Pacific Report

Png Slashes Its Public Service

Papua New Guinea’s 1983 budget provides for the abolition of five government departments and the retrenchment of 3000 public servants, or about 10 percent of the national government workforce. It earmarks K 12.5 million to be paid as lump sum redundancy payments to those who will lose their jobs. The budget imposes higher taxes on alcoholic liquor, cigarettes, betting and luxury goods to raise K 10.6 million ($A14.53 million).

The beer tax of 58.5 toea a litre will be linked to the Consumer Price Index, to rise yearly with inflation. A packet of 20 cigarettes will cost about 3 toea more, a standard bottle of spirits K 1.2 more and a bottle of wine 30 toea more. There is a sliding scale of stamp duties on horserace bets, from 50 toea per bet of up to KlO to K 2 per wager of more than K5O. The bookmakers’ turnover tax doubles to two percent and licence fees rise from KlOOO to K5OOO. There will also be a 30 percent tax on instant coffee and air-conditioners; 17.5 percent duty on imported non wooden pre-fabricated buildings, and 15 percent on ready-made cab-chassis trucks. Fruit concentrates used by the soft drink industry will be exempt but small bottles of soft drink will cost 1 toea more. The import tax on luxury goods rises by 10 per cent to 80 percent and duty on cars with engines above 2000 cc rises to 110 percent. Total expenditure will be K 788.3 million ($A1051.1 million), five percent less than the current figure, but PNG is hoping that Australia will restore the 5 percent cut in aid; otherwise 45 projects, unlisted, will be pruned or axed. An agreement signed between the public servants’ union and the government the day after the budget was brought down was apparently successful in heading off threatened industrial action over the sacking of the public servants. The union’s president, Napoleon Liosi, said the agreement for redundancy payments was a big achievement as it set a standard for further similar agreements in PNG. He said he was sad to see one tenth of his members losing their jobs, but the union accepted reality and hoped the terms of the agreement would stop any industrial trouble.

Four Oversee Micronesian Plebiscites

Fiji will join France, Britain and Papua New Guinea in the task of overseeing the three plebiscites to be held in Micronesia on the terms of the Compacts of Free Association between the United States as trustee of the Trust Territories and the three political entities: the Marshall Islands Republic, the Republic of Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). The first plebiscite is scheduled to be held in Palau on December 10 and the others will be held soon after. Palau initialled its compact in September (PIM, Oct. p 5), and the FSM in October, but agreement between the Marshall Islands and the United States was delayed because of the Kwajalein Atoll landowners’ opposi tion to the terms offered by the U.S. for continued use of the atoll as a missile-testing base. However, agreement was reached late in October when the landowners accepted new offers by the U.S. The new agreement provides for payment by the U.S. of about SUS 9 million a year for current use of the base, taxes and services: a 30-year term of occupation by the U.S. instead of 50 years, as originally agreed between the Marshalls Government and the U.S.; and payment by the U.S. of about $6 million towards a capital development program to improve Hiving conditions for about 8000 Marshallese living in Ebeye, a few kilometres from the missile range headquarters. In exchange for the reduced term of occupation, the U.S. says it will pay $6.5 million instead of $22 million for the right to extend use of the base beyond 15 years. Provided the various compacts are approved without getting bogged down in the U.S. Congress or the U.N. Trusteeship Council, the stage seems set for termina tion of the trusteeship in 1983.

U.S.-Palau Initial Fund Deal

An agreement, which, under the terms of the Compact of Free Association, will give the Palau Government billions of dollars in U.S. aid, has been initialled in Koror by U.S. Ambassador, Fred M. Zeder and Palauan Ambassador, Lazarus E. Salii of Palau.

The fund will open with capital of SUS6O million, to be invested by Palau to produce $5 million in each of the sixth, 11 th and 16th

years of the compact, and $23.5 million a year for 35 years, commencing on the 16th year. Assuming a 12 percent rate of interest, the initial capital of $6O million will grow to about $3.9 billion at the end of 50 years. This is over and above the funds already provided for Palau under the compact. The fund will not be subject to the jurisdiction of U.S. courts and will be immune from seizure, attachment, currency control or freeze by the U.S.

Government. The fund may be invested only in qualified instruments identified from time to time by mutual agreement of the Palau and U.S. governments.

Union Caledonienne In Congress

Three thousand members of New Caledonia’s largest pro independence party, Union Caledonienne, have directed their leaders not to participate in discussions with the French Government on a statute of autonomy. However, the motion, which was carried unanimously at a November congress of the party, does allow for participation in discussions which lead to independence. The three-day congress, held at Sarramea, 130 km north of Noumea, followed an announcement by the French Government that it would form a commission to reform New Caledonia’s governing statute and grant the territory greater autonomy. The congress also adopted a proposal for a constitu tion for a “Kanak socialist state in the form of a democratic and decentralised republic.”

