KOKODA TRAIL MANAGEMENT ISSUES
The Covid-19 pause provides PNG a timely opportunity to recalibrate their management of the Kokoda Trail and work towards developing it as a World class destination based on our shared wartime heritage.
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Category: KOKODA TRACK AUTHORITY
MARKETING KOKODA – Wartime Tourism
“Kokoda is almost the complete adventure experience for Australian baby-boomers and young adventurers. It requires physical stamina and mental tenacity. The wartime history evokes strong emotions. The unconditional care and support of local PNG guides and villagers is humbling. The environment is rugged, remote and pristine.”
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KOKODA TRAIL CAMPSITES: A Vision for Post Covid-19!
Covid-19 offers the opportunity for Australian and PNG authorities to reevaluate the intrinsic value of our shared wartime heritage across the Kokoda Trail for future generations.
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KTA Strategic Plan: 2012-2015. FAIL
A KTA Strategic Plan: 2012-2015 was developed by Australian environmental officials in the isolated seclusion of their Kokoda Track Authority (KTA) offices in Port Moresby in 2011.
Read MoreKokoda Trail: 75th Anniversary Funding Proposals
DVA Funds allocated for commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the end of the War in the Pacific should be restricted to honouring and interpreting the sacrifice of our troops in Papua and New Guinea from 1942-45. As a key...
Read MoreAdventure Kokoda Funding Proposal for a Kokoda Trail Master Heritage Plan
Michael Pender, an accredited Military Heritage Architect from HPA Projects was commissioned by Network Kokoda to develop a Master Plan for the Kokoda Trail for the 70th anniversary of the Kokoda campaign in 2012. It was not...
Read MoreChronology of Facts for the Kokoda Trekking Industry
Prime Minister Keating kissing the ground on the Kokoda Plateau – April 1992 Interest in the Kokoda Trail lay dormant for 50 years until Paul Keating became the first Australian Prime Minister to visit the area in 1992. It...
Read MoreApology to Kokoda Trail Villagers
“In recent years the academics have discovered New Guinea. Grave, plump, portentous, they swarm north in their hundreds each winter, generally finishing somewhere near Goroka in the Eastern Highlands where at times they...
Read MoreNetwork Kokoda – Honouring their Legacy along the Trail
Network Kokoda was established by Adventure Kokoda who specialise in the wartime history of the Kokoda campaign. Their trek leaders have a combined total of 160 years professional military experience ranging from the Vietnam war...
Read MoreKokoda Track Authority – Shonky and Secretive!
In 2008 Adventure Kokoda was the only trekking company out of 37 licensed trek operators to pay all of their trek fees in full and in advance – something we are very proud of.A discreet audit revealed that operators from...
Read MoreMuch to Repent over the Kokoda Trail
While the arrival of half-a-dozen Australian Government Ministers in PNG during their annual ‘Repentance Day’ holiday is coincidental it does provide a timely opportunity to offer some repentance of our own for the past few...
Read MoreWelfare of Kokoda Trail Guides and Carriers
The welfare of PNG guides and carriers has been a contentious subject for some years however the recent death of a carrier who was allegedly overloaded by an Australian trek operator has brought the issue of their exploitation to to the forefront of the debate.
A recent forum organised by the Kokoda Track Authority (KTA) in Brisbane resulted in the CEO of PNG Tourism calling for a response to the issues that were raised – but could not be properly addressed due to agenda/time constraints.
Following is the submission by Adventure Kokoda on the issue of welfare for PNG guides and carriers engaged in the Kokoda Trekking Industry:
Preamble
This response to the draft Minutes of the KTA Forum conducted in Brisbane on 28 November 2018 is based on the collective views of Adventure Kokoda trek leaders who have a combined total of 130 years professional army experience and who have led more than 520 expeditions across the trail over the past 27 years. Our ‘experience’ in protecting the welfare of our local guides and carriers is in line with the conclusions reached by Dr Geoffrey Vernon, Regimental Medical Officer for the 39th Battalion during the Kokoda campaign.
The KTA Forum was conducted at short notice with insufficient time to prepare detailed submissions for discussion. As it transpired it was more of a briefing session. No Notices of Motions were provided, none were moved and the only substantive decision taken was to have another forum in May 2019!
The Minutes of the previous Tour Operators Forum held in Cairns on 14-15 November were not tabled nor discussed in accordance with normal protocols. These minutes have now been outstanding for more than a year and the fact that they have never been produced after trek operators went to considerable expense to attend is indicative of either negligent administration or a cover-up of some sort.
Our Adventure Kokoda response to the forum will be in two parts.
Part 1 will address the most important issue that can no longer be postponed because it concerns the welfare protection of the local guides and carriers for the 2019 trekking season..
Part 2 will address the other issues presented at the forum and will be submitted early in the New Year.
