The Morobe Provincial Agriculture Show is celebrating its Diamond Jubilee this year; that is, 60 years of what the Show’s Committee describe as the most high-profile annual event conducted in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Morobe Provincial Agricultural Show Committee’s President Mr. Mike Quinn was proud when announcing this milestone. “It is a remarkable phenomenon for a show of this size and caliber to be surviving and thriving, where many other shows in PNG have faltered,” he said. He stated that it is an incredible example of what committed, community minded volunteers can achieve. “This year is a milestone event, the Diamond Jubilee 60th Morobe Show, one that promises to be the best show yet.” To celebrate its 60th Anniversary, the show will have the daredevil motorbike stunt men, sky diving extravaganza, and sixty-two sing- sing groups from around the country and many more entertainment at the main arena. Business houses from across industries, small holders and SME’s will be there in numbers selling their products on special show prices or providing awareness on their products and services. Meanwhile, Trukai Industries have come onboard to celebrate the Morobe Provincial Agriculture Show’s Diamond Jubilee with K115, 000 total sponsorship. The funding will assist in putting up agriculture exhibits and competitions and two tonnes of rice for all the participating sing- sing groups. CEO of Trukai Industries Alan Preston said they are proud to be associated with the Show. “We have been a part of this event for over 30 years, and we are proud to be associated with an occasion that brings people together, boosts the local economy and encourages knowledge sharing and awareness of agricultural and cultural activities in the Morobe province and nearby provinces,” Preston said. This year at the Trukai Village, show goers can expect to find the popular Trukai buckets and umbrellas on sale and due to its demand, there will be a new express stall dedicated to selling these highly sought after items. He said that Trukai teams will be at the information center to provide awareness on the ‘paddy to plate’ manufacturing process including Trukai’s latest agriculture program in partnership with universities in PNG called the Smart Farmer program. There will be a display of the village sustainable livelihood concept, which is an incorporation of irrigation rice and fish farming and a poultry set up. “Trukai’s Brand Ambassador Chef Julz’ will also be present dishing out delicious recipes created with your favorite Trukai rice.” The Trukai team will also be setting up bouncy castles at the family arena and a charity stall will be set up next to the information centre at the Trukai village to raise funds for the Lae Cancer Foundation. Trukai Industries and other major sponsors and business houses in Lae have been working with the show committee for three to four months to ensure that this year’s 60th Anniversary of the show is the best and safest event for all people living in and around the Morobe Province. The Morobe Provincial Agricultural show is set to take place on November 4th and 5th at the Lae Showground.

After 40 years of praying for development, prayers are being answered when new buildings were handed over to the Metago Bible College Campus at the Papa village in Central province. The new buildings were a part of the Metago Development Phase 1 that was launched in 2022. The Moderator, Reverend Bernard Siai in his speech mentioned their struggles over the past 40 years as he was extremely grateful for the gift to the college and strongly believes that this gesture was God at work. "Today we are here to see what God has done. This is all God's doing. Nothing is impossible with God." In his keynote address, the Member for Hiri-Koiari Keith Iduhu spoke passionately about Metago, saying that its story was one of resilience and innovation. "We talked about this development in April of 2021, at the time the task seemed almost impossible to complete. This is a true story of leadership and stewardship, and this is just the beginning of the Metago journey." "I believe this is a prophetic journey and, in my heart, I know that one day Metago Bible College will just be like UPNG, be the next flagship center of excellence." Vice Chairman of the Metago Council stated that for Development phase 1A and 1B, it cost K6. 1 million which was utilized to build 7 staff houses including the Principal's house, 6 duplex houses, students' dorms with a boarding capacity of 24 students at a time. The college also as a new Capel named after Reverend Konio Morea Igo, who was one of the council members that had passed on. It also has a good road access to the school, a new classroom and a water reticulation system. Iga stated that Development phase 2 is estimated to cost around K13 million to K14 million, depending on funding and the new building designs for the school's resource centre or library. He added that the school will be acquiring another 20 hectares of land which will cater for Agriculture students that will be doing subsistence farming to sustain the school. The local Member Mr. Iduhu, handed over the new buildings to the Metago Bible College Moderator, Reverend Siai on Friday 20th October at the Metago Bible College Campus. Meanwhile, the event was spearheaded by Sir Moi Avei and was attended by notable figures like Prof Frank Griffin, Sir Puka Temu, MP Keith Iduhu, and many others which included all the pastors from West Redscar, East Redscar, and Kadeboro.

