Tax increases

for New Guinea

• South Pacific Games week was a hectic one for Port Moresby. But other affairs still had to go on, and in the midst of the giant sports contest the P-NG House of Assembly met in Port Moresby for a vital session. Here is that side of the picture.

From JOHN RYAN, in Port Moresby.

Higher charges for cars,

petrol, tape-recorders, record

players, cigarettes, cigars, tobac

co, spirits and wines—that’s the story of indirect tax increases in Papua-New Guinea’s new

Budget.

They are aimed at raising $A 1,500,000 in a full year. The new Budget totals $172 million, of which Australia directly and indirectly is providing nearly 60 per cent.

The territory is raising $66,400,000 from its own resources, plus a record loan target of $10,500,000.

Total Budget is just over 15 per cent, up on last year and shows a heavy leaning towards architectural and engineering projects, especially those which have been running into trouble in the past two years or more. Commonwealth grant this year is $96m.. s9m. more than last year.

Petrol up

Here are the details of the indirect taxation increases: Import duty on sedan cars and station wagons from all sources to rise from 25 to 35 per cent., but no increase on trucks, utilities or motor cycles, because they are vital to transport and com munications.

Duty on petrol to rise from five to eight cents per gallon, meaning that territory motorists no longer get cheaper motoring than people in Australia.

Duty and excise on imported and local cigarettes, tobacco, cigars now 40c a lb, meaning at least an extra one cent for an average packet of 20 cigarettes.

Spirits and wines will cost an extra 16c a bottle, because of the duty increase, and the Treasurer will also get an extra 10 per cent, increase on other luxuries, jewellery, tape recorders and record players.

Later there will also be higher

charges for hospitals and medical and dental services.

Overall, this is a works’ programme Budget, with fringe tax increases but only for the luxury buyers—if liquor, tobacco and cars can be considered luxuries.

General business

Meanwhile, other reports from the Budget session: Everyone in New Guinea agrees that a second international jet air port is becoming essential, if only to bring more tourists into the Pacific circuit, but nobody has been able to agree on where the strip should be built and by whom.

The Member for Madang, Mr.

Jason Garrett, had it debated as a matter of public importance—only to see the debate break down miser ably into regionalism when many

members, especially native members, plumped for the new strip in their own electorates or regions.

Mr. Garrett insisted that Madang was the obvious site —good weather and excellent approaches—but the debate bogged down, with the Admin istration wrapping it up by agreeing that a second international strip was a “must”. But where, and when?

In the House in August, the Member for South Fly in Western Papua, Mr. Niwia Ebia Olewale, de manded that something be done about Papua’s border with Queens land, in the Torres Strait.

In 1878 in the heady days of Queensland colonism, the authorities pushed the Queensland territorial border to within 400 yards of the coast of Papua (between Kussa Island and Papua, north of Boigu Island) to control the pearl beds and the Torres shipping lanes. At the

end of the century, Britain’s Lieu tenant-Governor of British New Guinea (Papua), Sir William Mac- Gregor, was demanding that the border be pulled back nearly 40 miles, but the Order-In-Council (London) permitting this was “lost” when Queensland and the other Australian colonies got rid of all other paperwork in the pell-mell business of creating the Australian Commonwealth in 1901.

Not many in the House last month were fully briefed on the border situation, but they were impressed by Mr. Olewale’s arguments that the Queensland border was taking from Papua much of what belonged to her.

The debate will continue.

No chaplains

It’s a highly religious Parliament (90 per cent, are closely associated with the Missions) but the members were not impressed when the Member for Kompiam-Baiyer, Mr. Traimya Kambipi, asked the Speaker to appoint Parliamentary Chaplains for daily services, including benediction, on the floor.

Reaction ranged up to the assertion that if members wanted “any more religion then they can go to church.”

And the House also got nowhere, apart from expressing its concern, with the old problem of rural people flocking into Papua-New Guinea’s towns for a look at the “big smoke”.

Mr. Meek Singiliong (Finschhafen) wanted the reintroduction of restric tions on movement (something like the old four-day permit) to that the movement of young men to the towns would not decimate the village structures.

Until two or three years ago, many of the urban District Commissioners

could call on special funds to move “vagrants” back home but they have to be careful now, especially with the Pangu Party speaking of “re striction of liberty”.

