Australia and New Zealand have commended the PNG Electoral Commission for preparing and organising the national election. Australian Deputy High commissioner Margaret Adamson congratulated Electoral Commissioner Andrew Trawen and his staff. “They have done a better job through extensive planning since early last year and have put the election on a timely schedule. Although it Read more
Pope Benedict has urged the Bishops from Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands to apply the Gospel to local customs as they carry out their task of evangelisation building on positive elements already present and to purifying others when necessary. He said this in his address to the Bishops the Bishops ,who are in Rome for Read more
A Supreme Court decision has once again put Papua New Guinea in crisis. The court has again declared that the current government, led by Peter O’Neill, is illegal – this time on the eve of scheduled elections. Parliament has voted to declare a State of Emergency, and the Chief Justice has been arrested. The decision Read more
The traditional code of conflict solution known as the peace ceremony is PNG’s most equitable and timeless alternative justice system. In peace ceremonies, the aggrieved parties come together in a public gathering to a neutral location with money and goods like animals, food stuffs etc. The money and goods are exchanged between the aggrieved parties Read more
Priests in Papua New Guinea have been reminded that priesthood and politics don’t mix. They have been told that no Bishop in Papua or the Solomon Islands has ever given or will ever give permission to one of his priests to enter politics. This is the message contained in a letter sent to all priests Read more
The Speaker of Parliament, Jeffery Nape, has called on the Electoral Commission to set new dates for the election that’s supposed to be held in June, even though the Prime Minister and the Electoral Commissioner now say the elections will go ahead as scheduled. On Tuesday a crowd variously reported to number 100’s to 10,000 people, including students, Read more
A Catholic priest in Papua New Guinea who teaches anger management says changing the way people think is one of the keys to overcoming the pervasive levels of domestic violence in the country. Father Philip Gibbs says law changes are one thing but implementation is another given that the police force is really stretched. “And Read more
The Catholic church expressed “disbelief and shock” after parliament yesterday passed the Judicial Conduct Bill 2012 into law. The law, introduced on Tuesday and passed three times by a vote of 63-7 on Wednesday, gave parliament the power to refer a judge to the governor-general who, in turn, must appoint a tribunal to investigate the Read more
And English bishop is getting on his bike to support women in PNG. The Rt Rev Jonathan Meyrick who is a suffragan of the Bishop of Norwich, in the north of Enland, decided to take on the bike tour to get to know his area better, meet new people and raise the profile of a project to Read more
Archbishop Ribat, The Catholic Archbishop of Papua New Guinea, has called on Michael Somare to resign from politics so as to avoid a repeat of last week’s political tension. Archbishop Ribat says while the Catholic Church recognises that the Supreme Court ruled Sir Michael Somare be reinstated, it wants him to end the fight to Read more