The Eastern Highlands Province (EHP) Pacific Games officials are organizing both track and field event teams to utilize this time to prepare for the upcoming games in Honiara, Solomon Islands in November. Coaching staff of both track and field events are regrouping athletes for final fitness training to prepare for the Pacific Games and due to a high number of athletes being skilled and competitive candidates from all over EHP, the organizers called to host final trials for all athletes in all categories. Knowing the tough International competition between other pacific nations during the games, training coaches will go all out on the athletes and will leave no room for errors. The discipline in training will enable athletes to maximize their full mental and physical potential to be selected. The province is among a few provinces that have a reputation of producing some of the best athletes in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The final trials commenced this week at the National Sports Institute (NSI) in Goroka to determine final selections.

The Blue Heelers Open Women’s team is set for the Grand Finals according to their captain nineteen-year-old youngster, Jessica Rifireka who the team knows as Soko. The youngster stated that she started playing rugby when she was in primary school in Lae through school games where she went on to play league and then into Rugby Union. According to Rifireka, she was unable to complete school and stopped at grade 8 due to her dad changing jobs and the family moving to Port Moresby in 2020 but this has not stopped her from persuing her dreams in a rugby career. Like any other young girl in the sporting world, she looks up to PNG Orchids player Elsie Albert and has big dreams of playing rugby representing PNG and travelling the world and is determined to work hard for a spot in the PNG Palais squad. “This is going to be my third attempt to make the squad and my aim is to work hard to earn my spot in the 7s squad. I’m not giving up.” “No matter the ups and downs of life, I know I am strong, and I’ll push through to excel in everything that I do in training and hopefully that will help me in my journey because getting that jersey and representing PNG is something that I have always dreamt of achieving.” Despite facing problems in her life, Jessica has managed to overcome challenges and still manages to keep going. She states that her role as captain especially in the field of play is often a challenge for her. “Sometimes it’s hard, because as much as I try my best to support my team, especially in the field, especially when there is an issue, I always try to reason with the referee over the matter but at the end of the day, the referee is the boss in the field, so we respect his decision.” She told PNG HAUSBUNG her girls are looking forward to the grand finals this weekend although they are lacking a little in their defensive and passing, they will focus on improving in those areas in preparations. “Most of our girls are young so they still have a lot to learn, and they need to be more confident in their game.” “I will support and strengthen my girls as we take the field on Grand Final Day.” Meanwhile Rifireka said she is grateful to the Blue Heelers Rugby Union Club for bringing them together as a family and organizing activities outside of games which included fellowships and visitations that has made a huge impact in the player’s individual lives helping them to change for the better. “We just want to thank our Coach, Ase Boas as well for not giving up on us and the boys in our team as well who take time out to teach us whatever little they know about the game.”

A music competition that came about in 2021 on the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, recently held their grand finale recently. Bougainville Voice X-plosion, a unique collaboration between First Nations musicians from Bougainville and Australia, was initially conceived by Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) President Ishmael Toroama, ABG Minister for Community Development Morris Opeti MP, and filmmaker Llane Munau to showcase the talent and creativity of young Bougainvillean musicians and celebrate the diversity of their cultures. The six finalists of the competition came from all over the island of Bougainville, to battle it out in a show that included traditional dancers and musicians, performing for an excited spectator at the Main Market in Buka Town. It was an entertaining battle where Wenceslaus Getsi Jnr. from the Malasang Cultural Group was selected as the winner for this year’s competition. Australia came onboard to support this music competition with K50, 000. These funds were presented to the Bougainville Youth Federation (BYF) to manage the event, in partnership with ABG Department of Community Development. BYF Chair, Mr. Junior Pais said this collaboration between the Australian Government, ABG Department of Community Development and the Bougainville Youth Federation (BYF), ensured youths are not only connected to an opportunity to showcase their talents, but one from which they can also derive benefit. Pais added that he is looking forward to seeing the competition continue to grow in 2024, exposing the musical talent of Bougainville’s young people to a wider audience. Meanwhile, Australian High Commission First Secretary, Dr. Fiona Crockford said that they are proud to support an event that supports the BYF’s mission to promote peace, unity and social outreach to Bougainville’s young people. The Australian High Commission also supported the involvement of Australian First Nations artists Tjupurru and Jake Fabila in the Voice X-plosion for the second consecutive year, who provided vocal and mentoring to the finalists of the competition.

