The PNG Kumuls delighted their home crowd and turned around their fortunes following a poor performance last week to claim the inaugural Pacific Bowl with a 32-12 win against Fiji. Embarrassed last Sunday by the Bati in their 43-16 loss, the Kumuls came out with a new intensity in the final which showed in their determined defence. While the opening quarter of the match was a scrappy affair with both sides making errors, the Kumuls were able to capitalise on the strong breeze at their backs to post a huge 26-0 lead at the halftime break. Their first try came through livewire hooker Edwin Ipape who put in the type of performance fans were hoping to see from him all tournament after he was kept quiet last weekend. This week, he scored a try, made nine runs for 102 metres with seven tackle breaks and also had a try assist in a player of the match performance, while Liam Horne and Judah Rimbu also impressed off the bench. The next two tries were almost carbon copies down PNG's left-hand side, with centre Zac Laybutt running the decoy for fullback Alex Johnston to find winger Robert Derby to cross for a double. In the closing stages of the first half, Laybutt was again helping to set up his teammates again, busting through tackles and making a break downfield before finding Johnston back on his inside. Rhyse Martin kicked four from four successful conversions in the first half, as well as a penalty goal, to help his side to an imposing 26-0 lead. The Bati had their chance to turn the tide in the second half, with Waqa Blake crossing for the first try after the break, but the left plenty of chances go begging, including Maika Sivo losing the ball over the line in what proved to be a key moment in the match. The Bati did have some key performers who tried to turn the game in their favour including Jahream Bula who proved as elusive as ever in attack, setting up a try with a evasive run down field, and Blake who crossed for two tries; but their discipline let them down, with 11 penalties conceded. The Kumuls defence - which was criticised last week - held strong, especially on their own goal line to help them claim the trophy. Source: NRL.Com

The Mapex Training Institute has presented a cheque of K10, 000 for a table at the ‘Concert for a Worthy Cause,’ which is an exclusive dinner concert to be held on November 10th at the Hilton hotel, Port Moresby to raise funds for a school project in the Southern Highland province. The event is organized by the Chairman of the Foe Association and singer, Johnny Yawari to raise funds that will go towards a school building initiative. “Mapex is giving this contribution from the heart and we hope it will go a long way. We appreciate the Foe Association for this fundraising drive.” Mapex Managing Director, Mr. Marcus Palam Kara stated that the institution had initially received a letter of request from the Foe Association and were ready to partner with Mr. Yawari in this worthy cause to help with the education development program for those in rural areas. “We at Mapex are willing to assist people in the rural areas and in this case, is willing to help Wame Blood and the Foe Association in any way we can for this cause.” Kara urged Government members and business houses to come on board and help assist this worthy cause to help the children in the schools in Kutubu. Mr. Yawari is immensely grateful for this initiative from Mapex and hopes for a partnership with the institute later to help in the education development program in Kutubu, and says the funds will go towards purchasing materials for the school building that will start construction in 2024. “We want to bring a changed and better quality education to the children in Kutubu and this contribution will go a long way.” Meanwhile, Chairman of the Organizing Committee Mr. Raul Galewa commended the Mapex Training for driving change through its institutions established in the country and contributing to the education development of this nation. “Education is the catalyst for development in this country. Foe is contributing to the country’s development by setting the benchmark for every Papua New Guinean.” “The contributions every one of us contribute to our communities, will eventually bring change to the country.”

