PNG cracks down on expat workers

[Wirraway]

ABC News Online

PNG cracks down on expat workers

Papua New Guinea's Employment Minister, Peter Yama, has threatened to revoke the work permit of the Australian head of the country's airline, Air Niugini.

The minister has also confirmed he has put a moratorium on the issuing or renewing of any foreigner's work permits pending a review.

Mr Yama says the salaries paid to some expatriate workers in PNG are excessive.

Asked in Parliament about the number of expatriates at Air Niugini, Mr Yama said he was investigating the work permit of Rod Nelson, the Australian who took up the CEO's job at the airline in July.

Mr Yama believes the position should be held by a Papua New Guinean.

He says he will announce his position on whether the permit should be revoked within a week.

Mr Yama has confirmed he has ordered a review of compliance with work permit rules, placing a moratorium on issuing new permits in the interim.

==========================================

[troppo]

they just never seem to learn do they....

won't last long....im sure aussie wont like to hand over K600m in aid each year with decisions like that being made

[pullock]

As necessary as it is, the Australian governments proposed cultural invation of PNG was never likely to go completely un-noticed in PNG, and now we are seeing a reaction.

[TIMMEEEE]

Remember years ago when Dieter Seefeld was running the show.....and very smoothly I might add.
Some PNG politician (and I use the term loosely) decided that the expat GM should go and be replaced with a PNG national.

The rest is history!
When will these imbeciles ever learn.
Enough said.

[Chimbu chuckles]

Ground hog day.

Get hold of the Balus trilogy and read the history of political interference with PX....or at least the printable part ;)

They couldn't do a better job of wrecking what was once a great little airline if that was their intention.

Chuck.

[frangatang]

Go to Rhodesia to see what happens when a country is `returned to its owners!

[Johhny Utah]

Or just go to down town Port Moresby or Lae & see what happens when a country is returned to it's rightful owners... :eek:

PNG - Africa on the doorstep of Australia...:eek:

[poteroo]

Drop 10% off their aid, and send them the Cormo Express.

Repeat it each time they try this stuff on us.

cheers

[Winstun]

Ho hum..........the Aussie spirit of racism pops its head up again.....:zzz: The sooner Australian rednecks achieve keeping their porky noses out of other countries affairs.....the better...:hmm: Payback time honkey.:{

[Taildragger]

TIMMEEEE .... You are spot on re "Der Kaiser". he knew a thing or three about keeping the Pollies at bay, and running an Airline. Since then, a succession of PNG's finest have come, and just as swiftly, gone again. Would this political interference somehow be instigated by a certain ex PNG Manager, nowwith the PNG Tourist Board.???? I would put money on it.
Every time I think of the way they have fercked up a great outfit, I get mad. It kind of negates the efforts of all those expats (And I am proud to include myself her, and I am sure Chimbu Chuckles is too) who contributed to an outfit that the country could be proud of. The analogy of PNG Africa on the doorstep is a good one. The last out, please turn out the lights.....IF there is any electricity. Sob sob sob sob.

[Al E. Vator]

...er, sure...payback time?

Why give 'Aid' to PNG in the first place? Simply stop paying anything at all. There are countless homeless kids or victims of domestic abuse in Australia who could do with better assistance than they get.

Why give it to a bunch of ingrates who use the retort 'redneck' to smokescreen to cover rampant corruption. The classic example of this is Mugabwe - 'his' people are substantially worse off now than they were under Smith but he is an extremely wealthy man.

Are the likes of Somare and his predecessors any different?

Throwing money in the form of aid at PNG is akin to flushing it down the toilet - the people who really need it will continue to suffer and the crooks flourish.

Keep the $ in Australia and let those with misguided attitudes like Winstun work themselves into an indignant stew.

Certainly Winstun "The sooner Australian rednecks achieve keeping their porky noses out of other countries affairs.....the better..." but you would agree that concept wiold entail the rednecks keeping all the money too would it not.