The Blue Heelers Premier Men’s Division are loaded and ready for the NCDRU Grand Finals which will see the Heelers go head-to-head against the Southern Chiefs Premier Men’s team this Saturday, 21st October at the Murray Barracks Oval. Coach Ase Boas said that his side had been working to meet the Chiefs Men as it would be a great challenge, and this would be the second time the Heelers and Chiefs Senior men are meeting at a face-off in the Grand Finals. “We’ve been playing this season well with the Chiefs boys, some of whom have playing experience in CRU, so they have the upper hand for us, we’ll try to give them a good run.” Boas stated that he is happy with the team’s performance during this short season as a majority of the players he has been working with were league players and have managed to understand the code and its rules in the duration of the season. “I’ve been working with league players and I’m happy that they’re picking up as they go as this is another way to help develop a pathway for them in the code.” According to Boas, the Heelers currently have a great backline but are lacking in the forwards department as they lack the weight that a team needs in the front. “We’re going to focus on building our forwards and our backs players as well, so we have weight in the front and a good backline that are capable of running set plays.” The Coach said he wanted his players have improved in their understanding of the game before they went into the details of the game itself and encouraged players to keep doing their best and continue to improve to one day become elite players and represent the country. “It’s not always about winning. It’s about understanding the game, developing yourself and having fun.” “Blue Heelers Rugby Union Club is looking forward to next year’s season and the upcoming pre-season 7s.” He stated they were looking forward to breaking everything down in detail in rugby clinics to teach players little things like the proper procedures in rucks and tackles among other things and explained that Rugby Union 15s was complicated that one would need a lot of departments to get the team functioning. “My focus now is to get some experts in during the pre-season to run clinics for my team.” “We ran the first one in 2021, 2022 and are looking forward to this year’s clinic as well.” Although the NCDRU season was short, Boas and his team always showed for games, as he saw NCDRU as a developing competition that can be used as a pathway to breed great union players. “Our season was short because of politics but I think we should lay aside our politics. If we need to have two comps running, it’s good for the union and giving opportunities for everyone to play and not just players who know the union and giving enough room for players who also want to try out the code.” Meanwhile he encourages everyone to come have a feel of rugby union because Rugby Union was a unique code and PNG did not have a lot of unions. He was happy to see also that a lot of new people are comping into the competition, especially from league, touch rugby and AFL who are joining to have a feel of the game. “We’ve got a lot of skills in union so if you want to test union, feel free to come join and be a part of these two competitions [CRU and NCDRU] going forward into next year."

The Desert Storm Kickboxing Team’s (DSKT) commotion in Port Moresby National Capital District is proud to announce their undying commitment to training and coaching. The DSKT official and President Nelson Samson and is one of the first fighters in Papua New Guinea to fight in Australia in 2022 after the Corona Virus lock down. On 23rd September 2023 the DSKT officials and elite fighters were fortunate to promote and take part in the Kickboxing Showdown, Raising of the champion at Bomana CIS Hall. Elite Kickboxers from NCD Teams took part in the tournament to determine the best, the desert stormed defeated 3 weight divisions out of four allowing the tournament to determine fighter’s status in the province. The DSKT Coach and Manager Alphonse Suwi was pleased to announce the support received and motivated out teams to carry out training classes that are 2:30 – 5:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. “I coach skills and techniques in kickboxing for intermediate and beginners, advance classes are between registered members and students.” “My coaching team prepares students in strength and conditioning training to maintain fit and heathy body and mind before moving into skills and techniques.” Also representing the PNG and DSKT in promoting competitive kickboxing in Australia. Coach and Manager Alphonse stressed the brutal truth of the unpredictable society of Port Moresby when unexpected. “Port Moresby or anywhere is dangerous when you unexpectedly encounter amateurs who are seeking a desperate score.” “We hope to train mentally and physically disciplined individual who will fend for themselves and fellow family members and companions when affected in any form of violence whether verbal and physical.” “Our goal is to prepare ourselves and kickboxing driven individuals in upcoming national and international competitive kickboxing tournaments.”

