More homelessness in PNG capital

Transcript

Alex Rheeney, who heads the Papua New Guinea Media Council and is executive editor of the Port courier newspaper, says there are signs of soaring poverty on the streets of the capital.

One of the villages of Motu KoItabu, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea Photo: RNZI / Johnny Blades

Mr Rheeney says while the country has enjoyed a dramatic period of growth in the past ten years, the reverses since the fall in commodity prices and the drop off in construction have had a telling effect.

He told Don Wiseman there appear to be many more homeless on the streets.

ALEX RHEENEY: Their have been pictures posted on social media of kids sleeping in-front of the shops but I think one of the interventions that the government did, I think the last time when it sort of seriously decided to address the issue of poverty on the streets of Port Moresby was just a month away from the Pacific Games last year when it decided that the kids will be taken in by various NGO partners and looked after. For the duration of the games and unfortunately just six to eight months on from the games there seems to be an indication of more homeless kids on the streets.

DON WISEMAN: There have always been significant numbers of homeless in Port Moresby though haven't there?

AR: Yes it has always been there but you have to basically put those indicators against a decade or so of positive economic growth. When windfall revenue that has come into the PNG government's coffers over the last ten to fourteen years from high global commodity prices, LNG exports and all that.

DW: So those at the bottom of the rung haven't benefited in any way?

AR: No I think the challenge for the government over the last ten years or so and this includes the Somare government as well, is how do you translate those windfall revenue into tangible development that trickles right down to the ordinary Papua New Guinean living here in the Port Moresby settlements for example. How do you give opportunities for Papua New Guineans who live not at Touaguba Hill which is where most of the elite of Port Moresby and the affluent live but in Papua New Guineans living in suburbs like Gerehu or Waigani. How do they get to benefit from the opportunities that come from the positive economic growth. And that has always been a challenge for the Somare government and now the O'Neill government.

DW: Is much effort actually going into it?

AR: Yes I think all the construction that was connected to the construction phase of the PNG LNG project and then the South Pacific games infrastructure, there was a lot of employment, there were a lot of Papua New Guineans who basically benefited from the big government investment in infrastructure for the Pacific games but unfortunately now with the down turn in the global economy and the revenue that the government is getting from the exports has dwindled. So there are a lot of Papua New Guineans now who are out of jobs and who are struggling to actually make ends meet and we are seeing that manifest itself. The number of kids who are out at traffic lights in Port Moresby begging, but on another thing you actually get to see a lot of the kids who are actually walking to school themselves. Very very young kids who are as young as six or seven who would normally be accompanied by a parent and it makes you ask questions whether the kid is probably walking to school because most probably the mum or dad is actually selling ice blocks or selling cigarettes or betel nut to try and make ends meet. So consequently the whole challenge relating to poverty is actually having an impact on the kids as well and there own security because you know Port Moresby has its own challenges in terms of law and order and violence against children is quite high in PNG as well.

DW: One of the things about the Pacific is that there has always been enough food for people but I think you have suggested that there are issues with food now.

AR: That would definitely be an issue, looking at the number of Papua New Guineans who were previously employed when there was a construction boom in Port Moresby and who are now out of a job because there are no employment opportunities in the construction industry, definitely it will have a ripple effect on families and their ability to put food on the table for their kids.