The banning of local media from press conferences during Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's visit to Papua New Guinea has been described as a colonial remnant.
PNG journalists were excluded from attending a press conferences when Malcolm Turnbull visited a war memorial at Bomana, and then later that day in a joint conference with his PNG counterpart Peter O'Neill.
They were told the opportunities were strictly for Australian media.
Four senior journalists from the Post Courier newspaper were also denied food during a breakfast event for members of the business community to hear the visiting prime minister, despite the paper paying US$243 dollars for them to attend.
Tim Glasgow has more.
Malcolm Turnbull greats Peter O'Neill.
Photo: Supplied
Transcript
A senior Papua New Guinea journalist Gorothy Kenneth says she was disappointed to be told she could not attend press opportunities during last week's visit by Australia's prime minister.
Ms Kenneth says the directive to exclude local journalists came from the Australian High Commission in PNG.
GOROTHY KENNETH: But it did really affect me. But in the end, the ABC guy stationed here in Port Moresby (Eric Tlozek) was actually really upset that it had happened to us because he told me in the end it was very offensive. He's the one who actually went and spoke to the Australian High Commission officials to advise them that this was not good and they should come and apologise.
Ms Kenneth, who also attended the breakfast with Mr Turnbull, says High Commission officials later came and apologised for what they described as a misunderstanding, but it was not clear what the "misunderstanding" was.
The chair of the Pacific Freedom Forum, Monica Miller, says the treatment of local journalists in Papua New Guinea was discriminatory.
MONICA MILLER: It's just sad, you don't hear about this thing in this day and age, it's discriminatory, smacks of colonial remnants and something that I think all journalists of the Pacific, including those from Australia should speak out against.
She says that local journalists should have been included alongside their Australian counterparts during press events.
MONICA MILLER: I would have thought that some of the Australian journalists would also say something. The ones who were allowed into the press conference maybe they should have taken and stand and said 'no, we will not have a press conference until our media colleagues from Papua New Guinea are allowed in.
Mr Turnbull's office didn't deny that local media was excluded from the news conferences, and in a statement said that some events were only deemed appropriate for the Australian media.
STATEMENT FROM MALCOLM TURNBULL'S OFFICE: Along with their Australian counterparts, the Papua New Guinea media were invited to participate in most elements of the Prime Minister's program during his visit to Papua New Guinea. As is often the case while the Prime Minister is travelling, the Prime Minister will hold doorstop opportunities for the Australian travelling media to discuss domestic issues relevant to Australian news.
This is Tim Glasgow.
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