The Erima Magpies Rugby Team took the initiative to host a Cleanathon around the Erima community to help raise funds for the team as contenders in any off-season rugby league competition in Port Moresby this year. Erima Magpies recently secured a spot in the Top 24 teams of the Gerehu Rugby League tournament to qualify in the Quarter finals playoffs. The players from both the A and B Grade Divisions started the Cleanathon at around 6am on Saturday cleaning up the streets around the suburb. From sweeping the roads, cutting grasses, cutting flower hedges, raking and even patching the potholes along the main roads. Senior A Grade player, Mr Handape Tatape said the money that the players received during the Cleanathon will go towards prepping and purchasing some basic stuff for the team in preparation for their games. “I really admired the enthusiasm, support and interest from the boys and it has really shown that our team is made up of youths that are very hardworking and can go out of their way to make something happen”, said Handape Tatape. He said that Rugby has taken the boys away from engaging in criminal activities within the community and thanked the GRL competition for organizing such competitions like rugby to keep the boys busy. The Erima Magpies team have come a long way and are active participants in Rugby Competitions around Port Moresby down the years. One of the team players, Costen Kaira said this was a very good initiative set up by the club leaders and it has taught them a lesson to be responsible. “I am happy to give back to my community by taking part in this initiative to clean around suburb I live in and I thank the leaders of the club for organizing such activities”, said Costen. The Erima Magpies are hoping to maintain their standard in playing rugby and they are hoping to play to the best of their abilities in any up and coming competitions.

Prime Minister Hon.James Marape launched the construction of the K200 million Jiwaka provincial headquarters building at Kurumul in Jiwaka on Friday January 29th 2021. Kurumul will now be Jiwaka's provincial capital. PM Marape also announced the National Government’s commitment of K20 million as initial funding to contractor, Essar Projects of India, which will do preparatory earthworks and lay the foundations of the project. Thousands of people, some adorned in traditional attire, from Jiwaka, Western Highlands, Chimbu, Enga and Southern Highlands witnessed the momentous occasion. PM Marape told Jiwaka leaders - Governor Hon. Dr William Tongamp, North Wahgi MP Hon. Dr Fabian Pok, Anglimp-South Wahgi MP Hon. Joe Kuli, and Jimi MP and Minister for Religion Youth and Community Development Hon. Wake Goi to work together for their new province. He said Jiwaka is located in the fertile Wahgi Valley, through which the Highlands Highway passes through, and has great potential for progress. "I want to appeal to you, my good people of Jiwaka, that you have places like Mt Hagen and the Kagamuga International airport, the highway running through your province and above all the fertile Waghi Valley land,” PM Marape said. "I urge you to go into and revive the good old agricultural activities: Rehabilitate the coffee and tea plantations to support your local provincial economy. "The National Government is looking at bringing services, including markets, into the districts and wants to improve and stabilise prices of agricultural commodities and improve freight subsidies. "We want to work with coffee, tea and other agriculture commodity -producing provinces like Jiwaka with better prices so farmers can get a good return for your produce.” PM Marape told the people of Jiwaka that in order for a province to fully function well, and to support the national and district programmes and service delivery, it must have a proper provincial administration. "That is why myself, as the Prime Minister, came to Kurumul here in Jiwaka with nearly half of my senior Cabinet ministers to support the official ground breaking and launching of the Jiwaka Provincial Government administration building and capital." "Your National Government has committed itself to the building of your headquarters and will support your Governor and leaders towards securing the K200 million funding to complete it." "Today, your Government is proud to announce an initial funding of K20million to the contractor to start work.” PM Marape told the people of Jiwaka that the National Government would honour its financial commitment through annual Budget funding support over the next four to five years. PM Marape was accompanied by Enga Governor Sir Peter Ipatas; Finance and Rural Development Minister Sir John Pundari; State Enterprises Minister Hon.William Duma, Public Service Minister Joe Sungi; Works and Implementation Minister Michael Nali; National Planning and Monitoring Minister Rainbo Paita and several other ministers in his cabinet as well as several department heads who accompanied their ministers.