When the $ stop, methinks those sentiments would soon dry up.

[Kiwi Flyer]

aHHHH...

Winstun is stirring the **** again....

All us racists working around the third world, trying to make things better....can you blame him for his attitude!!!

I SAY WE JUST IGNORE THE TOSSER AND HE MIGHT GO AWAY

(Though I doubt it:( )

[Winstun]

Racist redneck rantings is unsavory...but putting up with fairy floss, do-gooder fantasies like the above, is frankly, nauseous...:zzz: Let you in on a little secret....this "aid" is not some generous humanitarian Aussie deed.. :rolleyes: Think mineral exploitation, xenephobia of the yellow peril, imperialism. Aussies really do like to believe their own bullsh*t...only have to look at how they stood by for weeks on end while hundreds of Timorese got slaughtered, then acted like heroes after the perpetrators left, and now screwing poor people out of their gas deposits. Yes, keep your $ in Australia Al E. Vator. Maybe you could even spare a few for the countless homeless kids or victims of domestic abuse in Australia who could do with better assistance. But somehow I doubt it....they don't suck up to you like the black people no more, right? :hmm:

[Wirraway]

ABC News Online 7:21pm (AEST)

Papua PM intervenes in row over work permits for foreigners

Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister has intervened in a damaging row over the issuing of work permits to foreigners.

Sir Michael Somare has demanded an urgent meeting with his Labour Minister, Peter Yama, who last week announced a moratorium on the issuing of visas.

Mr Yama also threatened to revoke the work permit for the Australian head of PNG's airline, Air Niugini, saying chief executive officer Rod Nelson was overpaid, and his position should be localised.

Sir Michael says Mr Yama's comments do not reflect government policy, and he has vowed to take steps to rectify the situation.

"That's his personal view, that's not the government policy, and the minister will be told in no uncertain terms today," he said.

"I've asked the minister to call on my office this afternoon, to make sure of where he got that policy guideline to make that statement in the Parliament."

============================================

[Chimbu chuckles]

There you go Winstun...even the PNG PM knows the huge economic damage that would follow the kind of anti expat, xenophobic BS that Yama was spouting...if it was enacted.

I once was sat next to the (non expat) boss of the PNG taxation department southbound on PX and we discussed some of the issues of the day in PNG. His view was that the only way to save PNG was to delocalise everything above Haus meri to broaden the tax/skill base enough to a/. Get things working again in PNG and, b/. Give the Govt the revenue for major infrastructure improvement.

You want to argue with him too?

I once worked for a chap who was an adviser to the Winti Govt and as such flew him all over the place to policy meetings. One in Goroka I remember he left the minutes from the last 3 meetings in my room, accidently I think. In that 3 inch thick tome was discussion of every problem facing PNG from Law and Order to the problems of attracting the 'right kinds' of expats (long stayers) when their wives were unable to get work permits. They also made the point that delocalising everything above Haus meri would be very good for PNG.

And guess what Winstun...within weeks of that meeting work permits for expat's wives were made even more difficult to obtain!!

In fact having put the 'right' answer on the 'record', presumably for reasons of plausable deniability later, they to a man went out and enacted policy which was opposite to ideas espoused in their policy meetings!!

The only hope for PNG politically is either delocalise the pollies (highly unlikely) or vote in all women to Govt. The male PNG pollies are about 80% xenophobic, rascist, anti expat, anti any clan bar their own, dishonest, incompetent morons.

As the (black) wife of a good mate once said to me. "The only hope for PNG is to sterilize all the men and f**k the place white".

A country that I spent nearly 14 years in, and that I loved very much (I very nearly applied for citizenship in the early 90s) is being torn apart by F**kwits and you sir don't have the first vaguest clue of what you speak.

Chuck.

[Torres]

The problem is not new. I remember working on the first "Training & Localisation Plan" in the late 1970's, a Government requirement before further Expat Visas would be issued.

