Papua New Guinea's political scene has shifted with the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between the PNG Party and the Nesenel Unity Party, an alliance both sides say lays the groundwork for stronger, more accountable leadership as the country heads toward the 2027 National General Election.
The MoA was signed during the official launch of the Nesenel Unity Party, an occasion that saw PNG Party leader and Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Hon. Belden Namah, describe it as a first-of-its-kind agreement for his party.

"For me, this is the first time PNG Party is signing, not an MOU, but a Memorandum of Agreement with a political party. And not just another political party, but a new political party coming onto the horizon," Namah told the gathering.
He labelled the occasion "momentous, historical and significant," explaining that both parties stood on common ground through their shared God First principle.
"PNG Party policy number one is God First Policy. JOY means Jesus first, Others, and Yourself last. If every leader and bureaucrat practised this, this country would be more advanced than any other country in the world," Namah said.
Despite the nation's rich natural resources, Namah noted that poverty continued to weigh heavily on ordinary citizens, and said the new partnership would place strong emphasis on transparency, accountability and good governance.
"This relationship will provide strong leadership to this country, and together we will create economic growth and sustainability for our people and for future generations," he said.
He said the two parties were bound by a common vision of a nation that is God-fearing, prosperous and free, in line with the ideals set out by Papua New Guinea's founding fathers.
Nesenel Unity Party leader Hon. Richard Maru used the occasion to thank Namah and the PNG Party for throwing their support behind his newly launched party so early in the race to 2027.
"We are going to work side-by-side, hand-in-hand, and together we will select our candidates, strategise for the elections, and work together to be part of a new government," Maru said.
He said the partnership signalled the start of something new for the nation as it looks toward the next five decades.
"And we believe we will set the direction for a new beginning for our country, as we chart the next 50 years under our new vision and new core policies," Maru said.
He then turned his thanks directly to his new political partner: "To Hon. Balden Namah, our deepest gratitude that you have chosen to be the first party to join hands with the Nesenel Unity Party, as we chart the course together."
Maru made clear that his party's sights were set beyond simply contesting the polls.
"Our party is committed to work with like-minded party leaders, not just to win the elections and sit in the next parliament, but to be part of a group that will form the next government," he said.
He added that new policies were being crafted to help drive the country toward its Vision 2050 targets.
Bringing the event to a close, Namah reaffirmed the PNG Party's pledge to the new alliance.
"PNG Party, we are known as the reformers. We are the changer and fixer of the country, and we pledge to stand together with Nesenel Unity Party to craft a new pathway for our country and our people," he said.

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• PNG, Solomon Islands to deepen business ties as Marape heads to Honiara
• PNG Defence recruits to join Australian military by late 2027 – Marles
• BSP Plans New Headquarters in Port Moresby
• ICAC Must Remain Free From Political Direction, Says PNG PM Marape

Prime Minister James Marape departs for Honiara this week to headline the first-ever PNG-Solomon Islands Investment Conference, a two-day gathering he says will push the two Pacific neighbours beyond friendly diplomacy and into serious business partnerships.

Marape will share the platform with his Solomon Islands counterpart, Prime Minister Matthew Wale, who is set to officially open proceedings. The event, running over two days starting tomorrow, will draw together government officials, private sector investors, company executives, bankers and development partners from both nations.

Speaking ahead of his departure, Marape said the conference marked a turning point for a relationship that has long been built on history and culture but now needed to deliver economic results.

"This Conference is about taking the strong Relationship between Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands into its next important phase," he said. "We have longstanding historical, cultural and people-to-people ties. Our Governments enjoy very good relations."

He added that goodwill between the two countries now had to translate into tangible outcomes. "We must now use that foundation to generate greater economic opportunities for our people. We want to move from opportunity to actual investment, and from government-to-government cooperation into stronger business-to-business partnerships."

According to the Prime Minister, PNG's commercial footprint in the Solomons is far from new. A review spanning three decades shows 126 PNG-linked investments registered across 18 different sectors, ranging from agriculture and ICT to construction, fisheries, mining, insurance, tourism and financial services.