YWAM Medical Ships Australia & Papua New Guinea (YWAM MS) have donated much-needed personal protective equipment (PPE) to assist Papua New Guinea’s response to COVID-19.  The PPE, including 20,000 gloves and 3,620 masks, were donated after the National Department of Health and the World Health Organization requested support for frontline health workers in the COVID-19 response. "We thank YWAM for the PPE and we encourage other organizations to do likewise,” said Incident Manager of the National Control Centre for the National Pandemic, Dr Daoni Esorom.  The donation will be followed by YWAM MS’ training and medical ship’s, MV YWAM PNG, redeployment to PNG waters next month.  YWAM MS Managing Director, Mr Ken Mulligan, said that they were delighted to be returning to PNG after making the difficult decision to suspend their outreach schedule last year due to the travel restrictions put in place in response to the pandemic.“YWAM MS has now received a formal invitation from authorities in Papua New Guinea to return to PNG for the purpose of strengthening essential healthcare in rural communities. “While the COVID situation is continually evolving, we plan to have the vessel in a state of readiness to respond flexibly in 2021 as circumstances evolve. The ship will initially dock in Port Moresby, with plans now underway to resume rural healthcare patrols to Western Province for an initial six-month deployment. “We are eager to return and look forward to being back in PNG waters very soon,” said Mr Mulligan. The MV YWAM PNG and her crew are due to set sail from Australia early next month.

Logan Steve, the humorous Facebook famous comedian is behind the renowned household name ‘BLINNG.’ In an interview with PNG Hausbung , he tells us how he started what he is doing, his intentions and where he got his inspiration from. 26 year old Logan, from the Trobriand Islands in Milne Bay Province has over 25, 000 Likes, 42K Followers on his Facebook page, 16K followers on Instagram and a massive 1.55K subscribers on YouTube. His love for jewelry was where he got the name ‘Blinng’ from. Logan is the only child in his family and said that humor came from both his parents. “My parents both have a great sense of humor, the house is always funny so without a doubt that is where I got this fun from”, Logan said with a giggle. A second year student studying Psychology at the University of Papua New Guinea, Logan said that he would not promise anyone to provide consistent content because of his commitment to school and studies and all, but he has done up a time schedule for uploading videos to keep his fans and followers entertained. When asked how he started his videos and what motivated him, Logan jokingly said it was out of boredom that he started recording those videos. “Boredom brought out the best in me. I just stepped out of my comfort zone and BOOM!, it just happened like that”, laughed Logan. Logan added that he got his inspiration from the guys who had the same kind of interest in creating such videos to entertain a targeted audience and like he mentioned earlier, it had really helped him step out of his comfort zone from being camera shy to someone loaded with confidence. When asked about the challenges he faced especially on social media with regards to the negative feedback he received, he smiled and said “We have trolls everywhere, they will hate you for no reason even if you do stuff that is not harmful, they will troll you on Facebook and try to be all negative”, said Logan. Logan has done some collaborations with fellow Papua New Guinean Comedian, Turagunan Comedy and Papa Dazville and quite a number of requests from interested individuals and he is looking forward to working with some big name Comedians. He is very thankful and grateful for the fans and followers that he has. “I appreciate the support so much and for liking my content and for always being there, I’ve got mad love and big respect for you all my fans”, said Logan. Bliing Comedy is hoping to sell some merchandises this year and he is working hard to connect with his audience. “Apart from that, we have big things coming out this year”, said Logan. Logans' advice to those who want to step out of their comfort zone and create videos, "there are always criticisms, either there are constructive or not, ignore the unnecessary ones because at the end of the day, we want to move forward in PNG, just be yourself ".

The National Statistical Office today officially announced the Census 2021 Structural Listing Exercise that will be carried out throughout Papua New Guinea. The Structural Listing is a prerequisite preparatory undertaken to ensure smooth conduct of the 2021 National Census. Acting National Statistician, Mr John Igitoi said this is to ensure all the structures in the country are numbered and counted because all human beings live under structures. “So basically, the Structural Listing Exercise is one of the important aspect of preparatory activities and this is one of the quality control measures", said Mr Igitoi. He added that this exercise will also assist the National Statistical Office to identify the number of structures in a Census Unit (CU) or sometimes called villages. “From this Structural Listing Exercise, we can map out the area and establish the number of field officers or census enumerators/interviewers needed for this areas”, said Mr Igitoi. An Enumerator/Interviewer will interview fifty (50) houses during the enumeration period starting immediately after ‘Reference Night’ which falls on Sunday 11 July, 2021. “For the Listing Exercise, the Lister will either determine whether the house/structure is being occupied by someone or not or if it is a Private Dwelling or a Non-Private Dwelling place.” He added on saying that Private Dwelling structures are places like houses, schools, classrooms or warehouse whilst Non-Private Dwelling places are Guest Houses, Hotels or Institutional Accommodations. Mr Igitoi said that it would cost between K5m and K6m to carry out this Structural Listing Exercise. Currently, Officers have been in all parts of the provinces since last week and currently the listing training exercise are underway to ensure a smooth run. “This exercise will started on 25 January and is expected to run through to mid-February or early march.”

