Censors moved out of commercial property to cut govt rental costs

Main Stories

The Office of Censorship has been relocated from a commercial property to the Central Government Office building.
In a move to cut down on rental costs and centralise operations, the Government moved a number of agencies to the Central Government Office recently.
The Office of Censorship had been occupying the top floor of the BSP Building along Waigani Drive for the last 10 years.
However, due to the increase in staff, the Censorship Board had a number of meetings with the Government’s office allocation committee to secure the space at Central Government Office.
During the first general meeting of the Office of Censorship this year, Chief Censor Steven Mala, pictured, welcomed all officers by introducing them to the rules of the new building.
Mala urged staff members to be professionals in terms of punctuality, attendance, grooming and to work hard, meet targets and get results.
He also added that the image of the office depended on the employees of the organisation during and outside official hours.
Mala told his staff that it would be a busy and challenging year for the Office of Censorship as there was going to be an awareness programme reaching out to almost to 10 provinces in the country.
He advised the media unit to start doing awareness and connecting with media outlets.
He also stated that there were areas that the office had not regulated due to manpower capacity and would need to work on them.
One of these areas is the music industry which the office is mandated to regulate under the Censorship Act and also as stated in the PNG Vision 2050.
One of Mala’s long-term plans for the office is to establish an exchange programme with overseas counterparts to enable the staff to gain more experience.