Puma Energy has announced via a press release on the 17th of October 2023, that it is now forced to commence fuel rationing to manage declining fuel stocks to protect fuel security in PNG. This is despite the assurances provided; it has not received the required FX to continue normal operations yet. Puma Energy has drawn on its emergency stock to maintain fuel supply to PNG and has been flexible to the relevant authorities since it has not been provided with sufficient FX almost 3 weeks ago. Puma Energy PNG Chairman and Managing Director, Hulala Tokome has said that the company currently requires roughly USD$ 50M on a monthly basis to import fuels and to cater for the company’s unpaid fuel bills that are well in excess of USD$ 100M. “We have been working closely with BPNG and relevant authorities to be as flexible as possible and accommodate the new timelines for FX, but we unfortunately cannot wait any longer.” “As a commitment to PNG and to protect fuel security, Puma Energy has withstood significant outstanding FX payments owed to its suppliers over the past few years.” “This growing outstanding amount can only be paid when Puma Energy receives FX from the BPNG or commercial flows.” Tokome stated that as Puma Energy have said before in a media statement, the company has always tried to avoid rationing fuel supply until they were left with no other viable options. “Rationing is aimed at extending the use of the diminishing levels of fuel that we have left.” “We need to make sure this fuel is available for emergency services, hospitals, and critical infrastructure, such as power and water generation.” Meanwhile Tokome has assured the general public that Puma Energy is hoping to return to its normal fuel supplying activities as soon as possible. Puma Energy also apologized once again for the inconveniences caused and sincerely appreciates everyone’s patience and understanding during this critical and difficult time.

All works on roads and bridges in Nawaeb District, must be facilitated by the National Department of Works and Highways. This was the advice of the Chief Ombudsman Commissioner, Mr. Richard Pagen, who accompanied by the Member for Nawaeb Theo Pelgen, Nawaeb District Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr. Buds Botikie, Nawaeb District Technical Team and Provincial Works Department Engineers, on a road inspection in the District. He was then given a comprehensive inspection of the collapsed Busu Bridge at Boana and emphasized strongly for quality and durable work to be carried out on the construction of a new bridge. He said that Busu Bridge works or rehabilitation or similar works, must be given to the Department of Works and Highways to manage and facilitate because they have all the government requirements and technicalities to deliver the work. “Contractors may be awarded the scope of the work; however, it is best for the Works team to supervise the construction of these works so that the quality outcomes are achieved.” Chief Ombudsman Pagen said he represents the people and the funds that they entrust through paying taxes. “Therefore, it is my prerogative to come down on the ground to analyze and see how well these funds from the National Government are spent on projects.” The Local MP, Theo Pelgen backed up the words of the Chief Commission, saying all the projects in Nawaeb have been carefully supervised by the Provincial Department of Works and Highways Team. “We are on track to deliver the new Busu Bridge within this short space of time and will ensure the bridge will be built to last under all requirements of the Works Department.” MP Pelgen said the Nawaeb Technical Team have been on the ground to collect data and a survey and analysis of these infrastructures. They will continue this groundwork until the completion of the new Busu Bridge and two new foot bridges as well. “When the Busu Bridge collapsed, Niugini Bridge Limited technical team was on the ground inspecting and collecting data and surveying the scope of the new bridge to be built. This vital information has been passed to NDOW&H for evaluation.” “The Department of Works and Highways has already assured that a new bridge is on the way to replace the collapsed Busu Bridge,” Mr. Pelgen said. Meanwhile, a temporary wet crossing has been built for vehicle access to the District Headquarters at Boana. The MP gave assurance that funding has been made available and thanked the Marape/Rosso Government for the swift intervention of the National Emergency Situation at Busu Bridge.