Anti-Inflation Budget For Fiji

The Fiji Government has produced an anti-inflation Budget, increasing taxes on beer, cigarettes, vehicles and petrol but cutting out the two percent export tax on sugar, molasses and coconut oil. A two cents a litre tax increase on petrol will take the price to 53c. Finance Minister, Charles Walker, budgeted for a deficit of the equivalent of $A30.4 million. Fiji’s inflation rate, at around eight percent, is among the lowest in the Pacific. A joint statement from the Fiji Manufacturers Association, the Employ ers Consultative Association, and the Suva Chamber of Com merce said it was pleasing to note the favorable financial position attained by the country in the past year. Praising the government for its efforts in keeping down inflation, the three organisations said that inflationary trends must be kept to a low level if Fiji was to develop its export potential and economic stability.

Hot Papeete Debate On Pollution

Will the French Government have to clean up its own nuclear mess? This was the question hotly debated in the Territorial Assembly of French Polynesia early in November, when the Paris government submitted a draft of new legislation to prevent pollution of the oceans, especially by oil tankers. Happy to be consulted for once, the assemblymen argued that the most common and dangerous form of pollution in their islands is nuclear contamination, resulting from 41 atmospheric and 44 underground tests, and tacked on an amendment making this a criminal offence and compelling the offender to repair or pay for the damage done. Among the polluted islands the assemblymen want the French army to clean up are, of course, in the first place Moruroa and Fangataufa. Next come such islands as Hao and Mangareva, where over the years hundreds of tons of contaminated material has been dumped into the lagoons by French warships, a method of disposal which gradually has made all local fish poisonous. Marie-Therese and Bengt Danielsson.

Png Minister Raps Oz Journalist

An Australian journalist came in for heavy criticism in Papua New Guinea’s parliament in November. In a personal explana tion to parliament, Papua New Guinea’s Justice Minister, Tony Bais, attacked an article that had appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. Mr Bais claimed the article was inaccurate, sensational and unfair. The story was headlined “Police State Off Our Northern Shores” and dealt with the Peace and Good Order Bill then before Parliament. It reported opposition and academic concern over certain provisions of the bill. Mr Bais said the journalist who wrote the article, Kevin Ricketts of Australian Associated Press, was wrong when he wrote that Mr Bais was not strongly supporting the legislation.

He said the reporter was even more inaccurate when he compared Papua New Guinea to South Africa, the Philippines, and South American dictatorships. Mr Bais said the provisions in the bill for limited curfews, passes and bans on demonstrations were aimed at controlling lawlessness. He claimed safeguards in the bill prevented the measures being used for political repression. He said the government was concerned about civil rights but these had no meaning for the latest victims of axe murders in the Highlands, or the notorious rascal gangs in Port Moresby. He said: “I would like Mr Ricketts to leave his comfortable foreign correspondent’s home in Port Moresby and go up to the Highlands. There I would like him to travel around with police to help them clean up the havoc after another axe attack, to be with them while they comfort the survivors and see the damage caused by a lack of order. We in the Government are concerned about the civil rights of our people.”

N.F.P. Sour On Election Inquiry Terms

Fiji’s opposition National Federation Party has criticised the terms of reference of an inquiry (PIM, Nov. p 5) into allegations of foreign interference in the country’s July elections. The NFP leader, Jai Ram Reddy, has written to Prime Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, expressing concern that the inquiry will be restricted to comments made during the election campaign and not after it. He said his party wanted the claim by the Prime Minister that the NFP had received $1 million in aid from the Soviet Union to come within the view of the inquiry. Mr Reddy said he was also concerned that a report prepared for Fiji’s ruling Alliance Party by an Australian business consultant, Allan Carroll, may not go before the inquiry.

French “Yes” On Neutron Test

France’s Defence Minister, Charles Hernu, says he attended a successful neutron bomb experiment at Moruroa Atoll in August, 1981. But Defence Ministry officials stressed that only the neutron bomb mechanism had been fired, not a complete bomb.

Mr Henru said France was capable of building and deploying the neutron bomb, but President Mitterrand had not yet made a decision on whether to build the weapon. At the United Nations, French delegate Marcel Delagorge has said France would continue its nuclear tests in the Pacific “until there is an effective process for nuclear disarmament”. He said that bilateral U.S.- Soviet arms control talks now under way in Geneva should be the main focus of efforts towards nuclear disarmament. “The French nuclear deterrent has been kept to the minimum necessary to prevent anyone attempting domination of our country,” he said.

