11 May 2018

A partly Australian-funded liquefied natural gas project in Papua New Guinea's southern highlands has the hallmarks of another Bougainville civil war...

...[L]andowners in Hela province are yet to receive royalty payments, resulting in escalating tensions, tribal violence, incidents of hostage-taking, blockades and sabotage.

A report from Jubilee Australia...warns there are risks landowner discontent could "spiral out of control"...

ExxonMobil responded...saying it had been instrumental in driving economic growth in PNG...

...Between 1987-1997, 20,000 people died in a civil war between PNG and its Bougainville province. Panguna, one of the world's largest copper and gold mines, sparked the conflict.

The new report is scathing of undelivered infrastructure projects resource companies promised landowners including roads, airports, hospitals, housing and sewerage projects.

Report...said the vast majority had not been built...

PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill dismissed the report as fake news, despite admitting he hadn’t read it, while some of his ministers acknowledged the government had some lessons to learn.