Mark Hughes Foundation - Noble cause - poor due diligence

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The current Mark Hughes Foundation ‘Back-to-Back’ trek in 12 days is a noble and well-intentioned cause to raise funds for Brain Cancer Research, however their choice of Wayne Wetherall from Kokoda Spirit shows poor judgement given his record of exploitation of his PNG support crews. Wetherall has form which is less than reputable:

Due diligence Guide re Wayne Wetherall of Kokoda Spirit

According to evidence presented to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission Wetherall’s former manager, Mrs Lyn Kelly advised:

‘Mr Wetherall constantly would try and reduce the wages of the PNG staff and porters and – and so – or their food allowance. We would do what we call trek expenses, so porters are allowed X amount of dollars to buy food for X amount of days on the Kokoda Track, and the way he would reduce his costs is always to take from the locals, whether it be their wages or their food supplements, and I – he would refer to me as either the Irish Union Rep or his Jiminy Cricket, because I would always fight to make sure that they – they didn’t have a pay increase, they just maintained what they should be getting by rights, because I felt that to reduce five kina from these people, which is probably $2.50 in our terms was a huge amount for them, and meant a lot to them and to us was nothing. So I would always try and keep him honest in that regard, and I guess . . .¹⁰

Following is an extract from a phone message beteen Wethertall and Mrs Kelly presented as evidence during the QIRC hearing:

A glance at the group as they left Owers Corner at the start of their quest to trek across the 138 km Kokoda Trail – and back – in 12 days shows PNG porters carrying much larger backpacks than the trekkers – this is what happens when dodgy tour operators slash their benefits..

Click here to view the start of their trek from Owers Corner

NOTE: Difference in size between trekkers backpack and porters backpack on the link

A normal trek across the 138 km trail takes 8 days to complete working normal hours on a pay rate of K80 per day.

If they are required to cover the distance in less than 8 days they obviously have to start earlier and finish later each day.

It’s therefore likely the PNG support crews for the current Mark Hughes Foundation ‘Back-to-Back’ group will be paid for 12 days without any form of compensatoin for the extra work they would be required to do each day.

No union, association of fair-minded employer in Australia would accept such a blatant form of exploitation of their workers.

There is also a moral issue where Australian charities use a trek in a 3^rd World country to raise funds for various causes in a wealthy 1^st World country without leaving anything behind.

This issue was first raised, and ignored,17 years ago on this link:

Kokoda Trail Villagers need charity too!

Since then, we have long advocated for a ‘Charity Levy’ of K2,500 per trekker to be imposed for professional charities or K1,250 for one of charities supported by individual trekkers – unfortunately the KTA Board and CEO have either been too lazy or too inempt to implement it. As a result Australian charities have raised millions of kina over the years and left nothing behind for the villagers across the Kokoda Trail. Nothing!

If they had implemented such a policy the KTA would have collected K62,500 to support schools and health centres across the Trail for this trek alone!

PNG Angels

The Mark Hughes Foundation would have more credibility if they were to donate a portion of the $500,000 (PNGK1.4 million) they expect to raise from their trek to PNG Angels which was established by a groupf of neurosurgeons who trekked with Adventure Kokoda. After their trek they were intoroduced to the Chairman of CEO of Port Moresby General Hospital, and the rest is history.

They later established their own charity, PNG Angels, and now organize specialist teams of volunteers to provide life-saving surgeries at the Port Moresby General Hospital which can be viewed on this link:

PNG Angels

Kokoda ”Blackbirders’ Association

The Kokoda Tour operator’s Association was established by a small but influential group of Australians to protect their business model based on minimising costs in PNG and avoiding their employment and taxation obligations.

They have been successful in overturning motions passed unanimously by PNG tour operators who have called for the maximum weights of backpacks to be reduced to 18 kg (the maximum weight allowed by army doctors during the Kokoda campaign); the provision of trek uniforms, sleeping bags and mats, a minimum daily rate of K70 (now K80), a day’s gratuity at the end of each trek, and a ‘Walk-Home-Allowance of K250 at the end of each trek.

Their dodgy modus operandi can be viewed on this link:

Kokoda Tour Operators Association – A shameless Australian Lobby Group

The two main influencers in the KTOA and KTA are:

Neither O’Malley nor Wetherall have ever served in the armed forces or have ever been associated with any veterans organizations – until they learned how to make a dollar our of running a trekking business across the Kokoda Trail!

All O’Malley and Wetherall ever provide to their porters are t-shirts emblazoned with their company logo’s ensuring they are walking billboards for each one.

Their business model, based on minimising their expenses in PNG, has seen both emerge as the leading two Kokoda tour companies on the Kokoda Trail hoswever, according to Investment Promotion Records (IPA) records (see link below) , both have been easily able to avoid paying any tax in PNG by treating their compliance obligations with contempt.