From that time on, Visa issue became a hassle to the point we were continually unable to recuit enough engineers and pilots.

It's a problem few who have not lived and worked in PNG would understand.

[gatfield]

To Al E. Vator,

You might like to know that approx 80% of Aussie aid stays in Aust, ie. Aust companies and Aust workers keep it.

We are really just helping ourselves, but making ourselves look good at the same time. That's what aid is all about!

[Al E. Vator]

....could well be the case gatfield, I don't profess to know the amounts. However, even that 20% doesn't get to those who really need it. Greed amongst the beaureacrats denies assistance to those who genuinely need it - so why bother giving anything at all?

Sadly, with boofheads running the place with limitied intellect (like those rantings eminating from 'Winstun' for example) spend too much time lining their own pockets, screwing their own people, using rhetoric like 'redneck' and too little time helping those for whom aid is intended.

Australia was never the perfect administrator of PNG and there were certainly Aussies who behaived like upstart colonial lords. However, like Zimbabwe, the populace were far better off under the previous admininstration than the present and sadly the country is destined to disappear down the gurgler.

People like Winstun will ensure that happens.

[Winstun]

the populace were far better off under ....:rolleyes: Really is astounding to witness the arrogance of these racist pigs pontificating on who is "better off", and offering freedom from poverty on the condition of inequality. People like Al E. Vator should focus more of their energy on fixing up their own backyard. Australians are among the largest victims of assault, rape, and robbery in the world. "The only hope for PNG is to sterilize all the men and f**k the place white". Nothing could be more nauseating than some hard core racist justifying his position by quoting his matey's slapper cause she's black....ho hum....:zzz:

Winstun

There's Court Jester and there's unnacceptable, you just crossed the line.

W

[Al E. Vator]

...you illustrate my argument beautifully.

God help PNG.

[Wirraway]

ABC News Online
1:26pm (AEST)
PNG military hunts for wartime gold

Papua New Guinea's defence forces have been sent to a rugged area of New Ireland Province to check reports that a stash of gold from World War Two has been found in a mountain tunnel.

Government sources say they were alerted to the potential find a fortnight ago when a man said he found rotting wooden crates filled with gold bars.

PNG's Cabinet secretly dispatched a defence force section with a helicopter and police to the region to confirm the find and to provide security.

Claims of Japanese gold stashes have surfaced from time to time across PNG, an area which the Japanese occupied for more than three years during World War Two.

If confirmed, the find could provide a big boost for PNG's government finances, although there may be legal disputes with local landowners over who owns the gold.

===========================================

[Torres]

Wirraway, sending the PNG military and police to collect the gold is a little like appointing Frankinstein to manage the blood bank, I would think!

[Wirraway]

Torres

LOL, thats what I was thinking, their cabinet already working
out the splits between themselves, before its even confirmed.

Wirraway

[Torres]

The Member for New Ireland would also need his royalty. The good Knight of the Realm has done well out of a life in PNG politics!!

Yama****a's gold would add lustre to his crown. :}

[Taildragger]

Winstun....

You sure have a helluva big mouth on you, calling the national Wife of Chimbu's mate, a slapper.
You know nothing about him, certainly zilch about her, and you have the goddamned nerve to call other Prune posters racist pigs.
Chimbu is right....you should not speak on matters of which you clearly know nothing about.
I think you owe her an apology. How would YOU take someone who called YOUR wife a "slapper".?
I suspect you would only do it behind the anonimity of "Winstun"
Do it face to face and you would get King Hit bigtime.
Cheeech Woomera....time to get this jerk off the frequency.

[Taildragger]

Chimbu Chuckles ..... Here's one for you hot off the presses....

Winstun ...
Trust this is the result you were looking for....care to make a statement on this, which I am sure deserves a comment by someone of your experience
I know Andrew. He used to be with PX as manager, Ground Operations and then became PNG Consul, based in Cairns, after which he became MD Of Air Niugini, and now to greater heights.
Looks like the squeeze on Expats is beginning to bite harder.

