Anarchy – ‘a state of disorder due to absence or non-recognition of authority or other controlling systems.‘

The closure of the Kokoda Trail on 16 September 2024 was orchestrated by Port Moresby based landowners in a crude attempt to extort money from the PNG Government.

Photographs of dissidents manning the blockade at Nauro village feature Port Moresby based residents who caught a bus to Owers Corner then trekked into Nauro to hold trekkers hostage in their bid to extort money from the PNG Government.

A review of the facts compared to the rhetoric exposes the motives behind their attempted extortion and the destructive impact it holds for subsistence villagers who live in their communities at Menari, Efogi, Naduri, Kagi, Alola, Kovello, Hoi and Kokoda.

Koiari Village Census for Kokoda Trail Villages in Central Province

A review of a  KTA Livelihoods Project Study by Pacific Islands Projects identified the following population figures of Koiari villages in Central Province along the Kokoda Trail:

Note:

  • A total of 1220 live in villages on the Trail and a further1660 from those villagers now live in Port Moresby
  • The villages of Nauro and Ioribaiwa have been virtually deserted whenever our treks have passed through over the past 10 years – their might be a couple of families present from time to time, but that is all.
  • All the protesters at the blockade on 16 September took a bus from Port Moresby to Owers Corner then trekked into Nauro village.

The Cost of Anarchy

Kokoda Trek Authority Records

The following KTA records from 2004-2023 reveal the impact of the wet season on trekking from November to April each year, and the peak trekking periods which emerge during Anzac and school holiday periods on Kokoda tourism:

Estimated Village Income Benefits for September-October 2024

Estimated Income for Kokoda Trail village economies (wages, campsite fees, etc) for September-October 2024 based on official Kokoda Track Authority (KTA) records from the previous year show 697 trekkers crossed the Trail:

The estimated LOSS for all subsistence village communities across the Kokoda Trail as a result of the ongoing extortion attempt by Port Moresby based landowners from Nauro is in the region of K2.6 million.

Estimated Income for PNG Tourism for September-October 2024

The estimated income for PNG tourism (airlines, hotels, etc) for September-October 2024 is deatiled in the following table:

Based on 2023 figures the total estimated LOSS for PNG tourism and subsistence village communities during the peak September-October period this year as a result of the blockade will be in the region of K6.23 million.

PNG Response to the Blockade

CEO Kokoda Track Authority

The first response from the Acting CEO of the Kokoda Track Authority, Julius Wargari, when he was warned about the blockade a week before tour companies who had purchased trek permits for approximately 500 trekkers was to ignore it. No warning was issued of a possible disruption to trek itineraries.

He then took 24 hours to provide the following response to an urgent request for an update trekkers who are due to arrive in five days time – two are travelling out from the United Kingdom and the rest have purchased all the gear they need, have taken annual leave from their work, and have booked their flights with Air Niugini. Our company has invested aournd K100,000 for trek permits, accommodation, charter aircraft, food and equipment in anticipation of their arrival:

‘I am not aware of any plans for Police to dismantle the Blockade. However the government is positive in addressing the Land Owners demands and hopefully the Track would be opened again. ‘

That advice is as about as useful as an ash tray on my Harley-Davidson motorbike!

PNG Police Commissioner

Police Commissioner David Manning issued a release advising the blockade was illegal.

He advised that ‘Police are in discussion with the land owners and resolving the situation for the good of all parties so that walking the track can continue’.

He also advised ‘If investigations reveal criminal conduct by any party, then arrests and prosecutions will follow swiftly.’

A police helicopter was reported to have flown to the blockade to meet the dissidents then returned to Port Moresby with the blockade remaining active and in place.

Reports from trekkers stopped at Nauro indicate the blockade was being orchestrated from Port Moresby as their spokesman advosed they had to report to a Mr. Peter Malik before making any decisions.

Commissioner Manning’s release had no impact on the illegal behaviour of the dissidents manning the blockade. Tour operators therefore had to spend thousands of kina arranging for charter aircraft and helicopters to evacuate their trekkers.

But more importantly, trekkers who had already paid for their trek permits in expectation of safe passage were deprived of a pilgrimage they had invested more than K16,000 to complete; had trained for a full year to prepare themselves; and had taken leave from their work to cover the period of their trek, will depart with a feeling they have been cheated.

No further advice has been received from Commissioner Manning and no action has been taken to dismantle the illegal blockade four days since the blockade was put in place.

Australian High Commission

The Australian High Commission advised they were ‘monitoring the situation‘ – but no practical help was provided to tour operators or stranded trekkers who were left to their own resources.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued a warning through their Smartraveller link to advise:

‘The Kokoda Track is closed while local authorities negotiate with landowners to remove blockades on the Kokoda Track. The blockades and closure are disrupting current and planned treks. Check with your trekking company for the latest information (see ‘Travel’).
‘If investigations reveal criminal conduct by any party, then arrests and prosecutions will follow swiftly.’

