|
Ultimatum
AUSTRALIAN Foreign Minister Alexander
Downer said yesterday the Australia-PNG Ministerial Forum would be
cancelled this year if action was not taken to prosecute those involved
in the illegal flight of Julian Moti to Honiara.
In a keynote speech at the 23rd Australia-PNG Business Forum in Cairns
yesterday, Mr Downer said that once the report of the PNG Defence Board
of Inquiry was published, Australia “expected some people to be brought
to justice”.
The final report on the inquiry was handed over to the Prime Minister’s
office last Friday, but lawyers representing the Prime Minister are
going to court to annul the entire inquiry, which would result in the
report becoming meaningless if they succeed.
This would result in the Downer threat being carried out, and sources
said other sanctions may follow.
PNG Foreign Minister Paul Tiensten reportedly expressed little hope
yesterday that the ministerial forum would take place, while Deputy
Prime Minister Don Polye told reporters in Port Moresby yesterday that
the Government would be careful about making the report public or
implementing its recommendations because the inquiry headed by Justice
Gibbs Salika had stepped out of line and its credibility questioned.
“We do not want to see wrong people destroyed,” he said, adding the
Prime Minister and the Government played no part on the escape of Julian
Moti on Oct 10, 2006 using a PNGDF plane.
Mr Polye even surprised reporters by insisting that no Civil Aviation
laws were broken in that flight because the Defence Force did not need
CAA permission or laws to carry out that flight, almost sanctioning the
flight as lawful.
In a live interview with FM100’s John Rei in Cairns, Mr Downer said it
was most unlikely that the Defence inquiry report would be able to
pinpoint those involved in the illegal flight of Moti from Port Moresby
to Honiara.
He said the inquiry had undertaken a good and objective process. “We
didn’t conduct the inquiry. It is up to them to produce their report. We
are not setting ourselves up as judge and jury,” he said.
“If it recommends action against certain people we would expect action
to be taken against them.”
Mr Downer also disclosed that Moti had evaded police in India, where an
attempt was first made to arrest him, and Australian authorities had
decided to pick him up during a stopover in Port Moresby.
The Australian Foreign Minister said he had been upset that someone
wanted on child sex charges could be whisked out of Papua New Guinea on
a defence aircraft.
The arrest of Moti would have been “the right thing to do among
friends”, he said, adding that Moti’s flight out of PNG “was a very
unfriendly thing to do to Australia.
“I was very hurt and the feelings of the Australian people were hurt. We
will put this affair behind us once the report is published and action
taken.”
In his speech to 270 conference attendees, Mr Downer said PNG will
always have a special place in Australian foreign policy.
“There will be good and bad moments but in the end it will be an
important and special relationship,” he said, referring to the role
Australia and New Zealand had played in bringing peace to Bougainville.
Mr Downer said PNG had an important role to play in the Pacific and had
a commonality of views on the recent military coup in Fiji and with
PNG’s important role in the Regional Assistance Mission on the Solomon
Islands.
“PNG will double the number of police there (RAMSI),” he said.
Mr Downer said he was impressed with PNG’s recent economic performance
although he was disappointed at the recent cancellation of the PNG Gas
Project.
In recent years the quality of economic management in PNG has been
“laudable and impressive” and Australia was pleased to have made a
contribution through the Enhanced Cooperation Programme.
He said the 42 Australians working under the ECP had been helping to
“turbo-charge” PNG’s administrative capability by contributing to the
budget process, efficiency of tax system and in improving customs and
other Government services.
“We had a grander plan which the PNG Supreme Court shot down and we have
to respect that but we hope to continue to build on what has been
achieved.”
Mr Downer said PNG had done really well in recent years with growth this
year likely to total around 5% with low inflation and growth in
employment, a turnaround from the negative economic performance prior to
2002.
 
|