The Member for Chuave, James Nomane has decried what he has labelled as blatant disregard by Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey in usurping Parliament’s authority in approving the national budget and disregarding the plight of ordinary Papua New Guineans. Mr. Nomane in a statement said this after members of the Parliament assisted the Treasurer in passing the supplementary budget of K771 million on Thursday, 12th of October, just a month before Parliament reconvenes to deliberate on the 2024 National Budget. James then took the opportunity to debate the supplementary budget with next year’s budget in mind and spoke openly and frankly about several considerations the Treasurer should have been focusing on in his preparations for the 2024 budget. “It is unfortunate that the Treasurer did not take my constructive criticism too well and instead took a political jab at my role as a Vice-Minister for National Planning. My response to the Treasurer’s comments that I am out of tune with the Government’s agenda is simple: I am the only one who called him out on the oppressive nature of section 31 of the Public Finance Management (Amendment) Act 2019 which facilitates selective warranting and micromanagement of the economy.” “And quite frankly the writing has been on the wall for quite some time for the Treasurer to make significant changes to his fiscal management to pull the country out of the troubling economic slump we’re now in.” The Chuave Member stated that he does not apologize for not joining the chorus of Government MPs in patting the Treasurer on the back as things were clearly not right in the country. He further highlighted that the invitation by the Treasurer to discuss details of the economy with him in private was appreciated, but he urged that this was not their private business. “The people of PNG want accountability and transparency, and such details need to be presented and discussed in Parliament, the people’s house.” Nomane’s critical assessment of the supplementary budget emphasized the importance of responsible governance, transparency, equitable allocation of resources, and firmly addressing the economic challenges that include high unemployment, low FX reserves, and low purchasing power of the Kina. “I am concerned about the oppressive and the arbitrary nature of Section 31 of the Public Finance Management (Amendment) Act 2019, as it grants excessive powers to the Treasurer regarding warranting, which undermines the authority of Parliament. “ He announced that the Treasurer must only act upon Parliament’s approval for the budgeting and for loans. “Look at the K3.2 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF)? Now the country is enslaved to this global financial behemoth and for what? So that we can fund our deficit budget? This is not good enough.” The Member stressed that it was Parliament that granted the right for the Treasurer to exercise his powers to implement the country’s money plan as approved by Parliament in the Appropriations Bill, but the MP states that the Treasurer parks crucial funds under Vote 207- Miscellaneous in Treasury using a blanket Section of legislation and uses his own judgement to decide how this money will be spent with minimal consultation. “Parliament cannot be used as a rubber stamp for the Treasurer. As a member of the country’s highest house, I cannot just worry about Chuave’s DSIP-my business is the K25 billion national budget that I am passing as a member of parliament.” He said that since the passing of this year’s budget, no sizable investments creating mass employment have been noted and that the people of PNG were still facing persistent economic issues although Parliament has been passing record budgets year after year. “This tells me that there is increased consumption and waste but not enough critical investments for strong economic growth. Why can’t the Treasurer simply leverage local conditions and emulate Singapore or New Zealand so PNG can become an economic success?” Mr. Nomane added that there has been no visibility in the 2023 budget implementation with nil reporting on budget outcomes, lamenting that from the components of aggregate demand, the Treasurer’s interventions have increased consumption and government spending, but reduced exports and investments. “A case in point for this is the disconnection of the Connect PNG budgetary appropriation of K425 million, while seemingly having K6 billion plus worth of spending and awarding of contracts, as highlighted by the Governor for East Sepik.” According to Nomane, although the historic K25 billion 2023 budget promised to do so much, there have been not new jobs created, and inflation has only worsened since the start of the year. “The Treasurer simply needs to look at the reality on the streets of Port Moresby and take a walk down the supermarket aisles to see his plans aren’t working.” “A 415g of tinned fish of 777 mackerel costs K14.90, which is equivalent to K37 per kilogram of mackerel. How can a security guard or anyone on minimum wage expect to afford basic rice and tinned fish?” Meanwhile, the Chuave MP called on the Treasurer to explain what serious measures were being taken to effectively address spending, inflation, and budget deficits.   He also expressed his dissatisfaction with the lack of equity in the implementation of the budget, specifically highlighting the unequal distribution of funds, with Simbu Province receiving comparatively less funding compared to other provinces. “My comments are not a personal attack on the Treasurer and shouldn’t be viewed as so. I am simply fed up with the blatant disregard to the dire economic situation we are currently in.” “We cannot predicate our economic growth on the fruits of Porgera, Wafi-Golpu, Papua LNG, and other resource projects. Let’s stop the out of touch economic forecasting for 10 to 15 years from now and let’s start looking at what we can do to improve the situation of our people in the next three months.”