A rugby league club in the Gerehu Suburb of Port Moresby city has recently rekindled their spirit of togetherness in the community by cleaning up their streets as an effort to stop the sale and distribution of drugs and alcohol, bag snatching and bad habits within the community. “This community clean up gives opportunity to the youths of the street to win back the trust of their neighborhood. A come back due to increase in petty crimes, no respect for each other and lack of self-esteem.” The Arehava Panthers Rugby Club was originally established in 1987 as a Touch Rugby Club but is now a Rugby League Club and is comprised of youths living at Gerehu Stage 3A. Team Manager, Joseph Gombo and Coach Mozart Kaiulo who in an interview told PNG HAUSBUNG that the club was bringing back this initiative after more than ten years after the Gerehu Touch Competition had died out and the boys moved on to join other sporting codes. “A rise in bad habits and issues in the community was one of the reasons why we decided to start this rugby club and we started to reintroduce clean ups.” Mozart explained that they saw that the interest to play rugby was still there, so they decided to start a rugby league club and that led to them establishing the rugby league club last year. “We started the team last year and played our first tournament as a team in the Southern Regional Nines competition.” “This year were travelling to Alotau to attend the Hidomo 9s Tournament and that will be the second tournament that we’ll be participating in.” Kaiulo stated that the boys are excited because this is the first time, they’re all going to be traveling out of Port Moresby together as a team. The Panthers coach said that the team was aiming to gain exposure for its players from this tournament because their club is fairly new and hopes that they take home a trophy from competitions in the future. “Most of the boys don’t have the opportunity to showcase their skills, so we’re not participating for ranking, we just want exposure for the boys.” “We’re not an experienced club who have won tournaments but maybe in the next three or four tournaments, we’ll be aiming to take home the cup or plate or bowl. He said that it was a challenge to get the boys to come and train and to keep them there as it is really hard to persuade them to come and play, train or do something and at the end of the day, the bigger picture is just trying to help get them out of their bad habits. “It was a bit difficult for them because the moment you take them out of what they’re used to, it’s a struggle to them as they don’t earn anything.” “I think it’s because most of them are hooked up to the easy way out like selling drugs and alcohol, getting involved in bag snatching and all that. It’s just that we need to be very patient.” According to Kaiulo, the team has been doing volunteer work with a waste management company that was contracted to clean up Ela Beach for three months last year and this year as well. For a small club, Mr. Kaiulo said searching for financial sponsorships is a challenge as well. “Right now, we haven’t found any major sponsors yet so we’re just taking it out from our pockets, digging deep to provide meals for the boys after training.” He stated that the club does have a goal of getting sponsors and they are willing to do the hard yards and secure a sponsor for their funding. “We all go to Ela Beach to enjoy so we thought that it would be good to go and clean up and fortunately found a sponsor. Currently, we have a sponsor that’s providing for some of the things that the club needs. That’s how we got this one sponsor with us assisting us to attend the Hidomo 9s.” Meanwhile, the Arehava Panthers club is using this platform to identify their other areas the boys may be skilled in. “Some of the boys are self-taught graphic designers and they’re designing our walk on t-shirts as an opportunity to showcase their skills so hopefully there’s some exposure that some companies or NGOs can see what we’re doing to empower other boys to turn to positive things in the community.” “I hope that people out there see what we’re doing and come on board and help us because it’s not a one-man thing, we need collective industries to also step in and help. As they say, at the end of the day, a good community is good for the country.”

The 60th Morobe Agricultural Show will commence tomorrow, Saturday 04th November in the city of Lae and is expected to draw in a huge number of people, including tourists, to experience what the two- day event has to offer. The Morobe show has a reputation of attracting fans from Madang and Highlands regions and from other parts of the country and even from the rest of the world. The opening day event of the show will be led by the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary, the Papua New Guinea Defence Force, students and civilians in a parade into the show ground as a gesture of respect and support for the Great Morobe Show. The Morobe Show Host Organizing Community Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Helen Taylor was pleased inform PNGHAUBUNG that the shows will be an extravagant one to mark its 60th anniversary; guaranteed to keep the crowds entertained for two days. “The freestyle king motor cyclist were unable to attend due to COVID- 19 last year, this time they will be present for the main arena shows,” she said. “Activities will be happening simultaneously in different events, from the morning till afternoon from Saturday to Sunday." The show will also be hosting Australian groups, business and education expos, and locals from cowboys to cultural songs (sing-sings) and dances and much more. Meanwhile, the Show’s guests of honour will be Prime Minister James Marape and Deputy Prime Minister and Member for Lae Open, John Rosso. The Morobe Show will go all out thanks to the Grand Champion Sponsor Coca Cola, Champion Sponsor Trukai, Blue Ribbon Sponsor Ramu Agri Industries and Red Ribbon sponsor for supporting the show to come alive this year.

