By Ben Packham - The Australian
Scott Morrison’s push to “step up” Australia’s relationship with Papua New Guinea is set to come under pressure over his government’s plan to renew a $20 million-a-month Manus Island security contract with controversial company Paladin Solutions.
PNG Immigration Minister Petrus Thomas yesterday told The Australian that his government wanted the Paladin contract cancelled and for the work to be given to a locally owned company.
“The PNG government position is to … terminate the Paladin contract by end of this month,” Mr Thomas said.
“The PNG government wants a transparent tender process and most importantly will strongly recommend national content. PNG companies now have the capacity and expertise to do the job.”
He said PNG chief migration officer Solomon Kantha had conveyed this message to Peter Dutton’s Home Affairs Department.
However, Mr Dutton yesterday indicated Paladin would have its contract to provide refugee facility security services extended beyond its June 30 expiration.
“The likely arrangement is there will be a continuation. I’m not going to comment when the department is in the process of contract discussions, negotiations et cetera,’’ Mr Dutton said.
The Auditor-General is investigating the awarding of $423 million worth of contracts to Paladin without a tender process.
Paladin chief executive Craig Thrupp is also currently banned from entering PNG.
Manus Province Governor Charlie Benjamin also urged against retaining Paladin, which has a partnership with a local landowner company with links to another Manus MP, Job Pomat.
“I think that Australia ought to do the right thing and give it to another company, not Paladin,” Mr Benjamin said. “It doesn’t look good. There is a lot of suspicion.”
He said the facilities housing refugees and asylum-seekers on Manus for Australia were on provincial government land, and any new security provider must include the provincial administration as a shareholder.
Mr Pomat, the MP for Manus Open and an ally of former PNG prime minister Peter O’Neill, had earlier praised Paladin for doing business “the Papua New Guinean way” over its deal with Manus landowner company, Peren Investment, which is 60 per cent owned by Mr Pomat’s brothers, Kepo, Allan and Polosong.
New PNG Prime Minister James Marape recently met the Australian high commissioner to PNG, Bruce Davis, saying the relationship between the two countries had evolved “to one of equal partnership, with more focus on a comprehensive economic and strategic partnership”.
Mr Morrison was one of the first world leaders to phone Mr Marape, who has vowed to make his country “the richest black Christian nation on Earth”, when he took the leadership last month following the forced resignation of Mr O’Neill.
The Paladin group, which had its Australian headquarters registered to a beach shack on Christmas Island, had its contract to provide “garrison services” at three sites extended in January at a cost of $109m.
The extension, to June 30, lifted the value of its Manus contracts to $423m for 22 months work.
At the time there were about 422 refugees and asylum-seekers housed at the three camps: 213 at East Lorengau, 111 at West Lorengau and 98 asylum-seekers at Hillside Haus.
Labor home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally said Mr Dutton had strengthened Paladin’s hand in any negotiation.
“Paladin can call the government Monday morning and demand whatever they want because Peter Dutton has let the cat out of the bag that the government has no one else, apparently available to continue those services,” Senator Keneally said.
Mr Dutton said he didn’t want any government money spent on Manus Island or Nauru because “I don’t want people there; I want them off as quickly as possible”.
Go to this link for more: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/png-rejects-pms-paladin-20mamonth-extension/news-story/06c0bfb6047aebf4b6d63ad4d2f8e88c
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