Five Papua New Guinea (PNG) women coffee farmers and exporters had the opportunity to showcase their products at the 2023 Melbourne International Coffee Exhibition (MICE), where it was said that PNG Coffee took on center stage. The five women’s trip and attendance to the event was made possible through the Australian Government, through its Australia- Papua New Guinea Economic Partnership. One of the five women who made the trip was the Manager for Gabiga Coffee Exports, Ms. Aida Igaso. She said the whole experience was an eye opener as she has never attended such an event to promote PNG coffee to the world. For over a decade Aida only had two buyers, but at this event she met another interested buyer and has started negotiations. PNG’s presence at MICE 2023 was an opportunity to showcase PNG’s exceptional beans, celebrate its coffee-growing communities, and allowed PNG coffee farmers and exporters to forge valuable connections within the global coffee market. Visitors that came by the PNG Coffee booth were all inspired by the all women back-end team, from the booth designer who did a fantastic job of capturing PNG’s natural beauty, to the roaster who roasted all the green bean samples for the show, and the barista who brewed all the roasted coffees over the three days. The participants at the MICE 2023 also learnt about the intricate coffee production process, and experienced a delicious taste of the diverse flavours and aromas that are unique to PNG’s quality bourbon, typica and blue mountain arabica varieties that are planted throughout the Highlands Region. PNG coffee exports will benefit over 2.5 million Papua New Guineans who rely on coffee as a crucial income source for their families.

The Sportz Events Corporate Rugby League Nines tournament kick started on Saturday, 23rd September at the Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby, uniting employees of corporate companies that have registered to play in the competition. Tournament Director Solomon Ravu stated that he started the Corporate Rugby League Nines competition in 2004, when he was Chairman of the Port Moresby Rugby Football League. He said that games used to be only on Friday nights but over the years they have changed their game nights to Saturday as it allowed everyone to participate and has been successfully running for 20 years now. “We started off with only 12 teams and for this year we now have a total of 24 companies in the competition that is played every Saturday night at the SJG." Ravu announced that there were 24 teams competing in the 2023 tournament which were put into 3 pools of 8 teams, which will see each team play a total of 7 games in the round robin before teams go into one weekend of play offs and another weekend of Preliminary Finals. “This weekend is round four, which means we have four more rounds to go before Preliminary finals, so teams are starting to really compete for the top 8 spots on the ladder.” He highlighted that the main goal of this tournament was to help companies promote their businesses and mainly for networking. “The games are a good opportunity to play, create company networking. The tournament serves as a good platform for them to promote their businesses while improving physical fitness for employees.” “Most of the players become serious about the game and end up going into Rugby League, so in a way this is a great pathway for people who enjoy rugby.” According to Mr. Ravu, the Central Provincial Government, Funeral Home, Bishop Brothers and NMSA are some of the strongest teams in the competition, while MiBank, National Volunteer Services and Central Provincial Government as well as Digicel PNG are some of the new teams in the competition. Meanwhile, he thanked the companies and teams in the tournament for taking part and further stated that the Sportz Events Southern Rugby League Nines Tournament, which is usually hosted during the second week of December, will this year be moved back to the 26th -30th of November due to unavailability of the National Football Stadium on the second week of December.