Australian NGO refuses to answer questions on controversial report Panguna mine

The President of the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) has said that Jubilee Australia have refused to respond to three letters he has sent them since October.

The letters raised questions about the Australian non-government organisation’s report on Panguna landowner views on mining. He said their refusal to answer his questions demonstrates shameful ignorance and arrogance.

“You proudly proclaim to be a scientific research organisation, but your research on Bougainville has been unethical and deeply flawed,” said President Momis.

“[The report] was clearly based on the false assumption, evident in claims made both at many points in your report and in statements by your CEO, that there is near unanimous opposition to mining in the landowner communities in the former leases associated with the Panguna mine.

“Your assumptions, and an apparent bias, were reflected in your choice of research partners with well-known records of vehement anti-BCL views. The PNG researchers chosen to do the interviews are also people well-known in Bougainville as holding similar views.”

In the series of letters to the Jubilee in October, November and December 2014, President Momis questioned research methodology used, false claims made on the basis of interviews with a tiny selected group of opponents of mining, many serious factual errors in the report, and the track record of opposition to BCL and Rio Tinto on the part of Jubilee Australia’s research partners, Kristian Lasslett and the Bismarck Ramu Group.

“My Government is on the ground in Bougainville,” President Momis continued.

“Elected members and government officers have for many years constantly consulted landowner communities from the former Panguna leases, with the organisations established since 2010 to represent those communities, with leaders of the various Me’ekamui organisations in the area, with Councils of Elders and Village Assemblies in the area.

‘While there is undoubtedly a range of views on the future of mining at Panguna, the only way of getting 63 interviewees opposed to mining would be to carefully select them.

“If your report stated clearly that that was what you had done, there would be little complaint. But the report does not do that. It dissembles.”

The report produced by Jubilee attempted to portray the views of a small number of handpicked interviewees as being representative of an entire region.

“There is no doubt at all that those doing the interviews in Bougainville on which the report claims to be based carefully chose a small group of opponents to the resumption of mining.”

“The report was written by a person from one of your partner organisations with a clear record of a particularly unbalanced view on BCL.

“Your assumptions and bias were further demonstrated by your deliberate refusal not only to consult the ABG, but also to give it any opportunity to comment on a draft of the report before rushing to publish.

“You have also refused to respond to my questions about the ethical standards of the research, and your adherence to PNG law in the conduct of the report,” the President continued, ”by your refusal to answer the issues and questions raised in my three letters , you simply raise more doubts about your standards, your accountability and your bona fides.”

“In all the circumstances, your behaviour is shameful, and your claims to be a scientific research organisation seem little more than a joke.”

President Momis has reiterated his request for a response to his three letters.

Source. bougainville24.com