Pacific Islands Monthly

Png's Rapid Hand-Over, And So

Much More To Think About!

From a Port Moresby correspondent

December 1, in Papua New Guinea, should be almost the same as any other Saturday providing the wishes of the Chief Minister Mr Michael Som are. are followed.

However, hotel bars will be closed for three days but any other celebra tions, Mr Somare believes, should be deferred until the more appropriate time of independence.

He did suggest that schools and “other institutions” could mark the occasion with special ceremonies and that church leaders could arrange special services for December 2. They will, and they have, and the very fact that the Chief Minister is attem pting to play it cool will guarantee that the advent of self-government will be remembered for a long time to come.

In theory PNG has been preparing for self-government since the elec tions in 1964, the year of the first House of Assembly, so the transition should, in theory, be smooth. But there have been a few final hectic weeks, and such a change of direction can hardly pass unnoticed.

Both the Commonwealth Parlia ment and the PNG House of Assem bly have passed a wide variety of acts and ordinances covering the transfer of powers. The Commonwealth Senate has been hostile to some legislation, not relating to PNG, and the effect of this means the pile up of a great backlog of work for Federal Parliament to get through.

But most important changes came before December 1. o On November 1, Air Niugini made its appearance as PNG’s own domestic airline, using aircraft bought from TAA, or chartered from Ansett. (see p 79). • On that date also the Australian Banking Act, 1959-73, and the reserve

Bank Act, 1959-73, ceased to extend to PNG, thus enabling PNG to pass its own banking laws. Mr Somare and the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Sir John Phillips, officially launched the Bank of Papua New Guinea on November 1.

Mr Henry Toßobert has been ap pointed Governor, with Mr P. S. Fer guson, now on secondment from the Reserve Bank for two years, as dep uty governor.

Mr Toßobert is from Bitagalip village. Gazelle Peninsula, and joined the Reserve Bank in 1965. He holds a B.Ec, from the University of Syd ney and became manager of the bank’s Port Moresby office in 1972. • On December 1, the Adminis trator, Mr L. W. Johnson, will cease to hold the office of Administrator and is appointed High Commissioner, assuming most of the powers held by the Minister for External Territories and some of the powers of the Gover nor-General.

During the period of self-govern ment the High Commissioner will act as the embryo Head of State for PNG, and as the Australian represen tative, functions which cover the appointment and transfers of minis sters on the advice of the Executive Council, and the acceptance of resig nations and filling of vacancies in the House of Assembly. Mr Johnson was Director of Education in PNG from 1962-1966, then was appointed Assistant Administrator, and finally in 1970 Administrator in succession to Mr David Hay. He has been a dedicated, warmly regarded Adminis trator, keeping in the background publicly.

It’s not likely that Mr Johnson’s appointment as High Commissioner will last for many months into 1974, as he has been selected to direct a new Australian Government agency for foreign aid (including aid for Papua New Guinea) with the De partment of Foreign Affairs in Can-

Sealed with a kiss... Papua New Guinea's Chief Minister Michael Somare hobnobs with one of the residents while holidaying with his wife Veronica and family on Queensland's Gold Coast. The seals he will handle as Chief Minister, and probably Prime Minister, won't be half as interesting.

jrra, a job he will fill with as much )mpetence. • The Administrator’s Executive ouncil has been renamed the Ex :utive Council, which will advise ic High Commissioner on matters dating to the administration of Dvernment. The High Commissioner ill accept the advice of the Executive ouncil in all areas not reserved to ustralia.

Official members have been re loved from the Executive Council nd from the House of Assembly, and le Chief Minister, as a member of le Executive Council, will be known y that title rather than as Deputy hairman of the Council. He will so have more flexibility in the choice f his ministry and, automatically, in ic composition of the Executive ouncil.

The old Administrator’s Execu ve Council consisted of the Admin trator, three official members and iree unofficial members, of whom vo were elected. • The Department of External ffairs will cease to exist, from De jmber 1, its functions being trans ited to the PNG Government, and le department becoming a division F the Australian Foreign Affairs De artment. Many officers of this di sion will continue to deal with apua New Guinea because of their >ecialised knowledge of the country. • The Sydney office of the PNG lovemment will operate as it did hen it was part of the External erritories Department, one of its lain functions being to secure sup ies and to process entry permits >r the PNG Government. It will ;come localised, and its functions ill include consular, tourism, busi es and trading matters. The Sydney Tice, will move into new premises ►metime in 1974, • The PNG National Broadcasting ommission also came into existence )mbining the functions of the ABC, hich has operated in PNG since ie end of World War 11, and the 17 nail stations run by the Adminis ation. The new commission is ex acted to work within the framework tablished by the ABC, and the staff ill remain in PNG on secondment i the NBC to help the management, ogramming and technical matters.

