At the 34th Australia Papua New Guinea Business Forum and Trade Expo in Brisbane, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill addresses a report that said ExxonMobil’s huge natural gas project had failed to live up to promises.
The report, “Double or Nothing: The Broken Economic Promises of the PNG LNG Project,” was compiled by Jubilee Australia, a development research centre.
According to the report, the country’s economy has grown by ten percent, but employment fell 27 percent and household income is down 6 percent. The consensus, “the PNG economy, would have been better off without the LNG project.”
Prime Minister O’Neill dismissed the report, calling it unrealistic and surmising it as ‘fake news’.
Also on this episode, we celebrate ‘World Tuna Day’; an opportunity to acknowledge one of the most widely consumed fish in the world and reflect on how to protect it for future generations. Closer to home in the Pacific, tuna is a vital source of economic development, food security and government revenue.
