Govt pushes for Garnaut’s sack

THE national government wants the head of PNG Sustainable Development Program (PNGSDP), Prof Ross Garnaut, sacked from the organisation, criticising it for failing to deliver improvements needed after BHP Billiton’s environmental disaster at the Ok Tedi copper mine.
But Garnaut has hit back, questioning the motive behind the attempt to take over the assets of the billion-dollar company.
PNGSDP was set up by BHP Billiton after their Ok Tedi mine caused devastating environmental damage to surrounding river systems in the late 1990s.
BHP Billiton divested its 52% Ok Tedi shareholding and established the PNGSDP in 2002.
This month, Treasurer Peter O’Neill wrote to BHP Billiton, which picks three of the six PNGSDP board members, calling for Garnaut and his team to be sacked for failing the country’s most deprived.
O’Neill told AAP there were growing concerns among PNG leaders and citizens that PNGSDP had achieved little after nearly a decade.
“Garnaut is appointed by BHP and his tenure is a matter for BHP,” he said.
“I met with Garnaut and raised these issues; he is fully aware.
“BHP needs to review the whole structure; that is what we are encouraging them to do.
“The reality is the people on the ground are not satisfied. The potential of such a large programme it is not delivering.
“We also want to ensure there is new blood at board membership level that will create a new sense of direction for the organisation; we raised it with BHP, changes need to come.”
It was worrying that there had only been one new board member since 2002, O’Neill added.
A BHP Billiton’s spokeswoman said they were in “ongoing correspondence” with the PNG government.
“BHP Billiton is committed to ensuring that PNGSDP remains effectively governed for the benefit of the people of PNG and the Western province in particular,” she said.
BHP was completing a board skills review as part of the recruitment process for a new board member to replace Jim Carlton, who leaves at the end of this year, she said.
Garnaut, who is also a director of the Ok Tedi mine, said an independent review of the PNG-SDP, undertaken by Harvard Institute of International Development director Prof Dwight Perkins, had been made public.
“At various times, people in the PNG government have proposed that they take over control of the assets of PNGSDP and, upon consideration, have dropped the proposals,” he said.
“Such a takeover would require the agreement of BHP Billiton and the independent state of PNG.
“Others can judge whether the PNGSDP directors have discharged their responsibilities well and whether the current attempt to take over the assets of PNGSDP is at all related to the performance of the company.”