The President of the autonomous Papua New Guinea province of Bougainville, John Momis, says a report on the decommissioned Panguna mine is misleading and irresponsible.
Last week the non government group, Jubilee Australia, released Voices of Bougainville, which included pleas from people living around the mine for the Government to reconsider its push to resume mining.
It says the people it interviewed remain traumatised by the civil war, want more effort put into reconciliation and for the Government to look at other options for economic development.
But Mr Momis says the report is factually inaccurate, biased and methodologically unsound.
The President of Bougainville, John Momis Photo: RNZI
The Post Courier newspaper reports him saying it is dishonest in claiming interviews with 65 individuals selected by its authors from the 10,000 or so people in the affected areas allows it to represent the voices of them and the 300,000 people of Bougainville.
Mr Momis says far from being excluded, affected landowners have been at the centre of all discussions regarding Panguna since they commenced in 2009.