Bordallo Is New Guam Governor

Despite television ads of President Ronald Reagan warmly endorsing him, Republican Governor, Paul M. Calvo, was turned out of office in the November 2 general elections on Guam. Successful candidate was Democrat Ricardo J. Bordallo, who was himself beaten by Calvo in the 1978 general elections while serving his first four-year term as governor (January 1975- January 1979). The Democrat team for governor and lieutenant governor was Bordallo-Reyes. They polled 15,199 votes to 13,797 for the Republican pair, Calvo-Perez. Mark L Berg.

Reddy Warns Of “Anti-Indian” Moves

Fiji’s Opposition leader, Jai Ram Reddy, has warned of an emerging pattern of hatred and ill-will against the country’s Indian community. He called on the Indian people to unite, saying that insults and humiliations they had been subjected to could not be ignored. Mr Reddy was speaking at a meeting in Suva called to discuss resolutions passed at a recent meeting of the Great Council of Chiefs. The resolutions, which are not binding on the Government, seek a mandatory two-thirds of the seats in the house of representatives, and the posts of Prime Minister and Governor-General to be reserved for Fijians. The Opposition leader said the Indian community must protest against all forms of injustice and oppression.

Png Minister Suspended

Papua New Guinea’s Public Utilities Minister Michael Pondros was suspended from office in November. The suspension followed action by the Ombudsman Commission to refer to the public prosecutor allegations that Mr Pondros misappropriated public funds allocated to Manus Province.

New Moves In N.Z. Citizenship Row

The Western Samoa Government in November was seeking talks with the New Zealand Government on NZ citizenship as it affects Samoans following the NZ parliamentary Bill nullifying a British Privy Council ruling that all Western Samoans born between 1924 and 1949, when New Zealand was administrator of Western Samoa, are New Zealand citizens (PIM Sep p 6).

Samoan Prime Minister Tupuola Efi has said his government will attempt to set aside the protocol signed by the previous Vaai Kolone government agreeing to the NZ Bill. The controversy threatens to sour Samoan-New Zealand relations. Tupuola Efi has said that more than 90 per cent of Samoans supported the Government’s move for renegotiation. Meanwhile, a group of Samoans led by church ministers and business people, has filed a petition to the Samoa Supreme Court asking for an order declaring the protocol unconstitutional.

Tahitian In Greenpeace Protest

For the first time in mid-October an activist of Tahitian origin sailed to Moruroa to protest against continued nuclear testing.

He was Guy Taero, who had shortly before been released from a French prison where he had served time on “political sabotage” charges. He joined the Australian Chris Robinson and the Englishman John Castle when the Greenpeace vessel Vega returned once more to the site of the French bomb tests.

Two weeks later the yacht was boarded by gendarmes maritimes and towed into Moruroa lagoon. Main charge brought against the three was that they had illegally entered territorial waters. They strongly denied this. They were subsequently charged with the additional offences of having changed their destination, and not having displayed the prescribed navigation al lights. They replied that they were still bound for Auckland, but were just making a slight detour, and that the regulations referred to by the gendarmes applied to big ships and not small yachts. They never had a chance of replying to these strange charges in court. On arrival in Tahiti by military aircraft, they were immediately transferred to an Auckland-bound Air New Zealand flight. Since it was clearly impossible to indict Taero for having penetrated illegally into his own country, he was eventu ally released. His last protest concerned his cherished Tahitian Bible, which had been confiscated along with his other personal belongings at the time of the seizure. The Vega which is registered in Canada, remains impounded. Marie-Therese and Bengt Danielsson.

N.C. Protest On Shooting Of Aborigine

A New Caledonian trade union, the Union of Kanak and Exploited Workers, has reacted to the November shooting of an Aboriginal youth in the New South Wales, Australia, country town of Moree with the following statement; “The assassination of an Aboriginal brother in NSW by Australian racists highlights the racism and apartheid which exists in this region. We stress our support for all trade union and political organisations which are fighting in Australia for the recognition of Aboriginal rights, and for their rights to land.” The statement adds that the union sees its own struggle in New Caledonia “for Kanak Socialist Independence” as running parallel to that of the Aboriginal people. Helen Fraser.

Cooks P.M. Injured In Fishing Mishap

The Cook Islands Prime Minister, Sir Thomas Davis, flew to New Zealand for medical treatment in November following injuries received when he fell off his seat in a fishing boat in a heavy swell after competing in a fishing contest staged for delegates to the South Pacific Conference in Pago Pago in October. X-rays revealed that Sir Thomas had a broken vertebra in the neck. The fish hooked by Sir Thomas in the contest had made him the winner.

Cyclone Jodie Visits Vanuatu

Cyclone Jodie left a trail of damaged houses, gardens and fruit trees on the northern islands of Vanuatu in late October-early November.

Fees Rise At U.S.P.

The University of the South Pacific has announced an increase of five percent in tuition and boarding fees from next year. The increase will raise the fees for private students from within the university region to just over SF3OOO a year.