Those ventures have created job opportunities for more than 7,500 Solomon Islanders, with agriculture, professional services and fisheries emerging as the top employment generators. Marape noted that PNG's investment profile in the country has broadened considerably over time, moving beyond the large-scale mining, telecommunications and tourism projects of earlier decades into finance, retail, construction and small business ventures.

"PNG businesses have shown that they can successfully invest beyond our borders while creating employment and contributing to the economy of a neighbouring Pacific country," Marape said, thanking Honiara for its hospitality toward Papua New Guinean investors.

He said, however, that the flow of investment should not run in one direction only. "Solomon Islands businesses are equally welcome to explore opportunities in PNG."

headlines

• PNG Defence recruits to join Australian military by late 2027 – Marles
• BSP Plans New Headquarters in Port Moresby
• ICAC Must Remain Free From Political Direction, Says PNG PM Marape
• PNG on grey-list after 2,000 financial crime warnings ignored, Juffa says
  

Papua New Guinean citizens could soon be wearing Australian Defence Force uniforms, with Canberra's top defence official confirming that recruitment under the Pukpuk Treaty is on track to begin in late 2027.

Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Richard Marles, made the announcement following his first ministerial engagement with PNG Defence Minister Elias Kapavore on Sunday, August 16, where both leaders confirmed their shared commitment to getting the initiative off the ground within the next twelve months.

“We discussed this today, and we are both very committed to ensuring that, by this time next year (2027), recruitment is well and truly underway from PNG into the Australian Defence Force,” Marles told reporters. “We are looking at an initial pilot program which will start the process of proving the recruitment pathway.”

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the scheme will begin modestly before expanding into a large-scale intake over the coming decade. “It will be smaller numbers to begin with, but in time we see this happening in scale over the next decade, where we are imagining thousands of people, thousands of Papua New Guineans, are recruited into the Australian Defence Force,” he said.
Marles described the initiative as a flagship undertaking of the bilateral defence pact. “So we're really excited about taking the first substantive steps down this path, and we are very confident that, by this time next year, this will be well underway,” he said, adding that it stood as the priority project under the treaty framework. “First among that is the project that we're working on to recruit Papua New Guineans into the Australian Defence Force.”
Sunday's discussion was held under Article 9 of the Pukpuk Treaty, which requires both governments to hold regular, obligatory talks on defence cooperation and the treaty's broader implementation. Canberra has committed funding for the recruitment project over the next two years, with a dedicated ministerial forum expected to convene later this year to map out the specific steps involved.
Beyond recruitment, the two ministers used the meeting to review challenges facing the PNG Defence Force and take stock of overall progress under the treaty, including efforts to bolster PNG's defence infrastructure and aviation capacity.
“We're also looking at a range of other issues – Infrastructure – we spoke about aviation today, and where there's been a lot of cooperation around looking at a range of implementation arrangements which will make it much easier for our defence forces to operate in each other's countries,” Marles said.
Oversight of the treaty's rollout now rests with a dedicated taskforce reporting directly to both defence ministers. “All of that work is progressing under the leadership of the taskforce, which is reported to the two of us,” Marles said. “We are seeing our defence forces increasingly bringing the problem more closely together.”
He also pointed to ongoing activity in Lae, including Exercise Puk Puk, which has drawn more than 20 PNG Defence Force personnel and reflects Australia's broader push to strengthen its neighbour's military capability.
Kapavore, for his part, thanked Australia for its continued support in building up the PNG Defence Force.

headlines

• BSP Plans New Headquarters in Port Moresby
• ICAC Must Remain Free From Political Direction, Says PNG PM Marape
• PNG on grey-list after 2,000 financial crime warnings ignored, Juffa says
• PNG needs heart specialists in regional hospitals, says paediatrician
  

BSP said the campus would also cater for major conferences, employee training and community activities, including its financial literacy and small business development initiatives.