Ogil at CAA helm

FORMER chief executive officer of Air Niugini Andrew Ogil is the
new head of the Papua New Guinea Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
Governor-General Sir Silas Atopare, in one of his last jobs as the Queen's representative revoked the appointment of Acting CAA director, Australian Douglas John Roser in National Government Gazette No. G126 dated September 25.
Sir Silas appointed Mr Ogil as the new director for CAA for a four-year period effective from the date of the gazettal.
Mr Ogil was in a meeting yesterday afternoon with senior staff of the CAA management and was not able to comment.
A staff member said Mr Ogil started in his new job on October 2 and this week would be hectic for the new appointee as he would be attending briefs and meeting with CAA board members.
It is understood Mr Ogil is on a level four salary package of K75,000 a year inclusive of all allowances and benefits.
Attempts to get him to confirm his remuneration package was also
unsuccessful.
The appointment of a new director for the CAA had been a thorny issue for the management with civil aviation unions calling for a local person with aviation experience be appointed to the top post after Mr Roser's contract expired on August 1.

[Torres]

Taildragger. I know Andrew Ogil well. One of the few (or only!) PX GM's I got on well with! :}

Andrew was pushed to management early - maybe too early - but he's now had years of executive management experience and should be an excellent choise as CAA Director.

I wish Andrew every success in his new position.

[Brudda]

Is Taildragger serious??!!:ooh:

I think you owe her an apology

Offended by "slapper" but apparently not by some redneck's 2KB promoting Nazi facist style sterilization and selective racial breeding....:rolleyes:

Winstun asks me meet you face to face anytime ...:E

W

There's unpopular and there's undemocratic, you just crossed the line.

[Chimbu chuckles]

Well how one throw away line can tie people in knots. I should have put a smilie of some description after her line.

It was a said tongue in cheek over a few beers at the aeroclub...she was one of the nicest, most generous women you'd ever hope to meet...her Christmass spreads (60+ people crossing the entire social range) at their farm (Taildragger knows who now!!) were legendary.

So the paranoid among you just calm down.

For the winstuns of this world...if you can objectively look at what goes on politically in PNG (and places like Zimbabwe) and suggest that things are improving for the average person/ are better than in Colonial times then you are truly deluded.

That doesn't suggest that anyone seriously expects to turn the clock back 30 years to the Colonial era, it is simply many peoples opinion (including many Papua New Guineans) that things were better before. But if you haven't experienced it, and I would bet folding money Winstun and most bleeding hearts are only dealing in theory, then it's very difficult to appreciate how hard done by the average citizen of PNG is.

Ripped off by their 'elected' leaders from dawn to well into the evening most days of the week.

Ask the NJS crews who flew tonnes of relief supplies into Wewak after the tidal wave what they were told by the recieving Australian Official. Something along the lines of "well the last 4 tonnes you bought here has dissappeared..."

It fascinates me why when you are critical of a corrupt process in the third world you are labelled 'rascist' when the exact same circumstances in Australia wouldn't attract the same label.

The other thing which always bemused me in PNG was how really good National managers (for instance) often became as corrupt as the next guy when they reached the top. Work hard and impress the hell out of everyone on your way up and when you get there dive straight into the trough:ugh:

I feel really sad for PNG....untold potential just pissed down the drain!

Chuck.

[tinpis]

Found the gold yet?

[Taildragger]

Brudda ....

There's unpopular and there's undemocratic, you just crossed the line.

???

Chuckles .... Yep I know who you mean, and she is everything you said she is. I tell you Brudda...it's not me you have to worry about. If her husband ever found out who called her a slapper, you would be afraid, very afraid. The guy is, not to put too fine a point on it, a bit of a hard case to say the least. And biiiiiiig too.

Torres .... I agree with what you say....Andrew used to be my Boss, and I wish him well too. Time will tell whether he is going to be manipulated by the Pollies or will be his own man.

