Transcript
JOHN MOMIS: The National Government has been caught up in many important matters and events, one of which is the preparations for the APEC meeting, which will take place in November, and of course prior to that APEC officials from the different countries have been attending conferences and seminars and meetings in Port Moresby. So that took up a lot of time for the government unfortunately and important matters for the preparation for the referendum were delayed. But I am happy to say that I met with the Prime Minister and we agreed that the next JSB meeting, which will be a special JSB meeting, will be held in two weeks time, to which we will be inviting the independent chair [of the Bougainville Referendum Commission] Mr Bertie Ahern to attend and preparations will be carried out immediately, put in place forthwith, to get the stage ready for this important meeting.
DON WISEMAN: What sort of impression did you get from Mr O'Neill about his attitude towards this referendum, because he has been somewhat ambivalent, hasn't he, in the past?
JM: The Prime Minister is committed. He said to me the referendum will be held and will be held in good time and before the end of next year, because if you leave it too late you run the risk of running into the ABG elections in 2020. The Prime Minister was upbeat, he was very positive and assured me we will move mountains to make sure the referendum is held in good time.
DW: Back in August Mr O'Neill had said one of the key things holding things up was this inability to reach a decision or to agree on just what the question or questions would be in the referendum. So is that now solved. Have you sorted that out.
JM: Yes the matter of determining the questions or questions to be put has taken a long time and we now believe that we are ready to determine which question or questions will be put to the next JSB meeting. I feel strongly that both the Prime Minister and I agree that there should only be one question to avoid any possibility of creating confusion, of risking a quality outcome of the referendum. So we are happy again to say that we are making good progress and that particular question or issue will be determined in the next JSB meeting.
DW: Earlier this year there had been talk about howw there were very tight timelines if this referendum was to happen in June next year, so we are now in October - is it going to be possible to have everything sorted in time for June of next year?
JM: The schedule will be tight, we grant that will be the case - most probably the case, but we are determined that necessary steps will be taken to ensure that the referendum, whether it's held dead on the indicative date of 15th June next year, or a little bit later. It will happen must be conducted to determine the position or the view of the people of Bougainville and then the process of consultation, so on and so forth, will take place thereafter.