Staff facilities are expected to include secure parking, a cafeteria and wellness services, with plans for a medical centre, gymnasium, changing rooms, showers and lockers.

BSP Group chief executive officer Mark Robinson said the project was intended to position the bank for the future.

“Our plan for developing a new headquarters is about building for the future. It will provide a modern, efficient and resilient workplace that supports our people, our customers and our long-term growth ambitions,” he said.

Robinson said the building would be developed to high environmental standards and incorporate technology to provide a digital-first experience for both staff and customers.

He said bringing employees together at one site would also improve efficiency while helping BSP attract, develop and retain skilled workers.

As part of the property strategy, BSP will review some of its existing assets in Port Moresby, beginning with the proposed sale and leaseback of its Waigani Head Office.

The bank is expected to advertise this week for expressions of interest from parties interested in the Waigani property.

BSP said the new campus remains at an early planning stage, with concept design and feasibility work scheduled to begin by the end of 2026. This will include assessing potential sites and engaging relevant regulators over planning and approval requirements.

“Our plan for developing a new headquarters is about building for the future. It will provide a modern, efficient and resilient workplace that supports our people, our customers and our long-term growth ambitions,” said Robinson.

headlines

• PNG on grey-list after 2,000 financial crime warnings ignored, Juffa says
• PNG needs heart specialists in regional hospitals, says paediatrician
• PNG among nations facing K88,000 bond for US travel

More than 2,000 warnings pointing to serious breaches of Papua New Guinea's financing laws have been raised by the country's Financial Analysis Supervision Unit since 2011, yet most were never acted on, Northern Governor Gary Juffa says.

Juffa says that failure by law enforcement agencies to follow up on intelligence supplied by Fasu, much of it linked to money laundering and other criminal activity, is the direct reason PNG now finds itself on the Financial Action Task Force's grey-list.

Speaking during a parliamentary committee on citizenship matters hearing in Port Moresby, Juffa pressed agency heads on why information passed on by Fasu had gone largely unactioned over the years.

“Government agencies that are responsible for receiving intelligence from Fasu do not have a mechanism to deal with these reports,” Juffa said.

“There should be a system in place whereby all these agencies should have a liaison point.

“And the moment a report comes from Fasu, they need to treat it with urgency.

“The reason why we are on the grey-list is because those 2,000 notices sent out were not acted upon.”

Fasu director Wilson Onea told the hearing that the unit's reports are routinely sent to agencies including the Royal PNG Constabulary, PNG Customs, the Immigration and Citizenship Services Authority, and the Internal Revenue Commission.

“We are an intelligence hub for the purposes of analysing the information that we have. We disseminate and support law enforcement through investigations and prosecutions,” Onea said.

Juffa also used the hearing to warn that transnational crime poses a far greater threat to PNG's economic development than crime confined within the country's borders.

“Transnational crimes have a significant impact on an entire economy, as compared to localised crimes,” he said.

“Localised crime may give a negative image of our country as an unsafe destination, but the impact on the economy is quite minimal.

“A transnational crime like a cyber-attack on our financial institutions has a major impact on the country because government accounts can be frozen, which then affects service delivery.”

Headlines

• PNG needs heart specialists in regional hospitals, says paediatrician
• PNG among nations facing K88,000 bond for US travel
• PNG Parliament to Debate Bougainville Referendum Outcome After Leaders Endorse Final Report
  

Papua New Guinea's regional hospitals are missing a critical piece of the health system — cardiologists trained to treat children's heart conditions — and that gap is leaving young patients across the country without proper diagnosis or care, a leading paediatrician says.

East Sepik-based paediatrician Dr Cecilia Pakule says the country's rugged terrain and shortage of specialists mean thousands of children outside Port Moresby and other major centres go without routine heart screening, some for years at a time.

Dr Pakule is pushing for each of PNG's four regional hospitals to have a dedicated paediatric cardiologist on staff, arguing that a properly distributed network of specialists would make it far easier for sick children to be identified and referred for treatment.