A woman from Piliwa village on the Djaul Island of New Ireland Province (NIP) is spreading awareness on how villagers can manage their reefs. Lilian Kini has advocated on Over-Fishing, Mangrove importance, Fish Life Cycles, Processing of Bêche-de-mer and Aqua Culture Farming apart from many other issues affecting the island communities. Lilian stated that she started this awareness program in 2021 under the Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMA) and Wildlife Conservation Fund (WCF) that focused on locally managed marine areas at Lapai village, another village in the Djaul group of islands where she educated the locals on how to take care of marine areas, urging them to not over fish. “Overfishing is an issue that’s affecting all our island communities in Piliwa and even villages surrounding Djaul Island, which is one of the biggest problems occurring in our reefs.” After constant meetings with locals in villages, Lilian and her team pointed out that fishing patterns have changed over time and these changes are affecting the marine resources on the reefs. According to Lilian, the size and length of the fish was important. They taught people to be selective when fishing for sales at the market, to look after the under-sized fish for another time and to preserve fish stocks for the future generation. “People were made aware of life cycle of fish because when marine resources multiply, not a lot of them survive as a lot of them are eaten.” She spoke of how she taught people that apart from managing marine resources, it was important to respect customs and cultures that were in place, not only in NIP but PNG as a whole. “We taught communities the importance of taboo reef under the customary laws so that they could see that tabu reef was a good way to help manage our marine resources.” “We had to stress that this method was not being greedy, but it was important to create a nursery area and a breeding zone for the fish and marine life.” She explained to the locals that taboo reef would allow areas for marine resources to mate, multiply and hopefully cause a spill over and move to other areas without taboos in place so that communities can not only fish in those areas, but also get a good-sized catch. “They (locals) understood the information that was spread to them and complied to set taboo areas on the reefs.” “People in the communities gave good feedback and they wanted more information reaching their communities to know more about issues.” She also stressed the importance of mangroves because marine resources used mangroves as feeding areas, nurseries and breeding zones. “We need to look after the mangroves so that we would be able to attract big fishes closer to the village.” Kini also made awareness based on proper methods of bêche-de-mer processing, aqua-culture farming as a part of managing resources that allowed people to set up fishponds, preserve and look after their reefs as well as compliance rules for villagers, buyers and exporters that were to be followed under the Fisheries Management Act to help sustain resources. “The Awareness was to teach people managing resource practices and other things to preserve our seas.” Meanwhile, Lilian stated that transport was a main struggle for her during her years of awareness. She has covered Tikana ward 17 and 18 and plans to move further out to other islands of NIP because of the change she has seen in her community. “I met with the villagers, and they told me that after the awareness, they set aside taboo reefs and saw a lot of change. They were happy when they saw that there was an increase in marine life on the reef and the fish that they were catching were larger in size.” Lilian revealed that she was ready to continue her work to spread awareness and urges people on island communities not only in New Ireland but in PNG as well, to listen and take pride in managing their marine resources.

A young man from Southern Highlands Province is currently in a serious condition at the hospital after being shot on his left cheek after an argument over a mobile phone turned violent. According to the father Mr. Jeffery Tinso, the incident took place at the Mendi Compound in Gabutu in the city of Port Moresby. His son, Mr. Jackson Jeffery, was having a few drinks with his friends in the early hours of Wednesday morning when someone from outside the group came over and allegedly stole his mobile phone which was left on a table. Upon realizing that his phone was gone, he questioned the outsider, but that person denied that he took his phone. The argument heated up and the offender pulled out a handgun and shot at him. The victim’s father said that the gun was aimed at his son’s face but luckily, he dodged the bullet, and the bullet scraped his left cheek. He was then immediately rushed to Port Moresby General Hospital Emergency Department to get immediate medical attention. The family and friends of the victim had already filed a police report at Badili Police station for police to follow up and arrest the perpetrator, who is currently on the run. The Mendi community is rallying support from the whole community in Gabutu to call on the family of the suspect to assist police to locate and arrest him right away. The father, Mr. Tinso said his son is not a violent person and the incident has really shattered the whole family. “Everybody and I know Jackson to be a very humble and loving person. This is something I know he would never encourage to happen.” “Police insisted that family and friends do not get involved, now that it’s a police case. So, we will leave it to the police to put this man behind bars,” said Mr. Tinso. Meanwhile, the suspect was believed to have attended a haus- cry within Jackson’s neighborhood and then committed the crime.

