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, is a disgraceful attack on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression.

Civil society organisations are urging the Papua New Guinea government to take immediate action to end pervasive land grabbing and illegal logging after these issues were highlighted by governments around the world in formal recommendations put before the United Nations yesterday. (1)