“We can have a cardiologist in each, and then we can just refer there,” she said.

Her comments come after a cardiac screening exercise was carried out in East Sepik, during which around 11 children — both inpatients and outpatients — were examined over a two-day period. Dr Pakule said the results reinforced her concerns, with several of the children found to be living with more than one heart condition.

She said trying to serve all 22 provinces with only a handful of specialists was simply not workable, and stressed that more health workers needed to be given basic training in cardiac screening so problems could be picked up earlier, even outside hospital settings.

According to Dr Pakule, many children in remote parts of the country may never make it to a provincial hospital at all, which means health teams cannot afford to wait for patients to come to them.

“There's patients still in the bushes somewhere, so we need to actively go and look out there for these kinds of patients,” she said.

She also raised concern that East Sepik had gone roughly two years without a screening visit prior to the recent program, a gap she said may have caused some children to miss the window for early diagnosis. More frequent provincial screening, she said, would allow doctors to catch cases requiring surgery before complications such as pulmonary hypertension set in.

Dr Pakule finished by pointing to another persistent problem — the difficulty many families face in getting consistent access to medicine for children already diagnosed with heart conditions.

A steep new financial requirement is now standing between many Papua New Guineans and a US visa, with applicants for tourist and business travel expected to pay a bond of roughly K88,200 before their application can move forward.

Confirmed as permanent policy by the US State Department, the visa bond scheme covers B-1 and B-2 visa applicants from PNG and four fellow Pacific Islands Forum members — Fiji, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu — and requires a refundable payment of US$20,000, aimed squarely at discouraging travellers from overstaying their US visas.

Washington has moved to reassure applicants that the scheme, which took permanent effect on Aug 3, does not shut the door on travel from bonded countries altogether. Those who meet the ordinary visa qualifications and can pay the bond remain eligible for approval, department officials said, while travellers on other visa types, including F-1 student visas, are exempt from the bond but still liable for their own applicable fees.

The bond system traces back to a 12-month pilot launched in August last year under Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The department said the trial delivered results strong enough to justify making it permanent, pointing to a steep drop in overstay cases among nationals from the five countries involved.

Statistics from the pilot period showed that 98 per cent of the roughly 5,000 travellers granted bonded visas complied fully with their visa conditions and departed the US on time, figures the department characterised as a significant turnaround from the overstay trends recorded historically among these nationalities.

The department linked the policy to a broader agenda under the Trump administration focused on enforcing immigration law and prioritising American interests, while continuing to monitor screening, vetting and overstay data as part of efforts to protect national security and public safety in the country.

It also confirmed that the roster of countries subject to the bond requirement remains under regular review, with any changes to be published through its website.

“All of the countries that were included in the pilot programme, including PNG, remain part of the visa bond programme under the new rule,” the spokesperson said.

“This is not a travel ban.”

headline

• PNG Parliament to Debate Bougainville Referendum Outcome After Leaders Endorse Final Report
• PNG Chief Secretary Says Law Does Not Bar Non-Citizen From Electoral Commissioner Role
• PNG Police Arrest Four Over East Yangoru Killings
• ​PNG Economy Set for New Commercial Hub as BAOSEN Breaks Ground on Apartments
  

Papua New Guinea has moved a step closer to deciding the political future of Bougainville after the Joint Supervisory Body (JSB) endorsed the Post-Consultation Report and the Melanesian Agreement in Port Moresby yesterday. The endorsement paves the way for the 2019 Bougainville Independence Referendum results to be presented to the National Parliament on August 27.

The milestone decision followed a special JSB meeting jointly chaired by Prime Minister James Marape and Autonomous Bougainville Government President Ishmael Toroama, formally bringing post-referendum consultations to a close after years of dialogue between the two governments.

The 2019 referendum delivered an overwhelming mandate, with 97.7 per cent of Bougainville voters supporting independence. Under the agreed process, Parliament will now debate the outcome before making its decision in accordance with constitutional requirements.

