9 JANUARY 1996
REF # 2/96
FIRST STEPS TO DISTRIBUTION OF OK TEDI COMPENSATION
Teams of Papua New Guinea government officials head off to villages along the Ok Tedi and Fly River this week as preparatory steps are taken before distribution of compensation monies to people living in the area.
The officials will undertake a census to determine who is eligible to share the compensation pool.
They will also provide villagers with information on their rights and entitlements to compensation under the agreement between the Ok Tedi mine and the government.
So far, Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) (BHP 52 per cent) has paid 14 million Kina (about A$14 million) into a trust for distribution to Ok Tedi and Fly River communities. Upward of 4 million Kina will be added each year the mine continues in operation.
A PNG company, Heduru Pty Ltd, as trustee of the Western Province General Compensation Trust will handle distribution of compensation payments to the river communities. Heduru's Board of Directors will comprise three village representatives, two government representatives and two OTML representatives.
The progress of actions to resolve the compensation issue in Papua New Guinea contrasts starkly with efforts by Melbourne lawyers Slater & Gordon. They appear determined to ignore what is happening on the ground in PNG and instead seem intent on burrowing deeper into the legal quagmire that has so far failed to deliver any benefits at all to people in Papua New Guinea.
Slater & Gordon's latest manoeuvre - an application for leave to appeal to the High Court over the Victorian Court of Appeal's decision to overturn Mr Justice Cummin's finding of contempt against BHP - is another example of the Melbourne lawyers quixotic pre-occupation with tabloid legal battles.
This appeal will not produce one cent of additional compensation to the village communities in Papua New Guinea. Yet the costs, should they fail, will have to be met either by Slater & Gordon, the villagers they claim to represent, or Australian taxpayers.
Slater & Gordon should declare at the outset who will pay if they are unsuccessful. Will they ask the villagers, who will have access to the 14 million Kina, to pay the costs from their compensation funds? Will they ask Australian taxpayers to pay the costs as they did following their failure in the Court of Appeal? Will they ask groups funded by Australian taxpayers? Or will they pay the costs themselves?
At the very least, they owe Australian taxpayers an answer.
Further information contact: BHP Corporate Media Relations
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