December 2012

PNG Independence Day in Darwin has become, in terms of venue, something of a moveable feast. Last year it was celebrated at the Filipino Community Centre; in the previous year in the Strangers' Lounge at Parliament House; and before that at the Portuguese-Timorese Club. This year the PNG-Australia Social & Cultural Group set up a marquee and other shade on an oval at the Charles Darwin University. This provided more playing space for the many lively children of the Group and visitors who numbered almost 200 at the coolest part of the afternoon. Conveniently the bar of the Uni Rugby Club was close by and open for business.

The recent reopening of a detention camp at Lombrom recalled for me an item in the Post-Courier in 2001 when it held 215 "refugees" mostly Iraqis.  It said "Between 20 to 30 inmates continued a hunger strike which they began three days ago. Whereas most of the other campers sat down to a breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast yesterday morning." Bacon!!

There is much to be done in PNG: a lot it by the National Court... After the 2007 general election there were 55 challenges against winning Members, a mere 50% of the Parliament. This year, of the 111 seats recently filled, no less than 105 are being contested by losers. This will certainly present a problem in the Western Highlands where during September a storage unit in Banz containing 100,000 ballot papers suffered a mysterious fire.

Apparently there are still opportunities for ex-kiaps to accrue a little spending money by returning to PNG and giving global companies the benefit of their local knowledge. Frank Leibfried has just returned to Hobart following a consultancy at Tabubil where he worked in the past.

One of his close colleagues when serving in the Southern Highlands, Mike Press, is currently back in Darwin after spending some of his similarly acquired wealth escorting daughters on holidays to Timor, Turkey and Thailand.

I first met Harry Coehn, then a high stepping three-quarter back in Rabaul’s rugby league, fifty years ago. He went on to become Headmaster of Bavaroko School, Moresby and later an administrator at the NT Supreme Court. I have seen a lot of him in Darwin and last year was not completely surprised to learn that we were sharing the same cardiologist. However this year discovering him patronising my urologist might be considered as taking wantok-ship a little too far.