Prime Minister Marape said the meeting represented another major step in the peace journey that began with the Bougainville Peace Agreement more than two decades ago.

He acknowledged the patience shown by the people of Bougainville throughout the consultation process and said both governments had remained committed to resolving the matter through constitutional means.

Marape reminded the nation that Section 342 of the Constitution places the final decision in the hands of Parliament and urged all parties to respect the parliamentary process regardless of the outcome.

President Toroama, however, maintained that Bougainville's position on independence had already been determined by the referendum and should not be revisited.

He warned against any move that would keep Bougainville under an extended autonomy arrangement or introduce legal measures that could undermine the referendum result.

Toroama also criticised the introduction of a proposed three-quarter voting threshold in Parliament, arguing it was not established through the joint consultation process outlined in the Melanesian Agreement.

Despite their differing positions, both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to implementing the Bougainville Peace Agreement and acknowledged the continuing role of the United Nations in supporting the peace process.

"This marks an important journey," Prime Minister Marape said.

"The JSB we are having this morning is historic before we bring to rest the 97.7 per cent results of the referendum.

"Peace in 2001 was a construct of leadership from both sides as we tried to rest the civil crisis and move toward a future that is amicable. Section 342 of our Constitution clearly says Parliament will make this decision, and whatever that decision is, we must respect the parliamentary process."

"Bougainville is moving away from the autonomy space, and let me make that clear," President Toroama said.

"The question has been asked, answered, and sealed in ink and blood. We do not need a pathway to revisit that question.

"Any attempt by the National Parliament to vote down the referendum result, freeze us in a dead autonomy framework, or demand constitutional amendments is a rejection of the peace process itself."

Headlines

• PNG Chief Secretary Says Law Does Not Bar Non-Citizen From Electoral Commissioner Role
• PNG Police Arrest Four Over East Yangoru Killings
• ​PNG Economy Set for New Commercial Hub as BAOSEN Breaks Ground on Apartments
• PNG ​PM Marape hits back at critics over ICAC leadership changes
  

Chief Secretary to Government Ivan Pomaleu has moved to settle mounting debate in Papua New Guinea over whether a foreign national can be lawfully appointed as Electoral Commissioner, insisting the process is governed strictly by law and not personal opinion.
In a statement released Monday, Pomaleu said the Government remained bound to follow the Constitution and existing legislation in filling constitutional posts, and rejected suggestions that citizenship is a legal requirement for the role.

He pointed to Section 126(7) of the Constitution and Part II of the Organic Law on National and Local-level Government Elections as the legal basis for the appointment, noting the Head of State makes the call on advice from the Electoral Commission Appointments Committee.
Pomaleu said public concern over the citizenship question was misplaced, as neither the Constitution nor the Organic Law imposes such a restriction. While the Organic Law sets out qualifications, tenure, disqualifications and other limits, he said nowhere does it tie eligibility to nationality.
Should a foreign national ultimately be appointed, Pomaleu said the position would remain legally valid under the Public Employment (Non-Citizens) Act, which obligates the State to draw up an employment contract in line with the Organic Law and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission's determinations.
He stressed that merit, competence, integrity and independence would remain the deciding factors in any appointment, alongside the individual's capacity to serve the country's interests.
The Chief Secretary said he welcomed public interest in constitutional appointments but appealed for debate grounded in fact rather than rumour, adding that safeguarding the independence and credibility of the electoral system remained a Government priority.
"Where Parliament has intended citizenship to be mandatory for a public office, it has expressly legislated such a requirement. No such requirement exists for this office," Pomaleu said.

Headlines

• PNG Police Arrest Four Over East Yangoru Killings
• ​PNG Economy Set for New Commercial Hub as BAOSEN Breaks Ground on Apartments
• PNG ​PM Marape hits back at critics over ICAC leadership changes
• ​PNG Reconnects with Japan as Air Niugini Resumes Direct Tokyo Flights