Mr ENTSCH(3.42 p.m.) —I too rise to support the motion moved by the right honourable member for New England (Mr Sinclair). I would like to make an initial comment on an observation that was made by Theodore Miriung not long before he was elected to the Bougainville Transitional Government on 10 April 1995. At that stage he was quoted as saying, `If you have a mission, you have to accept it—even if it costs you your life.' Theodore Miriung, the champion of Bougainville peace efforts, certainly lived up to his words.

The member for Chifley (Mr Price) rightly said that many on both sides of this conflict had concerns and were certainly in conflict with Theodore Miriung's initiatives and beliefs on ways in which he felt that he could achieve a peaceful solution in Bougainville, but his efforts certainly won the hearts of many people. His death has no doubt left a very deep vacuum that will be very difficult to fill. It has certainly dealt a very devastating blow to the government's peace efforts.

Theodore Miriung came from Poma village in the Kieta district. He was reared with a Catholic education and studied for the priesthood for some three years. In 1989 he enrolled in the University of Papua New Guinea where he attained a law degree and was admitted to the bar in 1974. In 1988 he was appointed as acting National Court judge.

Premier Theodore Miriung was assassinated on 12 October 1995. He was brutally murdered in what could only be described as a cowardly attack in front of his wife and four children as they sat down to their evening meal in his wife's village of Konga.

There is strong evidence to suggest that members of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force and Bougainville resistance were actively involved in his murder. I think that it is very important that the inquiry be final ised so that the perpetrators of this crime can be brought to justice.

After Miriung's death, Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan made a very interesting and worthy comment:

Theodore Miriung was one of the greatest defenders of Bougainville we have seen and he has been slain for no other reason than that he placed the good of his province and its peoples before his personal safety.

This House would like to express its deepest sympathy to Premier Miriung's wife and four children and to the people of Bougainville and Papua New Guinea on his tragic death.

I last visited Bougainville in 1988. As the previous speaker said, the Panguna Mine certainly brought a tremendous amount of prosperity to the area. Arawa was a lovely town, and the education and health standards of the people there were very high compared to the rest of Papua New Guinea.

Now we see a conflict in its eighth year and, at this point in time, it is estimated that over 1,000 people have been murdered or killed in this conflict—and that is not counting many thousands who have died through disease associated with the tropical climate and the total absence of health facilities. These numbers are quite appalling when you appreciate that the total population of Bougainville is only about 160,000. So we are talking about a very significant amount of the population being affected.

Bougainville actually once produced 44 per cent of the national income and, given the financial problems that have dogged Papua New Guinea since its independence, it can ill afford and no longer continue to sustain such massive losses of both human and monetary resources.

I urge the Papua New Guinea government and members of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army not to let Premier Theodore Miriung's death be in vain and to renew the reconciliation process in the aftermath of the Premier's death. (Time expired)