Prime Minister Hon. James Marape says Australia and Papua New Guinea have always been “so close”. He said this during an Australia Day reception at the Australian High Commission on Tuesday (Jan 26, 2021). PM Marape cited, as an example of this closeness, the fact that he had known Australian Prime Minister, Hon. Scott Morrison, since 2008 when he was in the Opposition benches in the Australian Parliament. He said PM Morrison had at that time taken a group across the Kokoda Trail. “That is symbolic,” PM Marape said. “Many Australians, in their own time, always had an occasion for Papua New Guinea. “We’ve been close over many, many years. “In fact, our shared history goes past our Independence in 1975. “Since creation by God, the Creator, Australia and PNG have been this close thus far, and if I’m not wrong, will be this close into the perpetual future.” PM Marape said PNG was “privileged” to have Australia as a “close neighbour”. “Australia has not only been physically close to us, but in every sense, very, very close to us,” he said. “They have been our strongest, biggest, quickest and easiest supporter in as far as bilateral relationships have been thus far. We highly value our strong and vibrant bilateral relationship.” PM Marape said relationships with Australia had been further elevated with PM Morrison through more trade. “That has been encapsulated in a very important document we signed called ‘Comprehensive Strategic Economic Partnership’,” he said. “That now elevates our relationship to two partner nations who will share the future together, and especially the economic gains in both spaces we live in – the Australian economic space as well as the Papua New Guinea economic space – going into the future." “Papua New Guinea still remains a nation of great potential. We have been largely underutilized in as far as harvesting our resources sustainably, to ensure our country gains, but more importantly, our region also participates in meaningful gain from resources God has abundantly blessed our country with.” PM Marape thanked the Australian Government, in what was a first since 1975, for direct intervention of almost K1.5 billion in the PNG Budget – “something never done before”. “For some reason, the Government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison, decided to pick the moment we took office,” he said. “This has nothing to do with him and me, but more to do with the sincerity, the matter in which we opened our books to Australia, ADB, World Bank, IMF. “The Australian Government, seeing the reforms we were doing and seeing our honesty, decided to ensure for the first time that we received over K1.47 billion with zero per cent (interest) against the lending." “They ensured that we sailed past 2019, in what was a hard year, but more importantly, we were able to successfully deliver over 95 per cent of our Budget deliverables in 2020.” PM Marape said PNG had assisted Australia during the 2020 bushfire “and when Papua New Guinea gets stronger, bigger and better into the future, we will stand with Australia as a partner in sharing development assistance to our region”. PM Marape also thanked Australia for its COVID-19 intervention in 2020.

Nine (9) teachers out of the twelve (12) who were investigated have been terminated by the Western Highlands Provincial Education Board for their involvement in helping students cheat in the 2019 National Examinations. Secretary for Education, Dr. Uke Kombra commended the Western Highlands Provincial Education Board for investigating and terminating the teachers who assisted students to cheat. “The action taken by the PEB is very encouraging and should act as a deterrent to other teachers and students in future.” The Department of Education advises that it has in place strategies to contain cheating in the national examinations. These strategies include: 1.         Producing answer sheets after the examinations. The answer sheets will be produced after the examinations have been conducted. Therefore, no one should be claiming that they have the answer sheet before the examinations are conducted. 2.         Severe penalties for both students and schools caught cheating. Any incidences of cheating must be reported quickly to the Secondary School Inspectors and where necessary to the police. Any student caught cheating on site or after the results are processed by the Measurement Services Division will not be certificated and his or her schools’ results will be nullified. Teachers assisting students to cheat will be severely dealt with including deregistration and termination. The Department of Education started taking up this tough approach a few years ago because it wants to ensure that the final examinations are fair and transparent and that students are rewarded based on their commitment and hard work. Examination at times is a very stressful experience for students. “Parents and guardians, teachers and communities must fully support the students so that they do not resort to cheating during exams. “I call on provincial and school administrations together with the Boards of Governors, Governing Councils and Managements to ensure that no malpractices are allowed in the examinations.”

