I have been observing events leading up to the possible establishment of first liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing factory in the country.

This will bring Papua New Guinea to another level as an industrialised nation and bring more job opportunities for Papua New Guineans. 

Papua New Guineans will also have the opportunity to be educated to process these gas resources and their skills will be used onshore.

If the Papua New Guinea to Australia gas pipeline project (PNG Gas Project) was allowed to proceed, such opportunities will not be seen and PNG will only be selling raw gas to Australia at a value much lower.

I appreciate our leaders who had the vision for Papua New Guinea into the future and were not blinded by the small gains that PNG should have got if the PNG gas project eventuated.

There are leaders like current Southern Highlands Province Governor Anderson Agiru who was always instrumental in saying that the PNG gas project should not be allowed to go ahead but gas should be processed onshore in PNG and sold to overseas markets.

The other leaders are chairman of the Hiwa Tuguba Hides Association Tuguyawini, Libe Parindali who has continued to argue that wet gas should not be piped to Australia but processed in PNG as well. Mr Parindali has demonstrated true leadership as chairman of the Hiwa Tuguba Hides Association as he knows that by exporting unprocessed gas, benefits to his people will not be the same as benefits that could be realised if PNG had LNG factories. I also give credence to Papua New Guinean engineers from the Department of Petroleum and Energy who continue to argue that PNG will lose out in revenue if the PNG gas project is allowed to proceed because all our gas will be processed in Australia and sold to customers at a higher price.

Mr Agiru, Mr Parindali and our geologists at DPE are Papua New Guineans who should be honoured by the Government for taking a tough stand on what they think is best for Papua New Guinea.

Together with the national media, they led a fight that we will ensure we will all be winners in the end.

The Government should not be blinded by big dollars from multi-national corporations who do not have the interest of Papua New Guinea at heart. They are here because of our resources to make money for their shareholders.

I now call on the Government to give every support to companies like Exonn Mobil who will now build LNG factories in the country that will process our gas resources and bring more benefits to Papua New Guinea.

With the LNG, the Government will benefit, the landowners will benefit and Papua New Guineans will benefit and the flow-on benefits to the communities will also be big.

Let us all push this new age in our development.