[Travelling Toolbox]

Chimbu, Taildragger, Al E., Torres etc.

I gotta agree with you all. If you haven’t lived and worked there you just don’t know what you are talking about.

PNG was ten years of the most challenging, rewarding, frightening, exciting, terrifying, frustrating, disappointing exhilarating time of my life and I wouldn’t trade it for a million bucks.

On Aus Aid into PNG – When I was there (1980 – 1991) Australia gave approximately $200M per year to the PNG government in “untied” aid - NO QUESTIONS ASKED. This was on top of other Defence Aid, Police Aid, Government support & small project spending.

When Australia asked just actually what was being done with the money, they got no direct satisfactory answer. This was about the time of the famous “pineapple” building fire that destroyed, amongst other things, all the government records on matters of aid spending that allegedly were stored there.

Soon after, Oz announced that the untied aid would gradually reduce in real terms over the next few years and be replaced by “tied” aid – aid earmarked for in-country projects BEFORE it is actually sent and spent. The spending of this “tied” aid was/is controlled by AusAid and or the Australian Hugh Commission on behalf of our federal government.

The Irish Chimbu (no relation to Chuckles I think) screamed like the proverbial stuck pig and was reported to have actually threatened Australia with words to the affect, “If you don’t give us the money, then I’ll go to the Russians and they’ll give us all we want.”

I only wish he had. The USSR might have disintegrated sooner! :D

So now we have Australian money supporting things like fresh water wells in villages, medical posts, radio communications, police assistance, government, aviation infrastructure repair/upgrade, medical training for local doctors nurses and the list goes on and on and on. And it is substantially more than $200M thewse days!

We may not have been the best colonial administrator in the world, but we did try. We are still trying post-colonial era. How many colonial administrations are doing the same in the world today?

The job we did do must not have been too bad if all the lapoons can do today is lament “time bilong masta” and wish for its return. At least there was law & order, decent medical facilities and education THAT ALL WORKED.

My expat colleagues both gone finish and still working in PNG would have to be some of the LEAST racist people I have ever met. I would also like to think that I am included in that statement. PNG changed every expat I ever worked with and I think it was profound – every one to a man no matter what hardships they endured in country all came away with a life long fondness for the country itself. INSPITE OF THE RASCALS AND THE POLLIES.

What did PNG teach me?
Patience.

To Winstun

You are a gnikcuf goose. I use to think that the only thing lower than a snake’s gut in a wheel rut was whale sh1t. I now know that you would have to look up to see whale sh1t. Crawl back into the crack you oozed from slime.

[Pinky the pilot]

Travalling Toolbox,Chuckles,Torres, Al ev et al; You Gentlemen said all that I could and more.
I was only a short timer in the country unfortunately (18 months all up) but how I remember landing at some of the bush strips and being plaintively asked by some of the locals
'When taim bilong Masta come back?'
And that happened more times than I can remember!
Maybe..just maybe things might change for the better.
One day.


You only live twice. Once when
you're born. Once when
you've looked death in the face

[Taildragger]

Travelling toolbox Very eloquent my friend, and sooooooo true. As Chuckles will tell you, we have endured some pretty life threatening situations in PNG and am still here to say I loved every minute of it...best job I ever had, and the most incredible people amongst whom range some of the best friends I will evre have and still are.
I have the scars, and on occasions, only the laundry and I will know how tru;y frightened I was.!! Your remark about some of the guys being the least racist people you have met is so very true also. When people ask me about PNG, I don't tell them the truth, they just wouldn't believe some of the things that happened....this is true. I just don't talk about the detail, except to people who are still living there or who have lived there in the past. The good years are gone....but they WERE good.
Now....time to get hooked into another long kneck I think....

[Sharpie]

Ahhhh. so many words of wisdom and great to see that Chuckles has not lost his sense of humour after being away for a few years.

Now living the life of an expat in Philippines, I note with interest that neither Posguria or the national papers carried the Transparency International (TI) report on global corruption covered at length in this week's Philippine Daily Inquirer.