Controller of the PNG COVID-19 National Pandemic Response David Manning has clarified that all incoming passengers will be required to do a 14-day quarantine regardless of the country from which they originally travelled from. This is for all passengers who were approved to enter PNG from the 15th of January onwards. Mr Manning made this clarification following misunderstandings which seem to have given rise to different requirements being sent out by airline operators. However, the Controller can grant exemptions to this requirement, both for persons approved to enter PNG before and after 15 January. Mr Manning said he expects the airlines to respect this directive and comply with it. Further Mr Manning has directed that, “Unless provided an exemption in writing people will be required upon arrival to have a tracking app put on their smartphones if going into a hotel quarantine or another location not designated in the measures. This is a requirement a person must meet upon arrival and not before they board an aircraft for PNG. Mr Manning said if a moratorium is to be put in place as per Measure 2.25 due to advice from the Secretary of the National Department of Health regarding heightened risks certain regions or countries present, the Direction will be published online with the list of countries and other relevant details. Memo to Air Operators

Controller of the PNG COVID-19 National Pandemic Response David Manning has called for proper handling of swab samples to get the desired outcome. Mr Manning says proper handling of samples ensures they are of quality when they reach the laboratories for further testing. Mr Manning said there must be a proactive approach in testing and screening of citizens for COVID-19. He expressed concern that the testing rates for COVID-19 in the country has been critically low lately. “We can only find out the extent of the outbreak in the country if we proactively test people,” he said. Meanwhile, the country’s COVID-19 cases have reached 850 with nine known deaths. A total of 41,289 people have been tested for COVID-19. Of the 850 cases, 812 people have recovered, 90 samples are pending at the laboratories and 29 active cases are currently in isolation. Sixteen provinces including the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB) have reported cases. The distribution of the cases is as follows: NCD 367 Western Province 214 West New Britain 168 East New Britain 30 New Ireland 19 Eastern Highlands 13 Western Highlands 10 Central 10 Morobe 6 East Sepik 3 Enga 3 Milne Bay 2 West Sepik 2 Southern Highlands 1 AROB 1 Hela Province 1 TOTAL 850 Globally, the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 have reached 97,464,094 including 577,301 new cases reported in the last 24 hours. The death toll is 2,112,689 of which 13,688 were reported in the last 24 hours. Mr Manning repeated his calls for citizens to follow the “Niupela Pasin” or New Normal under COVID-19. He said the disease is real and all citizens should by now make the “Niupela Pasin” part of their life. “Please wear a face mask in public places, avoid shaking hands or physical contact, avoid crowds, maintain physical distancing and regularly wash hands or sanitise your hands." "God has spared us from the wrath of COVID-19 but let us not take this for granted. We must do our part to protect ourselves and our loved ones. More than two million people have died globally from COVID-19 so please be proactive in preventing its spread in PNG,” Mr Manning said.

Out of 128 teams that have registered and participated in the Gerehu Rugby League off season Competition, the Top 24 teams in both the A and B Grade Divisions will advance into the preliminary playoffs starting this week Thursday. The Top 24 teams in the A Grade Division are; 1. 45 Sharks 2. JV Tigers 3. 24 Raiders 4. LBS 4 City 5. Route 66 Nightmares 6. MT Warriors 7. Keasu Spiders 8. Rainbow Rangers 9. Hohola Pirates 10. CT6 Crusaders 11. 3B Bulls 12. Boroko Bulldogs 13. 4Mile Cats 14. Kopkop Bears 15. Debona Hornets 16. Tete Brothers 17. Country Mates 18. 9Mile United 19. Country Brothers 20. Gerehu Storms 21. DYC Crows 22. Apple Bullets 23. ID24 Dust 24. Erima Flyover Also in the B Grade (U20) Division, the Top 24 teams advancing into the preliminary finals playoffs are; 1. Route 66 Nightmares 2. Blackouts 3. 45 Sharks 4. Keasu Spiders 5. 24 Raiders 6. Boroko Bulldogs 7. Dusty Blacks 8. Eraks Brothers 9. 35 Storms 10. Nautana Roosters 11. Erima Magpies 12. Dakas 13. Bomai Pythons 14. Hohola Pirates 15. 313 Jets 16. Swamper Ducks 17. Stray Dogs 18. Rainbow Rangers 19. 3B Bulls 20. 4Mile Cats 21. Faientina Blocks 22. Tete Brothers 23. JV Tigers 24. MDK Souths GRL Vice President, Bomai Ninkama said the preliminary finals playoffs will begin next week. “We will go into the Top 24 format of playoffs where by in the first week of games, the Top eight (8) teams will be on BYE whilst the Top nine (9) to twenty four (24) teams will have their match and in the second week of games the Top eight (8) will play the winners of the matches from the Top nine (9) to twenty four (24). He added on saying that they are hoping to play the preliminary playoffs within five (5) weeks and they are expecting the Grand Final playoff match towards the end of February 2021. “I would also like to thank all the Youths throughout NCD, the three electorates and also would like to thank the two teams from Central Province who also participated and we are thankful to have kept them busy in the spirit of sports throughout the festive season and New Year”, said Mr Ninkama. “To all the clubs who participated and registered, there were no trouble or accidents during the start of the competition and I would like to say thank you for cooperating and to make sure the tournament ran smoothly”, said Mr Ninkama. He said since the competition is now heading into the finals, he would like the supporters, spectators and the public to maintain a safe run of the competition and after 30 – 40 years, the Gerehu Rugby League Competition has finally risen again. Country Mates Rugby League Club will be vying for a spot in the preliminary finals this Thursday in the Gerehu Rugby League Comp. Picture sourced: GRL FB page

