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As a lot of you are already aware, politics and a mining company have stopped the track and the media is having a field day. Hopefully negotiations are taken place to try and rectify the situation. For those of you who have not yet heard, various newspapers have been running headlines for the past couple of days.
Some trekkers have already started posting their view on the subject which can be read
Please feel free to have your say, keeping in mind that it is their land and they have the right to do whatever they want with it:
quote:
Post Courier 7th February
Locals derail Rudd’s effort to save track
AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been told by a landowner group in Papua New Guinea to back off as a mining company prepares to dig for gold near the famed Kokoda Track.
Landowners along the Track protested yesterday against delays in approving mining by chopping down a tree blocking the 96-kilometre track.
The stunt was witnessed by the international and local media.
They displayed placards, one reading “Rudd wants Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels To Live in perpetual poverty”.
Their move has also gained support from the mining applicant, Frontier Resources Limited, and the PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum (PNGCMP), who said yesterday the Australian Government should stick to their own affairs as the track was not in Australia.
The landowners want the PNG Government, which is alleged to have been influenced by Australia, to renew Frontier’s exploration licence at Mt Kodu, 500m adjacent to the track. The landowners want mining to be done, despite that part of the track to be re-routed, because they said the “track has brought us poverty”.
“We don’t want to carry bags for the rest of our lives. You try coming and carrying those bags, would you like it,” Mt Kodu Resource Landowners Association spokesman Barney Jack said.
He said Mr Rudd had already walked the track and had seen there were virtually no services to the Kokoda people, asking why he should stop mining there.
“Australian companies are the main beneficiaries (of the track),” he added.
Koiari Local Level Government president Willy Vavi said since trekking began along this World War II track, infrastructural services had been almost absent.
“I am telling Kevin Rudd that he has to leave this mining to go on because if he doesn’t then there will be no more Kokoda Track. I am telling you (Mr Rudd) now (part of speech drowned by applause),” Mr Vavi said.
Frontier’s managing director Peter McNeil backed the landowners, saying the Australian government made a submission to PNG’s mining advisory council last year to stop Frontier from mining the track.
He also blamed Deputy Prime Minister Dr Puka Temu for delaying the licence renewal due to Australia’s influence.
“It is my understanding from the previous Australian government such as a submission to the Mining Advisory Council in the middle of last year … that the Australian government is attempting to prevent the renewal of this licence because they object to mining anywhere near the Kokoda Track,’’ he said.
“The sad thing about this action is that if this licence is not renewed, this will severely damage PNG’s sovereign risk profile,” Mr McNeil said.
PNGCMP executive director Greg Anderson also admitted the chamber was backing the company and the landowners.
He said if the Government failed to renew the licence, Papua New Guinea’s international reputation would be at stake.
unquote
Photographa: Naoro Village
IMGP0303.jpgPersonally I will never ever forget seeing one of these girls in this photograph slip and fall back down the mountain….then find her pot and lid….then back down to the creek to refill and back up again…..why
coz that is the way the women in this village to this day have to obtain water to cook with….can you imagine for a minute us as Australian's doing this day in day out just to prepare meals for our families.
I am not on the side of the mine quite the contrary, but I am on the side of the people. One way or the other the village could do with a helping hand, even if just to get water into their village.
Before anyone judges these people blocking the track think of their everyday existence, of course money will make a big difference to their lives. Whether any of the money actually gets to the people for the benefit of improving their village will remain to be seen, but the money that is being waved in front of their eyes by the mining company would be hard to resist for the people who live there.
Nauro_Village_down_to_the_creek.jpgAfter making it up this hill they then have to walk further up another slippery hill to the where their village is located (1st photograph). The photograph where the women and children carrying the water is actually near where the trekkers stay in the guesthouse.
If Frontier Resources really had the heart of the people in mind, what have they done these past couple of years? Unless someone who has trekked recently can tell me otherwise, I doubt they have dony anything to improve their lives.
Seeing as they can fly helicopters with media into Naoro and help them with words for their placards etc – why then not put their money where their mouth is and do something in the village itself such as build them a house with an iron roof to catch water for a tank.
Its very easy to stir them up and give them heaps of promises, but if I was in their shoes I would ask myself what have they done so far to improve our lives. Sure they built a road into their mine site but how many of these people own a four wheel vehicle to drive on it?
Everything so far has been for the benefit of the mine not the people who face hardships day in day out just living there!
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