Mr Malcolm Naylor, the ABC re esentative in PNG, will join the )ard of PNG NBC, which is under e chairmanship of Mr Sam Piniau om Rabaul. • Bougainville will immediately ;t a constituent assembly to pave e way to district government, and her districts will get district govern ent in February.

An Area Authority—the present

system of conferences of local gov ernment councils in a district—will probably be recognised as a con stituent assembly. • The portfolio of Minister for External Territories in the Australian Government will be abolished on De cember 1, but the minister, Mr W. L, Morrison, will continue his associa tion as minister assisting the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Willesee, on Papua New Guinea matters. • Immediately following self government, Papua New Guinea will actively plan for the appointment of diplomatic representation in Australia and abroad. At independence, PNG will have a High Commissioner in Canberra and possibly London (it may be decided in preference to ap point an ambassador to Brussels), and ambassadors to Jakarta and Tokyo, and a mission to the United Nations in New York. It is also likely there will be a representative in Suva, but not of high commissioner rank. Sydney will also get a consul general. Tipped for the Australian High Commissioner’s post is Mr Oala Oala-Rarua, who not long ago narrowly missed appointment as secretary-general of the South Pacific Commission. Oala will probably in the meantime represent Papua New Guinea in Sydney on a lesser status. • Mr Somare, and Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Mr Adam Malik, signed an agreement on the border between Papua New Guinea and Irian Jay a in Port Moresby on November 13. PNG Minister for De fence and Foreign Relations, Mr Albert Maori Kiki, added his signa ture. Mr Malik, who arrived for a three-day visit on November 11, said he was convinced the two countries would move closer together.

Mr Somare said, in a public speech, that Indonesia and Papua New Guinea had a common colonial ex perience and it was most likely that PNG after independence could profit more from Indonesian experience than from Australia.

Routine Flight

With A Difference

Nostalgia was in the air as VH FNA Flight 613 took off from Kieta for Port Moresby on October 28 with Captain John W. Kessey, DFC, at the controls supported by his Ist Officer Aria Bou and hostess Joyce Wichham.

It was the last of the ANA flight numbers in Papua New Guinea.

Shortly afterwards, at midday, all flight members came under Air Niugini control.

John Kessey first took to the air when he joined the RAAF January, 1939, became commanding officer of 14th Squadron Beaufort bombers and won his DFC as CO of 100th Squadron.

He intends to stay with Air Niugini for from three to five years.

Aria Bou is one of Papua New Guinea’s three indigenous pilots all trained by the South Pacific Aero club. The others are Minsin Penei and Barry Awui. They are all on Air Niugini’s staff. Barry Awui, who has the distinction of holding an instructor’s rating, once had to make a forced landing on a salt pan in Bootless Bay. He accomplished it un der very difficult circumstances with out damage to the plane.

Anti Family Planning. —The

Kieta Local Government Council does not want family planning in his dis trict because of large areas of vacant land. The council was not happy either with a Welfare Office broad cast on family planning over Radio Bougainville, and will make written submissions to the authorities about it. • One striking effect of the large number of departures from Papua New Guinea is shown in the savings banks figures. In August, for the first time in 70 years, there v/as a fall in total deposits. In that month the de posits were $39.7 million, compared with $43.3 million in August, 1972.

From the left, Captain John W.

Kessey, DFC, air hostess Joyce Wichham and 1st Officer Aria Bou, who made the last flight under ANA control from Kieta to Port Moresby.

New Jobs For Old

Changes in senior positions in the public service continue to be an nounced with great speed. Latest in clude the appointment of Mr Mekere Morauta, as Secretary of the Depart ment of Finance, in succession to Mr H. P. Ritchie, who will become an economic adviser with special respon sibilities.

Mr Morauta, Bachelor of Econo mics, University of PNG, was with the Labour Department and the former Office of Programming and Co-ordination before joining the Finance Department last February as deputy secretary.

Mr Elliot Elijah, who has had long experience in PNG with all forms of business enterprise, has been appointed acting Chief of Division, Business Extension, in the Business Development Department.

The important Eastern Highlands district of New Guinea has a new Acting District Commissioner, Mr Bernard Borok, 30, of Manus, who has taken over from the highly ex perienced Mr J. P. Sinclair, who has been transferred to Port Moresby on a special project—research for a his tory of PNG district administration.

With self-government arrived, an earlier phase of New Guinea history is marked by these stamps, part of six issued to mark the 75th anniversary of stamps in PNG. These "stamps upon stamps" are replicas of German New Guinea issues.

The centre one shows Kaiser Wilhelm It's yacht Hohenzollern. The other stamps show the overprinting used when Aus tralian troops took over New Guinea.