TI found that the top four( out of 133 countries) least corrupt countries were, Finland, Iceland, Denmark and New Zealand. (Hmmn.I wonder if temperature has anything to do with honesty?)

Sadly, Papua New Guinea ranked 118 (out of 133) above Angola, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Haiti,Tajikastan, Indonesia and Kenya, rating level with Ivory Coast, Kyrgyzstan, and Libya, but below Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Irag, Sierra Leone and Uganda.

Sir Peter should get a copy from Sir Tony Siaguru for distribution within the Waigani halls of power as it makes for interesting reading.

Peter Sharpe.

[Sharpie]

....and I did forget.

Australia IS on the International Graft list, below Singapore,Sweden and Netherlands, equal with Switzerland and Norway on 8th spot, ahead of UK, Canada, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Austria, Gemany, Belgium, with Ireland and good ol' USA on equal 18th spot.

try: www.globalcorruptionreport.org/

Peter Sharpe.:D

[poteroo]

The New Ireland Gold

Spent time on NI between Kavieng and Namatanai in the late 60's and learned a lot about the wartime history while talking to the village elders.

NI was a Jap 'Hospital' base, and was guarded/run by 5000 Jap Marines - the meanest, most brutal of the lot - other than the Kempetei. They beheaded just about anyone who was a leader, and ran the place ruthlessly.

They also booby-trapped everything they left behind - this I was told by the lapuns who survived. I'd take $ on the gold, if it exists at all, being very likely to go BANG!

We found all sorts of stuff hidden around the plantations and the locals were forever digging up stuff in their gardens. Whenever they burned off, everyone stood well back, because the heat often sent off whatever was close to the surface.

The Allies bypassed NI because it was considered to pose a high risk,(really high), if invaded. The Jap Marines,( who by this time were low on saki and goodwill), decided to move out one night, and a large detatchment boarded a ship and headed off to the north. They made it to deep water, and were torpedoed by a Yank sub, in full view of the cheering locals.

As the survivors struggled to shore, they discovered that the locals didn't really love them at all! In fact, they were all summarily bush naiped in the water! There was one survivor that I know of - it was a cat. The locals kept it as a living reminder of their friends from the Land of the Rising Sun. It's progeny were in residence at Karu plantation in 1968, and that's what prompted the story.

Anyone stupid enough to dig around on that island deserves the gold.

Maybe they're confused with Lihir?

cheers,

[troppo]

Gold find a have....???

http://www.thenational.com.pg/1014/nation1.htm

nice story tho...

anyone heard the one about the P38s and Harleys in crates on Manus?

[tinpis]

troppo anyone heard the one about the P38s and Harleys in crates on Manus?

Manus (Momote) is as flat as a ****-carters hat in all directions,you wouldnt be able to stash a carton of SP there.


Did anyone ever open up the tunnel(s) under Wewak ?

The beach at Cape Wom was a treasure trove of rusted Jap weapons.

[Torres]

tinpis. You are totally correct re Manua. And troppo, P38's were flown into operational areas - not shipped in, in crates.

Most war surplus aircraft were either flown out (to be destroyed elsewhere) or auctioned off at Nadzab.

[troppo]

made for some good stories over a few brown bottles though...:ok:

[tinpis]

Hmmm...200 aussie coppers for PNG rascal duties..

Doco SBS last night on Wabag (Enga) election ... bloody terrifying stuff.

Email this morning from mate in Ok Tedi tribal killings ignored by the cops, politicians feverishly stealing everything thats not nailed down.... how long has this country got?

:confused:

[Brudda]

Aussie mineral exploiting imperialists might be well advised to retain their 200 piggies in-country...:hmm: And the number one country in the world for total crime victims? Yes, yours truly at 30.1%...:ooh: ..with NZ a close second...:zzz: (source:nationmaster.com)

[tinpis]

edit: coz i dont wanna start a war of words:p