Public servants and political leaders in East New Britain have been urged to be accountable and enable key programs to thrive at the Local Level Government (LLG) and Ward levels. Deputy Provincial Administrator for District and LLG Affairs Nicholas Larme made this call during the annual LLG Leaders Conference recently at the Gazelle International Hotel in Kokopo. The four districts-Kokopo, Rabaul, Gazelle and Pomio each presented a diagnosis to address strategies in their respective LLGs and wards. Mr. Larme said the presentations have been an eye opener especially for the LLG presidents and indicated the missing link between the administration and political heads. “We can see that the LLG presidents are not being informed. Large amounts of funding are still sitting there that need to be spent,” he said. "So, while we are auditing the status of our LLGs, we need to start auditing ourselves,” Mr. Larme said. “It does not have to take this stage to realize that we are not working together,” he said. He urged officers to empower LLGs to be receptive, especially now with the widespread law and order issues in the province.

The Under 21(U21) PNG Pepes development squad trials and selections recently held in the city of Port Moresby, saw a good number of girls from different provinces included girls that came all the way from Gulf Province, participated. The training camp for the U21 Pepes Development Squad began earlier this year in March and consisted of young athletes that were selected from a selections camp that was held in October 2022. According to Coach Oti Sarufa, the girls underwent attacking and defending drill strategies, to train them to master critical thinking and execution during their games. The final selection listing is expected to be out tomorrow, Friday November 3rd. “We’re looking at skills. Their games sense during a match and the basic understanding of the game is very important and that is what we are looking for in an athlete.” Sarufa explained that if a player had put down center and wing attack, she would have to play in the center position first and then in the next game, play in the wing attack position for the selection committee to see how well she played in both positions. “We put everyone to play in the two positions that they had opted for, so we made sure that everyone played two games to be seen.” Mr. Sarufa said that the selected team will be going to Brisbane at the end of November for a training camp and a competition that’s organized by Richanda Kassman and Kelly Hynes. Both are a part of the Netball Queensland High Performance that were invited by Netball PNG to help run the camp. “She was also part of the camp with Netball Queensland High performance coach Kelly Hynes that are helping us to organize that side of things, so we’re really looking forward to November.” The selection committee will be working on the final selection list as well as their reports to the High-Performance Manager, Mrs. Iammo Launa before she sends it to the Netball PNG board for their endorsement. “By Friday we should send a list together with the camp report with the supporting documents like the fitness testing reports and other things that the girls have been going through, like the player assessment and analysis of what they did during the training camp.” Sarufa mentioned that there were also players with experience of training at a top level like Wame Andrew and Alexandria Ligo who were also in the camp and brought a challenge to the juniors that were now in the development pathway. “We’re looking at it as U21 Development Squad because not everyone is on the same level. Not everyone is equal so that’s basically why we’re preparing our athletes to help boost them in their selections.” Meanwhile, Sarufa stated that the athletes were told to do their own training while awaiting the endorsement but is confident and looking forward to what is to come. She added that another focus of the squad will also be on the Oceania Youth Qualifiers, which according to the Netball Calendar will be held in September 2024 in the Cook Islands and hopes that the team gets endorsed so they can go into training. “I’m just looking forward to this group of athletes that we select. That’s the focus of this training camp and what we are going to do moving forward in lead up to the games in Cook Islands.”

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) undertook a review of the National Population Policy (NPP) just yesterday. This was the information that was relayed in a speech by UNFPA Representative Ms. Saira Shameem, at the first ever National Statistical Convention at the Hilton Hotel in Port Moresby this morning. She said one of the goals that they formulated from the review of the NPP was to improve the national capacity to produce population data. Ms. Saira explained that this is so research results meet the needs of policy makers and planners and ensures that this information is available in a timely manner, is of an international standard in its completeness and accuracy and is disseminated and utilized in the most efficient way. "The collected data is wasted if it is not translated into a vivid description of lived realities of people's lives." "It is a lost opportunity if this information is not disseminated to policy makers and program managers, evaluators and monitoring officers and researchers so that they can make informed decisions for the people of Papua New Guinea." Ms. Shameem said this is why the data that was collected in the Socio-economic Development Survey (SEDS), that is being presented today, was very important, as it put a narrative to the numbers. "And I must say, it is an extraordinary achievement where 5, 000 households were visited by over 500 enumerators, across 22 provinces in PNG." The National Statistical Office (NSO) were highly commended by the UNFPA Representative, for fostering teamwork and overcoming challenges that included Covid-19 and security risks arising from the 2022 National General Elections, to complete this nationwide survey. "The ability to generate these estimates has been institutionalized and the strength gained within NSO for years to come." The key findings of the analysis of the SEDS data generated targeted reports that are now available, and these reports covered youth, gender, demographic dividend, migration and economic well-being, education, fertility and mortality. "I hope you will benefit from these studies, and I invite you to engage in fruitful discussions with our national and international experts."

