The Kokoda Trail: Conflict between Canberra’s management theory and PNG reality
A Culturally Inappropriate UnderstandingKokoda Reality1. Efogi Labour Assistance2. Menari...
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Author: Charlie
Time for PNG Women to take the lead on Kokoda Tourism
The recent humiliation of Kokoda tourism management in the PNG National Court has lifted the scab off a web off insidious political agendas, the use of aid-for-influence, nepotism, incompetence and corruption within the DFAT funded Kokoda Initiative network.
The common denominator in the web is . . . MEN!
The Kokoda Track Authority Board of Directors are all . . . MEN!
The Kokoda Initiative Committee appointed by the Minister for Environment, Conservation and Climate Change are all . . . MEN!
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CHAPTER 1: Executive Summary
The rise in Kokoda tourism can be traced to former Prime Minister, Paul Keating spontaneously dropping to his knees and kissing the ground at Kokoda on the 50th anniversary of the campaign in 1992. He was the first Prime Minister to visit the place since the end of the war in 1945.
Keating’s gesture, and his epic speech, led to the development of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between PNG and Australia[1] regarding the significance of our shared wartime heritage.
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Adventure Kokoda License Restored by PNG National Court
Charlie Lynn has welcomed the PNG National Court order to restore Adventure Kokoda’s tour operator’s license.
In her judgement handed down on 14 December 2023, Justice Susan Purdon-Sully found that Minister Simon Kilepa’s decision to cancel our license was unlawful.
Her Honour also declared the Kokoda Initiative Committee (KIC) meeting convened on 21 April 2023 was not free from bias and conflicts of interest given the presence of the Strategic Management Advisor for the DFAT Kokoda Initiative and Secretary to the KIC, Mr. Mark Nizette MBE, and Oro Governor Gary Juffa MP.
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CHAPTER 38: Kokoda Trail Tourism – The Way Forward
Since the Australian Government assumed responsibility for the management of the Kokoda Trail under a Joint agreement with PNG in 2008 trekker numbers have fallen by 46 percent which has resulted in a cumulative loss of some $20 million in foregone wages, campsite fees and local purchases for villages communities. And these are the people we have spent millions trying to help!
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