Mr. Singiliong’s worries have been passed on to the government, but little can be done—at least until Port Moresby, Lae, Madang and other major towns get municipal councils later next year and begin demanding taxes from the rural visitors. Then, the visitors may be more inclined to go back home, restore the village structure and pay taxes to their local councils—and this was a factor in the debate: the annoyance among rural councils that many of their taxpayers can go into the towns and “escape” their tax commitments at home.

Challenge To

Privileges Committee

From JOHN RYAN, in Port Moresby The Papua-New Guinea House of Assembly must be close to the stage where it is sorry that it challenged the general-secretary of the Pangu Political Party, Mr. Albert Maori Kiki, over his political statements in A ustralia.

Mr. Maori Kiki had told Aus tralian audiences that elected native members of Parliament with Ministerial rank were “stooges” for the government, and that other elected members of the Independent Group in Parliament had been offered $60,000 to help represent the planter element in the House of Assembly.

The planters were annoyed. Parlia ment set up a Privileges Committee headed (reluctantly) by the Member for North Fly (Western Papua), Mr.

Warren Dutton, 31, who looks after Standing Orders for the big Indepen dent Group of members in the House.

His small group of fellow members of the Privileges Committee had to try to decide whether their member ship of the committee would affect them politically—whether their com mittee’s challenge of Mr. Kiki (and, indirectly, the Pangu Party) would rebound on them later. Several native members hastily declined offers of seats on the committee.

Eventually Mr. Maori Kiki was called before the committee and asked to explain his statements in Australia. Journalists and others in volved, were also called.

The proceedings earned a big Press and the letters to the editor were

(Continued on p. 136)

many. Some native leaders began speaking of Mr. Maori Kiki as a “martyr” to the cause of the planters and the offended Ministerial mem bers. Pangu members began inter preting the inquiry as a direct attack on their party and in some areas, the Privileges Committee headed by a European was seen as a racial inquisition of a black man.

In late August Mr. Dutton’s com mittee tabled its report.

Although suggesting at one point that Mr. Maori Kiki’s statements in Australia appeared to have been con tempt of Parliament, it could not see just how the charge could be brought home in court. He had made the statements outside Papua-New Guinea and the legal machinery had not been designed to cope with this.

Instead, the committee decided that Mr. Maori Kiki should make a public apology over the statements. Outside Parliament, Mr. Maori Kiki saw no percentage in this, and called in his legal advisers.

The committee also asked the new national daily newspaper, the Post- Courier, owned by the Melbourne Herald group, to apologise for repeatusing the text of Mr. Maori Kiki’s Australian statements, in cover ing the activities of the Privileges Committee.

Newspaper's stand

The Post-Courier declined and sug gested the best place for the whole thing was in a court of law. If the Privileges Committee had hoped for a quiet end to a noisy inquiry, the Post-Courier dashed its hopes by throwing down the gauntlet.

Then on August 28 the full House of Assembly itself got into the serial and adopted the Privileges Commit tee’s report after a long debate. It refused to agree to a motion by Mr.

Michael Somare, Pangu Party leader, that the matter be closed.

The Assistant Ministerial Member for the Treasury, Mr. Oala Oala- Rarua, moved successfully that the Post-Courier’s reporters be excluded from the House for the remainder of the current sitting—probably a week or two.

Footnote : The actual money offered to private members of the House of Assembly last year was

s3o,ooo—not in cash, but in professional and technical services—to help the Independent Group of elected members research their bills and debates more thoroughly. The professional services were to have been arranged by organised employers who were complaining that theirs was the

Gufnea'wiTHOUT U direct represented

tion in Parliament.

Lawyers, journalists, typists and many others were to provide the help for the elected members and they would have been paid by people ranging from lawyers and pharmacists to the bigger retail businessmen.

New Police Chief For Nauru

• Mr. W. V. Scragg has been appointed Director of Police in Nauru and is expected to take up his duties in mid-September. Mr. Scragg will be taking over from Mr. David Mathers, who will be returning to Australia soon. Mr. Scragg, who joined the Honk Kong police in 1941 and was interned during the Jap anese occupation until 1945, has not only wide experience in the varied fields of police work, but speaks fluent Cantonese. He is currently in Sydney.