In December 2020 HGDC Energy Services Ltd was awarded the PNG LNG Project's inaugural "Best National Content Contribution of the Year Award" in recognition of HGDC Energy Services' efforts to provide local employment, business opportunities and workforce development. In congratulating the Hela-based landowner company, ExxonMobil PNG Limited's (EMPNG) National Content Manager, Sisa Kini, said, "We are proud of HGDC Energy Services' achievement and success. Continued growth in the capacity and capability of local companies is central not only to EMPNG's success but also the economic development of Papua NewGuinea." Since 2009, they have made workforce development a core business priority by initiating a variety of programs including: • An apprentice program for mechanical fitters. Three apprentices are currently attached to the PNG LNG's Hides Gas Conditioning Plant maintenance workshop. The program is endorsed by the National Apprenticeship and Trade Testing Board. • A "Women in Workforce" program focuses on developing technical capabilities and increasing roles and responsibilities for female staff. This program also includes career path planning and confidence-building initiatives such as public speaking courses and involvement in Toastmasters Public Speaking Club. • A mentoring program helps junior staff to continue to grow and develop their role in various areas, including safety, engineering, financial, projects and human resources. Ninety-nine per cent of their workforce is comprised of Papua New Guineans with seventy per cent being locals from Hela's many communities. This focus on building and maintaining a skilled local workforce is something the management remains committed to going forward. HGDC Energy Services Chairman Libe Parindali said the award recognizes the team's efforts to deliver high standards in support of the PNG LNG Project. It also boosts the staff's morale as they look forward to continuing their efforts to drive excellence going forward. "We are proud of our work to invest in and build local talent. This enables them to compete and work anywhere in the world. We humbly accept this award as a vote of confidence in our technical, training and managerial capabilities. The company strives to deliver industry best practice and contribute meaningfully to the PNG LNG Project and the nation. "We are committed to supporting local businesses with 19 per cent of its service providers in 2019 were from the Hela Province alone," Mr Parindali added.

As of 4 January 2021 the St John drive-thru has collected more than 30 COVID-19 samples and continues to receive request and inquiries from the public for swabbing. St John Ambulance Commissioner and CEO Matt Cannon said, “St John is providing fast tracked COVID-19 swabbing, and the swab is processed in an authorised private laboratory with results provided within 24 hours.” “Trained by the WHO, the St John nurses will take COVID-19 samples from your nose and sent to an authorised private laboratory in Port Moresby for testing.” “The laboratory will conduct the Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction Testing (RT-PCR). The type of testing is also required overseas in Australia, Japan, and other countries,” said Commissioner Cannon. Commissioner added, “With the fast track private testing, a certificate containing the results will be returned within 24 hours through email.” “Patients can also obtain a hard copy of the certificate from the St John HQ reception at 3 mile,” he said. Commissioner clarified why there is a cost for testing, saying, “There is a fee for fast-tracked testing to cover the private laboratory fee and the cost to St John of providing a drive-thru or at home sampling. Public patients needing urgent testing because they are sick are encouraged to attend their local hospital.” The free swabbing testing is expected to return results within 30 days from the CPHL government laboratory. For the private 24 hour results:  Drive Through (PNG Citizen) = K650 Drive Through (Expatriate) = K750 At home/office = K850 Citizens who want to be swabbed can Call 7190 6331 during business hours or email COVID19@stjohn.org.pg . Drive-thru: 0930 until 1230hrs, Monday to Friday Home: 0900 until 1700hrs, every day.