The National Statistical Office (NSO) alongside the UNFPA, is hosting a first of its kind, National Statistical Convention at the Hilton Hotel in Port Moresby today. In his opening remarks, Chief Statistician at the NSO Mr. John A. Igitoi said this is the first time to bring together professionals from the public and private sector to engage and discuss with the experts on the thematic report on the Social Demographics and Economic Survey (SDES) that was conducted last year. "This is very important because it's a first of its kind for PNG and is a show of NSO's capability, despite the many challenges and issues that NSO has faced in the country, we are able to disseminate it in a very short period of time." He said the main purpose of this convention is to present the findings of the SDES and determine the status and progress of the country in terms of the thematic areas captured in the SDES. "The convention will encapsulate the many fundamental aspects of the human population lives." He said the convention will also cover the Medium-Term Development Plan, policy area for quality education and skill capability that provides the enabling environment for efficient economic growth. "This convention is important for formulating strategic development plans as it encroaches into our daily lives where we need to understand and approach the challenges and issues in a more relevant way." Mr. Igitoi closed off his remarks by welcoming everyone and officially opened the convention.

PNGFM was privileged and honored to welcome and embrace the Brisbane Broncos Women and Men National Rugby League (NRL) Players such as Hooker Tyson Smoothy, Prop Annetta-Claudia Nu’uausala, Second-Rower Romy Teitzel, Cameron Bukowski and retired Broncos Captain, Alex Glenn. After the formal meet and greet, the Broncos team gathered for a brief introduction followed by a question-and-answer session. Following that, the players were asked to leave their voices on each of the radio stations; Yumi FM, Nau FM and Legend FM, as a promo of the Australian NRL’s support to the country’s national sports, rugby league. Alex Glenn happily rose to the challenge of speaking the Tok Pisin language on 93 Yumi FM. Radio personalities of Yumi FM were excited to work with the legend himself, engaging in teaching basic slangs and gestures of the Tok Pisin language. The Yumi FM, Nau FM and Legend FM radio personalities were more than happy to work with the excited athletes to speak to the nation through the FM stations. Alex also mentioned the love and support from the areas they visited since their arrival on Sunday 29th October, and the joy that overcame them when meeting new people, especially the Broncos fans and supporters of rugby league. “This is not my first visit in PNG, I know the people’s passion for rugby league and coming back really ignites that thrill of being able to put smiles and joy into the hearts of the young and old.” Tyson Smoothy, Romy Teitzel and Cameron Bukowski also added their voices to the stations that will be broadcasted to the rest of Papua New Guinea (PNG).

The amendments to procurement laws have increased the threshold of funding, allowing more leverage in terms of the ceiling level of public funds for development. This amendment was applauded during the official swearing-in ceremony of the Samarai-Murua District Procurement Committee (SMDPC). The SMDPC comprises of individuals from various sectors in the district, including Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Garo Bala, District Finance Manager Sosola Wame, Justice Law and Order Representative Kevin Muri, Community Representative Ronnie Mansa and Women’s representative Atelin Kira. Also present at the swearing in ceremony were the National Procurement Commission (NPC) CEO Joe Sapa, with MP for Samarai Murua and Tourism Art and Culture Minister Isi Henry Leonard. Speaking during the ceremony, Samarai Murua MP Henry Isi Leonard said that with the previous provisions in the law, the threshold limit was very low, reducing the quality and quantity of goods and services delivered. “So, the current government in its wisdom made those amendments to these laws whereby this DPC can now procure Five-Million-Kina limit and our District CEO can procure One-Million-Kina limit, from a previous Five-Hundred-Thousand-Kina.” “Now we are given that leverage to act within those laws and limits to ensure that services are delivered fast. The most important thing is that as soon as we complete as per our DDA resolutions and budgets, DPC sits and within its limits we can pass those projects and programs and roll it out to the district and respective wards.” MP Leonard commended the now sworn in members of the SMDPC and challenged them to be fair, in terms of opinion, judgement and for there to be equal and fair distribution of public funds for the people in district. NPC CEO Mr. Sapa said the SMDPC are now empowered and play a critical role and they must get acquitted with the manual and business courses. He added that they at the NPC were there to assist and run hands on training for the committee as well.