After seeking further information we were advised:

‘The Landowners and relevant Government Agencies and Officials are currently in discussion to find a solution and to reopen the Track.

‘Your team and all other Tour Operators will be Updated on the outcome of this discussion by the KTA CEO once the discussion between Landowners and the Government come to a resolution. For now, the Track is still closed as the Landowners have barricaded the Track.’

Self-serving, ignorance-based Political Leadership

A group of MPs including Oro Governor Gary Juffa, Central Governor Rufina Peter, and the Member for Hiri-Koiari. Hon Keith Iduhu met with Port Moresby base landowners at the Hideaway Hotel to talk about situation. The President of the Kokoda Track Authority (KTA) Board of Directors, Mr Jack Deia was excluded from attending the meeting.

So, we had a group of MPs who have never trekked Kokoda with a professional tour company to witness the impact of the pilgrimage on their paying customers; the professionalism and dedication of guides and porters from their villages; and the warm hospitality of campsite owners and village communities.

Governor Juffa is a notorious blowhard who knows everything but does nothing – he has not initiated a single project to enhance the value of the pilgrimage for trekkers in his area of responsibility on the Kokoda plateau since he was elected in 2012.

Same with Governor Rufina Peter – she has done nothing to address the tourism potential of Owers Corner at the start of the Trail since she was elected in 2022 – she seems blissfully unaware that a Visitors Centre which incorporated traditional Koiari treehouses would quickly become the most popular tourism destination in PNG due to its road-link and proximity to the national capital of Port Moresby.

Governor Peter would therefore be much better informed if she took time to read the article on this link: ‘Owers Corner: Neglected Gateway to the Kokoda Trail’

Hon Keith Iduhu has also shown little interest in developing the tourism potential of the Trail in his section of the electorate since he was elected in 2022.

A media release he issued indicates he has little understanding of the original dispute regarding the development of the Kodu goldmine.

Frontier Resources, the developer of the mine, had offered 5% equity and compensation to the landowners as an inducement for their approval. They later upped their offer by proposing they would give up 2% of their equity if the Nauro landowners gave up 1% of theirs. This offer would leave the landowners with 4% with a return on 3% to be paid to the Kokoda Track Authority (KTA) who would have been required to invest half of the funds for the preservation of the 138 km Trail from Owers Corner to Kokoda, and half for education for ALL communities across it.[3]

Newspaper reports estimated the return for landowners and the KTA over the estimated 10-year production of the mine would be in the vicinity of $100 million (K234 million).

Australia intervened in the process and the proposed mine was rejected in return for an assistance package to seek a nomination for a World Heritage listing for the Trail.

Nauro landowners were later paid somewhere between K6-K10 million in compensation. This was a financial windfall for the 50 or so village families who then abandoned their village and relocated to Port Moresby. Some return during the trekking season to manage campsites they have established but outside these periods there are few people to be seen.

No other village communities received any financial benefits from the compensation package awarded to them.

Governor Gary Juffa and Hon Keith Iduhu would be better informed if they took notice of the article published on this link four years ago: Marketing Strategy for Kokoda Pilgrimage Tourism instead of just ‘talking the talk’ for their own political benefit.

Opportunity to reopen the Kodu Goldmine

An expert report by the late Dr. Peter Hitchcock in 2015 revealed the Kokoda Trail does not meet the requirements for a World Heritage listing – details are contained on this link: The Fallacy of a World Heritage Listing for the Kokoda Trail.

There is therefore no impediment to Governors’ Gary Juffa and Rufina Peter, along with Hon Keith Iduhu, from seeking investors to develop the goldmine under conditions that protect the environmental integrity of the area along the range adjacent to the Kokoda Trail; the integrity of the Trail itself; and to ensure that the economic benefits are shared with ALL landowner communities across it between Owers Corner and Kokoda in accordance with the formula proposed by the original developer of the mine.

Organizational Dysfunction

The management system imposed on the Kokoda Trail by the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) in Canberra under the guise of a ‘Joint’ Agreement signed in 2008 has degenerated into an organizational ‘dogs breakfast’.

The controlling body is the Canberra funded ‘Kokoda Initiative’ which exercise their influence through the allocation of aid-funded studies and projects within the PNG Conservation Environment Protection Authority (CEPA) which is responsible to the Minister for Environment, Conservation and Climate Change. CEPA has no expertise in the management of pilgrimage tourism.

