PRESS RELEASE: 02nd August, 2021,LAE, MOROBE PROVINCE MAKE ALL TRANSACTIONS IN MINING AND PETROLEUM VALUE CHAIN TRANSPARENT: GINSON SAONU Morobe Governor and Deputy leader of the ruling Pangu Pati Hon Ginson Saonu today opened the PNG Extractive Industries Transparency Commission Bill Momase Regional consultation in Lae and gave his backing for the establishment of the Extractive Industries Transparency Commission. He welcomed a State Technical working group comprising the Department of Petroleum, Department of National Planning, Constitutional and Law Reform Commission, Department of Treasury and staff from the PNGEITI National Secretariat to administer the consultation. The Governor underscored the importance of reflecting the national goals and directives enshrined in the Constitution in making policies and laws that govern the resource sector. The Momase consultation is the second leg of a series of regional consultation to gauge views from stakeholders to shape a bill that is reflective of views from wider community for better implementation of EITI Global Standard in Papa New Guinea. Consultation workshop starts today and ends on Thursday this week. The implementation of EITI Principles and the Standard in Papua New Guinea rides on a National Executive Council Decision administered by as a secretariat under the Department of Treasury. The proposed law aims to establish the PNGEITI National Secretariat as a commission to provide policy recommendations to the Government and more so provide a clear description of activities taking place in the PNG mining and petroleum industry. Deputy Head of PNGEITI National Secretariat Christopher Tabel thanked the Governor for opening the workshop which is the second of regional consultation rolled out and will continue to two other regions. “The PNGEITI is a state initiative and it’s only fitting and delightful moment for the state working group on the legislation and the instrumentalities involved in the process to have a Governor of existing and upcoming resource projects of huge magnitude. “PNGEITI has been in operation since 2014 effected by a NEC decision and now we are moving into the next step in anchoring this extractive industry reporting process into PNG’s legal and administrative system. PNGEITI has published 7 country reports detailing activities taking placing in the PNG mining and petroleum space. “We thank the Morobe Governor and his hardworking administration team for the support and the welcome that we have received from Morobe. We look forward to a meaningful consultation in the coming days with all stakeholders from Government, Civil Society organizations and resource companies,’’ Mr. Tabel said. ENDS… Image Caption: Morobe Governor Hon Ginson Saonu (third from left) with stakeholder representatives from Provinces East and West Sepik, Madang and Morobe Provincial administration including the State legal and policy officials and the National Secretariat staff at the Lae International Hotel after he officially opened the PNGEIT Commission Bill Momase Regional consultation.

 The Government of Papua New Guinea has moved in the direction of taking transparency and accountability within the mining, oil and gas sectors seriously. Since 2014, the PNG Government has demonstrated its commitment to implementing the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) through the publication of seven reports in compliance with the requirements of the international best practice Standards reporting. The PNGEITI National Secretariat under the Department of Treasury, coordinates a tripartite Multi-Stakeholder Group consisting of key Government agencies, mining and petroleum companies and civil society organisations for oversight and guidance in the publication process of the EITI Reports. Papua New Guinea is among 53 countries that promotes transparency and accountability in the mining and petroleum space through the EITI Reporting process. We are pleased to inform the general public that substantiative work has been undertaken to anchor the Global EITI Reporting Standard and practices into PNG laws, taking into account local practices and the operating environment. This legislation process is consistent with the Government’s National Policy Framework on Transparency and Accountability adopted in NEC Decision NO. 80/2019. The proposal to enact into law a transparency commission, is to provide the legal basis to administer and coordinate the publication of the EITI Reports, and its operation as an entity to coordinate implementation of the EITI Standards in the country. The commission has been proposed to be named as the Extractive Industries Transparency Commission (EIT Commission). As part of a nationwide consultation on a draft (EIT Commission Bill), a technical team comprising experts from key Government departments will be conducting a consultation on the draft PNG EIT Commission Bill to ensure the proposed legal set-up of this transparency commission adequately reflects the views from all stakeholders as required in this legislative process. This consultation will take into consideration other extractive sectors to include forestry, fisheries and agriculture. The public, especially the stakeholders in the extractive sector (oil, gas, mining, fisheries, forestry and agriculture) are invited to meaningfully participate in this important consultation at the respective venues and dates as set out in the schedule shown on the picture. AUTHORIZED BY LUCAS ALKAN HEAD OF PNGEITI NATIONAL SECRETARIAT

Anomalies in the extractive industry governance system in Papua New Guinea can only be tidied up by parties other than the PNG Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (PNGEITI) with Government agencies taking a lead. Head of the PNGEITI National Secretariat Mr. Lucas Alkan was commenting on a recent report by an overseas media on two Australian companies omitting corporate income tax in certain recent years. The Guardian publication on its website “Australian mining companies have paid little or no corporate income tax in PNG despite huge profits “on Tuesday 8th June, 2021 depicted a complex PNG taxation system that created room for anomalies . The news publication corroborated the findings of the 2018 PNGEITI Report with other sources. According to this report; St Barbara, operator of the Simberi Mine in New Ireland Province paid no corporate income tax between 2012 & 2020 Newcrest, operator of the Lihir mine in New Ireland Province paid nothing as well in corporate income tax during the 2017/2016 financial years. “PNGEITI, through the reporting process sheds light on revenue leakages, policy and legislative inefficiencies and ineffectiveness with the aim of influencing policy thinking to help shape a robust governance system in the mining and petroleum sector,” Mr Lucas Alkan said. He explained that PNGEITI detects the anomalies and defects in the system and “it is the onus of stakeholders in the industry to take the relevant decision to make things work better for the industry.” “PNGEITI’s core mandate is to promote revenue transparency in the mining and value chain through the publication of the EITI reports which is a culmination of efforts of a Multi-Stakeholder Group comprising industry companies, relevant government agencies and civil society organisations. EITI work in PNG and other EITI member countries is limited to reporting and working on ways to improve successive reports. Report recommendations and findings are left open to the public with the hope that those findings and recommendations may receive the attention that they deserve and acted upon.  When the EITI reports are published, EITI becomes the backend with the discretion now with parties concerned to act upon. “Mr Alkan said. “The EITI Reporting process in PNG continues to facilitate critical policy and legislative reforms and improvement in current institutional capacities and business practices on key Government department and agencies for improved governance of the extractive sector. One example is the Department of Petroleum & Energy. It has benefited from a JICA and PNGEITI technical cooperation with the installation of electronic license registry as a result of earlier EITI reports decrying its paper ledger license registry which was prone to fire hazards,” he said. Mr. Alkan urged members of the public to make productive use of the PNGEITI reports and to come up with constructive and sensible debates on matters affecting the industry.