By KONOPA KANA, POST COURIER

AN INDEPENDENT task force set up by the government will carry out investigations into the commission of inquiry (COI) on the special agriculture business leases (SABLs) uncompleted reports.

This was revealed by the Secretary for the Department of Lands and Physical Planning Romilly Kila Pat in a press conference yesterday.

The details of which government agencies and appointees to head the taskforce will soon be announced by the government through the National Executive Council.

Source: PNGexposed blog

The headlines and reporting over the SABL announcement by the Prime Minister have been very misleading. Despite what you might have read or heard:

Source: The Loggers Time

Comment: The Government is using the SABL scandal to push land registration, but land registration is a dangerous exercise as it can quickly lead to land alienation, and with corruption rife in the Department of Lands nobody should trust the government with their most precious resource...

Source: The National

OWNERS of customary land affected by the Government’s decision to revoke Special Agriculture and Business Leases have been urged to register their land and become title-holders.

Source: Simon Hartly

The focus on proposed seabed mining now shifts from Taranaki to the Chatham Rise, as the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) considers its second ocean mining application.

This week, the EPA's maiden decision declined a proposal by Trans-Tasman Resources to mine iron-sand off Taranaki's coast - throwing the focus on to a separate proposal by Chatham Rock Phosphate to take phosphate from the sea floor of the Chatham Rise.

Source: Simon Hartly

The focus on proposed seabed mining now shifts from Taranaki to the Chatham Rise, as the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) considers its second ocean mining application.

This week, the EPA's maiden decision declined a proposal by Trans-Tasman Resources to mine iron-sand off Taranaki's coast - throwing the focus on to a separate proposal by Chatham Rock Phosphate to take phosphate from the sea floor of the Chatham Rise.

Source: The National

CUSTOMARY land ownership in the country has been reduced from 97% to 86% because of the number of Special Agriculture and Business Leases issued since the 1990s, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says.

He said the 77 SABLs referred to the Commission of Inquiry for investigation involved around 5.2 million hectares of land.

ACT NOW! and BRG JOINT MEDIA RELEASE

ACT NOW! and the Bismarck Ramu Group have warned the Prime Minister that landowners will not be satisfied until they know the NEC decision to cancel the unlawful SABL leases and amend the Land Act has been implemented.

They are also calling on the National Forest Board to immediately revoke the Forest Clearance Authorities granted under the SABL leases and stop the illegal logging.

POST COURIER, June 20, 2014

BY MELISSA MARTIN, Post Courier, 11th June 2014

THE National Research Institute is of the view that the special agriculture business leases has leakages and need to be changed. The National Research Institute’s property sector development program leader Dr Charles Yala said this last week during the launching of a draft policy on issues and lessons drawn from laws relating to SABLs.

He said the policy needs to be changed into the new volun-tary customary land registration (ILG)’s process and that will provide a framework for a way forward.