The legal authority for the Kokoda Trail is vested in the Minister for Provincial and Local Level Government Affairs who is responsible for his Department of Provincial and Local Level Government Affairs (DPLLGA) which does not have the resources or the expertise to manage pilgrimage tourism.

The Board of Directors appointed by the Minister when the Kokoda Track (Special Purpose) Authority (KTA) was proclaimed in 2004 did not have the expertise to manage a commercial enterprise. It was reliant on income from trek permit fees and quickly corrupted soon after funds began to flow into the organization. The Board was disbanded in 2018 and was only recently reappointed in 2023 however it continues to lack expertise in good governance or commercial pilgrimage management.

The Minister for Environment, Conservation and Climate Change established a ‘Kokoda Initiative Ministerial Committee’ (KIMC) on 9 December 2013 ‘to improve the governance system of the Kokoda Initiative; to provide advice and strategic direction to stakeholders; and ensure that agencies were properly resourced to carry out the mandate under the Canberra funded ‘Kokoda Initiave’.

The Australian Strategic Management Advisor, Mr. Mark Nizette was appointed secretary to the KIMC. This provided Nizete with considerable influence as he only member within CEPA, and now within the KIMC to have trekked across the Kokoda Trail. He now had direct influence over the dissemination of information and over the allocation of aid-funding.

A brief on his role can be viewed on this link: Mark Nizette MBE – Strategic Advisor or Foreign Influencer.

To add another ingredient to the organizational omelette the official organizational chart of the Kokoda Track Authority has the CEO being responsible to a Management Committee which is responsible to the Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture!

But according to the Kokoda Initiative Ministerial Committee the CEO of the Tourism Promotion Authority, who is responsible to the Minister for Tourism Arts and Culture, was relegated as a member of their committee.

The outcome of the organizational dysfunction since the Canberra funded Kokoda Initiative assumed control of the Kokoda Trail to manage it as a government environmental bureaucracy through CEPA has been a fall of 46 percent in the number of trekkers.

This computes to a cumulative loss of almost $20 million in foregone wages, campsite fees and local purchases for the subsistence villagers the Kokoda Initiative has spent more than $60 million trying to help since 2009.

This dysfunction will continue for as long as PNG remains the only country in the world to manage their most popular tourism destination as an environmental bureaucracy rather than as a commercial tourism enterprise.

Summary

While tour companies have lost, or are about to lose, hundreds of thousands of kina in revenue; subsistence villagers across the Trail are about to be cheated of potential earnings of more than K2 million over the next two months; hotels and airlines will be denied a further K3 million and now PNG risks being classified as an unreliable tourism destination we have:

  • the Australian High Commission ‘monitoring the situation;
  • the Police Commissioner ‘in discussion with dissident Port Moresby based landowners’;
  • Governors and MPs in discussion with dissident Port Moresby based landowners; and
  • both the Kokoda Track Authority and the Tourism Promotion Authority ‘missing-in-action’.

BUT:

Nobody is in discussion with the two key stakeholders in the Kokoda tourism industry i.e,:

  • Kokoda tour operators who carry the risk of running a business in PNG and who generate the income for Kokoda tourism; and
  • the traditional custodians of the land sacred to our shared military heritage across the 138 km Trail between Owers Corner and Kokoda..

So what needs to be done?

My belief, based on my 21 years military service in three countries and my observations leading 101 treks with more than 2,000 Australians across the Kokoda Trail over the past 33 years, is that:

The Kokoda Trail has the potential to be a world-class pilgrimage tourism destination capable of providing a sustainable economic future for the communities who own the land sacred to our shared wartime heritage.

All it needs for this to happen is for it to be managed as a commercial tourism enterprise as opposed to an environment bureaucracy.

This will require the PNG National Executive Council (NEC) to simply transfer responsibility for the management of the Kokoda Trail from the Minister for Provincial and Local Level Government, and from the aid-funded influence of the Minister for Environment, Conservation and Climate Change to the Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture.

Canberra could then develop a Joint Agreement for Commemoration with PNG based on their previous model for the World Heritage listing.

This link could be used as a template for such an agreement:

And this link could be used as a template for running annual village-based workshops to develop partnerships to meet their needs:

POSTCRIPT

The day after we were forced to evacuate our trekkers from the Trail due to the illegal blockade, we arranged for them to at least visit Owers Corner and Bomana War Cemetery – unfortunately the road to Owers Corner was blocked by a group of disgruntled guides and porters who missed out on their pay because their trek was turned back from the blockade at Nauro.

We then decided we would arrange for them to visit Bomana War Cemetery, however there was a brawl at 9-Mile and the road was blocked.

We then arranged for them to visit National Museum and Art Gallery where they were greeted by this sign:

Such is the joy of trying to run a business in ‘the Land of the Unexpected’ – it’s not for the faint hearted!